Gumtree’s changing. Help us make the right changes.
We’ve given Gumtree a cleaner, fresher new look. But that’s not all. We’ve redesigned a few things to make it easier for you to use.
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. You can switch back to the classic view anytime before the new site is launched.
Now take a sneak preview of the changes at Gumtree.
224 Responses to “Gumtree’s changing. Help us make the right changes.”
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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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This is my Excerpt…
[...] you can visit this blog post to get access to the new site. Don’t worry, you can always go back to the old [...]
[...] month ago, we introduced you to a sneak preview of the changes coming soon to Gumtree. We’re really glad so many of you took the time to tell us [...]
[...] new beta site that enables you to search across cities, and in fact all of UK, for the first [...]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Tony knox, MAC SuttonColdfield. MAC SuttonColdfield said: Gumtree’s changing. Help us make the right changes. – http://blog.gumtree.com/opt-in-page/ [...]
It`s bad news that I hear that gumtree is closing the best part of it`s website down.I have had some fun with it if you know what I mean LOL
Yes alot of the adds are a waste of time and links to other sites but there are genuine people on here too though looking to have some fun.
I`m sure gumtree could do more to weasle out these scamming adds instead of shutting he whole side of it down.
Happy Chrismas all and a fun New Year
There are other websites offering very similar to gumtree who will remain 100% free for a long time.
vivastreet dot com appears good
londonstar dot co uk is still very new, but maybe we can jump ship onto this site?
nofeesfun dot com, seems a little hard work, as although its free, its still a long process.
Anyone else got any other genuine ideas???
Its Christmas everyone and so its time to have fun, fun, fun. Come on all you genuine, sexy, single girls… Show us where you at and lets party!
Let Gumtree get on with it, i am sure they will bring it back when they lose their custom. Yes there was alot of scammers and time wasters, but at the same time there were genuine people on here. I have met alot of genuine people and have had so much safe, fun times. No i am not sad, or desperate, i am actaully a good looking guy, who has no trouble meeting girls, but at this moment in time, i just want to meet sexy girls for casual fun. I still meet girls using traditional methods, but this is just another, fun, alternative.
Lets stop moaning about Gumtree and lets find an alternative site. I only know of craigslist at the moment, so please can people suggest other decent, free sites to carry on our fun.
omg!! totally devastated to discover the closing of the most vital parts of gumtree does anyone KNOW of any alternatives?????????????
thank you
R.I.P Gumtree
xXx
A little disappointed that the dating and friend sections will be going. Met a few nice people through it, and had hoped it would carry on. It seems a shame to lose it.
The only reason i came on to Gumtree was to check out the friends and dating sections.
oh well…. guess I’ll have to find another site to spend my days on.
silly gumtree!
Ive seen this so many times. Look at the American model. Many sites have made similar moves try and find them now. To the people who deride the friends and dating section we know you sue it as well. 66 percent of classified web traffic is in this section. It will come back people when they realise the mistake.
alex, some of us are sad losers yes. and so what. so what we all can’t be happy like you. anyways this forum is for the freidns and dating blog. so whata re you doing on here. are you in denial. you must be a sad loser then. always takes one to know one. you have proven this to be true.
i
lmao @ all you sad bastards bitching about the friends and dating section!!! get a fecking life and do it the old fashioned way! this is a classifieds site, for buying and selling, not for sad, fat old losers who cant get laid without a free internet site! you will not be missed here.
Give up on Gumtree, it is owend by ebay and was always going to go this way. The fiends and dating section was the only bit worth bothering with, loosing that just leaves the dodgy stolen goods and knackered cars! If you want seccond hand stuff go to friday-ad for genuine people or dating go craigslist. Bye Bye scumtree!!!
gumtree already has a bad name. No amount of money spent will clean up its image. Good bye Scumtree!
Hi
I’m trying to get as many people as possible to convince Gumtree that the Friends and Dating section should be still kept open.
There must be some sort of method to filter out the time-wasters and the spam.
Please join the Facebook group.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=216905769039&ref=ts
Cheers
Mr Grimez The Anti Hero
Try craigslist.org and fuck gumtree off if they can’t offer a friends & dating then lets jump ship
no dating or friendship page?? well me and my friends will be leaving the sinking ship Gumtree as it goes down and find a site that can justify calling itself a Community Site!!
so my idea is to go away in a dark room sack the no brainers who thought of these prejudiced ideas and changes and think again!!
Well, there is already a perfect solution in place if you replace these dashes with dots and come to sh-forumup-com but we need your help to make it a success.
Yet another user who will not pay a single penny for what is just a hosting service.
Good bye Gummers.
Well me and all my friends shall now be using vivastreet- they still have their dating sections and offer exactly the same other options as this site so none of us have reason to ever return to this site. Take away the main category that brought this site custom- you’ll be sorry. See you all at vivastreet!
Gumtree is owned by eBay. I knew it would not take long before eBay try to cash in Gumtree’s loyal following.
I for one won’t be giving eBAy anymore money.
New Gumtrees a bit crap isnt it.
Its much more user friendly how it is. I like the small divisions of categorys.
hi all tried to leave a comment earlier with my email address but moderator took it off. so try again. i am thinking of building a site all personal ads will be free as with membership. all commercial ads will be £1.00 per week if you would like me to build this i will need your support if you can mail me to register your interest i will start builing if i get enough interest. now the next word you will have to work out but hopefully moderator thewackjobatyahoocouk please hurry before this one gets taken off
Couldn’t find a section called Business for sale either in the old or the new versions of the site. I’m only looking as I want to sell a bouncy castle business (in Caterham, Van, giant slide, 7 castles, sumo suits, web site, adverts, bookings, telephone number)
I was quoting. The moderator deleted the rest about alternative sites being very good.
Whoever you are Richard – don’t start cutting and pasting MY cooments and pretending they are your own
Do you really have that little imagination?
I think gumtree are making a big mistake, but hey ho thats the way of the world. instead of cutting their advertising prices therfore getting more paid for advertising to compensate for the free personals, not that i can use them. i put an ad on asking people to report all the spam, got banned for doing it, apparently my ad was not appropiate, sorry gumtree i think you are wrong on so many issues this is your death nell tolling bye
Look out for the ‘new, improved, very, very expensive’ version of Friends & dating in 2010. haha!
Ebays big mistake? They assume the loyal Gumtree following is going to remain so after the changes.
Wrong. Gumtree users are much cannier than that, and will vote with their feet
please please DO NOT remove the dating and friendship sections
keep them as they are!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GUMTREE YOU ARE MAKING AN EXTREME MASSIVE HORRENDOUS MISTAKE!!!!!!
I TOO SPEAK ALONGSIDE EVERYONE WHEN I SAY WHAT A HORRID MONEY HUNGRY SELFFISH STUPID MISTAKE YOU ARE ABOUT TO MAKE!!
YOU ARE SLOWLY KILLING THIS SITE,BY DOING YOUR SO CALLED “IMPROVEMENT” OR WHATEVER YOUR MANAGEMENT DEFINE IT AS YOUR ARE SIMPLY SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT! WHICH WILL RESULT IN CAUSING YOUR OWN EVENTUALL FAILURE!!!
ME AMONGUST 1000′S OF OTHER USERS WILL SIMPLY NEVER USE ON THIS SITE AGAIN! YOUR TRYING TO MAKE MONEY YOU ARE SIMPLY WASTING YOUR TIME!! AS IT WILL BE THE SAME AS THE REST..JUST AFTER OUR MONEY! GUMTREE USED TO BE PURE, FREE,KNOWN FOR ITS ADDS AND A AWESOME WAY TO MEET PEOPLE ASWELL AS BEING A FUN PLACE SOON IT WILL BE JUST CRAP LIKE EBAY AND ALL THE OTHERS!
