The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Marketplace => Topic started by: sammy on January 20, 2015, 05:20:23 pm
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I find it odd that hundreds of people will view an advert and not a single one will message the advertiser??
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At a guess its because whats being sold isn't what they are looking for or the price or location is wrong?
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Maybe there not interested once they have read it
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It may also be down to location too Sam.
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If folk make the title of a "for sale" or "wanted" advert informative i.e. saying "For sale" or "Wanted", what the item is and where it is, it certainly helps readers.
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Plus the views count doesn't count each person only once so if someone for any reason opens the advert multiple times it counts multiple times, it also counts any views from the original poster.
100's of views in the marketplace isn't uncommon, I certainly look at nearly every advert and have purchased exactly 2 things from there ever :-)
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It can be hard to list enough information in a title to avoid people from looking at an ad (put 'Highlands' and it can be near by or quite a ways away). I have often looked at an ad to discover it was not what I was after.
Ads on the forum are useful for market research (when selling our pigs we used the forum to see what price others were charging). I have an interest in getting goats or sheep so tend to look at every advert relating to either to see what the lay of the land is in terms of breeds, pricing, etc. Put the term 'Shetland cow' in your title and we'll be looking to see who you are, where you are based and what you are selling because it is what we have and we have an interest in the breed. Otherwise termed as curiosity.
It is encourgeing to find any by people in our area and that others are doing similar things. You often never know if an ad will provide the 'golden opportunity' unless you look at it more closely.
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I understand where you are coming from but what gets me is when you reply that you are interested and the seller does not respond.
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I love the fact your posting has already got so many replies!
I nearly always look at marketplace first, I think it’s because I'm nosey and don’t want to miss something interesting, even when It's obviously too far away.
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Definitely for me location is normally wrong and sometimes the title sounds of interest but actual ad is not what I'm looking for. Sometimes I just look if I am selling similar and get an idea of pricing.
It is annoying if someone asks for photos or says interested but doesn't come back even to say no longer interested.
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Everything that has been said already, plus not all views will be registered forum members or real people.
There are lots of automated views from Google and other search engines, and we get a lot of guests - people just browsing - and prospective spammers.
Also many potential buyers will send a PM rather than reply on the forum, so just because there are no replies visible doesn't mean there hasn't been interest.
I have a long-standing to-do to replace the marketplace with a 'proper' classified ad system, it's still on the cards...
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I'm just nosy and having a tea break at work.
I have no intention of buying a house cow whatsoever, at any price, or in any location but I still looked at the ad!
(Sorry).
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I have Jerseys, love Jerseys, of course I am going to look at an ad about a Jersey. Or Shetland or Manx sheep, amongst many others, etc etc. I've no intention of buying, It's just interest.
Marketing is all about reaching an audience, so you should be pleased you are getting so many views! And sometimes one of those idle views may turn into a sale, or, more often, the reader knows someone and passes the info on...
Sorry to hear you are having to let your girl go - fingers crossed you find a nice loving home for her. It may help to mention whether you've been hand-milking her, show a pic of her and her calf, etc.
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Yeah we all just all very nosy people really and want to look at what other people have on offer :). Same thing happens on preloved or farmingads etc, people like to browse :).
To increase the chance of selling success then your advert really needs to "sell" the item in question. I can't believe how many people don't bother to put up photos, a guide price or even state a location.
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I'm just nosy and having a tea break at work.
I have no intention of buying a house cow whatsoever, at any price, or in any location but I still looked at the ad!
(Sorry).
Me too!
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And some of us just like to dream about having cows... and drool about the photos... she is a gorgeous girl (I don't know much about cows, but they are ALL beautiful!)
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Seeing as you asked the question, I'll give you my theory. :thinking:
If you scan through the posts on this forum, you'll see that the ones that have loads of replies tend to be those asking for opinions and advice - as indeed this one has gone onto 2 pages.
Many of those offering things for sale get no replies at all. So from that, I would surmise that unless you are virtually giving something away, or what you have is rare, in great demand, or has some unique selling point then the chances of you selling it on here are small.
So, if what you are selling is a fairly standard one of it's kind, no matter how good, and you are selling it for the going rate, then no one is going to travel more than a few miles to come and look at it. You say you got her as a house cow, but don't actually say why you aren't using her as such . You don't need electricity to milk one cow, especially when she's got a bull calf to take a good proportion of the milk so once a day milking would suffice. So - is she quiet and easy to milk?
To sell something successfully you would have a better chance if you advertised in something that specialises in selling, whereas this forum specialises more in advice and support. Try Preloved or Farming Ads.
