Adverts.ie and lowball offers.

HDMI

Sometimes adverts.ie has me wanting to pull my hair out. I got an offer of 400 euro on my Ball watch that I have for sale and the guy justifies it by saying he saw them on a website and his offer is reasonable. He also states that all watches other than Rolex lose 50% of their value in the first year, oddly those same words were used previously on a different advert by the person who first commented on my advert, possibly both user names are owned by the same person.

The worst thing is that by saying an unnamed website has them at a lower price totally spoils my advert.

I am open to offers and don't think my asking price is 275 above what he has stated it is worth.

Richard

PirateShampoo

Tell him to buy it from the website and ignore him until he makes a real offer, people seem to think Adverts is a reverse auction site.

TomCo

Adverts is a cesspool. Moving from individual 'For Sale' forums to a dedicated site ruined the community.

Wibbs

TomCo wrote: »

Adverts is a cesspool. Moving from individual 'For Sale' forums to a dedicated site ruined the community.

+1000. Even with the best will in the world of those working at making Adverts run well(and they do really work at making it better), opening it up to Mr and Mrs dribbling textspk Slackjaw did it no favours. It's generally grand for IT/phones stuff where values are kinda known, but IMHO the general Irish public have eff all clue about much beyond that area. Never mind how so damn many are hard of reading.

Seller

"Item x for 500 euro. NO swaps. NO lowball offers"

Dribbling windowlicker 1st reply

"Eh buuud, would ye be interested in swapping for me old xbox games?"

Dribbling windowlicker 2nd reply

"Ahh g'wan, 50 notes. Last offer".

Great idea that met the lower end of the horsetrading Irish public.

TBH I regret not pushing harder at the time to look for a special case for this forum, like the cycling forum got and have a direct for sale thread here.

Eoin

Wibbs, is that something that even needs to be decided by higher ups? There's other forums with their own for sale/swap thread too (vaping forum springs to mind).

unkel

HDMI wrote: »

Sometimes adverts.ie has me wanting to pull my hair out.

Only sometimes?

It's a pain in the hole, but it's free and it does get things sold. I have to keep telling myself not to get wound up by those offers of swap for a half eaten packet of crisps, low ball offers and worst of all, offers made that you then accept from people who you never hear from again :rolleyes:

I have to keep telling myself not to get wound up, but it's not working

sparrowcar

I look at adverts.ie a bit like a colonoscopy. It's a uncomfortable, irritating and unpleasant but it gets rid of sh!t.

I still think it should be linked to credit/debit cards to get rid of the muppets.

Dublinstiofán

I have one solution to this

If you could set your user options to ignore comments from people with under say 10 positive feedback it would eliminate the comments from these messers.

From what I've noticed the slack jaw yokels normally populate the 0-10 feedback mark and a little pop up box stating:

"Sorry this user has selected not to accept comments/offers from users with under 'X' feedback, keep working on your feedback score in order to purchase from this user"

Would solve a lot of problems.

Deep Thought

Agree with Sparrowcar on this.

I don't like it , but it serves a purpose.

We dont have enough traffic on our little forum to buy and sell between us all the time(unlike for example TZ or WUS)

To sell watches you really need to do it on a dedicated forum where people know your product and the true value and really appreciate it.

Fries-With-That

Dublinstiofán wrote: »

I have one solution to this

If you could set your user options to ignore comments from people with under say 10 positive feedback it would eliminate the comments from these messers.

From what I've noticed the slack jaw yokels normally populate the 0-10 feedback mark and a little pop up box stating:

"Sorry this user has selected not to accept comments/offers from users with under 'X' feedback, keep working on your feedback score in order to purchase from this user"

Would solve a lot of problems.

+1 Nice idea.

Wibbs

Eoin wrote: »

Wibbs, is that something that even needs to be decided by higher ups? There's other forums with their own for sale/swap thread too (vaping forum springs to mind).

Yep, but they got a dispensation at the time. That was decided higher up the chain. The decision wasn't down to the local mods, though locals would have made their case for such a sales thread. TBH I can't even recall what the whys and wherefores were, but what DT says below would have impacted it anyway.

