Classifieds Volume Growth

[jmkatcher]

I just noticed that the classifieds have 990 total items, which among other things makes it darned difficult to review.

I've been watching them for many years now and while the number of active postings varies, it's usually been close to an order of magnitude less until very recently.

What's changed? The only thing I notice - anecdotally, as I don't have numbers - is that people seem quick to repost in order to bump themselves to the top. Is this out of control or am I missing something? I dearly love the mandolin, but it's not an order of magnitude more popular these days.

[Scott Tichenor]

Guessing nothing I say you're going to like. And by the way, the numbers have been close to this for a year. Might want to update your anecdotes. That was a joke.



I anticipate further growth in the future.

None of the typical go-to spots for stringed instrument Classifieds limit the number of ads. For years we engaged in doing so and paid a horrible price in the process--angry individuals, retailers, loss of traffic. Once we lifted the restriction the complaints ceased, traffic increased exponentially, and we expanded rapidly to this number and have been consistent since. In the world of eBay, GBase, Craig's List and Reverb where we have to compete, it's eat or be eaten. We were being eaten. Had we continued to limit the number of ads the Classifieds were headed towards irrelevant. I get it that a lot of people liked the days of a few ads but I can no longer operate this as a small niche site and provide the kind of service necessary to run a quality operation safe from fraud, and I'm pretty proud of the job we do. We have employees. It's expensive to run this site. I never discuss this or bring it up, but the Mandolin Cafe is what I do for a living so the steps I take are designed to serve the music community at large. I get it that some people don't like that and while you may not like the numbers, they're here to stay and will likely start increasing again soon with some changes right around the corner.

[nickster60]

I think I also preferred fewer ads. I understand the need to keep up with other venues. To be honest I dislike the hundreds of ads posted by some of the music stores. Just my opinion, but most of the online selling sites have changed from private sellers to venues for retail sales.

[Jstring]

I was also wondering about this... Used to be 200ish mandolins in the classifieds... Now it's often right around 400.

I like it, for a few reasons:
-I used to look at a lot of retail websites (like Greg Boyd's, Elderly's, etc)... But not nearly as much anymore- if something interesting pops up for sale in the mandolin world, it usually appears in the Cafe Classifieds. I don't know if Scott's trying to become the Amazon of the mandolin world, but it's convenient, useful and I wish him well.

-I feel like items sell faster in the Classifieds than ever before. More ads=more eyes=quicker sales, at least in my experience.

-More ads also provide more knowledge and choices, which is a good thing. I don't think the increased ads are overwhelming.

-It's always good to see your favorite site growing rather than dying!

[nickster60]

I guess it is the opposite for me there is just so much it takes too long. I can go to Boyd's website and be done rather quickly. I guess I am not a more is better kind of shopper. I understand all of the cross promoting and it is very effective. If you are a seasoned buyer you have your favorite shops and know where the good stuff is.