"How much?" and "thoughts on my ad?" posts

AmyMay

AmyMay

Situation normal
Joined
1 July 2004
Messages
66,614
Location
South
Visit site
What a shame.

I think these posts are always so interesting to read. It gives us all an idea of current markets. Gives people opportunity to discuss 'best practices', and generally are just interesting posts.

We're steadily running out of things to talk about..................
 
ditto amymay, though I do get admins point too, I suppose its because I am never shopping that I dont really see it as advertising, particularly how much as I can see how people would find it hard to decide.
 
These posts help to make sure you dont mess up your ads, like I did. Some do ask what their horse is worth as to over price gets you no interest...
 
agree with above - sorry admin!

The posts are useful to gague an idea of how much to sell for in current market, and how to word it correctly!

This is meant to be a forum moderated mainly by HHOers :(
 
Yes but it is a forum that has to be paid for.If you don't buy HH regularly and don't advertize with them you are getting a totally free service.To advertize on the forum is adding insult to injury (although I know not everyone is).
 
But surely the H and H for sale forum, and also (am I allowed to say ) the Horsemart website are the places to look at ads and how much's ? It's there that people buying/selling horses can go, and I go to both to mooch. :D

Let's face it, the forum is/was becoming a selling hotspot, and H and H have to make money somehow. And I guess if it carried on, there would be no other posts left, it would have snowballed, the number of these posts has certainly been on the up.And this would have become a free selling jamboree:eek::eek::eek: and not a forum.
 
Last edited:
It's not totally free per se. The Forum helps keep the visitor numbers up, which in turn helps to keep up the revenue from third party advertisers.

I appreciate HHO's pov regarding their own classifieds, and it is a difficult balance to strike, but the questions are intersting and one learns a lot about conformation, etc., and learning is pretty much why most of us are here. Maybe HHO could consider them as loss leaders.
 
there is a horse and hound for sale forum :confused:

I don't think these posts were about to take over the world I think there increase is much more to do with the time of year due to it being spring, often key selling time.

and also figure IPC make a fair amount of money from advertising revenue on the forum and us being here helps that ;)
 
I think if it became just an "advertisment site" a lot of members would simply give up using the forum, as that is not why they come here - i most certainly don't, I'm for the takeover of the world by gypsy vanners :eek:......hence the legit advertising audience would change, and they may also decide it's not the place for them - leaving the whole thing in a kerfuffle.

It's surely far better to keep things separate ? There are so many other selling places.

ps....No there isn't a for sale "forum", a for sale "site". Apologies for typo :D

Oooooooooo a good debate, YEEEEEEEEEHAH !!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Last edited:
Oh I would love to give up using the forum ;) :) (is pleased 2 people on this thread have higher post counts :D :D )
 
But it's not all 'just adverts/how muchs'. The Forum goes in cycles depending on the time of year. We spend time and effort coming on here (hm, possibly too much time in my case :o :D), which encourages third parties to advertise on the HHO site as they know there is a good volume of traffic.

It's an interesting debate/balance between having some leeway to allow for people to discuss horses, riding, etc., and becoming prescriptive about how that should be done.

Fairly academic really as I'm sure Admin has its views, its opinions, and that is how it is.

Damn. Much as I'm enjoying, I have to go and do some work :o :(. Will be back later to see how its going :D
 
Giving up ? well I would if it became a flooded advert selling site, cos that's simply not what I'm interested in reading about.Hmmmmmmmpph :D:D

Can we have a forum for gyspy vanners or what ? Think of all that hair, the feather, the pig oil that would be flying around.....
 
See, I kinda do split it on post count, it its a long term member asking for advice I don't see a problem, if its someone with a postcount of 1 I do, particularly if it is blantantly and advert (as there was earlier). Its managed to be flooded in the last however many years so I dont see why that would change now.

*coughs* MrsM your posts per day is much higher than amymays ;) am desperately trying to get mine down..... not working :p
 
Ester, totally see where you're coming from with the post count. Very good point. But i think the recent influx might have compromised genuine opinion askers , and ruined it for them, just a thought ???
 
amymay said:
What a shame.

I think these posts are always so interesting to read. It gives us all an idea of current markets. Gives people opportunity to discuss 'best practices', and generally are just interesting posts.

We're steadily running out of things to talk about..................
Click to expand...

I agree.

I find these posts interesting even if I don't comment on them and I love window shopping for all things horsey, even though I rarely have any money to spend!

Mrs M makes a good point re advertising, advertisers know this is THE most popular equine forum, and that's why they use it.

I also agree with Ester re. new members asking 'how much' or for crit on their ads, that is blatant advertising IMO, but I think a bit of slack should be allowed for long standing members.

I feel I have made my contribution to H&H, I have subscribed for years (my Dad has taken out a two year sub on my behalf as a birthday pressie!) aswell as placing a few ads myself, which are not cheap!
 
