AUDIOGON's new format - Page 5

At first i was thinking it was growing pains, but audiogon is just so out of touch with how people used their website my head is about to explode. Its like they brought in some independent firm (or... even worse.. a single web designer), to redesign their website, and that company is now handling all requests. For example, search by area using partial zip codes, whoever is redesigning the website says its "fixed", because you can type in a full 5 digit zip code and it spits out everything for sale, even though NO ONE types in the full 5 digits because thats far too narrow.

I believe that advertising rates are calculated by how many views they receive per page.... We would have to stop going to the sight all together

That makes two of us...it's sad because I looked forward to checking for new deals, twice a day...

It's "funny"; I'll give credit where "credit" is due...aside from maybe the odd peculiarity, things appear to be "working" now (I say "credit", because you really shouldn't be patted on the back, for taking weeks...just to get back to being "functional"...lol).

Still...the changes go to serve what purposes? Yes, maybe they've added a few searches...that some members were like "it would be nice if it could do this", or "it would be nice if it could do that". Small gains...when they even work...IMO, compared to the fact that the site just doesn't feel the same anymore.

Countless members...including many here...have said it's just not as "enjoyable" to search anymore. And I'm talking guys...like myself...who would check deals, in certain categories...2, 3, 4 or more times a day (sad, but true...lol). There are things you just can't quite put your finger on, that people "like"...and "don't like"; there's a Trillion-dollar industry called Marketing based on it...lol.

People may not have been able to pick it more than 5 times out of 10...but they "didn't like" New Coke (to site one of that industry's biggest missteps); and it doesn't appear they "like" New Audiogon. Can't even say why; the font isn't inviting? The pics are too small? The color-scheme is cold? Who knows...I'm not in Graphic Design, nor Marketing Psychology.

I'd just love to shoot someone full of Sodium Pentothal, and ask them "why? What's the real reason you felt you needed to change it?".

CD

I can't leave feedback for the receiver I bought last week because it won't allow the tranaction to "jump ahead". Is this "New Coke" all over again? Ask your customers for comments and then making things worse instead of better? I'm very glad I don't have anything listed right now. Going to wait quite a while for the smoke to clear and then see what it looks like. But what's the alternative? Ebay, CL, the local PennySaver?

Hopefully Videogon will stay as it is.

The new format is less usable to me. In the old format it was very easy to check a bunch of different products or categories. The new on has actually made me stay away from browsing for stuff for laughs.

The new site is a disaster, for buyers but especially for sellers. Featuring your ad used to get you to the very top of the results in your category, and was definitely worth the money. Now Audiogon is asking $20 for a gold star. That's it. Featuring gives you a little gold star, and your "featured" listing is buried in with the rest, completely unsorted. It's a disaster.

I think the Audiogon community should, en masse, boycott and start selling over at soundoffers.com

You want them to listen, make em feel it. Take your business elsewhere. I know I will be. I won't be listing anything for sale on the new site, and I feel sorry for the folks that got screwed out of their auctions, classifieds, and ads.

total mess. i would cruise that site three times a day. so frustrating now.

i havent read one, not a one, positive review on the new site. really stupid business move. sound like some one got suckered by a " marketing" salesperson telling them what was so wrong with the site. I do business on a web site and get at least two calls a week on how my site is wrong, whats missing and of course they can rebuild for me and up my sales. but my customers tell me how they love my website. once they start complaining then i will change it.

They need to change it back or die on the vine the way it is setup now.

+1 on slow, buggy site with a loss of major functionality and "Application Errors".

They either need to revert back or someone else may start a better site and audiogon will go by the wayside. Or maybe folks will just disperse for a while and maybe come back?

The story I read on audiogon was the new format was a completely new website. It was re-written because users wanted new features and the old site was not maintainable.

While that's understandable, they should have tested it better and had it running publicly side by side, baking it well and putting it online when it was ready.