LONDON IS A VERY VERY LONELY PLACE ITS SO HARD TO MEET PEOPLE AND BLEND IN THIS CITY PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE RE-CONSIDER THIS UNSPEAKABLE DECISION!!!
YOUR CUTTING OFF YOUR NOSE TO SPITE YOUR FACE!
IF ITS NOT BROKE DONT FIX IT!!!!!!!
RE: “Anyone know any other FREE community sites with dating/ casual sections like Gumtree? I know CRAIGSLIST but not many people use it outside of London. What are the alternatives?” There are loads on the net like Vivastreet, Hallolondon, Freeads, Loot and Friday-Ad.
i hate the new look of the website. it think you guys should rather concentrate on spam as other users have mentioned
GUMTREE…!!
Keep the FRIENDS and MISSED CONNECTION sections as they are!
No matter what people think of the other dating and casuals sections – FRIENDS serves a benign and useful community purpose – to help people who are new to this big city, or who have relocated, or whose friends have moved on or moved away, to find people in a similar situation and make new friendships
What can possibly be wrong with that?
To be honest I think this is all part of a big cost cutting exercise on the part of Gumtree
It’s no coincidence that the service is going offline on Dec 23rd (basically so no-one can post over the Xmas / New Year period)
And that’s because they don’t want to have to pay for (or pay overtime for) admin staff to moderate the site over the Christmas period.
Ebay are in the business of making money – not giving it away. Therfore they are not going to dig into their pockets to pay for moderators to police a free, and increasingly spam filled section of the site
Look out for the ‘new, improved, very, very expensive’ version of FRiends & dating in 2010. haha!
Ebays big mistake? They assume the loyal Gumtree following is going to remain so after the changes.
Wrong. Gumtree users are much cannier than that, and will vote with their feet
I am very much concerned with the update required in gumtree since i have been using gumtree for about three years. I must have to say that there must be some creative peoples working behind this nice website. I would like to raise the following issues.
1.Since you are charging to publish jobs(£25) advertising went dramatically low. I would recommend to lower the price so that gumtree remain popular and no other website comes upfront.
2.Gumtree is a nice website for the cheaters!!!Many complains you must faced about robbing people when they see a nice car for a cheap price and when they goes with the money they are being robbed. Why dont you make something like paypal or escrow or at least easier than those (cash is preferred to a lot of ppl though) so that buyer and seller’s security remain secure. This robbing is just an example. I personally know about many incidents about robbing other ways like seller sometimes say -you can transfer the money i will send the phone or laptop right away next day. But it never delivered.
Thats all for today.
the new version doesent list the prices on the main page big problem
the new version doesent list the prices on the main page big problem
Kiss goodbye to Gumtree.
Failing to deal with spam and scams was always going to be their downfall. So now… rather than put in even the most basic filters to keep the site clean, they are simply giving up on some sections and removing them. (admittedly those sections were so spammed to be near useless anyway).
The site’s always been coded by chimps, but you’d expect even gumtree developers to understand basic web security — they clearly, provably, do not.
Dating sections drive traffic — so Gumtree’s about to see a massive drop in traffic.
There’s still no filters in place to block spam and scams. So the scammers will simply move to other sections — the jobs section is already a spam and scamfest anyway.
It will now only get worse. Look for ads for kids toys next to ads for prostitutes.
Gumtree admins — completely and utterly the most worthless people on the internet. (and soon to be unemployed)
Someone WILL take the place of Gumtree by adding spam free personals, and that will get all the traffic. Gumtree will be gone by the end of next year.
Gumtree admins, you reap what you sow. You did no work, and soon you will have no work. You deserve your fate.
Time to move on and find a new place for a nsa lay. Thanks gumtree for screwing this up.
Anyone know any other FREE community sites with dating/ casual sections like Gumtree? I know CRAIGSLIST but not many people use it outside of London. What are the alternatives?
looks nice but people love the dating sites, however people that say gumtree cannot block users, then why did they block myself, because i said something about too many scammers.
so they can block users, just the wrong ones, then when i asked why it was because my items were inappropiate for the gumtree site and that they wish me luck on other sites.
gumtree can do it if they want to?
I’d like an alert option to notify with when the item I’m looking for is avaliable
Goodbye gumtree, your ruined.
I DON’T LIKE THE NEW LOOK AND IT’S SO HARD TO FIND WHAT I NEED! I WANT MY OLD GUMTREE. FOR EXAMPLE-FOR RENTING IT WAS BETTER WITH OFFERED FOR RENT IN NORD AND SUD LONDON OR FOR JOBS I WANT TO SEE THE DATE WHEN THE AD WAS POSTED.
I DONT CARE ABOUT DATING, BUT WE NEED THE REST…
I met some great guys on here.Why are you cuting us off have bigots taken over at Gumtree.
So….
Why not just decide on a new (existing) section for Friends & Dating posts and then just flash mob it after the 23rd?
How about ‘Gumtree Fun’ under ‘community’
If enough people just start posting dating ads in there – what is Gumtree going to do about it? Close it down too? Delete them?
As everyone here knows, innocent ads get deleted all the time anyway – so no change there – and it’s not stopped us yet!
hey david how do i go about claiming against a scammer,,i got done w a ticket scam…
Gumtree is a haven for scammers, the owners of Gumtree KNOW and ALLOW them.
For anyone that has been scammed by a scammer on Gumtree, you can claim against Gumtree to recover monies lost as they as an advertising service have a legal responsibilty to ensure their ads are genuine. They must, by law, refund you if you have been scammed on their site.
So can people please suggest and post some alternative sites to Gumtree
that have personals and casual relationship sections?
Thanks
What I find ironic about the whole Gumtree removing its dating section because it gets spammed is that the spammers who can get away with posting their scams have to deal with this big warning on craigslist:
“SCAM ALERT – scammers posing as potential romantic partners are directing CL users to age and identity verification sites, dating/adult/cam sites (where you can see their “pics” or chat with them), even sites designed to deliver malware — all in hopes of earning affiliate marketing commissions at your expense.
FUN FACT: Reporting a scammer’s “affiliate ID” to their affiliate marketing program often results in confiscation of the scammer’s ill-gotten gains by the affiliate program.”
Why have Gumtree NEVER done this or done anything to block these scammers? Where’s my incentive to keep reporting the scam ads like those which have riddled each and every regional board?
OK OK OK Now we have all seen and read the comments against the closure of the dating and friendship sections.
When will some overworked (not) admin bod tell us if we count in the bigger plan.
Or will they let “Gumtree” become “Slumtree” begging for Credit Card details the the rest in Cyberland.
Phredd
Hey , love the look of the new site , very clean and crisp …. as regards removal of dating / casual sections …THINK … about it … its their most popular sections and they are closing it down ! no way hosey …they have plans and I guaranteee it will cost cash …. the casual section lets face it was over the top …so likely paying for entrance will keep it more private from pasing young eyes … thing is … hardly any girls will pay to join so it will become useless…. these sections are full of middle class bored housewives , milfs and profesionals and never in a million years will they sign up for anything that could be traced back to them ….. SO the dating / casul sections will fail … everyone will settle on another FREE site within 6 months , 60% of gumtrees visitor numbers will dissappear …. RIP GUMTREE
Whats the bet the Friends & dating section will disappear in Jan – only to be replaced by some very expensive, paid for, identical service on Gumtree a month later
I reckon its all about profit
If you were greedy, corporate Ebay, had checked your traffic stats, and accepted that the dating section got more clicks, views and posts than any other – what would you do?
