Facebook horse for sale sites

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teasle

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Seem to have lots of horses for sale , and in your local area. Just wondering how these are affecting sites like horsemart? Looking at cobs, the facebook sites have more horses and a quick and easy way to interact with the sellers.Looking at cobs in the SE on horsemart, there is not so much choice.
 
There are lots of genuine ads on facebook, and some really good bargains with scopes of talent! It is quick, instant and reaches many people through sharing, comments etc. I guess an ad can get more exposure and more response in a shorter time period through FB.

However, I also see people playing 'dealer' or 'breeder' looking for a quick buck, with badly bred examples everywhere. I think there a lot more people on facebook who are not willing to pay for a proper ad, as they want to sell as quickly as possible. I am sure that some will use the likes of horse mart too, but I think there are more bad examples on FB. Although all FB pages will have 'admin' I wonder what their powers are compared to that of Horsemart regulations and similar sites. I also think you get a lot more time wasters making enquiries too, just because it pops up on their news feed and it is easy to drop a message or comment!

I've no idea how it is affecting them in terms of adverts or profit, but can imagine you would find more available through FB than you would through a specific website. Doesn't mean they are all good quality horses and ads though!
 
I found on facebook people only seem interested in horses that are under £1000. If I sell my horse in the spring I will use facebook but I will also pay for an advert as I think you get more window shoppers on facebook
 
I run a specialist horse advertising site. Apparently I'm not allowed to name it, or I will get a warning.

We have been running for ten years, and helped loads of difficult horses find homes. But with the rise of Facebook, our advert numbers on the site have dropped dramatically. And I don't know that we will be around for another ten years, unless something changes.

Which is odd, as I know, as a small stud that sells ponies, that adverts on Facebook very rarely bring us any business at all! It is adverts on proper advertising sites that bring our best enquiries. So I don't quite understand how that works!

Facebook I can understand is free, and you can connect to loads of horses with very little hassle. But equally, there's not much in the way of a search facility to narrow it down, and if pages are busy the adverts drop down very fast.

I'm not sure what the future holds for advertising sites generally - will they manage to hold out against facebook? If other sites are like ours, they will likely be hit hard, and could well go out of business. Seems a shame that the big corporations knock the smaller local businesses out of action.
 
All my horses have come from FB, it wasn't the intention though. We were looking at numerous specialist sales sites too. I found it difficult to keep track on FB so opted for a wanted ad on a group that was solely for heavy horses . I had lost of irrelevant horses listed on my post even though I had been specific in what I wanted. I went to see the ones listed on my ad who interested me and bought my boys (travelled from Surrey to Wales to get them though). One particular website I was checking frequently; I noticed the number of adverts declined dramatically in the time I was looking.
 
The sale sites still have their place. If i was a high spec rider looking a horse to match i wouldn't be looking on facebook.
 
The last time I paid for advertising was several years ago, the pony was a quality one and although not cheap was not over priced. I tried a couple of sites and the one I got most response from was H&H, PC classified, a general web site not much response.
I have recently advertised a Highland pony on Facebook, and have had plenty of responses but you can not search FB pages really well , lots of messages go to others and loads of people who advertise on there expect you to be physic, no area and no phone number. The great thing about FB is the ability to make an album of pictures and ad to them. I think the established web sites are missing a trick because if they gave their advertisers a page they could edit and add to, plus add a really good search facility it would be more attractive. Most websites make their money from targeted advertising traffic rather than the add themselves. I am a great fan of Preloved but wish it had a better search facility, I have bought three ponies off there.
 
I'm a member of a few facebook groups for this sort of thing, mainly to advertise my riding club's events and it does seem to be the lower end of the market that is targeted on them. In fact I despair of some of the ads obviously placed by teenagers either wanting a superstar for £500, or a "fast, sharp horse because I want to jump" or selling 4yr old stallions as bombproof happy hackers or offering 21yr olds on loan because they can't jump 1.10 any more, only 90cms and no more than 3 times a week.

I'm always tempted to comment but have to stop my fingers or I'd probably say something that gets me into trouble.
 
My theory on fb ads = either a) absolute dross that should be PTS or b) bargain of a lifetime being sold by genuine people who over-horses themselves.

Am weary of "dealers" (trans - bought job lot of badly shaped b&w misfits) selling them to hapless novices. Hun. X
 
WindyStacks said:
My theory on fb ads = either a) absolute dross that should be PTS or b) bargain of a lifetime being sold by genuine people who over-horses themselves.
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THIS!!!

I bought my youngster from a FB, best buy, bargain horse who is turning out to be a diamond and worth far more than I paid for her.

Equally, I am looking for a horse for a friend, we have seen some rubbish from FB add's, the best 1 had a few decent sized but not obvious with a winter coat, sarcoids - no mention in the ad, no mention of them by the 'dealer' (I use the term dealer loosely as that implies she has half an idea about selling a horse!) current owner and ex owner contacted via Facebook for the history of the horse, then when we saw the sarcoids and decided, even at a good price it wasn't worth the risk, I got a load of stroppy condescending messages from the current owner!
 
Funny enough am viewing one tomorrow via facebook all thing horsey and another next week via horse hunter. My friend bought a cracking horse via facebook last year who hasn't put a hoof wrong and was very cheap.
 
I sold my horse through FB this year using horses for sale pages. Had a lot of interest but 80% of people were asking to loan him or loan with view to buy which was frustrating as my ad clearly said FOR SALE. I also had him advertised on a scottish horse sales website for a very reasonable price and I did have a couple of enquiries but a lot of fakers contacting me wanting to involve me in money laundering basically! I think FB is good to find horses for sale locally and through word of mouth which can sometimes be the best if you dont have a big budget.
 
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