I wonder if someone bought the site and wanted to make bank off banner ads. My sophias for sale have 923 views since the 13th. Not bad with a site in shambles. On the other hand its difficult to maintain the ad with the "Application Error" page occurring frequently.

For you sellers, here is the bad part. I have bought at least 10 times from them last year. Amp's, cables and speakers. I had intended to keep buying, used to check them 2-3 times a day. With the new site, have not been on in days. I still want more cables, speakers, DAC and at least 1-2 more amps. So $8k last year, not sure this year.
This sucks for me.

Agreed. They should change it back to how it was. It was so user friendly before and the search was easier to find what you're looking for. I just tried to pull up the site now and I received an application error.

AG...if you're reading, here's a nickels worth of free advice. IMO, you could make the new site experience 100% better...if you allowed users to have a "default" filter. For example, when I go into 'Amplifiers'...by default, I guess you get "best match". Well...not to state the obvious, but that's a wholly USELESS filter. What's the best match for amplifiers...amplifiers??

So I always start by selecting "newest listings". Wouldn't it be nice, if the site could remember that I always prefer "newest listings" by default...or "ending soonest", or what have you? A site, completely re-designed in 2012, should certainly have the capability. I mean, of all the filters to select as the default.

Again...know your audience and your product; it's not eBay! "Best match" of amplifiers, is just a bunch of random amplifiers; there is nothing to make one amplifier a better match than another amplifier, when I'm looking at a sampling of that category.

The more I think about it, the more I think some of you are right; they just let someone who knew NOTHING about audio, have the reigns of this thing...and they really should have known better.

CD

I cant seem to find the zipcode search. How are you searching zipcodes?

Thanks
Brad

You can search on a single zip code by putting it into the search box. Currently you cannot sort on a zip code range. They say there are working on it.

Thanks. Hopefully when they fix it, one will be able to search zip codes
like before the first 2 #.

Brad

I think the current plan is to do it by miles - e.g. within 50 miles of a given zip code. I have seen that on a few other sites. That would be nice. Since I have seen in on other sites, hopefully there is some easy way to implement it.

That is the single most used feature for me on AGon. The site is pretty worthless to me until they fix that.

That would be nice.


I agree. That was the first thing I did check zip codes.

Brad

I've checked so many Zip Codes on Audiogon over the years I really don't need to anymore except for the obscure ones. I have a pretty good idea what state, and in some cases what part of the state, a Zip Code is in. And if I didn't notice an item until after it was sold I used to click on the Zip Code to see how much the item was listed for. The price would still show up in the shipping calculator. There were a lot of usefull features in the old version of the site. I hope at least some of them were tranferred to the new version.

I wonder if they checked with any of the long time sellers for suggestions. Probably not.

can anyone even open the site? i have tried since saturday and nothing

Sure; other than the occasional hiccup, it's been quite stable IMO...if not exactly functional.

CD

Sorry to hear that. Is there a site on the net that compares to the old version? If not, is there another place to go that is close? I've tried selling here and every item listed here sold on Audiogon. Except now I can't login to audiogon.

I used to do 5+ searches per day. Now it is no fun. I just go when I am looking for a singular, specific item. The browsing process is heavily stunted.

I had no problem listing two separate classifieds yesterday.

Well, as previously mentioned...Videogon...by design...mirrors the old Audiogon. However...a site does not thrive by format alone. At present, it's HT-centric and IMO, isn't really a viable alternative, until it's proven it has the traffic.

OTOH...I guess there's only one way to find out, right?

CD

You can try AudioAsylum, which has no fees and very modest traffic.

You can try The AudioXchange, which has decent search capabilities, but little equipment to sell.

I looked up tube preamps - AA has 18 for sale, AudioXchange 7 and Audiogon over 200.

The action is on Audiogon. I think we just need to be patient.

Looks like agon has gone back to their old web site style


If someone else can double check, it might be a mirage

EDIT: Seems like a dirty little trick, once you start to search it resorts to it's old self...Which I wouldn't have nothing to do with.

DJoel