Yes – rip the community off, and make it a charged for service
The problem is that will just become another boring, samey, homogenised, crappy dating site of which there are hundreds of competitors
The uniqueness of the Gumtree proposition will have been ruined forever and Ebay is going to find soon enough that no-one is ‘interested’ in their ‘new enterprise’
Serves them right
you here about all the bad things about the friendship and datig i used it and met someone its at the early stages yet i hope i dont have any more use for this page heres hoping but i think its a crying shame for the ordinarly desent folk who are still looking and cant afford these other sites hope you change you mind ? gumtree is a brilliant site please please keep it as is
Yes, well said, James. I couldn’t agree with you more. Gumtree personal ads have long had the reputation for time wasters, so, let’s hope the sadoes can find another medium for expressing their worthless ideals.
Quite frankly, I won’t be sorry to lose the personals and dating section. From my own personal experience; and that of others, it was a complete farce: with time-wasters, people who are affraid of their own shadow and shallow, illiterate morons who have nothing better to do with their lives. But well done Gumtree for their other excellent services.
it won’t be too long before gumtree folds unless they reconsider taking away personal ads as majority of the users use this section of the site. its a shame…rip gumtree
A FREE dating section would work better if Gumtree stopped ads being posted with web addresses on, stopped similar ads being posted and allowing users only to post if they had a Gumtree account.
Bring back the Dating section and when I say Dating section I mean FREE Dating section.
You can surely see on here the users want that section to remain.
Please don’t give us a dating site link to join that’ll just be one giant SPAM kick in the face from Gumtree to its users.
Please. Please. Please. re-consider about getting rid of the dating section. As a disabled guy and regular user I have made many genuine friends from this section I would happily pay a fair price to keep it going and I’m sure this would deter the scammers and abusers of the dating section.
Again..PLEASE. PLEASE . PLEASE Think again!
Cheers.
Graham.
I like the poem by renatta and she has a point,the personal adds brought alot of people both together and to the site,I used the dateing site quite often and found it fun,true there was loads of spammers and wannabees better if gumtree could have filtered them out as I for one would have possibly become a paying member to advertise further as long as the free area was still there,my logic would be to scan the free area and if I found what maybe a suitable friend then would be willing to pay a small fee,this could work by letting us send a limited amount of mail per week then go ontoa pay by mail or Im sure there must be a simple way for gumtree to make it at least cover their cost but easy for us,the friends and dateing gets us on siteand I’m sure manylike myself then browse other sections,crap move gumtree
Its a crying shame that the admin at gumtree can not filter out the rubbish spammers and scammers.
I have met quiet a few good people from this place also made alot of friends with it and yes i have come across alot more rubbish.
Bring it back but charge people say like £10 a year for the service, anyone reported more than 5 times for scamming or spamming like the “Tracy Hartland nee Allmans boyfriend” ones, seriously some people need to get a life and be permanently banned with no refund.
I won’t miss the dating or friendship sections. Both were a waste of time. Nothing but a bunch of SSS’s (scammers, spammers and sleazy) types on there. Also I had my ads deleted and blocked too – and they were genuine! Yet gumtree allowed such inappropriate ads to be posted. What was the logic behind that? Lets not forget about that technical hitch which prevented emails from being received. Talk about poor administration. RIP GUMTREE.
My ad has been deleted so many times and I cannot post anymore ads. My ad is legit and i am not selling anything illegal, while these spam ads are up and running without any problem.
Can anyone please solve my problem at all?
Well, the new look seems ok, as long as Gumtree doesn’t saturate the page with adds and banners all over. Please keep the advertisement concentrated on the bottom or just a single banner on the top.
About Gumtree dating, I wish I could start a new company offering the dating site of the business with the brand/reputation Gumtree already has.
Surely you can include search by post code and range, ie items within 5 miles of sw1 etc etc, even the most noddiest of programmers could do this for you and it would save the likes of me making numerous web calls to achieve this.
If you need to see this in action look at Loot, Autotrader and others.
I am less inclined to search nationally given that Gumtree mantra is to see before you buy, I ain’t travelling far for mostly low cost items.
still the best small ad’s site around though, try keeping the obviously stolen “Boxed unopened new TV half price” ad’s off would be good too!
It’s a really bad move to axe the Friendship & Dating sections from Gumtree, I and no doubt many others reading this have made some really good friends & contacts via it. Another short sighted corporate decision made purely on financial grounds without asking the people who use the site what they want first. Yes the Friendship and Dating sections do have more spammers and fake listings than other parts of the site (Motoring and Employment have them too so are they next?), but with a small investment in staff time to moderate the sections properly they could easily cure the problem.
Sorry Gumtree you’ve made a wrong move on this one and I’m sure many others feel the same, hopefully the money you lose as a result from the paid for ads may make you reconsider.
You have to remember guys ,,
The dating ads were free to everyone for years and years.And dont forget paid staff employed by gumtree to manage ads daily for years .Which cost you guys nothing.Times are tough and if gumtree is to stay in business it has to clean up it act. Removing the personal dating section which is full of RUDE WORDS daily for years.
So the company/website owners can run a profitable business and remember
nothing in life is free.. so thank gumtree staff who have been amazing and have put up with crap for years.We’ all gained from using their website and its time to call it quits. They need to opt their game to stay in business otherwise it will be “bankrupt gumtree” for ever .Surely we dont want that.Thank you guys – you have been amazing.
Keep up the good work and we look forward to a better and cleaner website in the new year.
It WAS the best personal add site on the internet, how on earth can removing some of its most used and valued categories, be regarded as an inprovement ? I fail to see how it will survive.Thanks for the past valued services but I am left very dissapointed with Gumtree.
Talk about putting the last nail in the coffin
Cutting off the personal ads is the most stupid thing you could do. All the lonely people, where will you all go now.
Gumtree, Dumbtree shat on us all, Gumtree, Dumbtree have a great fall. All the single ladies and all the single men will never use gumtree ever again.
Bad decision. I am a male, early thirties, any ladies up for fun tonight?
Why don’t eBay just dig into their very deep pockets and hire a couple more people to moderate that section properly
It’s not like they can’t afford it!
Cheap b****ards
I have had some great adult encounters from the ads on here, I’m gutted!! I agree there is a lot of spam but there are also a lot of genuine people who have come to rely on this service for friendship, encounters and heaven knows what else. From reading the comments on here this appears to be some corporate thing, will there be anything left thats free for ordinary folk in this country?? CORPORATIONS… understand this, the people are tired of you and your greed. Gonna try this craigslist, I know I won’t be using Gumtree after today. Is it just me or is the internet evolving into a global supermarket? When I first went on the net in 1999 everything was free and if what you wanted wasn’t there someone would always help you find it somewhere for free. Everything is to pay for now, a bit like a virtual shopping mall, the fat man gets ever fatter. SAD.
eBay should be renamed ePay
ie: The users ending up PAYING both social and financial costs for its greed and pathetic and out-of-touch corporate decisions
craigs list is pur new choice for Friends and Dating
craig list is pur new choice for Friends and Dating
poor decision It is absolutely ridiculous to get rid of it well all I can say gumtree is that you will loose alot of people to rival websites
I really don’t care it’s a rubbish site full of spammers & scammers
try craigslist you all
Met an amazing couple here having so much fun
am not bothered because alot of spam, fake stuff.
I can’t believe your going to sacrifice the dating/friendship section which seems to be the most popular section within the Gumtree community, well all I can say gumtree is that you will loose alot of people to rival websites, you obviously think its a good business model/decision without this section think again! ! ! ! !
What do you expect from eBay idiots ????? Not very long but you all have to pay to advert on gumtree
this is the silly ever decision that gumtree will ever take by removing the dating and friendship site i have met a few people on here though i will say the’re more spammers than real people but i think wot u have to do is tighten the security of the section not close it down. What a daft idea by gumtree
I do hope Gumtree are not going to sell out to a pay site. My experiences of them are you cough up your £15-20 to receive messages which you do not get til about 3 days before your subscription runs out!!! Having paid the extra you find someone has “winked” at you, total bloody rip-off.