I feel a bit sorry for those people who genuinely want help with their ad. Especially those with horses that aren't selling etc. Plus I really don't see the harm in people networking a bit. Some members have spent years getting to know each other on here and would rather sell by word of mouth to help ensure a good home. This forum certainly provides a benefit to HandH, with advertising and raising its profile. Doesn't it even provide some content for the magazine? I appreciate we don't want hundreds of people joining just so they can advertise their horse but this does seem a bit OTT. Will it get to the stage that we can't even announce that we're selling our horse if there is a picture of it in our sig??
 
I see Admin's point of view, but I wonder if it is OK for HHOers to post "thoughts on my ad" or "why hasn't he sold" posts IF the ad is on H&H classifieds?
 
A suggestion, Could there be a section where people can advertise but you have to pay to be allowed to use this section? ie person advertising or asking has to pay small fee and others can then give comments? Or would noone want to use this?

if I wanted to find out how much to advertise my pony for I would look at other ads for similar ponies and base my ad on what other people had written and the prices they have put.
 
are the adverts on horse and hound editable?

if so, perhaps HHOers could be allowed to ask as many questions as they like about their ad, as long as it's a H&H ad? that way, H&H could make more £ by HHOers using their selling thing instead of horsemart, and as long as it's editable, they can ask wording advice etc on HHO.

i think the inter-HHOer horse selling is an important thing. for example, i'd buy Genie (fihunt's mare) in a shot. but i'd never give her advert a second glance (cob? mare? not on your nelly). so, i do think the 'how much' and 'why isn't my horse selling' and even the more obvious selling posts are very important. i bet everyone on here would prefer to buy a HHOer's horse instead of a stranger's.

xxx
 
Maybe HHO Admin should try (if possible.. not sure if it would be easy) to find out whether any of these types of posts have actually resulted in a sale? Yes the forum is popular but not all of the users are looking to buy a horse so surely the target audience on the forum is more limited IYSWIM.
 
Admin,

Won't you consider adding a room that is explicitely for the 'how much' posts? ...

Perhaps you could charge people a nominal fee to start a thread in there?... and ban the use of links to any external (selling) websites

Just an idea :o
 
I find these posts interesting and I think it is really poor if they will be "banned". Buying or selling a horse is very stressful and people are genuinely looking for advice. H&H benefits from the advertising revenue for the forum website, so as long as these posts are popular with users why alienate your customers? If I had to sell my horse I would really appreciate the help of H&H forum readers regarding how to price her & best present her in an ad.

If the forum is really "subsidised" and this is a big issue, why cannot H&H take a look ath their website management strategy, & pursue advertising revenue? As long as there are ads on the site, which there are, each person looking at the how much posts help bump up traffic and hence advertising revenue potential.
 
marmalade76 said:
I agree.

I also agree with Ester re. new members asking 'how much' or for crit on their ads, that is blatant advertising IMO, but I think a bit of slack should be allowed for long standing members.
Click to expand...

Not claiming to be the expert, but (from what I've seen) I think there is a fair bit of slack given already. And I don't think they're suddenly banned — if you look at the T&Cs, they've basically always been against the rules.

Ok I am fairly new, but have been lurking about long enough to notice that more and more seem to have started including links to sites like Horsemart on "why won't it sells?" — blatant abuse of the leeway that has been given, which looks like it has ruined it for everyone...
 
I completely agree with Admin. There has been an awful lot of blatant advertising going on for a very long time and I wondered how long it would be before Admin put their foot down. There are plenty of sites where you can advertise for free or very cheaply . . . .
 
I posted a thread along these lines last week, I genuinely was just asking for a price guide ... the horse is question is advetised on 5/6 different sites and has as much as 2000 views between them all, yet no interest ... its clearly not a problem with the amount of 'exposure' the ad is getting ... its either a problem with the ad description/photos, or the value I put on the horse.

I posted a thread, I didn't post links to the ads or say where she was advertised, and when some helpful members tried to give advice, I PM'd them the links/photos instead of putting them on the board. I got some useful and constructive advice from the thread. (Though, still no interest :o)

I think its shame, surely its easy to decide between who is a new member, posting for 'exposure' and blatantly advertising, to those asking for advice?

I would post a link to the thread in question but perhaps that would now be considered trying to advertise?!!

If you see a thread that is blatant advertising... flag it!!
 
MuckyMeech said:
Also- are you going to ban the 'why can't I find a horse' posts? As I'm pretty sure there is a big response by PM to those ads too! :o :D
Click to expand...

I hope they don't ban these, I need all the moral support I can get in my disasterous search for a horse, and I haven't found a horse by posting yet either! If only it were that easy!

I think there is a blatent difference between someone posting to say "I'm having a terrible time trying to find a suitable horse" or "I can't believe how long it is taking to sell my horse" or "I've made the heartbreaking decision to sell my horse" as part of their ongoing postings about their horsey journey and those posts that are blatently saying "look at my advert".

Could we perhaps ban links to external sales sites as a way to help regulate them?
 
I think Admin is being too harsh and may even be short-sighted in this one. I can see their worry but surely it would be more beneficial for H&H to take advantage of these kinds of posts on the forum to generate more interest in H&H classifieds.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top