Classifieds / Auction --- Looking for opinions.

[Turboguy]

As some of you know I have been playing around with adding some new features to the forum.  One thing I am looking at and would like some feedback on is a classifieds/auction mod.

We have free classifieds right now.  One of the advantages of the new software is the photo of the item would show up in the listing.   The other advantage is it would let us do an auction format as well complete with feedback and other features most auctions have.

My main reason for considering this would be to drive more traffic to the site and to make it more interesting for our members.   I would be willing to stick some supply items on there at a big bargain hoping there was enough bidding to cover my costs.  Bowie man could stick his tack on there and we might find more activity.  Actually the classifieds we have now seem to create a lot of interest and a lot of the equipment ends up sold. 

Here is a link to what the section would look like.

http://www.smfhacks.com/gallery/1_29_06_08_4_22_09.PNG

Here is a link to the features it would have.

http://www.smfhacks.com/smf-classifieds.php

I would be interested in your comments about if you think this would be something worthwhile to add.

[Whysod]

That auction format might be OK if our members had lots of little stuff to sell.  But for equipment like hydroseeding machines, my personal thoughts are that it would be better to leave the current format in place.

[muddstopper]

Yea, I know, one year old post. I decided to bring it back to the top anyways. Since the auction section hasnt been added to the forum, I was just wondering if this is something that is still being considered. Anyways, I will agree with Rick about auctioning equipment, this could only be done on a site of this size if the seller could be able to place some sort of reserve price on the object being sold. Smaller items would sell very well in an auction setting, once enough people became aware of the auctions that are taking place. I think it would be slow getting the audience size needed to generate sufficient interest for advertising items for sale, but you have to start somewhere. I dont think I would limit the auction to just hydroseeding items, but I also dont think you would want to open the auction up to someone just wanting to clean out their closets either. Things like Mark's pens he likes to make, and since I like to fool with chickens, I will add chicken items such as incubators and hatchers, etc, would sell well. Nothing wrong with ladies selling home made jams or quilts, or the handyman that likes to build bird houses. Anyways, just me thinking out loud.

[Turboguy]

Thanks for bringing this topic back to life Muddstopper.  I tend to agree that for small items it might be good.  I would think it could be a good place for some of the suppliers to promote thier products and perhaps someone like Bowie Man might like to try putting some of his tackifer in the auction if we ever did it. 

I do think right now it is on a back burner.  Our forum software is SMF (Simple Machines).  We are running version 1.  There is totally new software available which is 2.0.  It is totally different.  Two of the forums I visit that are not related to Hydroseeding or Landscaping both have receintly switched to 2.0.  which is now in it's 5th version.  SMF has most all the bugs out of 2.0 but still have some cautionary statements.  At some point in time we will switch to 2.0 but I don't look for that to happen for at least 6 months.  I will take a look at the auction set up when we switch to 2.0 and see if one is available but with the change coming I think it is better to wait.

[MarksTLC]

I fully agree, that we should wait until the forum is up & stable with the new version(s).

I like the idea. I liked it back when... My only concern at the time was whether we would end up with a bunch of widgets for sale (not related to the industry at all).
I too think it would drive additional traffic to the site. My hope is that it would be the "right" traffic.