Do the right thing Gumtree, keep this site open
I have to be honest, the only replies I have received in the past from the dating/friends section have been from spammers and overseas “brides-to-be”!!!
My adverts have had over 300 hits in the last week and only a few spammers this time.
Yeah well its a law of the universe that things come together, lasts for some time then dies!. Not only is dumping the dating section is wrong but Gumtree has changed the job section in my county(which was small) but now has a lot of titles to look under but they are all empty, so like said before on here Gumtree must be getting paid by the click, even when there’s nothing to look at. So good bye community hello PLC, Gumtree you’ll never be Google so don’t bother trying, are you just trying to clean up your act to make it more appertiseing to stock brokers? SELLOUTS
Please mr. gumtree don’t delete the dating and friends section!
there are few genuine people like me and my friends who use this section and have met genuine people here..
Its a best way to meet people here then trying in pub/bar.
Please reconsider..
Deen, moreno and sunny.
Poor show gumtree – when love@lycos.co.uk was changed – it became the death knell of lycos Europe.
Despite the absolute majority of users at lycos complaining about the changes that were about to happen – Lycos *ignored* the public and even sent out a defiant email to all users saying it was changing and that was that.
*IGNORE YOUR USERS AT YOUR PERIL*
I met my girlfriend via this website(gumtree) – what an outstanding shame that you have decided that this kind of thing is no longer going to be the case.
Get a grip – get real and play nice!
Gumtree has a good Muscians Ads section & Tutition section that gets very well used and I know gumtree is the main place now for musicians online now to find other musicians and network..So if they carry it on that will bring a certain amount of Interest! But scrapping the the dating & friend section omg BAD IDEA… the dating and friends section was good because it’s free and people can meet new people…but recently this year I noticed false ads on gumtree dating ads and unreal girls conning guys for oversess marriege’s and joining dating sites and viewing dodgy pay for view websites! Plz reconsider re-adding the dating & friends section? Or otherwise people will use other sites….
Anyone reading this if Gumtree decide not to re-add the dating & friends section you can place Ads on a free classifieds Ads site called Vivastreet there they have a free dating section and friends section!
Discontinuing the Dating section seems a poor decision to me. Despite the enormous number of spoof and scam ads that now seem to plague it, I have met a number of people who are now good friends. I shall have no reason to use GUmtree ever again after 5th Jan.
I realise that all this has been said by many people before, but the more who complain the more likely anything is to change.
If anyone has any ideas about alternative sites, I’d love to hear them.
When I discovered gumtree, back in 2003 it was a such a good and simple site. Now I am getting confused and feel lost when want to post an add. Fair well Gumtree, splash,splash down the commercial drain.
think you should check your stats?
you should be removing the idiot who thought about removing the dating pages.
want to see gumtree close down, then on your heads be it!
there are many classifieds online and some are fantastic, the only thing that makes gumtree stand out from the rest is the dating section.
remove it and you might as well remove gumtree, ” be warned “
If the friends & Dating section is gone then I’ll have no reason to look at your site. What a bad idea. If you want to distance yourself from that side of things then just transfer it into another name and keep it going. I’m sure you’re getting plenty of hits with it so why close it. Your reasons for closing just simply doesn’t ad up!
Every time something is working well, someone always comes along & starts messing with it, claiming to ‘improve’ it. Gumtree used to be great & I used it a lot. I hardly ever bother now.
Why are you getting rid of the friends and dating section? i made one friend through using this part of the site, get rid of the causal sex part of the site not friends and dating part. If this part goes then I will not be using Gumtree in the future no doubt another site similar to Gumtree will take advantage of your old format
Stop focussing on making money and look after the customers you have!!!
It was nice knowing you Gumtree bye
i completely agree.
the only reason i came on to Gumtree was to check out the friends and dating sections.
oh well…. guess i’ll have to find another site to spend my days on.
silly gumtree!
What a shame gumtree has gone down the route of all those “free” websites and started charging for bits and removing all the best parts! Well let’s wait and see who comes up with a better version!!!! Gumtree, you suck!!
E Bay i8s an arrogant company that feels it is always right. It needs to be brought to heel. It forgets that it’s customers are the important people.
Remember when eBay was a great site…..then they went for the money…. then they bought Paypal and tuined that for users….then they bought Gumtree and will rui that for users! Which site will you screw up next eBay?
I agree. What a poorly thought out decision! This is the most popular section of Gumtree and I can vouch for it’s success. I’ve met some lovely people through this and there’s not much like it elsewhere.
Sack the person who made the decision and give the job to someone who understands the role better!
A ridiculous decision which you will no doubt live to regret
The number of online services that offer reasonably ‘free speech’ – and are reactively rather than proactively moderated by the community and moderators – is practically non existent
So Gumtree fulfilled an important role and filled a definite niche
Yes, a better system needs to be implemented when it comes to weeding out spammers, scammers and criminals (remember they exist in ALL sections across Gumtree)
But the interesting and amusing content posted by ordinary people in FRiends & dating made it worthwhile
Who hasn’t laughed at some crazy ‘missed connection’ or particualrly witty dating ad?
It’s not all bad Gumtree – get a grip!!!!
It serves the community as much as any other section on your website does
Please listen carefully. I think you’re decision is wrong for two reasons. Firstly, you haven’t explained the full reason why you are deleting this section which is disrespectful to your customers.If people have been abusing this service then regulate it more carefully.
Secondly, from your point of view it doesn’t make commercial sense. Whilst the dating service is 80% free it encourages people like me to pay for other sections (general sales etc etc )which I won’t do in future if you remove this site.
In this economic climate I think you’re about to make a decision you will seriously regret. It’s taken a long time to establish yourselves and people now talk freely and positively about Gumtree. You prove a very good service. However, people are outraged about your decision and it’s people who matter. Don’t commit financial suicide .. because then it will e too late to complain. And don;’t say we didn’t warn you. Si.
Don’t get rid of friends and dating! Get rid of the person who came up with the idea! Idiot – Its the best section on Gumtree!!!!
What a stupid thing to do – getting rid of the most popular part of gum tree – dating. you will loose thousands of customers – me included Something else will replace it. GOODBYE GUMTREE. RIP
Gumtree says it is here to help servce the neigbourhood and to bring it to alive, and yet it abounded one of the most important aspect of the community, the friends and dating sections.
I guess in the New Year, I will have no further use for this website and so I will delete it from my favourites. I’m sure something new will come up to replace it
I cannot believe that gumtree are deleting the dating and friends section. I met and made two friend this summer through gumtree. Yes i understand that people abuse it cause the casual section is filthy for what people post on there. But what about the genuinue people that wanna just meet friends and date. Surey a small charge fee of a a couple of quid and a full registration would weed out the scammers. I wud be happy to pay £2/£3 for a genuine ad. I dont see why you GUMTREE have picked on the dating section when there are people on here selling stolen phones, tv, camcorders and landlords renting dodgy properties. What about all of them! ?
Getting rid of one of the most popular parts of the site is a big mistake, scpically when your are paid per view/click by your advertisers. You (gumtree) will lose a lot of revenue and then the whole site will suffer. Investing a bit of time in moderting the posts would be far better than just Deleting it.
Hi,
It is an absolute non-sense to delete the FRIENDS & DATING section. Indeed this is the most popular section on Gumtree.
Instead you should keep closer control on the ads published. It will be a mistake to delete this section as gumtree will no longer be as popular as it used to be.
Shame on you!!!
I for one will be glad to see Friends & Dating removed, as it’s 90% scams these days.
However, I do think a Moderator would have been a better response to the “abuses”.
I hope this is a Global response and not just something levied against the UK site as in my experience the US suffered to the same extent.
