horsemart- not very happy

diggerbez

diggerbez

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i've put one of my horses up for sale...put him on horsemart which is what people on here seem to go on to look at horses...anyway, paid £27 for my advert which is highlighted in yellow...and its already on the 9th page when you browse through! thats rubbish!!! how on earth does anyone get anything sold on there!?! (i only did the advert on tuesday night about 9pm! :eek:) wish i'd spent a bit more on horsequest or horsedeals now :mad:
 
You can pay a small amount more for him to appear in the top bit, or on the front page - I'm sure I only paid about £35 total when I did that with my ad, although that was about a year ago. Ring them up and see if they can offer some advice.
How about showing us the link to your ad - obviously not for advertising purposes( ;-) ), but so horse hunters on here can offer help with your ad.....
 
Give them a call and talk to them, they are quite flexible. I paid £40 for a fancy ad, they took the payment and lost all the details! I emailed them over but they forgot the video link and the price! Still waiting! They are very helpful if you call them though. Good luck :)
 
When I look on horsemart I use the search facility rather than browse everything on there, so your horse should still pop up to any serious buyers, who I would think do the same :)
 
I noticed that when advertising my wagon last October, I didnt get one call but it was a bad time of the year to sell I suppose. I tried again to sell 2 weeks ago, ummed and ahhhed about using horsemart again but advertised it on a Thursday night purposely in a bid to be near the top for weekend viewers. I got 5 calls over the next 2 days and sold it to the 2nd viewer.
It is a pain but I do think its one of the most popular sites, hence so many people advertising on there and knocking you off top spot. I found a certain horsebox builder puts about 10 ads on at once so if you are just in front of him then you are knocked onto page 2 straight away.
I do think if people are seriously looking to buy, they will go further than the first page to look.
Horsedeals seems similar, loads advertising and your ad disapears pretty much overnight.
 
Well, the reason your ad will have moved down is because HM is a very popular site to advertise on and is one of the few you can actually do a specific search for (horsedeals being the other) Most people (me included) know the type looking of horse they are looking for so filter the search in that way in which case your horse ad will appear higher up. Saves trawling through pages and pages or having to select by type (ie 'allrounder', 'eventers' etc) where often you have to look at all sections as you don't know if the seller will have put the horse in the correct section.

I think the comment about it being lower value/quality horses is a load of rubbish too - there is a wide variety of horses on there from my experience, it is one of the most viewed sites and you get a long time for your ad. There may well be other sites about with very expensive/specific competition horses on but they are likely to get less general views and are not as easy to navigate round.

Decent horses will sell. We sold our horsebox within 2 weeks on HM. Just be patient.
 
I agree Ive just advertised a horse and paid the extra amount for it to be viewed on top of page. When I searched for the advert it was already on page 4, 30mins after putting it on line.

I emailed horsemart who replied saying they had refreshed the advert but it would move down quickly.

As to cheaper horses being on there Ive sold a JRN horse and as Ive got now a lovely little rc type that needs bringing on so you can get all types on the site.

Now just need to sell her!!
 
I always search on there so I wouldn't think it would make much difference where it is on the page. Does anyone actually trawl through all the ads? Surely that would take forever. I'm not interested in ponies so I don't look. Can't imagine many people do. Hopefully you'll get lots of calls at the weekend.

FWIW I hate horsequest. That website is rubbish and hard to use. I hardly ever even look on it! Love horsemart. Found both my horses on there!
 
I put my horse on there wednesday last week, by the next day she was on about the 13th page, there are just so many horses being sold at them moment. IMO horsemart is the best sale site to use due to the search facility etc and that's why it gets so many adverts. At the same time this means it gets a lot of traffic. My mare will be on goodness knows what page now but I got 4 or 5 calls yesturday, which is a week on.
However I understand that for the money you paid it's not at all good!
 
thanks for your replies folks...actually feel a bit better now :) i've always used horsequest and horse and hound to buy/sell horses so didn't really know what horsemart is like but nice to know that people use the search facility so fingers crossed i'll get some calls...he's relatively cheap so doesn't bother me if its people thinking its all cheap horses on there ;)
 
Puppy said:
When I look on horsemart I use the search facility rather than browse everything on there, so your horse should still pop up to any serious buyers, who I would think do the same :)
Click to expand...

