Metadata

[bruiser09]

Hello TGO Staff!

I'm curious to know whether there is metadata to indicate the length of time an item should be posted before the ad is updated or refreshed. 

For example, if an item is posted on a Monday, what percentage of the membership will have seen the ad in 7 days versus 2 weeks?

I believe it would be helpful to know whether an item should be modified after say 5, 15 or 25 days in order to achieve optimal convergence of value for the buyer versus success for the seller.

A seller could lower their price daily but not find a buyer until there has been enough exposure, or the falling price creates a greater interest across a smaller audience.

Basically, I have no idea how quickly the viewership rotates.

Thanks

[TGO David]

You can see how many people have viewed a thread (in this case, a classified post) by looking at the forum's listing of topics.  Next to the subject is a field that shows many many people have viewed it.  However, it does not track recurring visits from the same person if they are a registered member of TGO.  Each person gets one "view" of a thread no matter how many times they come back into that thread.

What you are asking about is more consistent with an elaborate classifieds ads system and not something that the forum's native software does.  We tried a more elaborate system in the past and the majority of people simply did not prefer it.  That's not to say that I am not going to continue searching for ways to make the Trading Post ads better, but I am going to continue to weigh additional features against what is possible to deliver to our members in the format that they prefer.

Hope that makes sense.

 

 

[bersaguy]

There is another issue I have found interesting on this subject. I have found that many times a member will post something for sale and put a price in their original ad. Then when the article up for sale does not sell the seller will go back to the orignal ad and edit to and lower to the price of the item and then say price lowered. For anyoone just seeing the post for the first time they never got to see what the original asking price was so they don't know if the price in the OP has been dropped or not. I always try and update my for sale item with a new post with the lowered price in the second post so the new reader can see what my original price was and what the new price is.........................JMHO

[TGO David]

In cases like that, you should always reply to your own ad and mention that there is a new lower price so that the thread rises back to the top.

As for somehow seeing a history of the prices, there's nothing in the software that does that.  It's up to you as the author of your own ad to decide whether you want to include the original price and the marked-down price or not.  Honestly, this is no different than a lot of places.  Craigslist, EBay, etc. all show the current price rather than a history unless the author of the ad includes that information in their listing.

 

 

[bersaguy]

26 minutes ago, TGO David said:

In cases like that, you should always reply to your own ad and mention that there is a new lower price so that the thread rises back to the top.

As for somehow seeing a history of the prices, there's nothing in the software that does that.  It's up to you as the author of your own ad to decide whether you want to include the original price and the marked-down price or not.  Honestly, this is no different than a lot of places.  Craigslist, EBay, etc. all show the current price rather than a history unless the author of the ad includes that information in their listing.

 

 

Ok thanks. I just think it's better to show both prices so from now on I will edit the original Post and leave old price and add newer lower price so the person can see both prices to decide if the new price makes a better deal for the reader.................

[TGO David]

5 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

Ok thanks. I just think it's better to show both prices so from now on I will edit the original Post and leave old price and add newer lower price so the person can see both prices to decide if the new price makes a better deal for the reader.................

Thank you.  Just bear in mind there is zero way to make everyone else do this.

 

[bersaguy]

1 minute ago, TGO David said:

Thank you.  Just bear in mind there is zero way to make everyone else do this.

 

Oh I know that but it might benefit those that have read this or will read this because it might help more folks get their items sold faster with have both prices in the post...........

[bruiser09]

This is all good information.

David, I agree that the best procedure is to reply to the original post.

I also agree that leaving the original post intact is more beneficial.

What isn't known, can't be known, is how long does it take for a post to reach it's maximum audience.

And the fact that you can sell a Glock 19 faster and more frequent than a Savage 280 AI is proof that the buying pool varies in size by item.

Of course, it's also true that the audience for any given item grows as the price comes down.

You just have to find that sweet spot.

 

I bought that 280AI by the way. Love it!

[analog_kidd]

First, let me say that I rarely use the classifieds, and have never bought anything there. Im just more of  a buy it new And keep it forever kinda guy.

 That said, On the occasion that I do have something to look for, I have two things that limit my views: How long has it been listed, and how far down the list is it currently?

If its more than a week old, i figure someone else already got any good deal, and I generally wont go past the first or second page of posts.

[bruiser09]

Thanks for sharing analog_kidd.

I suspect your search habits are not unique.

It's a compelling reason to be patient but persistent.