Deep Thought wrote: »

We dont have enough traffic on our little forum to buy and sell between us all the time(unlike for example TZ or WUS)

TBH if I was selling a watch, I doubt I'd try to sell it here in Ireland(outside folks on this forum). I'd probably offload it on the MWR forum. WUS seems much more US based, or feels that way to me and I'm not long enough on TZ to know the score there.

the_syco

Dublinstiofán wrote: »

If you could set your user options to ignore comments from people with under say 10 positive feedback it would eliminate the comments from these messers.

Only to look at their feedback, and find out that they sold the same pair of sunglasses to two people 15 times, ala ebay.

Wibbs wrote: »

Yep, but they got a dispensation at the time.

It really depends how much of a problem it'd cause Adverts.

Selling guns; do so in-forum.
Selling airsoft guns; do so in-forum.
Selling tobacco; not allowed.
Selling e-cigs; do so in-forum.
Selling watches; totally allowed, do so in Adverts.

Wibbs

the_syco wrote: »

It really depends how much of a problem it'd cause Adverts.

Selling guns; do so in-forum.
Selling airsoft guns; do so in-forum.
Selling tobacco; not allowed.
Selling e-cigs; do so in-forum.
Selling watches; totally allowed, do so in Adverts.

True TS, though the Cycling forum folks have their own sub forum and bikes and such would be well enough represented on Adverts. Down to individual forums I suppose. I'd imagine weight of numbers locally would have an effect too. So a forum with a long standing pre-existing sales thread/forum might get ticked off if "forced" to use adverts. The compromise here of ads on Adverts, with a thread with the sales links kinda covers both bases for a low enough traffic forum.

MiCr0

i think its a problem with adverts.ie rather than a problem with the watch section in general.
I'd much rather see a proper fix, than just allowing sub-sections to be moved back here.

I think something more structured in the comments boxes would help, allowing you to only post some options and to block everything else.
Also, to hide any offers below your pre-agreed minimum.

Eoin

Deep Thought wrote: »

We dont have enough traffic on our little forum to buy and sell between us all the time(unlike for example TZ or WUS)

To sell watches you really need to do it on a dedicated forum where people know your product and the true value and really appreciate it.

I see your point, but it'd just be nice to have the choice of posting here that you're considering selling or swapping a watch and then someone can PM you for a chat if they want, rather than being forced to use adverts.

MiCr0 wrote:

i think its a problem with adverts.ie rather than a problem with the watch section in general.

Most definitely a site-wide issue, rather than just the watch section (now with an unnecessary sub-category for watch type).

Deep Thought

Eoin wrote: »

I see your point, but it'd just be nice to have the choice of posting here that you're considering selling or swapping a watch and then someone can PM you for a chat if they want, rather than being forced to use adverts.

Totally Agree....How would we make this happen or is it a breach of the regs ?

Its great to see posts of selling cracking watches, but that you have to embarrass yourself by putting them on adverts first is a bit unfair

Eoin

It's bureaucracy gone mad if it's not allowed, especially considering how separate the 2 sites have become.

quadrifoglio verde

When Im buying on adverts, ill always start off offering 20% less than asking, its in my nature to haggle.
With that in mind however, if its underpriced, I'm happy to offer asking.
When I'm selling on adverts, I add a nice premium above what I'm willing to sell it for, but at the same time low enough so that i haven't priced myself out of the target audience. At least that way if i get an offer above what I'm willing to sell for, its happy days for both me and the buyer, as he's thinking he's got himself a bargain.

Wibbs, would it be possible to set up a private forum on here like libertoire, with access by mod-invite only? At the same time, the sticky gives the forum readers info on watches for sale.

mikom

My rule................ I buy only through Adverts, never sell.
Some great deals to be had when even my "skinflint" offer looks great compared to what the rest of chancers/apes/mongos are offering.

Wibbs

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

When Im buying on adverts, ill always start off offering 20% less than asking, its in my nature to haggle..

Oh sure, but there's a difference between haggling and utterly retarded offers. With some I've seen one does wonder if they're on day release.

