New site... want opinions / comments

Started by cyclesnatch, November 15, 2005, 01:46:32 PM

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cyclesnatch

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the long post... but I believe I have something good and I need your help evaluating it. No one's gonna know unless I talk about it.

http://www.cyclesnatch.com
login: eval@cyclesnatch.com
pwd: eval

The purpose of this message is to collect opinions/feedback, not generate users. If you like the site concept though... please feel free to create a free profile of your own.

MORE INFO:

I'm a southern CA based computer programmer / road racer / photographer who has always wanted to have access to a website which makes it really easy to find exactly the kind of bike I wanted to buy. From my experience, any "classifieds" site or club forums (i.e. r6messagenet, wera, cmra, etc.) always leave me scanning through lots and lots of listings which are not exactly what I want to see.

On one hand it can be fun to see what else is out there... but on the other hand, when I'm really looking, "I want what I want" and it's a waste of time to have to scan through a long list. Yeah I could do a "search"... but most sites only allow keyword searches (perhaps with price / year as well) and then you have to contend with the R1 vs. R 1 vs. R-1 issue resulting from the text input (as opposed to make/model selection) manner in which ads are created.

Additionally... at places like eBay and Cycletrader there are scam ads, dealer ads, and ads which were so old that I figured for sure the bike had to be sold already.

Can anyone relate, or is it just me?   ???

So... long story short... I "built a better mousetrap"... and I'd like some feedback from whomever has time. The site has just recently launched so there are only a handful of ads in there.... but I want to change that by getting people to take notice of how good the site is compared to any other offerings. I'm hoping if you check it out you can see what I mean.

Imagine being able to get this specific with your bike search or when posting for sale:

COMMON CRITERIA
=============
- Ad type (i.e. FS vs. WTB)
- New *OR* Used (FYI cycletrader ALWAYS shows dealer ads)
- Cycle Type (incl. odd ones like "stunt bike", "pocket bike", "custom chopper")
- Street Legal (to seperate track bikes from street bikes from off road)
- Year (with <=, >=, =, between "X" and "Y")
- Selectable Make (to avoid typos and diverse spellings)
- Selectable Model (to avoid typos and diverse spellings)
- Price (with <=, >=, =, between "X" and "Y")
- Posted within (to only show recently posted ads)
- Keyword (used more for mods i.e. Ohlins, Sharkskinz, Brembo, etc.)

GEOGRAPHIC CRITERIA
================
- selectable country
- selectable state
- selectable metro area (nearest big city)

MOTOR / DRIVETRAIN
===============
- Selectable displacement (50cc to 2000cc... with <=, >=, =, between "X" and "Y")
- Cylinders (selectable 1-8 )
- Stroke (selectable 2 vs. 4)
- Drivetrain (chain vs. belt vs. shaft)

BIKE CONDITION
============
- Mileage (with <=, >=, =, between "X" and "Y")
- Condition (i.e. new, like new, excellent, good, average, needs work, parts only)
- crash damage (i.e. none, few scratches, light, moderate, heavy, totalled)
- tire condition (i.e. brand new, light wear, medium wear, heavy wear, replace)
- title status (clean, salvage, no title)

EXTRAS
=====
- Selectable main color
- paint type (i.e. factory, repainted to original, light custom, heavy custom, none)
- modifications (i.e. totally stock, light mods, medium mods, heavy mods, custom built)
- VIN (one of the only text entry fields)
- Description (text entry)

If that wasn't enough to qualify for cool... I have also put my photography skills to use and am accumulating a very high quality, well categorized image gallery loaded with hundreds of images for your persual. One very nice gallery in there is the "Team Cyclesnatch" gallery. See my avatar for a hint!  

I would really appreciate any comments and feedback about the site. I am aware that there are lots of motorcycle classifieds out there.... but I'm hoping that eventually mine will be *THE PLACE* to buy and sell bikes. I put a lot of time into making it the best on the planet. If anyone else knows of a site that does what mine does I'd like to hear about it.

Oh yeah... did I mention it's FREE?

cyclesnatch

29 views and 0 replies or interest? Are people really that disinterested in a better way to do motorcycle classifieds (especially catering to racers)?  ???

spyderchick

Give them some time, they'll give an opinion.

I checked it out, and it seems like a very good concept.

Where would you draw the potential listings from? Will it be free to list, or will there be a fee?

Would there be advertising, and if so, what types would you allow? (You know we all hate pop-ups and cookies, but banners are usually acceptable.)

A nice, concise database for this info is very useful, looks like you'vve thought this through. :D
Alexa Krueger
Spyder Leatherworks
414.327.0967
www.spyderleatherworks.com
www.redflagfund.org
Do or do not, there is no "try".

cyclesnatch

Thanks very much. Your site is pretty cool too.

Listings will come from users like you and me who want to buy and sell bikes more easily. This is why I'm trying to get people to see how much better my site is than any other classified system out there. I know there are a lot of them and this may be a tired topic... but that's only because so many people before me have done it so half assed.

For now the system is free, and once the system reaches critical mass (probably in like a year I hope) I always intend to price it lower than any of the competition out there like Cycletrader, etc. So... best system... lowest price... you do the math!

I hope people will have a look, appreciate what I've done, and spread it around. I need to get some ads in there....

cyclesnatch

Oh... and the "Ads" will only be in the categorized "Resources" section. It's basically a directory of paid ads for any company that wants to be in there. It's better than a plain "links" section for the advertiser since it's categorized and people can find what they want there too. For people wanting a bricks and mortar location to walk into.... they are further categorized by city/state as well.

I too hate banners, popups, google bars, or any other kind of annoying thing trying to trick me into clicking on it. My goal is to keep cyclesnatch.com a very pristine and cleanly ad free zone.

I can only do it though if I get ads from the end user in there. There's no reason (other than a low but growing user count) why everyone wanting to buy and sell bikes wouldn't find the site very useful.

It's my passion to introduce a great service where none existed before.

Super Dave

I think e-bay is still pretty good.

Do you not have anything being listed currently?
Super Dave

cyclesnatch

Yes there are several bikes up there now... just not hundreds as I'd prefer. It's going to be a long effort for me to raise awareness of how much better my offering is than any other.

Super Dave

Super Dave

cyclesnatch

Just log in, click on "Search Ads", click on "Clear Form" (to find all bikes), then click on "Submit. You're good to go.

Chances are you specified some criteria which no ads contained.

mj

 ??? Why would i want to give you all of the information that you require for your sign up just to surf your sight?

good luck

cyclesnatch


Precisely why I provided a demo user id / pwd so you could take a look.

And... the idea is to buy and sell motorcycles. It's useful to have contact info when it's time to make deals.

jarelj

My opinion: you're going to have to allow people in without a userid/password to build any momentum, and many people aren't going to take you seriously with the T&A on the site.  I would be embarassed for my wife to see me pulling up that site.  I'd go "No honey, it's a want ad site for race bikes" and she'd be like "Yea, right, pervert!".  ;)  I like your concept, but you MUST let people surf without signing up.  Only make them sign up to bid/buy.  Otherwise, I don't see it going anywhere.  If eBay made people sign up to view available items, they would have thousands of members instead of billions.
Jarel
General Manager
Ducati Omaha / TrackAddix
Ducati Omaha