Me too. Pop him on the free ones also, but honestly most people have a set criteria, so if he fits the criteria he will come up in the search.x
 
I think the biggest problem, reading between the lines with this particular horse, is there is no real market for him.

He is by all accounts a happy hacker... which limits to people who are probably not terribly confident. And too old for anyone more experienced to take on.
 
Please dont take this the wrong way, Im not criticising at all just trying to be helpful.
When I seen the photo, I thought wow what a nice little horse, then I seen your price and thought, whats wrong with him, hes cheap, then read your ad and it reads to me like hes had an injury or something, its just with you saying 'could come back to light comp work or happy hacker', so it would put me off, even though I do appreciate he isnt expensive.
 
thanks folks. don't worry am not offended at all :) i posted a while ago about this horse, was there a market for him etc etc...its why i've not sold him before really as i realise that there are going to be very few people who will suit him given that he needs a confident rider but he's prob more suited to being a happy hacker...he could come back to RC level competing, it might just take a while given his age and the fact he's done bugger all really for 3 years! (altho the pics in the ad are from 12 months ago so maybe i'm doing him a disservice! :confused:) oh well will see how it goes! :rolleyes:
have actually been riding him again this week- the plan is to bring him back into full work...so if he's still with me in a month or so i'll be getting him back out competing, and then i'll readvertise! :p
 
Change your ad pronto to be honest about WHY he hasn't been in full work for three years. Also put- now back in full work, currently obv. unfit therefore a bargain for someone who wants an experienced RC horse to show them the ropes when he's a bit fitter, will be out competing again with myself in the next few weeks if not sold . Would equally suit confident happy hacker.

ALSO- Does he hunt? If so would possibly say that he would make a nice hunter for next season, as a summer of fittening work would do him no harm at all.
 
i thought i had been honest about why he's not in work? i've put 'lack of time' about 3 times in the ad?! :confused:
also, did try and change it but i can't work out how/where i can do it. stupid horsemart:mad:
 
Better but still not perfect! ;) Ok, lack of time due to why? I know that may be personal but put Uni commitments, job, too many other horses ect. I tend to think lack of time is an excuse! Also putting "not novice ride" will put a lot of people off. Why is he not a novice ride? what does he do? I would put this in the advert else you'll have every numpty ringing you and asking this, if he's a bit sharp when fit then put that, or if he's nappy put this. I wouldn't ring an advert with "not novice ride" as it covers a multitude of sins. Maybe put something like "ideal second horse for competent rider". What you'll prob find is that from being so honest you'll have all those who think they can ride but really can't turn up, but try and weed them out on the phone (and trust me there are A LOT of these types about!). Also is he a nice person to handle, temp wise? I would put this in also, really try and sell his positive aspects!

Hope this helps!
 
I think the advert is fine, the price may attract numptys but you will just have to wade through them. I bet you get someone this weekend who adores him and he'll be gone by wednesday! Good luck, he sounds lovely.
 
natalia said:
Better but still not perfect! ;) Ok, lack of time due to why? I know that may be personal but put Uni commitments, job, too many other horses ect. I tend to think lack of time is an excuse! Also putting "not novice ride" will put a lot of people off. Why is he not a novice ride? what does he do? I would put this in the advert else you'll have every numpty ringing you and asking this, if he's a bit sharp when fit then put that, or if he's nappy put this. I wouldn't ring an advert with "not novice ride" as it covers a multitude of sins. Maybe put something like "ideal second horse for competent rider". What you'll prob find is that from being so honest you'll have all those who think they can ride but really can't turn up, but try and weed them out on the phone (and trust me there are A LOT of these types about!). Also is he a nice person to handle, temp wise? I would put this in also, really try and sell his positive aspects!

Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

thanks :) he's difficult to describe really...i had someone riding him who i would consider to be a novice and she was fine because she was calm and confident...its not that he's difficult (in fact can be a slug when he wants to be! :rolleyes:) but just occasionally has TB ex racer 'moments'... which i don't really know how to describe....hence why 'not novice ride' instead....TBH tho i don't want him to go to a novice (he's too special) so if it puts them off ringing i'm not bothered... i have got on "Good to handle, catch and shoe and good in traffic" so that should cover that?!
 
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