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

Booboos said:
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.
Click to expand...


But i've paid a lot of money for H&H adverts over the years - why should people get them for free? And how would it 'generate more interest in H&H classified?' exactly?
 
are they all banned now?

I think some of them are genuine. But over the last few days there have been some which were blatently NOT looking for advice and just advertising! (one springs to mind where she had had loads of interest and viewings already, so obviously nothing wrong the advert as such)
 
Ignition said:
But i've paid a lot of money for H&H adverts over the years - why should people get them for free? And how would it 'generate more interest in H&H classified?' exactly?
Click to expand...

Because posts on the forum are not adverts and do not get the same exposure, they are fun to read and help people out. H&H gets a lot out of the forum for free, e.g. advertising revenue, interest in the magazine, clout in the horsey community, etc.

Many of the discussions about selling horses do result in H&H adverts and the better the adverts, the more likely to be successful, the more likely the customer to buy more advertising space. Many of the discussions are of H&H adverts on the right hand side of the page. H&H could also explore more links between the forum and classifieds, e.g. a discount for forum members.
 
Ignition said:
But i've paid a lot of money for H&H adverts over the years - why should people get them for free? And how would it 'generate more interest in H&H classified?' exactly?
Click to expand...

Because as Booboos rightly points out, a "how much" post on a forum is totally different to a classified ad. Your average forum post might get somewhere between 200-400 views - the vast majority of those people just being interested browsers and repeat views, not people actively searching for a horse.

Horse and Hound magazine has a circulation of more than 55000 and a readership of 261000. Now granted that many of those readers won't be actively looking to buy either, but the exposure is vastly higher from a paid for ad.

Personally I can see both sides, but I think it would be a mistake for H&H to crack down on "how much" type posts, when made by established members rather than newbies blatantly advertising. The forum is here for horse lovers to talk about all matters equestrian, and buying and selling is a big part of that. Its also difficult and frustrating and such a grey area to judge in terms of price - so its not surprising people need to discuss it and want advice from a knowledgeable community.

Yes there will always be those who take it too far, and god forbid, someone might occasionally make a sale from the forum, but I very much doubt that the amount lost on this business is in any way comparable to the amount made on advertising revenue generated because of the forum.
 
Ooops, I have just posted a similar question regarding my pals that have themselves in a pickle asking how much without seeing this thread first - sorry adn feel free admin to delete them, no upset intended!
 
Very petty H&H, no marks.

a) I suspect very few horses are sold through the forum.
b) Some people on here genuinely need help marketing their horse/finding it the right home and if you can't ask on the forum it makes it less pertinent.
c) I pay over £100 on H&H every year - so surely if I want to ask for a hand in marketing my horse/learn from other answers, then I have already contributed amply to it.

You may not know this H&H, but not everyone on here is so horribly money-grubbing as you assume, some people are really quite genuine and just want to do the best for their animal.
 
You may not know this H&H, but not everyone on here is so horribly money-grubbing as you assume, some people are really quite genuine and just want to do the best for their animal.
Click to expand...

Hear, hear!
 
canteron said:
Very petty H&H, no marks.

a) I suspect very few horses are sold through the forum.
b) Some people on here genuinely need help marketing their horse/finding it the right home and if you can't ask on the forum it makes it less pertinent.
c) I pay over £100 on H&H every year - so surely if I want to ask for a hand in marketing my horse/learn from other answers, then I have already contributed amply to it.

You may not know this H&H, but not everyone on here is so horribly money-grubbing as you assume, some people are really quite genuine and just want to do the best for their animal.
Click to expand...

Seconded!
And regarding point (c) above- i also pay over a £100 a year to receive circa 3 issues a month and usually they arrive on a monday- i am totally fed up with my subscription :mad:
 
Sorry H&H, but I actually did a how much post in order to decide whether to sell my last horse, and ultimately as a response to the post, subsequently ended up advertising him (with you!) and selling him through an ad (not yours, I may add!), not the forum.

I have done how much's on occasions for other horses I know are for sale, and have no "vested" interest in, just interested to kow how people would consider them. I know of very few people that have actually sold through the forum, so I do think you are cracking down unnecessarily.
 
I do just hope that this is admin speaking and that it was them that have noticed and flagged it up and not in response to a few (poss minority) of other users complaining
 
Some posts are blatant advertising, that is for sure, however the majority are asking for help IMO. For instance, if someone has a horse that just isn't selling and ask for advice on whether the price is too high, etc.

I don't see why people who advertise in H&H cannot ask for advice at the very least.

Also, all of our clicks help generate a nice, healthy *visitor* rate for would-be advertisers ;)
 
I always find the 'how much' posts really interesting - when I sold my pony I did actually pay for an advert in the H&H mag and online - but I posted a 'how much' for Ozzy just purely out of interest - no way is he for sale - I just wanted to check if I paid the right amount for him! I do think it helps people get their ads right.
 