Wibbs, would it be possible to set up a private forum on here like libertoire, with access by mod-invite only? At the same time, the sticky gives the forum readers info on watches for sale

If there was much higher traffic here I'd say yes it's worth looking at, but it's kinda overkill for such a small forum, if you know what I mean QV. As it is how many links to adverts watch sales go up? One a week, if that? Compared to say the Cycling sales sub forum where it's more like an ad an hour. Joke is Adverts are losing way more potential revenue in there than they would if the few souls around here sold more directly on thread.

I think for such a niche forum the option to direct sell is the best compromise I reckon. If adverts get the hump over that then cool post the ad, but allow direct selling here. Then again there is already the PM function...

HDMI

Lowball offers are somewhat expected when selling a watch but somehow it seems more nasty on adverts, if I get low offers on watchuseek I just politely decline. My main gripe with adverts is users with multiple accounts and replying to your advert from each account, just mentioning a random website that supposedly sells a watch at a silly low price but never naming the website does real harm to your advert and to any other prospective buyers. I bet there are also sellers who own second accounts and try to up their on adverts, it is just becoming a nasty experience for selling anything of value.

If you take a look at the guy who commented on mine you will see that his own adverts are priced high and then the first person who comments offers him 500 less than his asking and he accepts, his way of buying and selling is just nasty and not in the spirit of the adverts of old.

I plan to list the watch on watchuseek eventually but because of lack of insurance when sending watches abroad I would have preferred to sell it locally. I did consider reducing the price to my bottom line and ignoring all lower offers but that then alienates the guys who prefer the little haggle to get some savings.

HDMI

sparrowcar wrote: »

I look at adverts.ie a bit like a colonoscopy. It's a uncomfortable, irritating and unpleasant but it gets rid of sh!t.

I still think it should be linked to credit/debit cards to get rid of the muppets.

Lately it is only for selling sh!t, selling anything of value is starting to be pointless.

Wibbs

I'd reckon it's both a demographic and cultural thing with certain items, particularly "luxury" type items. We have a small population and have had for a long time and for much of the 20th century few enough people would have had extra cash to spare on such items, so they never had much of a penetration into the Irish market or psyche. With the result that value/worth was dictated by a pricetag rather than knowledge of an item. Aficionados of any hue were rare enough.

Then came the "boom". Then the pricetag and fancy front of shops was the draw. They'd do the decision making for you kinda thing and "secondhand" was out for the most part, reinvention of the authentic go getting self required new. Now we have today where outside of IT and tech type stuff on Adverts where value is broadly known, you're usually on a hiding to nothing. Simply put you're generally dealing with - and I really don't want to come across too snooty here - an "ignorant" audience. Add in necks as hard as a jockeys bollocks and you get the retarded lowball offers and dumb as rocks questions.

This kinda thing was sorta summed up for me a few years back when I was having a ciggie in a pub smoking area. An indirect acquaintance, a woman of overly polished mien, hair, background and vowels engaged me in conversation and asked "I believe you know about watches don't you?" When I replied in the general affirmative her retort was "Oh it's just I'm looking for a Whoer for my BF(she said BF)". To which my response was "he's gonna think you're the best GF ever(I said GF)".

Being a WIS I steered her to an IWC. I figured that quality would go up and pronunciation would no longer be difficult or potentially embarrassing.

quadrifoglio verde

Another item that doesn't get low ball offers is second hand car parts. They know what they'll buy on adverts is cheaper than what they'll pay in the local scrap yard, so you don't get ridiculous offers.
With watches, its seen as a luxury item, whereas a back box or steering rack are seen as essentials by the buyer. As its an essential they'll offer what your asking, or very close to what you're asking. with watches, because its a luxury good (a cheap argos watch tells the time after all), they'll think that you're desperate and will offer a significant chunk less than your asking, in the hope that you are desperate and that they can grab a bargain.

the_syco

quadrifoglio verde wrote: »

they'll think that you're desperate and will offer a significant chunk less than your asking, in the hope that you are desperate and that they can grab a bargain.

