C7 parts for Sale vs Vendor Sale
12-21-2017, 03:23 PM
#1
Tech Contributor
Thread Starter
C7 parts for Sale vs Vendor Sale
If there is a Vendor for Sale section of the forums, could you please ban vendors from selling on the Parts for Sale section of the forums. It is annoying that there is an absurd amount of vendors clogging the forums when we are looking for used parts. Why have 2 sections if the rules aren't enforced.
12-21-2017, 08:03 PM
#2
Administrator
Member Since: Aug 1999
Location: Chattanooga, TN
Posts: 64,011
Received 1,354 Likes
on
518 Posts
CI 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12
Wounded Warrior Escort '11
St. Jude Donor '03 thru '24
NCM Lifetime Member
NCM Sinkhole Donor
Historically, Corvetteforum has allowed vendors to post in the generational discussion sections. We think the vendors who maintain a presence and show their willingness to respond to questions and offer advice to customers and potential customers are more likely to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with site users.
It is a problem at times that some vendors have overwhelmed sub-sections with sale threads and a lot of them just bump sales threads without much interaction with site users. That seems to be more of a problem as vendors try to take advantage of the holiday season to increase their sales.
As a measure to protect generational discussion sections from being overwhelmed by commercial posts, we have rules limiting the number of sale threads a vendor can have on the first page of a two-day directory.
The limit in each of the generational sections is no more than one vendor sale thread on the first page of a two-day directory.
We also have set up sub-sections for vendor sales threads only. In those sections, there is no limit on the number of sales threads a vendor can post.
The feedback we have gotten from vendors is that they don't get any response from sale threads posted in the vendor only sales sub-sections.
They notice a difference in sales if they do not post in the generational discussion sections.
It's a balance we continue to monitor.
We want the vendors to get the exposure and sales volume they need to be there when site users need them for parts, services and problems that might arise. We don't want them to overwhelm the site and, in the process, create negative response from potential customers.
I just checked the C7 parts section and found 75 threads, not counting the sticky threads. Twenty-two of them were vendor threads. Three of the vendors were in conflict with the rules, having two sales threads on the first page of the two-day directory.
I deleted those excessive sales threads. That left 19 vendor sale threads out of 75 total non-sticky threads in the section – 25.3 percent. Before we imposed the rules limiting vendor sales threads, we’d sometimes see the percentage of vendor threads as high as 80 in sections with not much activity.
It’s not a perfect system, but I think it has improved. You and others can help by reporting excessive vendor sales threads if you spot them.
It is a problem at times that some vendors have overwhelmed sub-sections with sale threads and a lot of them just bump sales threads without much interaction with site users. That seems to be more of a problem as vendors try to take advantage of the holiday season to increase their sales.
As a measure to protect generational discussion sections from being overwhelmed by commercial posts, we have rules limiting the number of sale threads a vendor can have on the first page of a two-day directory.
The limit in each of the generational sections is no more than one vendor sale thread on the first page of a two-day directory.
We also have set up sub-sections for vendor sales threads only. In those sections, there is no limit on the number of sales threads a vendor can post.
The feedback we have gotten from vendors is that they don't get any response from sale threads posted in the vendor only sales sub-sections.
They notice a difference in sales if they do not post in the generational discussion sections.
It's a balance we continue to monitor.
We want the vendors to get the exposure and sales volume they need to be there when site users need them for parts, services and problems that might arise. We don't want them to overwhelm the site and, in the process, create negative response from potential customers.
I just checked the C7 parts section and found 75 threads, not counting the sticky threads. Twenty-two of them were vendor threads. Three of the vendors were in conflict with the rules, having two sales threads on the first page of the two-day directory.
I deleted those excessive sales threads. That left 19 vendor sale threads out of 75 total non-sticky threads in the section – 25.3 percent. Before we imposed the rules limiting vendor sales threads, we’d sometimes see the percentage of vendor threads as high as 80 in sections with not much activity.
It’s not a perfect system, but I think it has improved. You and others can help by reporting excessive vendor sales threads if you spot them.