Why are you closing friends and dating section?For God´s sake,that was the most popular part!OK,some ads were scam and some photos were filthy,but you can just invest in moderator,like every other site!
Hey,
What’s going on here? What is the reason to remove the dating section from Gumtree? It makes no sense. I don’t see anyone here saying it is a good thing. Yeah, regulate it a bit more if needed but do not remove it completely. Don’t you people in charge recognise how popular it is?
do not get rid of friendship and dating section.
Do not delete the dating section!
Gumtree people listen, hear ye, hear ye,
Delete Dating and Friendships and you will loose nearly 1/4 of the people that already come to your site!
Change it if you must but don’t delete it you bad bad people!
rip in gumtree
Strange choice to get shot of the dating section, plenty of people use it and myself for one a regular. I’m just repeating the what most folk have said…..it was easy to access and use without being ripped off as you are by all the other dating sites. Will def miss it when it stops, had some great fun from it, think you may loose a lot of interest from gumtree now!
I wonder how many negative comments it takes for Gumtree to NOT get rid of the dating section.
It is absolutely ridiculous to get rid of it completely. Yu won’t see me on Gumtree anymore after January 5, that’s for sure.
Big dumb mistake to just ax the whole section rather than refine it. I’ll not be using the rest of the site from now on — too bad. It had become a key part of the internet for me. But something will take its place. I can wait.
I have come across Craigslist, which is much better anyway. There were lots of “timewasters” on Gumtree. Also, I happened to publish the same ad twice in one day in the dating section on Gumtree and seem to have been blocked ever since – whilst ads which were blatently breaking the posting rules were published over and over.
I think if Gumtree removes the friends/dating section they might as well close the whole thing. Bar accommodation I doubt people use the rest of the site.
I see no need to use gumtree any more if the “friends” section is removed. Goodbye to all the people I will never meet
I’d like to add to the many others here and say this is a big failure on Gumtree’s part.
Gumtree:
- Do your job properly!! Instead of removing the section, do something about the fakers and spammers! Its not that hard – other sites manage!!
- What about all the fake stuff/spam in other sections? You gonna remove them too?
- And why lie about your reasons for removing it? Because “…we’re not able to focus on bringing you the dedicated service you’ve told us you needed in the Friends & Dating categories…” is clearly rubbish!
Gumtree – please reconsider pulling the dating section. By and large, it is used by genuine people and I personally have met around 20 women from the site since last year – and have had some great friendships as a result. I would URGE gumtree to reconsider their decision to pull the dating section and, as the comments here demonstrate, the section is very popular and acts as a draw card for other users. Please, don’t pull it!!!!!
Gumtree Friends & Dating section was unique because of its simplicity. Other recommended sites which use similar system such as Vivastreet, Eyemeup, etc. have a fraction of amount of users we see on Gumtree! It takes almost a decade to build a large community. The rest of the dating sites is just a waste of time!
Sadly everything has its expiry date.
What annoys me is Gumtrees cowardice in not being transparent about the REAL reasons they are removing this section
All this bulls**t about ‘…we’re not able to focus on bringing you the dedicated service you’ve told us you needed in the Friends & Dating categories….’
Anyone can see that’s a cover-up story for something more political
If Gumtree insult their users intelligence by refusing to come clean about their agenda – then they will lose respect and patronage. Simple as that
I don’t buy it for a second.
There are just as many scams in operation in JOBS section, PROPERTY section, TICKET SALES section…
They seem to be able to devote the manpower to moderate and keep those sections in operation, don’t they….
SO WHATS THE TRUTH GUMTREE?
Poor decision removing the casuals, as shown by the feedback so far. Surely reconsideration needed. The friends/dating section was all I ever used gumtree for and made lots of great people as a result. Like many others, wont be using Gumtree for much longer….
no need to get rid of the casual section but does need to be supervised a bit better so less spammers and links to other dating sites its the only thing that brings me to this site so plz reconcider
from all of the comments above and below, it’s obvious you’re making a big mistake. the people who made the decision to remove the dating section from gumtree should remove themselves instead.
Well life will never be the same again. Over the past year I’ve acquired some steady boyfriends, some exciting illicit encounters, a whole new social life, all through Casuals and Dating. Most of the people I communicated with were honest, decent – and horny! PLEASE reconsider!!!
If it’s true that the dating section will be closed, that is sad news indeed. I think this is a big mistake, as it was one of the best features of gumtree. Spammers will always be about. DON’T DO IT! Listen to the feedback you are getting and reverse the decision.
Over the years I used Gumtree for Flats, Dating and advertising my business. My ads have been pulled for no good reason, or vanished without explanation, or sometimes never even made it on there, getting ‘lost in the system’ and so this latest decision just confirms that you really are a bunch of amateurs. (Oh and by the way, this comment in no way implies any sexual service)
the dating section was usaully full of spammers,prozzies,pic collectors..fakes and crazies!!
cant believe you are taking off the dating section, what a really bad decision, i wont come here again once it goes, its the only thing i use gumtree for, other sites do everything else you do much better so no use for your site.
RIP Gumtree
i use gumtree because its not complicated
dont destroy a winning formula
What, somebody actually uses Gumtree for anything else apart from the Dating or Casuals ads?? Good luck with that then.
So, apart from Craigslist and Vivastreet, does anyone know any other free UK (London ideally) personals websites? Thanks.
weel is no nice when many gay guys as caual dating on gumtree many in adverts showing picture dicks ass vagina I think this is no seriouslly people. To webmaster question???? Can you safe e-mails address from unserious people on gumtree and stop this unserious adverts???
Thanks a lot
BIG BIG BIG mistake taking that off, most people use it for that, and theres plenty of other websites for the other sections u offer, so i doubt people will stay here. RIP Gumtree
DO NOT REMOVDE THE CASUAL DATING SECTION THIS SITE IS GREAT AND WITHOUT IT I WILL NOT USE THIS SITE AGAIN. PLEASE READ THIS AND MAKE SURE IT DOESN’T HAPPEN. THANK YOU
I can pull in real life.
I’ll still use the site.
By far the vast majority of users will continue too, but they won’t be bothered to write on here. Because they’re too busy in the real world.
Saying that, if the dating section really is THAT good, why not keep it anyway? good luck growing the business.
And what about all the spammers and scammers who advertise in the ‘jobs’ section? The ‘for sale’ section? the touts in the ‘tickets’ section?
Why target friends & dating?
Just do your job properly Gumtree, and nothing would have to be discontinued
I bet when push comes to shove there’s some dodgy, corporate FINANCIAL reason behind this decision
The gumtree owners are PIMPs and clearly have been so for a while. They have PIMPED our time whilst it suits them, but now are running cold and are selling their sites soul to their devil partners.
Why has a decision been taken to stop the dating section and why is there no real explanation of the real reasons?
All i can say is that Gumtree you’re a bunch of losers and i hope your new site, brings you nothing but poor rating a drop in revenue. I also hope that it get lost amongst the plethora of other sites offering the same crap.
For a while you stood out from the rest, but now you are just cold callus bastards towards the thousand of people that once used your site.
Come on Gumtree don’t do away with the dating and casuals section. I have met some amazing people on this site in this section. I know you are getting a lot of fake and spam ads but surely don’t you see you are letting them win if you do this.
KEEP THE DATING AND CASUALS SECTION………ITS THE BEST THING ON THIS SITE!!
Please don’t get rid of the friends and dating category.
It’s one of the best parts of the site.
Yes there are spammers, but then again dating sites have spammers, and you have to pay to use them.
Gumtree is so useful for finding interesting people.