Also - you may be the nicest person in the world to deal with - but phrasing your ad as "£650. No offers" would suggest otherwise and is a bit off putting. It's like when people put "no tyre kickers". I personally never go and look at anything advertised as such.
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but phrasing your ad as "£650. No offers" would suggest otherwise and is a bit off putting. It's like when people put "no tyre kickers". I personally never go and look at anything advertised as such.
I thought the same, a photo would increase your chances too I would think
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but phrasing your ad as "£650. No offers" would suggest otherwise and is a bit off putting. It's like when people put "no tyre kickers". I personally never go and look at anything advertised as such.
I thought the same, a photo would increase your chances too I would think
The one that really puts me off is " re advertised due to time wasters" It seems to be predominant on horse sales sites,
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The one that really puts me off is " re advertised due to time wasters" It seems to be predominant on horse sales sites,
Agree. I do accept that there are dreamers who don't come through, especially with horses, but equally there are many, many horse sales which founder at the vet inspection or as some other problem becomes evident... ;)
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Many of those offering things for sale get no replies at all. So from that, I would surmise that unless you are virtually giving something away, or what you have is rare, in great demand, or has some unique selling point then the chances of you selling it on here are small.
Not so sure about that. I've sold or given away a number of birds etc on here, and generally people just send a PM to say "yes, I'm interested", and you take it from there offline. Just because there aren't rafts of replies to a post doesn't mean it hasn't been effective.
If a for sale thread has a lot of replies, that generally means it was badly worded in the first place, as most of the replies tend to be "where are you?" "How much?" "Got any pics?" etc, which could all have been posted right from the start!
I'm loving the 760+ views on this thread though! ;D
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I am a women and I am a small ads fan. We go away on holiday and I look at what's for sale in corner shop windows and the local paper, I am just curious. Like most women when we go shopping we not only look at what we set off to buy but also what else is available because we may need that in the future. I also like browsing on e-bay as a result its not very often I get ripped off by a workman, or car salesman because I can guesstimate just about anything, in fact I am far tougher than my husband.
I am still learning so I look at what it is, do I really want or need it, how far is it away and then how much it is.
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the op had an advert for there jersey cow, that came with a package. this advert was pulled and replaced with an advert for just the cow and calf ( the new advert has only had 112 views and no replies)
it is interesting that the op has not joined in this debate, and this post has had 809 views.
other than peddaling what they are no longer wanting i do not see the point in the op complaining that they have something that nobody wants.
regards
smuudge.casper
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The OP is a 'she'
Hello all, I'm a 46 year old lady with 50 breeding ewes, 1 Jersey cows and 2 goats on Blackdown in Surrey.
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Someone is in southern Scotland selling six goats. I decided that they were not for me and continue to search ads elsewhere, but after a glass of wine and another fruitless search I read the description again and try to convince myself that maybe it would be a start...? So plus 1 for the dreamer hypothesis!
Also I have sold hens to people from all over scotland, but as others have said, most reply via pm.
Also plug: geese for sale :-)
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I think we're wasting our energies here folks.
May as well ask the OP, "What's with posting questions then not logging on to see the replies?" :-J
(OP last logged on three and a half days ago, at the time of writing this.)
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I think we're wasting our energies here folks.
May as well ask the OP, "What's with posting questions then not logging on to see the replies?" :-J
(OP last logged on three and a half days ago, at the time of writing this.)
I've seen this a few times, I replied once to an ad for Shetlands for sale and also pm'd the poster but never got a reply! Rather annoying :-\
PS I'm checking my ad a million times a day :innocent:
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Its like when you go to the livestock market, you dont just blindly sprint past every pen not even looking at whats inside to head for just one pen that you came for
I generally stop and look in most pens, reach in and have a feel of those stores or a have a nice prod of those fat lambs, look at what breeds people are selling and listen to the prices of what they go for, stop and have a look at those ewes over there and think about those shearlings and maybe even have a chat with the guy selling his bull before I head on down to the pen I was after
Its a nice way of knowing whats selling at the moment and for what prices, whats in demand and what isnt, would be a very funny world if farmers just walked on by each pen without having an eye full or even a handful!
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Exactly. :thumbsup:
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Viewing but not responding is typical of most forums
There was a similar discussion on another forum that I use. Over 120 views of a posting but not a single response/opinion
Some "techie" subsequently posted that 100 views per response is the norm. The earlier responses in this thread illustrate some of the reasons why that may be.
Just accept that "life's like that" and move on