I'm afraid that I disagree with this and feel posts of this type are a legitimate use of the forum. As someone else said, H&H benefit from the number of hits they receive on the website for marketing and revenue generation and for the tiny "risk" to their business the decision could be seen to be heavy handed. Not impressed.
 
What? This is so STUPID! A lot of people are looking for genuine valuations for their horses, often for insurance purposes as they may have gained or lost value. Also reading through some of the "help with my ads" posts they are real people in need of help with their very poorly worded adverts! FYI I advertised with horse and hound a few weeks ago and didn't get a single call, and won't be using H&H again, over priced, money grabbing poor service and they got the advert number wrong twice. This forum gets worse by the day. Everyone needs to migrate to red rosette!
 
I totally agree with admin on this. For those that post a "how much?" with a photo or two of the horse, followed by a full description, they have effectively 'placed an advert' for nothing. If people want advice as they are genuinely unsure of the market value they can look on all the websites available of horses for sale to get an idea, or they can ask their instructor etc etc.

It beggars belief what some people think they can get away with.
 
Well I suppose if people aren't selling and are asking for help with an insurance valuation for example if they make it clear in the post it should be ok.
 
Thank you for all your feedback on this announcement. I can confirm that each post will be considered on a case by case basis and that they will only be removed if we consider that they are trying to avoid the forum's no advertising rule.

There have been an increasing number of forum users asking questions about their adverts then posting links to external classified adverts and we felt that a public announcement was the best way to combat this.

HHO Admin
 
As above it keeps everyone informed over the current market and if used appropriately i.e. for insurance purposes is very informative.

We are already running out of things to discuss...what's next - stop us from posting pics of our horses just incase people think it's advertising?
 
HHO admin said:
Thank you for all your feedback on this announcement. I can confirm that each post will be considered on a case by case basis and that they will only be removed if we consider that they are trying to avoid the forum's no advertising rule.

There have been an increasing number of forum users asking questions about their adverts then posting links to external classified adverts and we felt that a public announcement was the best way to combat this.

HHO Admin
Click to expand...

I think that is more appropriate Admin :)

Glad to see the views of the forum are taken into consideration :)

Col x
 
Well this is a great shame, I have always appreciated advice from other HHOers about my how much/what do you think? ads. Also I have enjoyed seeing the advice given to others and learning what people look for or expect in a certain type of horse, hoping to produce horses myself, these posts are very ideal!
 
When I was selling my horsebox I found it really useful to have other people's comments on my ad. I made massive changes to my advert based on people's advice and was very grateful for it.

I had lots of people ask about my box but no-one from HHo enquired about it, only those who had seen the genuine advert so I don't really see that it could be called advertising.
 
I'm at the minute looking to sell my trailer. I posted asking what people thought it would be worth as there are no second hand ones for sale on any sales website. I didn't intend to advertise and so deliberately didn't put any pics on the post.

The post was removed by admin as I was apparently advertising - when I asked how I could rephrase it so they wouldn't see it as advertising they told me that I should look at classified ad's to get an idea of price.

If they had read & reviewed my original post they would have seen that the reason I was posting is because there are no second hand ones advertised anywhere!!!

The sad thing is I was intending on advertising it through the H&H classifeds but as I don't know what price I should advertise it at - it's going on ebay!! :-(

So they've done themselves out of money there.

Admin seem to assume that we are all deceitful people and don't seem to see that people do come onto this forum for help - if I didn't need help with things I wouldn't be here at all!!

Rant over!!
 
HHO admin said:
Thank you for all your feedback on this announcement. I can confirm that each post will be considered on a case by case basis and that they will only be removed if we consider that they are trying to avoid the forum's no advertising rule.
HHO Admin
Click to expand...

I'm glad you've said this admin. As a newbie, I have found the "how much" posts not only interesting but also very informative. I'm not actively horse shoping (or selling for that matter) but it's always nice to keep an eye on the market.
 
OMG, HHO Admin - I honestly think you're starting to ruin this forum. This forum has grown in popularity into a huge, well respected forum where people can discuss everything and anything. But we're slowly having that taken away from us. I enjoy reading the "how much" posts, I do not believe its advertising - pricing horses is very difficult so why on earth not ask for other peoples opinions on the matter?

I also do not think its "unfair" for people to "advertise" (which they're not IMO) on a forum where not many people see it as lets face it, there's so many daily posts here that posts soon move down the pages. Advertising in H&H is very expensive IMO, especially when other horse mags still offer the service for free...

HHO, we are the people keeping this forum alive but if you continue to police what can and can't be discussed on here - people will leave.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top