Why you emailed to tell me this I really don’t know because you have banned me from you site. I placed an ad with the same imformation that I use on modelling and other free ad sites and you banned me for “inciting prostitution”. It was for ladies to earn some extra cash. Why ban me when there are people offering to pay for a b**w j*b!!
how much revenue is gumtree going to lose with axing casual dating ect?maybe a goverment requirement?
RIP GUMTREE
I THINK YOU WILL REGRET THIS RIP GUMTREE
I emailed gumtree a few months back and warned them that spam ads will be the down fall of gumtree, Time will tell if they get rid of the dating/casual relationship section.
If they took more time and checked ads before for publishing them on the site then it would not of come to this which as ruined it for people who placed genuine ads.
So come on gumtree get your backsides into gear and over turn this decision of doing away with this section. Even if it mean a small fee to place ads.
Don’t drag your heels this time get the job sorted or are you scared of a little extra work be grateful you have a job at the moment because if you scrap more sections you won’t have a job for long.
silly silly gumtree casual relations is by far the best thing you ever had and your chucking it away without even asking your users, there who you should ask before making outright mistakes,
you will loose a hell of a lot of peoples business i guarentee you that,
i think you should reconsider!
I agree with everyone’s saying about the fact that you are taking the dating site off, do you honestly think that that’s clever? I don’t bloody thinks so, I am furious about this because this is the only site that I had success in finding lovers and now you’re taking that away from everyone by removing dating websites.
You should have got off your lazy ass instead of wanting extra pay for sitting on you ass all day doing nothing and give the scammers a severe warning and block them permanently from the site.
YOU ARE MAKING AN INCREDIBLY STUPID AND REGRETTABLE MISTAKE!!
You do nothing about the fuckers who post spam, we don’t need protecting, we’re adults and we know when some wanker is sending us scams, we’re not dumb and blind.
I am certainly giving up using Gumtree because all you’re doing is taking the best part of the site.
Well I only have my last few words to say, fuck you and have a nice day, you can stick your site changing ideas to where the sun don’t shine you mindless and thoughtless idiots.
im descusted you are taking advantage of me ive spent lots of money seeking gay or gay men i think you are piss takers. str8 people allways take the piss out of gay people you sould be struck off . how many have u ripped off ? 100s
There could not be a worse business decision on Gumtrees part, than removing Friends & dating.
The amusing, varied and interesting posts were largely what gave Gumtree it’s vitality.
All human life could be found on Gumtree (including some pond life!) but surely that was just a true reflection of the society we live in?
Gumtree is going to become a pale shadow of its former self now.
The smart thing to do would be to monitor that section more effectively – not to get rid of it. Just clear the spam, criminality and prostitutes
and leave the interesting people to carry on posting
Gumtree is going to lose huge amounts of traffic and users
Imogen
gumtree is a good site shame about the spam in the dating section,have posted and replied to a few ads and its been mostly spam r miby its just me
I’m in shock over Gumtrees decision to remove the dating and casuals sections! While it has become progressively worse for blatent spam over the last year or so, and no efforts seem to have been made to filter or combat that, the fact remains it was an excellent and move cherished partof Gumtree. It’s the whole reason I found the site, used it regularly, and discovered it’s other uses, as a classifieds section and for jobs. I came here a year ago from Canada, with a broken heart, all alone and without a friend in the world. Gumtree was the best possible thing I could have discovered. I’ve made a handfull of life long platonic friends, had countless excellant dates, 2 short term girlfriends, and just began a long term relationship with a lovely girl I met on here. It’s also gotten me laid 12 times, and I can’t tell you the happiness and differance that has made to my life. I’ll mourne the passing of gumtrees friends and dating section, and can only hope that craigslist attracts more UK attention because of this, as gumtree is the clear leader at this point. I’m positive that gumtree will loose a lot of traffic because of this move.
As a young couple who enjoy fun with other girls this is a bad thing.
Over the past 3/4 years we’ve met about 15 genuine girls and had a great time and some lifelong friendships have been formed….
Sure there were timewasters but they were pretty easy to weed out over time.
So if this goes ahead Gumtree we thank you for some great times but with regret. There wont be another place like this to find genuine people (albeit among the fakes)
I have spent a fair amount of money using your ‘Casual Dating’ section, and feel very let down that Gumtree.com have decided to remove it.
It was a very useful way of meeting people, and depsite it’s shortcomings (which are mainly due to timewasters)it provided a good service and no doubt a good source of income which shall now go to Gumtree’s competition.
Please also be aware that those people who use this section also use other sections and will no longer visit your site without ‘Casual Dating’ !
Worst decision ever made
sex and money, One I have the other I have not!! leave the sex alone keep the daing
I advertise with you under Legal Services
Your new layout under “Services” shows “Tax, Money and Visas”
How is the searcher supposed to know legal services are in that category?
Can we have a seperate heading under “Services” of “Legal Services”?
Please?
Please DON’T remove the Casual Dating area. Sure there were time wasters but this was a great local site and a terrific service. It was simple, easy, effective and very, very much appreciated. There is nothing half as decent to replace it anywhere. It is true that surely your efforts would be better appreciated by removing the genuine fraudsters in the Job sections. PLEASE KEEP the CASUALS.
This has got to be the worse decision any site could possibly take. I started looking on her because of friends and dating, then i looked at other stuff. But that was my Carrot on the stick.
Still as one door shuts someone else will open a new one.
Well done Gumtree!
I used to use this section pretty often, but never found a genuine person. Responses were either span, ‘jokes’ or dodgy people. The number of times I found photo’s on this part of the site which shouldn’t be there is ridiculous. Nevermind all the dirt… The quality of people was far from great. You’ll save yourself the time and effort and put it into something more useful (I hope)!
Good job on removing this waste of space though.
Cheers, Paul
I would keep the old format, it look and felt much better. Why break the unbroken.
There is nothing worse then videos etc killing what was the slickest classifieds site on the web.
My team helped to set up TESCO.com at e-Space so I know what I am talking about.
Bright
I dont understand the reasons for removing the dating/casual relationships part of Gumtree, and I think as business decisions go its probably one of the worst I’ve heard this year.
I was approached by gumtree seller based in Cameroon claiming to be leeds trying to scam money out of me. I know these people have succeeded in getting money out of other less vigilant people, yet I still see ads from these people going on. Maybe try doing something about that rather what consenting adults decide to advertise.
It’s really a shame that Gumtree is giving up on friends/dating/sex categories.
Let’s face it…we all love gumtree for several reasons…but without the Friends/Dating categories i don’t think gumtree would have acchieved the same level of success and becoming so popular amongst us.
Sorry guys, i think you’re making a big mistake.
do you honestly believe that gumtree will still be so popular without those fantastic categories that you’re getting rid of?
my honest opinion is not, it won’t.
it will slowly fade into oblivion just like several other sites.
I don’t see why you’re dumping the friends and dating section. sure it gets a lot of spam, is the failure to catch these what is meant by, ” we’re not able to focus on bringing you the dedicated service you’ve told us you needed in the Friends & Dating section.” If so then you’re failing in almost every section and should pull the entire site. The section works for the moment, removing the spammers when myself and others report them is all thet is required. It has been added to the new style site for now, so why remove it?
I travel a lot and have found your site to be ideal for setting up almost a full life upon arrival in a new area, house job friends and furniture all in one place, It was great but it is being ruined. Please stop messing up the sections and just deal with the scams.
Craigslist is the best alternative to Gumtree
try craigslist.org as an alternative for Friends and Dating
Ah, so the pc brigade win again.
Why take away Casual Dating, it is one of the last places we can speak our minds when looking for sex, so I am adult, if I don’t fancy something, I don’t want to ban it,I leave it up the person involved, of course children should be safe.
Wrong, Wrong…I am adult and do not need protecting by the mamby society.
