Archive for the ‘Site changes’ Category
On the closure of Friends & Dating
Thank you for all your feedback on our decision to stop offering our services in the Friends & Dating section. We realise many of you are very disappointed and have been waiting to hear back from us. Now that we’ve gone through all your feedback, we’d like to take the time to address two specific questions you’ve been asking:
- Why did we close Friends & Dating?
- What are we planning to focus on for 2010?
Why did we close Friends & Dating?
In a survey we ran last year, along with a wishlist of improvements you told us you’d like for Gumtree, we also learnt that Friends & Dating users were the least satisfied of our Gumtree users. To enable us to focus on a few critical things, we made the tough decision to withdraw from Friends & Dating. As Suchi, our MD, told the BBC yesterday on Working Lunch, “I’d love to be everything to everybody but I just can’t. I had to draw a line and that’s where we drew it…we did a lot of soul-searching.”
Our team’s working hard to improve your overall experience on the site, and we hope you’ll appreciate what we’re doing and continue to use Gumtree to buy, sell and find your day-to-day stuff, cars, jobs, flats/homes, services etc.
What are we planning to focus on for 2010?
This year, we’re continuing to focus on making Gumtree easier and safer to use. Last December, we introduced two significant changes:
- A new beta site that enables you to search across cities, and in fact all of UK, for the first time
- A revamp of our forums to allow you to more easily start, participate in conversations and tell us your thoughts on Gumtree
Also, here’s some of what we’ve got in the pipeline:
- Search in your neighbourhood: Our current beta site allows you to search within your city and neighbouring cities, and we’re now working on enabling you to zoom in and find things in your immediate neighbourhood and other nearby local areas. Look out for an invite to take part in Beta 2 soon.
- Reduce fake ads and email spam: In the same survey we sent out last year, you mentioned your frustration with fake ads and email spam. Fake ads seem to be particularly rampant in Jobs, and contain links leading you to dodgy sites you don’t want to go to. It’s the same thing with some replies to ads. Without getting too boring and techie, we’ll be implementing a solution that will stop these auto-generated ads and fake replies from making it onto the site.
We want to do a lot more and do it well, and would be grateful for your patience and support on this journey. If you’d like to chat more, please join us on our forums.
Introducing The Gummies Guide
We know there are a nervous few out there who’d like to dive into the wonderful world of Gumtree, but don’t quite know how to go about it. That’s why we’ve put together a page to lead you Gummies in gently.
First up, we’ve put together some simple how-to videos that teach you the basics of using Gumtree and how to stay safe while trading on the site in a fun way. All starring members from the Gumtree team too!
Of course, we want you to get involved. This page isn’t just about us telling you stuff; you can contribute to this huge pool of knowledge too. You can either join the video fun and post your how-to video or you can contribute tips and advice in our Forum. We’re hoping that in future, this is the place everyone can come to get tips and great advice on how to use our site.
Get it all at The Gummies Guide
Categories are changing on Gumtree
The times, they are a-changing. Well, in this case, it would be our categories. Our categories have been growing organically across the different Gumtree cities, and we felt it was high time we did a little housecleaning. Some categories have thousands of ads in them with no easy way for you to filter and view results in manageable chunks. We also want to make our category structure identical across all cities so it’s easier for you to find or post an ad.
So what’s changing?
In most cases, the changes will be quite minor, like renaming or adding new sub-categories:
from
For Rent > Parking, Storage & Garage
to
For Rent > Parking, Storage & Garage > Parking
For Rent > Parking, Storage & Garage > Storage
For Rent > Parking, Storage & Garage > Garages
When will this be happening?
We’ll be making these changes gradually over the coming weeks starting from today, so don’t be alarmed if you find category names that you’re used to looking a little different. We hope to get this massive change finished by end of November.
Dude, where’s my ad?
Yep, we know what you’re thinking. What if you’ve got an ad that’s already been posted in a category that’s changing? We’ve got you covered. We’ll be moving affected ads to their closest matching categories, but we recommend you check that you’re happy with the new homes we’ve placed them in.
We’ll be sending those who are affected an email about this. Look out for it in your inbox.
Featured ads now visible on search results
Make your post more noticeable, with our great value featured ads ability. We’ve listened to your feedback and have improved our featured ad function: not only to appear at the top of listings, but to now appear at the top of specific search listings too. Far better value for money, as you’re 70% more likely to have your ad viewed as a featured ad and you need not worry about it lapsing.
If you’re in the Gumtree neighbourhood as a buyer, you’re more likely to find the best quality, relevant ads for everything from a second-hand car to a double-room in South London.