As well as that, I actually think that some people prefer to lie about how much they really spent (from their spouses), to be admired for getting a bargain. Then their friends would throw in low-ball offers to a watch they like the look of.

But I'm guilty of low-balling myself (to an extent), as mainly as most of the time, I get the (tech) item I low-balled.

HDMI

the_syco wrote: »

But I'm guilty of low-balling myself (to an extent), as mainly as most of the time, I get the (tech) item I low-balled.

Sure we all love a bargain and will try get the best deal possible, no harm offering a low offer, but when buyers start stating a pile of ignorant crap which they believe to be true to justify their silly offer is what annoys me.

the_syco

HDMI wrote: »

Sure we all love a bargain and will try get the best deal possible, no harm offering a low offer, but when buyers start stating a pile of ignorant crap which they believe to be true to justify their silly offer is what annoys me.

I disagree. I found that a watch from a blog that I wrote shows you can buy this watch for only $20 in a shop deep in the Kerry mountains[/sarcasm]

Yup, know exactly what you mean

Eoin

There's now a small "success fee" being introduced on adverts.ie for all completed sales over quid 30. I can see a lot of listings being withdrawn instead of being marked as sold!

It's still a lot cheaper than eBay to use, but certainly any sense of it being a "community" is long gone IMO, but I suppose that the original classified forums were not sustainable boards.ie grew so much.

beauf

TomCo wrote: »

Adverts is a cesspool. Moving from individual 'For Sale' forums to a dedicated site ruined the community.

+1000 coun't agree more.

Eoin wrote: »

There's now a small "success fee" being introduced on adverts.ie for all completed sales over quid 30. I can see a lot of listings being withdrawn instead of being marked as sold!....

For sure. Adverts has been dysfunctional for quite a while. Not just for watches. For everything.

unkel

Eoin wrote: »

There's now a small "success fee" being introduced on adverts.ie

Here's the announcement and discussion thread about that here. Terrible decision, probably the death knell of adverts.ie

Deep Thought

unkel wrote: »

Here's the announcement and discussion thread about that here. Terrible decision, probably the death knell of adverts.ie

I wont be putting up anything beyond €30 anymore

Its making a better case for us in this forum to begin to allow us a For Sale / Trade Thread without the precursor of it being on adverts 1st

I wont go through all that crap and then be charged a fee, when I can do it on TZ, or WUS or MWR or the plethora of forums out there for free.

Wibbs

To be fair it's by some distance cheaper than an ebay listing and if I had to choose between the two I'd go local. I don't think it'll kill adverts overall, if anything it may keep it afloat. I doubt this is greed by management, more like the paid for commercial level adverts are too few/have dropped off/not enough to sustain the site.

However I think it does have the danger of killing the specialist niches like watches and such. Psychologically the idea of fees even tiny ones will work to make people raise prices and overcompensate. We've seen this on ebay where bargains are a lot harder to find and as rare as unicorns among regular bay dealer types. On the watch front I have consistently found that sale forum prices tend to be well under the average ebay price*





*though somewhere like WUS can sometimes go the other way. I'd reckon it's down to size. WUS is great, but it's ginormous and less of a personal community so the "recommended retail" vibe is more in evidence than say on a forum like MWR where it's a small community of focused like minded nutters who you recognise.

emo72

can we not have our own little trade forum here?

Eoin

Even a stickied thread, or change to the rules of the current FS thread, would be enough IMO.

Post the details, a price and/or trade options. Everything else can be done by PM.

Wibbs

Can't promise anything but I'll look into it guys.

Zagato

I would definitely be in favour of a private subforum. I'm not saying that a lot of watches would be sold on it, but I'm sure people would put watches they are flipping up here a couple of days in advance, in case anyone was interested. Wouldn't be the busiest, but wouldn't require a lot of moderation I'd imagine.

Wibbs

The way I'd be thinking it Zed is to keep it public and as a new thread replacing the current one, but "restricted" to regular folks here. You wouldn't need a 100 posts or anything, but no dealers, part time or otherwise. They'd be nuked on sight. I think the numbers here would be just too small for a private forum, plus it adds another layer of hassle to set up.