D
Some bad decisions at gumtree HQ!
i shall not using gumtree anymore, but thats the way it is, ,you take the datingsites away, ,you take the live off gumtree away
Please will have to fall back to Vivastreet I presume…. which is where the prostitutes use
Well like all before me, I wont be using your site anymore, and I will actively promote the likes of VivaStreet and Craiglist
Worst decision ever getting rid of the Casual relationship section
graham says:
Tuesday, 15th December 2009 at 11:39am
Maybe you should concentrate on stopping the continual spamming that goes on every day which you seem to do nothing about
Thats spot on,
Mark says:
Friday, 18th December 2009 at 2:32pm
DO NOT LOOSE THE DATING CASUAL SECTION, IT IS FAR BY THE BEST PART OF THE SITE, TAKE IT AWAY AND YOU WILL REGRET DOING SO.
NO DATING CASUAL SECTION THEN I WILL STOP USING THE SITE.
Thats spot on as well
Gumtree, RIP
Thank you for deciding to do for me what I have been thinking of doing myself for a long time! Goodbye and good riddence.
I find it amusing, all these claims of doing this that and the next to help “improve” the site. Yet you leave things there that cause problems or do half assed changes that do little to stop things like spam simply because your developers cant see more than 2 inches in front of their faces.
Maybe if you actually bothered to fix the existing problems instead of trying to make it all look fancy and nice things would be a lot better for everyone including you.
Worst decision you’ve ever made – I certainly will not be using this website anymore.
I agree with the other comments regarding the casual and dating section, its the best part of the site, if it is removed then i will STOP using the site too.
Please keep it as it is very good.
Very Very BAD decision to remove the dating section from the new look site.
Will STOP using the site if it goes.
DO NOT LOOSE THE DATING CASUAL SECTION, IT IS FAR BY THE BEST PART OF THE SITE, TAKE IT AWAY AND YOU WILL REGRET DOING SO.
NO DATING CASUAL SECTION THEN I WILL STOP USING THE SITE.
You must keep the dating and casual encounters section, i have had loads of meets through this.
If it goes then i will no longer use the site and a lot of people i know will stop using the site also.
IT MUST REMAIN !!!!
How stupid that Gumtree is getting rid of the dating and casual sections! I loved using Gumtree but will now move to other places like CL!
As an insomniac and a pensioner,
I used to enjoy looking through the for sale sections for bargain household items, the friends and other sites (where I tried to help some folk find missing rellies through searching other sites) and the job section in case there was something for my son who is fed up of his lousy boss, but now it’s become far too itemized and will take too long to search so despite me plugging gumtree to many other people in the past, I will probably spend less time here and miss out on things due to the mess you are making of the site. I am of the opinion, if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it and I think others have the same thoughts. It has become far too complicated and totally agree with Me, earlier post.
Taking the friends and dating catagories off of your site is a bad decision and I won’t be returning after that.
I’ve met very good friends on here, one of whom met their other half on here, and I find it utterly ridiculous that you will be taking away a very valuable and helpful part of Gumtree.
Snazzing up the site and linking people to here and there, other parts of the country, when they are looking for something in their own location, won’t be helpful either if they can’t travel etc… Why are you changing what is working?
If spam is the problem, hire an admin or three to sort out the issue.. Better this than losing a chunk of your customer base.
Daft choice.
I have advertised on here before and even the slightest problem seems to perplex the people running this site.
There are plenty of better alternatives.
Hey I like the new look of the site but on the stuff for sale where is the musical instrument section??? I’m frequently checking gumtree for instruments and recoring equipment and so many people post ads this section!! Maybe its just an error but please put it on there!!!
i think gumtree are amazing…out of this world…so if they ever want to give me a job (i have no skills at all)..go for it.
Please please please introduce a rating system for ads – im getting sick and tired of spam ads!
did anyone reply to the ad on edinburgh site (51263748)yesterday for michael buble tickets glasgow 8may09 and get a call from a guy called liam bathgate im wondering if this is a scam!!!!!!!!
I spend a lot of money on PAID ads, PPC ads and featured ads with Gumtree.
I am becoming very frustrated with the service I am receiving.
Featured ads posted go missing without being made aware, a large quantity of ads are never posted, replies to ads don’t come through.
Paying £3 to bump up an ad is ridiculous. Gumtree will be losing a lot of traffic and advertisers.
What a joke, 8th comment is a spam ad! But I’ve used GT for years & even got a job when was homeless. I’ve also sold a good few things as well as promoting my disco services. I’ll see how it goes when it changes.
Merry Xmas ^_^
the new look site is terrible ,my firm uses the spotlight feature regularly @ £19.95 a week.but the ads are now so tiny and can hardly be called a feature ad,very unhappy,anne
you need to go back to the old style categories, cars valued between….same for motorbikes and scooters etc. was much easier to use and saved alot of time when searching.
also for the scammers with email only ads….make it simple contact numbers only….back to basics!
Just to ad to my last post. Normally I would advertise my flat and then update it every day so it was always on the current day page. I have done this up until Monday. Now it wont recognise my password so I can upgrade anymore and neither can I pay to advertise it-coz it wont let me! Is this the new changes? So can I only have it free for a week? Anyone else got this problem. I am now going to book an ad in the evening post (BRistol) which has a dedicated section plus it’s added to their web site. Come on GT get your act together your losing money!!!!
OK well it seems that they wanted our response and it does not look good for GT. I use it a lot and have advertised flats etc but I have also paid for various ads and had some free. Now they want to charge stupid amounts of money and works out more than if you advertised in the newspapers. I would happily pay £10 to ad my flat to rent for a 3 week period but they just got greedyand want a lot more.
Come on GT I have promoted your site to hundreds of tenants etc. Don’t get greedy and let us all down. We are the ones that have supported you so you can get this far. Don’t blow it.
separate sections for boats ,clothes ,etc.. stop scam ads for amazing cars for pennies and do`nt charge for ads or will stop using an otherwise good site .
I used to enjoy using gumtree, but the number of spam ads is getting out of control. In some sections more than half the ads are spam…to me they now stand out like a sore thumb because of poor grammar/spelling, and they repeatedly duplicate ads. I report them but nothing seems to be done about it, so much so that I’m now wary of replying to any ad, and usually look elsewhere. Not a good site anymore.
hello scumtree, you used to be a good website more like a small community to advertise freely, nice kiwis/aussies/saffas/brits looking for work/offering work selling a car/bike etc,
then you started charging and it got messed up, id also like to know why you allow poles to offer jobs/rooms in polish as its against work fair practices, lettint poles put job offers in polish is bang out of order, because no body else can apply for the job,
sorry state of britain today, fortunately i’ll be leaving soon, poles and arabs can have it, get labour out now, thanks to them we now have an army of miserable poles and aggressive arabs since they stopped granting work visas to ex-commonwealth countries, now favouring the third worlder,
keep gumtree and keep rancid britain, im emmigrating, id rather be the foreigner instead of me feeling like a foreigner on my once lovely local high street,
goodbye.
Just had a looksee at the revised site looks good, however I note something about payment to renew an Ad, sorry there is insufficient coverage with Gumtree to warrant such payment, therefore wont use now, a bit sad really, try to pass on stuff that would end up in the tip or otherwise destroyed, now need to pay for the privelege, no thanks.
I actually like the website. The fact that you can search nearby with the same criteria saves a lot of time and is very useful. A lot of people are complaining but it does seem to do what it’s meant to, and that is act as a bulletin board.
Thanks
I have always loved Gumtree, I thought it was great that there was a service out there that wasn’t trying to mess you about, wasn’t trying to take your money but was just there like a big community notice board. But now I have to pay just to renew my ads? That’s not fair. Why should I suddenly have to pay £3 to make sure that other people out there can gain from what I have to give? We generally post on here to get rid of unwanted things, it is better than chucking them away and filling up landfill or whatever, but now that we have to pay… Well you can be sure I won’t be using them again. I could understand paying a fee to have your ad pinned at the top to make it more noticeable, although I always felt that the fees were quite high, but at this rate, you will be charging just to make a ad, let alone update it. It’s sad, but then I suppose it’s the way the world is these days – fleece the public for everything they’ve got. I shall be using Freecycle in future.
