Marketplace changes…POST FEEDBACK!

[Antoine]

What you guys think about the following changes to improve the shopping experience for you the member as well as increase sales for all our highly valued Authorized Vendors and Approved Merchant Members.

- Organizing the Main AV/AMM forum with sub-forums for each major aftermarket part category...Like so:

Sub-Forums...

GI (Gauging Interest)

Interior

Exterior

Engine / Powertrain

Electronics/ Gauges

Suspension / Rims / Tires

Main Forum...

Everything Else

- Moving the AV/AMM forum to the top of the Main forum index page

- Have a tiny banner ad space available at the top of the forum for advertising specials, those banners take the shopper directly to the advertised special in the AMM/AV Forum

I would like feedback from the members...Because you are also the customers! Please post your input on making our AV/AMM Marketplace easier to navigate and shop from...Let’s show more support for our AVs and AMMs. Thank you!

* I personally think these are all great ideas (some of these ideas came from the vendors themselves). The only one that may take time is implementing AD space that would link directly to AV/AMM specials.

WARNING: Any negative/flame/troll/off-topic posts will be deleted on site!

[MSP Kirk]

Sounds cool.

[Notorious_V.I.C]

Damn, I always thought "GI" meant; Gaining Interest

[CTt3P5]

Sounds like a good idea to me

[evolv]

I like it....

[SuperProtege5]

I'd give you three thumbs up if I had them. This is a super idea and hope to see it come to life soon. :)

[vcinsanity1523]

i am game for the changes

[NoRotor,NoMotor]

Damn, I always thought "GI" meant; Gaining Interest

i thought it was "guaging interest"

[Antoine]

GI can stand for "Group Interest" or "Gauging Interest" ;)

[TurfBurn]

Thumbs up :)

[Rickman]

GI stands for Gauging Interest...

Anyhow the new plan works for me. I've been posting in the car-specific marketplaces lately.

[CrazyCaker]

Sounds like a good idea.

[Shane5425]

sounds like a good idea.. lets see how well it turns out..

[nate0123]

yea ... gauging interest

(gb is for group buy)

group interest doesn't even make sense

[Hughes412]

I guess it could help us find things faster. Like I'm waiting on the new pulley being made by Mental Addiction. With this kind of sub forums I would know where to go and look!

[julius77]

good idea, sounds organized....

[UnNaturalinc]

Cool.... the EVO board I'm on does something like this also.

:thumbs-up:

[Earful]

"Gauging Interest"....and the changes would be welcome...

[RaiderMP5]

I love the changes.

[Crazee D]

works for me!

[Antoine]

Nice to see positive feedback...I'll be taking care of this very soon...I'll keep you guys posted!

Input/feedback/comments still welcome! :D

[RaiderMP5]

How about a popup when creating a FS thread that asks "do you have proper pics??????" in it. Might help the mods out.

[Maxx Mazda]

I personally, don't think it's a good idea. I'm the type of shopper that impulse buys, instead of looking for somethign specific. So if alot of parts and stuff are put out in front of me on one easy to read page, it makes things easier for me, and for other "customers" like me, the AMM / AV's might gain more product sales that way.

[nate0123]

that's a good point Maxx...

[Kansei]

I know there are some marketplace-specific vbulletin plugins that might help out.

I think instead of sectioning everything off, maybe implementing tagging and then you can browse by tags? It's kinda getting away from the forum system of doing things but I think they would work well together.

[Antoine]

I personally, don't think it's a good idea. I'm the type of shopper that impulse buys, instead of looking for somethign specific. So if alot of parts and stuff are put out in front of me on one easy to read page, it makes things easier for me, and for other "customers" like me, the AMM / AV's might gain more product sales that way.

That's how it is now and it seems based on most of the posts in this thread...People are up for trying the system outlined in my original post.

[atticus1398]

Not to steal anyones format, but I really like the way these guys have their vendors set up near the bottom:
http://www.srtforums.com/forums/

[Antoine]

Not to steal anyones format, but I really like the way these guys have their vendors set up near the bottom:
http://www.srtforums.com/forums/

To bad the site keeps crapping out on me...I can't even view the forum page...? You might want to post a text version of the layout ;)

[Kansei]

To bad the site keeps crapping out on me...I can't even view the forum page...? You might want to post a text version of the layout ;)

It kinda looks like what we have now.. except that that forum main page is WAAAY too busy with graphics and crap. Oh and they have the vendors way at the bottom so that even at 2048x1536 I have to scroll down forever to see it.

[Antoine]

It kinda looks like what we have now.. except that that forum main page is WAAAY too busy with graphics and crap. Oh and they have the vendors way at the bottom so that even at 2048x1536 I have to scroll down forever to see it.

Thanks for the recap...Well, I can tell you that's NOT what I had in mind. ;)

The whole point is that it makes it easier to shop and BUY the parts you WANT or easily checkout what's on the market...All the while supporting our AVs and AMMs who not only help fund the site but also...ARE our aftermarket!

[Kansei]

Thanks for the recap...Well, I can tell you that's NOT what I had in mind. ;)

The whole point is that it makes it easier to shop and BUY the parts you WANT or easily checkout what's on the market...All the while supporting our AVs and AMMs who not only help fund the site but also...ARE our aftermarket!

Yeah definitely. Keep them up near the top of the page for sure. I think if anything, the car-specific for sale forums that no one really sees should be a part of the marketplace AND their respective model's forum, if that is at all possible; a symbolic link if you will. That way, the general for sale forum can be specifically for items that are generic or non-automotive.

Yeah this forum is really active but I see a lot of duplicate forums. It's a bit off-topic since it isn't marketplace-specific but with the how-to forum, 90+% of the articles are 3rd-gen protege specific. Again, maybe the how-to forum should just have subforums for each protege generation and then all the other mazda models, and have symbolic links so that they also appear to be in the respective model's forum so that searches work better.

That probably didn't come out right because I'm really freakin tired right now.

[lokalmotive]

It's got my vote.

[Antoine]

Self-Reminder (bump) I will get to this ASAP!

[nate0123]

don't forget to change it to "Gauging Interest"

[/broken record]

[justanotheradikt]

i dont really like the idea of moving AV/AMM forum to the top of the page...i think it should still be in market place...seems like a lot of people wont see it there...but thats just me:)

[Antoine]

I'm trying things out...nothing is final yet...

[atticus1398]

It kinda looks like what we have now.. except that that forum main page is WAAAY too busy with graphics and crap. Oh and they have the vendors way at the bottom so that even at 2048x1536 I have to scroll down forever to see it.


seriously, like we have that many vendors. lol

i said the bottom of the page is where the vendors are. they have a nice little banner for each vendor. its not like we can get crazy with the layout, theres only so much you can do.

[Antoine]

I'm going to start moving active AV threads today...;)