I'd boil it down to this: New thread. Allow direct buying and selling here in the forum(and a link to Adverts.ie if you so desire). No haggling on thread, take it to PM. HOLD/SOLD notice when deal goes through. No dealers. No one post wonders. Spammers would be taken out the back and shot on general principle.

It goes without saying that if we do get the go ahead we'll be looking for your advice and suggestions to better the experience.

Homer

Taking out the back and shooting you say.. I'll get my shotgun

Wibbs

Was just having a very brief oul trawl through Adverts.ie's watch section. The Irish marketplace is really not a great one for selling from what I can see. I saw three vintage pieces that you could flip on the bay for double the price the sellers have come down to. If not more in one case. If I wasn't currently financially embarrassed, near mortified I'd be jumping on them as "bargains", daily wearers and potential investment pieces. Mad Ted.

stanley1

TZ, or WUS or MWR, saw these mentioned but what exactly are these sites, sorry for my ignorance but i have only be been using adverts.ie.

Wibbs

Oops

TZ = http://www.timezone.com
WUS = http://forums.watchuseek.com/forum.php
MWR(military watch forum) = http://www.mwrforum.net/forums/index.php

Hope that helps ya S.

Eoin

I think this is the TZ that people refer to: forum.tz-uk.com

Deep Thought

Eoin wrote: »

I think this is the TZ that people refer to: forum.tz-uk.com

Aye...tis that...

Wibbs

In my defence Timezone also has a sales forum. slinks off...

HDMI

Over a week waiting on a deal on the watch to finalise due to misplaced trade watch, bank transfer was due today from the buyer, watch all boxed up ready to go and the buyer flakes. The buyer had a good rating and was very genuine, we spoke on the phone and kept in touch through calls and texts.

I have not bothered even bumping my ad on watchuseek so I could have missed a sale there, and deal agreed marked on adverts.

Adverts I hate your f...... guts :mad::mad::mad:

Wibbs

Jesus. That's a right pain HDMI.

BTW folks this idea of selling direct on a thread here is still in play. Details to follow soon enough I reckon.

beauf

Thats how adverts started...selling from within Boards.

Deep Thought

Wibbs wrote: »

In my defence Timezone also has a sales forum. slinks off...

It does...and in the early days I got mixed up...between the sites, not personally...

Skill Magill

HDMI wrote: »

Over a week waiting on a deal on the watch to finalise due to misplaced trade watch, bank transfer was due today from the buyer, watch all boxed up ready to go and the buyer flakes. The buyer had a good rating and was very genuine, we spoke on the phone and kept in touch through calls and texts.

I have not bothered even bumping my ad on watchuseek so I could have missed a sale there, and deal agreed marked on adverts.

Adverts I hate your f...... guts :mad::mad::mad:

I was watching this and salivating over the watch! So I was thinking why is he flipping such a watch? It has tritium tubes and a date bubble, two absolute requirements in my quest for an ultimate watch. Does it wear small? I was tempted...

HDMI

Skill Magill wrote: »

I was watching this and salivating over the watch! So I was thinking why is he flipping such a watch? It has tritium tubes and a date bubble, two absolute requirements in my quest for an ultimate watch. Does it wear small? I was tempted...

The watch was a real beauty but at 40mm I found it a little small. My watch budget is tight and I didn't like the idea of my most expensive watch spending most of its time sitting in a watch box. Maybe in the future I will pick up one if their larger models.

I would have preferred to sell it locally and I even dropped the price lower on the phone. Sometimes being nice ends up biting you in the ass and I won't be too quick to make the same mistake again. The watch is now with its new owner in Canada, and I ended up with a couple of nice watches and some cash so I ended up with a better deal in the long run. The first of the two watches came and it is a Hamilton Khaki 42mm, the other is a Steinhart Marine Chronometer II 44mm and hopefully it will be here Wednesday.

Skill Magill

I'm comparing it to the gsar maraton, which for about the same price doesn't have the magnification bubble. What was it like in the dark? My own marathon is the reason why I love triium, but not necesserily the watch