To get featured: create an ad as usual, choose a category and fill in the details. At the bottom of the description page, keep an eye out for the ‘Make your ad stand out’ section, whereby you can choose ‘Featured Ads’ and the length of time you would like it featured for, and voila!
Improving how you find things on Gumtree
Since joining the team earlier this year, I’ve been struck by the love you have for the site and how many incredible stories there are of lives changed in both small and large ways. I’ve also been struck by how difficult it is for you to actually find what you’re looking for – you need to be something of a Gumtree expert to navigate the site. The bottom line though, and something I find really exciting, is that Gumtree is hugely popular and works for literally millions of visitors every month – just check out some of the page view counters on the ads to see what I mean.
Gumtree is simple in presentation, but can throw up some significant blocks to people hunting for something specific, like a certain make of car or a rare book anywhere in the UK. As the site has grown from its heartland in London, it has also spawned whole new sites in other major cities, but if you don’t live in or near one of them, you’ll find it difficult to find something local to you.
The site needs to renew itself in such a way that as it continues to grow throughout the UK, you can find things, search anywhere and experience a Gumtree that caters for where you live, be that in the centre of London or the highlands of Scotland.
Over the next few weeks and months, I’ll be sharing this journey, both the ups and downs, and invite your thoughts and ideas on how we’re doing. First up will be the new listings page designs that are being tested in a couple of cities at the minute – check out Edinburgh or Cardiff. I‘m also working on a significant change that will enable you to search for something nationally, right down to a specific postcode. It’s going to be an exciting year!
Introducing Urgent Ads
Sometimes in life, you need things to happen quickly – like a job position that needs filling, concert tickets to sell off or a housemate to find.
That’s why we’re launching a new Urgent feature that allows you to attach an eye-catching red label to highlight your ad in listings. We think this is a simple, yet effective way to signpost your ad to users and alert them to respond quickly.
If you’re browsing through ad listings, you’ll be able to search specifically for Urgent ads by using the search filter in the left-hand navigation panel.
Urgent ads will remain highlighted for 7 days, with prices starting at £3.95, depending on category. To get Urgent for your ad, create an ad as you normally would and check the Urgent box at the bottom of the form in the ‘Make your ad stand out’ section.
Important notice for Friends & Dating users
You might have noticed some changes happening around here lately. We’re committed to bringing your neighbourhood to life on Gumtree. Not only have we given Gumtree a fresh new look, we’ve made it easier for you to search our site. And there’s more to come over the next few months.
With all the attention we’re putting on improving how you find things in your neighbourhood, we’re not able to focus on bringing you the dedicated service you’ve told us you needed in the Friends & Dating categories. For this reason, we will no longer be offering our own services in Friends & Dating from 5 January 2010.
These are the categories that will be affected:
- Friends
- Penpals
- Girls Seeking Guys
- Guys Seeking Girls
- Girls Seeking Girls
- Guys Seeking Guys
- Casual Relationships
- Desperately Seeking
- Missed Connections
You can still post ads in the Friends & Dating categories until Wednesday 23 December, while Featured Ads and other promotional options won’t be available from Friday, 18 December.
It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but we feel this is best for the whole Gumtree community. We hope you’ve enjoyed using the Friends & Dating categories, and trust you’ll discover other useful areas in Gumtree next year.
If you would like to discuss this decision further, we have set up a dedicated forum for it.
Gumtree’s changing, and you’re helping us change it.
Gumtree’s changing. It’s cleaner and fresher. We’ve redesigned a few things to make it easier to use. But that’s not all…
We’re bringing your local area to life. And if you can’t find what you want in your local neighbourhood, we’ll show the nearby locations where you can find it. You can even widen your search, so you can see what’s available right across the UK. What’s more, we’ll remember your location, so you jump straight into your local Gumtree home page.
This is just the beginning. Talk to us and help us get it right. We really want to hear what changes are working for you.
> Love it? Hate it? Tell us why.
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Latest tweet:
As you may have heard the Gumtree forums are closing, it wasn’t an easy decision to make, read more about it here... http://t.co/FsDTShjs
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Gumtree's lifestream
May 14th
As you may have heard the Gumtree forums are closing, it wasn’t an easy decision to make, read more about it here... http://t.co/FsDTShjs [uk_gumtree]
May 12th
Hi @Phil_Cowley when you reply to ads, you have to wait for the seller to reply back. If they're interested you will receive an email reply! [uk_gumtree]
Hi @sparkybakewell unfortunately we are unable to change the location of any ads on the site. A member of Customer Support has emailed you. [uk_gumtree]
Hi @Carhireukreview you may have more luck advertising your service here: http://t.co/jITarby7 [uk_gumtree]Powered by Lifestream from iBegin.
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