I’m getting used to the front page layout now, and find it interesting to see the genuinely recently listed now that they’re not swamped by the re-listings, and the larger variety of items that get featured now.
But what really, really bugs me is the ‘Being Bought Now’!!! Several times I’ve seen my items in that slot - which ought to be exciting as you hope it means a sale. But if it means something is being put in a basket it doesn’t mean it is being bought!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Could it either be changed to ‘Put In A Basket Now’, or better still, could items be featured once they are actually paid for, so that if you see an item of yours on the FP in that section you know you actually have a sale?
I’m lucky I sell well on here, but even then it’s really disappointing when I think I have sold something and I haven’t. For those who don’t get as many sales it must be even more disappointing.
It’s true, even if someone has only put something into their basket it means someone is thinking of buying, which is good news, and at least you get the exposure on the front page, which might lead to a sale from someone else who sees it there.
Another solution would be to avoid looking at the front page if it bugs you?
It’s hard to feel sympathy with your annoyance I’m afraid Sara, as I too would be really happy to get those few moments of promotion on the front page, whether it actually sells or not. Try to see the positive
I’ve seen one of my items in the “Being bought now” box.
Even though it didn’t lead to a sale I was quite pleased.
At least someone had though well enough of it to think about buying.
And you never know they may have book-marked the page to come back to later.
Only downside I can see to it is if someone saw it as being bought now when it wasn’t ie only put into basket.
But someone else really would have liked to buy it thinks it’s sold so they pass by and you in fact lose a sale. As the person who really wanted your item thinks it’s sold and the person who put it into their basket is not really buying it.
I know it would put me off if I saw it as ‘Now being Bought’ if it was just the thing I wanted to buy
I can;t think of it as promotion in that way though - I’d rather see my stiff on the front page in other ways LOL.
@Louisa15 - a buyers point of view in this circumstance is quite different to an sellers - when you do this for a living and every sale makes a massive difference, it’s naturally disappointing, as your first reaction is ‘yay, a sale!’. And why should I have to stop looking at the front page??? I’m just saying what little thing annoys me, and plenty of people have their gripes on the forums, so why shouldn’t I?
The Folksy team are really good at listening to feedback on things, but the only way they get feedback is if people tell them. I didn’t like the front page at first, but it’s grown on me now, and I’m not dissing Folksy in any way, just pointing out my own personal point of view on something that I find is an irritation
Your last sentence is: “For those who don’t get as many sales it must be even more disappointing.” As I do not have many sales I have said I would welcome the added promotion. If you are only pointing out your personal point of view, then state only what it feels like for someone with loads of sales that spends loads of time looking at the front page. I felt your view from a seller with not many sales was skewed and I felt I have had to add my point of view.
To be honest it isn’t bought until it’s paid for - counting chickens before they’re hatched… I can see why you’d get annoyed but it honestly wouldn’t bother me that much, I’d be happy someone was even thinking about it x
I too would be happy that someone liked my item enough to put it in their basket. As Shirley says, that same someone might bookmark it to come back later - it’s exactly the kind of thing I do as I’m not an impulse shopper.
And if I saw something that was being bought now and liked it, I would go and have a look at the shop to see if there was anything similar - and if there wasn’t, I’d contact the seller to ask if they could do another.
I like it! I have logged on twice to see my items in the being bought now box and I was very excited, the sales did come through and I was even happier but even if they didn’t I would be happy with being on the front page and getting that exposure.
Thinking about it, this feature could be misused - I can imagine sellers might be tempted to put things in their own basket, just to get a few minutes on the front page!lol
Margaret: Being on the front page rarely brings in sales. This is in my experience and others confirmed this as well. There are better ways of being seen than having to be here all day and keep putting an item in the basket every 5 minutes
I have to eat my words a bit. I have said in the past that being featured on the old front page only brought me a few more views, but rarely led to sales.
I’m now lucky to be featured in the curated bit of the Smorgasbord and I sold two of that bird bath yesterday. The first one I did manage to see it being featured in the Recently Sold box which said 11 mins ago so it had hung around for a while there. The second time it sold I had a quick peak and it didn’t show in the Recently Sold box. I suppose it depends how many other things are being bought around that time.
Anyway, this new front page, from my own experience, seems to be a lot better at attracting sales.
I agree with Stephanie about the effectiveness of that Recently Bought box, if I saw something in it and I liked it, I’d be like ‘oh that’s nice, and clearly popular, I’ll hop over and see if the shop’s got any more in’.
Although if, like Margaret suggests, people start abusing it by adding their own things to their baskets, then they’ll all start cancelling each other out. And, really, I could think of better ways to spend my time than hoping my item might flash into that box, at the time where there’s no other genuine sales going on, or other sellers trying the basket trick, and catching the exact customer I’m after looking at the front page. Strewth. You’d drive yourself mad.
Jo, I wasn’t suggesting people try that!lol I’m sure the vast majority of you have better things to do with your time. It was just a thought that if anyone obsesses about it too much it might be a temptation!
I’m sorry, but what is the point? If you don’t like it then tell folksy or keep it to yourself. You said: “plenty of people have their gripes on the forums, so why shouldn’t I?” It’s this kind of negativity that doesn’t make the forums a nice place to visit. Who cares whether it bugs you or not?
A thread that says really positive things is what people want to read. It’s tough being a seller on folksy so we need all the positive encouragement we can get.
When the new front page first appeared, to be honest the first few days I didn’t really like the “being bought now” box as it seemed (to me at least) that it could be viewed as a bit misleading … deceitful even (like facebook telling you that your friend liked suchandsuch a sponsored page when she liked nothing of the sort) because more often than not when I clicked on an item in the being bought now box it was still available then and still available 10 minutes later and there weren’t any in the sold items so I could easily tell that it hadn’t been bought by anyone and I wasn’t fussed on the idea of customers feeling as though they were being made to rush to buy something because they thought it was popular … a blink and you’ll miss it situation even. More so because there were two “sold x minutes ago” boxes so clearly it should have been easy enough to only show items bought and paid for across the board and only show an item as being bought now once the buyer had at least confirmed the order and the item truly had been bought.
Having said all that though, lately more often than not when I spot an item as being bought now and it shifts straight over to bought x minutes ago when I refresh the content. It could well be just when I happen to be looking but the items shown as being bought not do seem to be being bought, maybe sales are up or maybe the front page is helping to convert more browsers into customers, I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind if it only showed items as being bought if they had actually been bought, but I don’t really mind it as it is now either, it’s quite nice seeing the variety of things in there that people are either buying or at least considering buying.
While I don’t think the ‘‘being bought now’’ or ‘‘newly listed/favourited’’ items bring in sales I do feel that being featured on the main body of the board definitely brings in sales, as the featured items remain for a week at a time.
I had an item featured there last week and a flurry of sales meant I was on the best sellers list for the first time in nearly a year.
To give more sellers more exposure I think a week of the same items being featured - albeit rotated - is too long, and changing the items twice a week would be fairer.
Just a thought, if someone puts an item in their basket but doesn’t go on to buy, could it be they have trouble completing the sale, i.e. they don’t know how to pay if they are not registered.
I like the “bought x minutes ago”, as I saw the two items I bought in there and I thought “Yes, that’s me who purchadsed that”. Everyone needs their few minutes (or even seconds) of fame. Marg. x
Sorry Margaret, ‘suggests’ was a bit misleading. I wasn’t saying you were encouraging it. I meant you were pointing out a possible flaw in the system like a responsible forum member
