Would any of you . . .

[Nick]

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Find a use for a new Classfieds section to sell boats?

It would be easier to use than the old one, with the ability to easily add up to ten photos. It would also be self-maintaining - no-one is removing their ads from the current system.

It would be widely publicised throughout the site and elsewhere and you could link to your ad in your forum posts here or elsewhere.

I envisage three levels of subscription:

a) Free - limited to one photo, 100 words and a month

b) One month - fully featured, but expiring after a month - £10

c) Listed until sold - £25

Payment would be by PayPal. If I get suitable feedback I will go ahead. Basicly I need four advertisers to cover the cost of the script.

[Silkie]

I would certainly use the free option at least. The problem with getting people to pay is that they have to be convinced there is enough boat-buying traffic to be worth the money. And there are quite a few other free sites out there too.

[Nick]

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Problem is a free ad with one photo and 100 words that is only up for a month isn't going to sell a boat, is it? And what would be my incentive to promote this futile service?

But because it is free people would happily clog up the cybersphere with it.

10 pix, unlimited description and unlimited time on a site that gets a third of a million visitors a year seems like good value to me for £25, but unless 4 people say they will take out an advert I am not going to do it.

I think it is called market research . . .

[Booby Trapper]

I would certainly consider that good value assuming there is no commision to pay once sold. I would take up your offer as I am intending to put Boobytrapper up for sale but not until later this year.

[Nick]

Well, we are now a quarter of the way there . . .

There will certainly be no commission - the only thing I would ask is that people who use the site

a) Remove their advertisement promptly once the vessel is sold

b) Write a brief testimonial if it has sold through the site (optional)

[sahona]

I've voted yes, but I'm hoping to keep my health for a wee while yet, and this is my last boat....

[Nick]

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I'm going to go ahead and do this I think.

I think just two pricing options:

FREE - 3 months, one photograph, 100 words

£20 - 3 months, up to ten photographs, loadsa words

Need to keep it to three months because then the ads will self-delete - trouble with the old free system (which is pretty clunky anyway) is that no-one ever deletes their ads.

It will look something like this but with BM wrapping, no power boats and no ZIP codes and similar of course . . .



(Clicking a wee image replaces the big one - but not here of course, it's only a screendump)

Database is searchable by length and/or price.

Note email link straight to owner.

I also think it should be limited to boats owned by UK residents or based in the UK.

Any comments? Didn't get a lot of feedback last time.