New & Better Classifieds Site

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Gelfling

I like this idea!

I would also have *required fields. So many listings appear to trying to 'hide' basics like engine HP and hours...... so frustrating!

I would have the absolute minimum of required fields - albeit certainly require folks to at least skip / tab through them.

The alternative is that folks will simply guess or make things up, as happens already - even on things like LOA and Draft, let alone things like rig size and engine hours. On that latter one, does it really matter if engine has done 500 or 1500 hours?, odds are that engine is as old as the boat and an owner can fook one up within 10 hours let alone being given a few years to do so, whether that be the current Vendor or PO's. The odds are high that the Vendor simply has no idea of own hourly use let alone for a PO(s) - engine hour meters more unreliable than the clock on a car .

To my mind having a listing with SFA of useful details is a good way of Vendor / Broker publically saying that either he is an idiot (and therefore likely to be a PITA to deal with) or that boat has issues (and Vendor does not want to publically commit to much detail). or both . Of course a lot of laziness and pig ignorance (about the boat) will also come into it - but those fall under the heading of PITA to deal with.

For me, all that is a very useful heads up to either give the boat a miss or only a looksee if in immediate locale.....if nothing better to do. .....I doubt if any Vendors would fill out the fields marked "I am a PITA to deal with" and "Boat is crap - am looking for a numpty to buy" - well, not honestly .


But what the site could do, is for listings with only partly completed details (say under 80%?) to be automatically flagged up that it is a partial listing, and that a buyer is advised to obtain further details from the Broker / Vendor - with a button to click listing every question that was never answered (and e-mail link to Vendor / Broker ).....plus a load more questions!, as part of a Guide to buying a boat. Could even include a caution or 2 about a boat listed with partial information is often trying to hide something.....carrot and stick approach.....listing gets filled out fully from day 1, then won't have buyers requiring same questions to be answered again and again and again.

For the more common models could have the basic boat model info (Length / Draft etc - with the common variations) as a skeleton to be fleshed out by the Vendor / broker - these skeletons built up as time progresses from boats actually listed.

IMO it's a trade off between coaxing the Vendor to do a good listing from day 1 whilst not making him lose the will to live - as often happens with a technology driven approach.....and accepting that will never keep everyone happy.

Anyway, ideas are cheap .

[satdiver]

So I'm getting the feeling that building a site to fill the gaps yachtworld has is not the best idea I've ever had

[ohdrinkboy]

Another vote for DRAFT. I've emailed this suggestion to Yachtworld many times and no response.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by satdiver

So I'm getting the feeling that building a site to fill the gaps yachtworld has is not the best idea I've ever had

I think Yachtworld do Yachtworld quite well. They are certainly succesful with it .

But doesn't mean that can't do better - just (IMO) no need (and no point) in cloning there site (with only a couple of "tweeks"), even if heavily "inspired" by (and by Real Estate / Car listing sites). Just that to be any good (and sustainable) will need to be commercially viable......which adds it's own challenges .

FWIW, have had a couple of people Google by CF over the years with much the same idea (better / faster / smarter etc), but they never seem to come back.......

[satdiver]

So I guess creating a bullet point list of things that everyone wants to see in the new site is a good place to start. I have no problem investing quite a bit of money in marketing such a site. I think a lot of sites/ideas don't cater to its audience. I figure if I do that much I might have a chance. I've also been noticing these little remote locally targeted classified sites actually do pretty well.

So far

Make commenting avb
searching by draft
a boat porn section with commenting capabilities
better photo viewing
unlimited video
more advanced search options overall
A single section for used boat and a single section for new boat searches
possible a searching system that aggregates from all the classified sites
an API for brokers sites
ability to flag sold or bad listings
maybe a broker/seller rating system
make many fields for posting an ad required

Let me know if I'm missing anything

[matauwhi]

G'day, mate. Couldn't tell if you were wanting a different "commercial" type of site to compete with Yachtworld or a more friendly "yachtie" focused version of Craigslist. My feeling is the "crowd" here would be looking for the latter. In either case, in today's new market, it might be appropiate to provide a more workable solution for owners that willing to work out some kind of trade or exchange up or down in value, length, type, etc. I'm probably thinking along the lines of GOSWAP.org with heavy focus on boats instead of property as a starting point. All the best. Thanks for asking. Cheers.

[satdiver]

Hey matauwhi you just sold me on this idea. Now I'm going to build it.

[Gadagirl]

My complaint about YW...... Clicking on a boat and being directed to a page where you view a snippet about the boat but then having to click on another link to get the spec and/or pics. Just take me directly to the spec sheet!

[matauwhi]

G'day, mate. You're welcome! BoatSwap.org...let me know when you're ready for an initial posting ;-). Cheers.

[satdiver]

Site will be up in two months, everyone please post what you want me to build.

[justwaiting]

provide a search tool that would allow some one looking only to bring up those listing which provide information in specified field by clicking radio buttons to identify a minium boat profile.

provide a boat status confirmation mechinism to provide an easy way for vendors to confirm that the boat is still for sale and remains in the advertised condition.

provide a chronological listing search to allow vendors to identify which boat have been listed for a long time (more likely to be up for offers)

[David_Old_Jersey]

I would like the ability to search by regions, I appreciate that in the US this may often be by State - but not neccessarily so. and the regions can overlap, partially or entirely....and be able to choose multiple regions (i.e. PNW and Carribbean etc). I would also like to the site to be capable of working in other parts of the world, even if not initially targetted there. Might also be useful to have a "region" called something like "Cruising Equipped Boats on location" - which can cover everywhere from Carribean to SE Asia and all points in-between, leaving aside that everyones ideas of what that is differs! The idea being to capture those vessels that are "out of position" for a sale.

The ability to receive e-mail updates / alerts of new listings (on whatever basis I choose) would also be nice.

Would also be useful to receive info on pricing. Personally I would not put any faith in the info provided by Vendors or Brokers - what would be of interest is something like an average asking price of the boat models listed (a guide price?), maybe knock off the top and bottom 10% and only over the last year (or last 12 boats?) - and an updated price counts as a new listing boat price......possibly the guide price is not a single figure, but a range ($5 or $10k each side automtically added - i.e average price is $50k, but guide price says $40 to $60k....obviously can't give an actual price (no matter how much a buyer may want or need) because boats do vary in worth for a miriad of real reasons.

A first listed date would also be useful, plus a last updated date (possibly wrapped in with a last confirmed still for sale date?) - the trick is not to give yourself work to do, just gives a heads up to a buyer that an old listing (that has not been re-confirmed) might not still be for sale, so therefore can decide for self how much effort / time to put into enquiring. Although as a buyer a record of price drops and dates off would be useful, as a Vendor I would not be happy to have this on show......the compromise being that a Buyer can place a boat "on watch" and automatically gets notified of updates (including on price).

[DSDman]

maybe have a subpage where people who work on boats could put in what they think it would cost to repair. then a prospective buyer could see the listing read comments from people who have actually seen the boat and then have an idea on repair cost from people who could actually do the work, then have comments on those craftsmen after the fact. sort of like ebay, yachtworld and angies list rolled into one. Now that would set you apart from the herd. I would invest in a site like that. just let me know where to send the check.