First one, I’ve seen the idea here but not quite the way I’d do it. BST’s for forums with items at very different price points really do benefit, imo, from seperate BST’s. However, instead of getting too complex, I’d just do a second subforum selection once you get past the BST header on the mainpage. The two you could choose would simply be 1 for over $100 items and another for under, labeled as such. It would be difficult for people to pick the wrong one in this configuration because they’d have to actually choose the incorrect one despite the label actually being the link…and since there are only two, it would be easier to moderate if there were mistakes. But I think people would pick up on it quick and it is vastly easier to find the type of things I’m looking for this way. It also concentrates buyers around the type of yoyo’s they’re seeking rather than having to wade through everything and likely missing a lot of potential throws they’d have liked.
I’ve seen this work very well…and I wouldn’t have written this if I didn’t think there was kind of an issue now. It really comes down to having to click every single ad because each one claims all sorts of brands in the titles, only to find that it’s usually not what you were looking for at all.
Second one is much easier. PLEASE make it a rule that an asking price must be present. Even if the person still wants offers it is so much better for the buyer to know what they’re dealing with before messaging the seller, and this discourages people from putting up ads for yoyos they’re not really wanting to sell (which is obviously not a good thing). It also has a passive effect of making the BST a reference for past sale prices and helps to establish market value for future sales of similar items.
I really think there should always be an asking price, too. I mostly just buy off of the B/S/T, but eventually I may want to start trading. But anyway, when people say offer I really don’t know what to offer. And if it was for trading, I think it may give me a better idea of what to offer in a trade if they had prices.
I’d probably seperate it by asking price. This way the seller can easily identify which subforum they need to post in, and buyers will know exactly what to expect when they get there.
I think the biggest reason you wouldn’t do this is because some people might have to make 2 ads…but I’d actually rather do that and have felt like it was successful in the past. It keeps people from glossing over my items since they only see the ones they want to see, and they see fewer in total. A big problem with a lot of BST ads around here is just that they’re so massive it’s difficult to make sense of them. This would help.
Eh, I don’t really like the idea of the separated by price thing. I was selling some cheaper plastics, some mid range plastics/metals, and some highend metals on in the same b/s/t. Having to post everything in different subforums, and bump multiple threads would get a bit annoying I think. How the system is now works. It doesn’t take but a few seconds really to scroll through someone’s b/s/t. plus if you’re looking for something specific, the search bar is there.
I agree from a buyer’s standpoint on the pricing thing, but disagree from a seller’s. Just as an example, I had a modded FHZ that was mint aside from the modding, and I had no idea how much something like that would sell for. While it makes things smoother to see a set price, it can be difficult for the seller sometimes.
I just disagree on both accounts. You should know what you want out of an item. And even if you don’t, you place an asking price on it that would satisfy you and then say “OBO” to keep the offers coming. Make the price as high as you want and then work from there. This is way better than going through entire ads with stuff like “this is going to be hard to get” and a bunch of nonsense.
As for different subforums…there’s 2 in this scenario. You have 2 ads instead of one. Not really a major inconvenience in the scheme of things. The advantage of being able to search by price, and advertise by price, seems much more valuable than that is a disadvantage. Plus, you’ll have to bump your two ads half as often as you would otherwise.
I also don’t really think the BST works in the sense that “works” means “is a good way to do it”. Every time I want to shop I just click every single ad because each one promises like 15 different things and I have no idea what’s going to be in there. If you say “CLYW” I don’t know if it’s a beat Campfire or a first run Peak. And when I get in there, I very often don’t even know what people want for their items. It’s just inefficient.
well I wouldn’t say very often… most of the time, atleast when I’m looking, sellers have a wanted section, and prices on most their yoyos. They’ll generally leave it a bit open with what they would trade.
I dunno, I like to go by if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it philosophy. The b/s/t has been functioning fine for some time how it is, I don’t really see any need to remodel the whole thing.
That’s fine if it isn’t broke. But this is site improvements. We can’t just say no to everything in here simply because the site “works” on some level now.
I just don’t seem to be alone in thinking that the BST is a mess. There are a lot of suggestions in the subforum about it and usually at least one topic in General. Yes, it’s functional, but it’s also very annoying. At some point we might want to actually look at the possible advantages to doing it differently. Prices is one of those things that I just don’t see why we’re not doing already. It helps buyers and sellers, and it helps people in the future who want to look up old ads for a market price. Should be a no brainer.
Splitting the forum is a little tougher, but I’d look into it if possible. It works well other places and I don’t think the disadvantage that might occur with making 2 ads is really that terrible.
