what do you guys think about this idea?

[cjmatt]

I think its a good idea.

I goto craigslist alot, but you dont know who youre dealing with as anyone can post anything. Also, there is tons of stuff there, not just car parts. This is basically taking all the classifieds sections from any forum youd goto and putting them all in one place. when it gets big itll be nice as i wont have to goto 8 different forums each day to browse the parts piles

 

[chunkybs]

looks great

 

[hourang]

cool. needs a parts wanted section for each model.

 

[DarkoStoj]

cool. needs a parts wanted section for each model.

yea, havent got around to that yet.

i'm also going to redo the forums in the non-make sections..I dont really like how its setup.

I would also like a way to have certain information required to post....like year, model, zipcode, etc. Then have the search section setup so you can search years, model, etc

 

[KING302]

See if you can advertise on some of the larger forums to help get it going.

 

[DarkoStoj]

See if you can advertise on some of the larger forums to help get it going.

oh yea, i'm going to go to every forum on the planet i can think of and ask how much they want to advertise once i get all the bugs worked out.

i'm going to print out a few thousand business cards and put them under every windshield wiper of someone that looks like they buy/sell car parts.

eventually when there is a decent userbase get a hold of some salvage yards and let them know about it so they can register and post stuff for sale if they wish.

 

[DarkoStoj]

Here is my bit of, hopefully, constructive criticism:

1. Why would a junkyard sell their parts for less on your site? You said early on that getting parts at a reduced cost was a goal. The junkyards are already setup on car-part or or some of the other sites and they are selling at the current market price. What is the incentive for them to come on your site and spend time creating posts (as opposed to a more automated system) to sell the same parts for less?

2. Having sponsors creates problems. Once you have sponsors, they really aren't going to want to sell for less unless you make some rule that non-paying sponsors can't advertise parts. It kinda defeats the purpose. It also leads to sponsor nutswingers that either talk up a sponsor or rip on a non-sponsor.

3. Why have a community section on a classified forum? If I'm looking for a part, I'm not interested in BSing in a forum. I just want to find the part and get on with my life.

My suggestion is to either charge a percentage based fee to sell so you can cover the costs of your time and advertising, or you make it all free and try to spread it by word-of-mouth.

Ken

1. not saying sell parts for less, its just another place that will give them the opportunity to sell things. It will also help them move the more rare/niche stuff, or stale things sitting on the lot for less than normal prices.

2. the only thing sponsors will have is probably advertising banners, something under their username, maybe a ew other small things. As far as the sponsers themselves they would hopefully be smart and treat the peopl eon the forum good so they DO get the nut swingers, which helps their business.

3. just because the community forum is there doesnt mean you have to use it. i'm betting that a lot of people on this site will have this be their first forum, so they would probably enjoy the idea of talking to others.

the only way i'm going to start charging something is if there is a good userbase and decent traffic. If the forum gets to the point where you have lots of regular users that depend on the site, there will be an option to have a subscription...but there will never be a fee to just do the bare minimum of buy and sell.

 

[JoeliusZ28]

I would only allow signatures for sponsors, much like is done for club members here.

Just remember - your hosting expenses are going to increase with the growth of the site. Believe me, if it grows as big as youd like it to youre going to outgrow whatever plan youre on.

 

[KING302]

oh yea, i'm going to go to every forum on the planet i can think of and ask how much they want to advertise once i get all the bugs worked out.

i'm going to print out a few thousand business cards and put them under every windshield wiper of someone that looks like they buy/sell car parts.

eventually when there is a decent userbase get a hold of some salvage yards and let them know about it so they can register and post stuff for sale if they wish.

Maybe some forums would be open to posting a banner on their site and theirs on yours?Like a swap/trading advertising space.

 

[cjmatt]

alot of companies like jegs, summit, latemodelresto etc. would benefit from advertising on a site like this because when a person cant find a used part theyre looking for, where is the next place theyll go hunting?

 

[347convert]

Try to get some parts with part numbers, Once you list a part number if some one googles it then it will have a better chance of leading them to your site. Might be a way to develop some traffic.

Ive googled a part number before and only got a handful of responces.

 

[Hugger Z]

Sounds like a good idea Darko. I hope you can get it worked out how you envision. My dad owns a junkyard in NY. I can let them know about this and see if they would put anything up on there for you.

They started out taking over that place and it was a bit of a mess. Now it has grown, gotten more organized, and has a lot more buildings for parts storage, disassembly, etc. I know they use the standard junkyard search stuff. But this might be another way to track down parts for customers.

 

[DarkoStoj]

Sounds like a good idea Darko. I hope you can get it worked out how you envision. My dad owns a junkyard in NY. I can let them know about this and see if they would put anything up on there for you.

They started out taking over that place and it was a bit of a mess. Now it has grown, gotten more organized, and has a lot more buildings for parts storage, disassembly, etc. I know they use the standard junkyard search stuff. But this might be another way to track down parts for customers.

yea that would be awesome! Let him know about it, its free compared to all the other parts locating services for junkyards that they have to pay for.

 

[JoeliusZ28]

agreed you should definitely incorporate part numbers into this.

 

[Cbacarella]

You have probably already done this....and may have said you have done it but i browsed all the pages rather quickly. Have you registered your domain with google yet?

https://www.google.com/accounts/Ser...e=en-ha-na-us-sk&utm_medium=ha&utm_term=site:



Site looks real great btw!

You should post something on Xceedspeed about it too!