The guys advertising Blackberrys are being overwhelmed
with iPhone adverts. Its Gumtree’s fault for NOT providing
a sub-category for ‘Apple’ or ‘IPhone’ in the Mobile Phone
category!
The iPhone is the premier merchandise of the decade,
but no Gumtree category! You cant blame the iPhone
advertiser for the problem.
One thing that’s ridiculous is separating all the job areas – now there is a Bar section, a Waiting section, etc. I can’t see the point – there’s not that many job offers anyway and it makes searching for jobs much more difficult, you have to click through all of them like an idiot. I think the classic gumtree image and visual look was much much better and the changes that have been made over the past few months just made things actually worse.
if there is one thing you change please PLEASE make it be the bogus ads, the fake jobs the fake free things.. it drives me crazy. i spent 2 days once talking to a respective employer i found on here only for them to ask for my bank ac and sort code. please sort it out
peace
im not chuffed at gumtree charging to bump your advert to the top of the listings as i use your site often it is a pain in the bum having to rewrite a new ad…….come on gummy…….
Interesting changes in jobs section. We advertise with you and there is a good response but the new directories are confusing. You will never cover all sectors ie nursing where have you included that? and then what sort of nurse. or read mechanic etc etc. Please keep it simple and let job seekers browse a generic grouping
this gumtree website is a load of rubbish, they now want you to pay for ads if you want to bump them up to the top of the listing, why cant gumtree birmingham be the same as london gumtree, which is actually a lot better and doesnt charge to bump up your ads…thanks a lot gumtree NOT!!!!!
Gumtree helped me in the past find me a car, job and flat too. Now I am in need of another job in Inverness area, but what happened today shocked me. I just can´t understand, why job sections are now devided to so many of them, which are empty! In the past, I could click on 3 job sections, but mostly full with scam, never mind… But now I have to click on ten and most of them empty… I understand many job sections beeing made for big areas like London etc. but Inverness?? Hello…
Hi, I’ve been a gumtree user since the start in London way back and for a free local ad service it can’t be beaten!
I’ve not personally been impacted by the spam/scams/sex ads so won’t pass comment on that.
I would however recommend that a way of encouraging sellers to remove defunct ads be found. I’ve recently responded to 6 ads on Edinburgh’s gumtree and only had two replies! One saying their item was no longer available, presumably the other 4 weren’t either or they’d have been in touch. So that’s a high ratio (83% in this example) of ads that are no longer valid. This wastes my time, the sellers time in receiving e-mail they don’t want and clutters the site so buyers can’t see the available items from the sold items. Given that it’s up to the seller to remove their ad maybe this could be made easier for them to do, or reminders sent, … a solution needs found anyway, over to you
Thanks for the opportunity to pass feedback.
Cheers, AL.
Dear Sir/Madam,
I think that Gumtree is an excellent free advertising service.There are a lot of boats advertised on Gumtree along with allied Chandlery such as outboards and boat parts etc., I would suggest that you would have a section alongside Cars Vans and Motorcycles specifically for Boats. I have gotten good results through Gumtree in general and would like to say thank you for that – but how about a boat section. As a matter of fact I think thgere are way more boats than camper vans advertised as it is.
Peter MacMillan.
I have found myself using this Gumtree Site less an less, ive posted adverts and nothing arrives in my mail box, and beleive me ive sent myself a reply off my mates comp so I know its true, Also I have never seen so many blatent adds for paid sex in my life, and yet even after sifting through tones of spam fritters and think youve found a decent gen advert Yes you guessed it another re route to sex site. However I give 10 out of 10 for the site in general as it is local and that does help a lot for those of that a frightened of being ripped off by the many crooks using the other auction sites, also by dealing with people local it brings a more urgency and honesty between the people locally concerned.
Good work so far just a few blips but we all have them in life. Steve. Stoke on Trent.
I agree with the comments of everyone else about spam. These spam ads are generally easy to spot by a lack of detail or very, very poor English. My particular experiences are summarised below, but apply equally to the whole site.
Jobs – click here, visit this website, whatever – nothing but dubious get rich quick schemes. Real jobs are very thin on the ground.
Friends/Dating – sign up to this dating site, sign up to that dating site. Let’s get money out of gullible, desperate, lonely men and, for all I know, women too. I saw through scams like these the first time I saw them years before I’d even heard of Gumtree.
What needs to be done is to make it VERY SIMPLE to flag spam ads, the current approach is complex and puts people off making an effort that is no more than a drop in the ocean. If it were a simple, one-click thing, my guess is that a lot of us would enjoy going through the listings and flagging up all the crap.
Oh, and another thought on jobs – NO AGENCIES.
The sceptical among us may start to think that Gumtree is in cahoots with the spam sites if the problem isn’t dealt with soon. Do you earn ad revenue for each other? The dating section is an absolute joke. I know I for one have sought out better alternatives.
I feel that there should be more control with the spam on this website, i have wasted my time and still do, looking at non-existant job ads.
What i find now is that the advert says “cleaner required” and then you click on it and it’s one of these scams that promise to make you thousands of pounds per month.
I am happy keep up the good work gumtree…
How can prices double to place an add on the spotlight page – it’s terrible – you are driving away small business such as myself – how can i afford to pay £99 to place an ad on the spotlight page.
Also agree with earlier poster – there has been a few instances where people have been murdered or attacked after meeting someone from the gumtree….perhaps you should be investigating options to make it safer than bleed small business dry.
as to my earlier post about scammers, here is one for you to look at….
http://norwich.gumtree.com/norwich/87/51243187.html
just listed today,
ask for details and they will send you to another web site that has supposedly good prices, but it’s all just a con or a scam, getting really fed up with them, so many of em!!!!
you need to make everyone have an account like ebay, or maybe a feedback rating system, that will make life harder for these idiots.
Hi,
Perhapse you should spend a little time on perfecting ways in which Gumtree is safer and how people are not victims to scammers! . This website has the potential to be realy good but if you continue to ignore the fact that spam is a regular accurance i cant see how making it ‘fresher’ will overall be any good. I see im not the only one on this … so maybe you should have a think about it.
The prices on gumtree are going up far too often and far too much. Last week I was able to bump my ad up for free; this week you want £3! Our traffic has enabled you to make money through selling commercial advertising. You are now driving traffic away through charging the little guys. I’ll definitely be looking for a free alternative.
Hi there
I’ve been looking for a cleaner but it doesn’t have it’s own category and is really hard to find the right section. Am sure this is a popular search so could you give it it’s own section please? Also, where has the furniture category gone? It seems to have vanished? Thanks very much
spam is a big problem, i keep looking at things that are just links to c r a p, sign up for this, click that, you need to sort out these aholes as soon as possible as they are giving you a bad name, i loved your site a while ago and recommend it to friends and family, but the last person i told said he looked and every other job was spam, he wont be using it again, shame, i still look for bargains, but it’s getting more and more difficult to find genuine items, i have recently asked questions about more than 6 items i was interested in, and each one said “sorry, the item is now sold, but go here to this site and get it cheap or free” all useless c r a p.
Maybe you should concentrate on stopping the continual spamming that goes on every day which you seem to do nothing about
Im both a private and business user to gumtree placing adds in general building services and private stuff for sale prices for business have jumped alot since i first used the service without any insentive for placing them and responces have droped i think if you did a recomened a friend deal for paying business services revenue would be better for you call me on 07588479900