Enhanced Stores??

Jerry.Burkhart

this would be nice. to have store features similar to other sites. fees as needed would be acceptable. its fine the way things are but i think this site has grown and is accepted by the stamp community and will certainly grow in future. added functions would be very nice.

Ted Tyszka

I concur.
The custom search categories are a feature sorely missed from the BidStart days. And a custom blog-like page would also be a great feature, allowing store owners to communicate with customers, and create a more interpersonal shopping experience.

Mark Rosenberg

What features are you referring to?

Mark Rosenberg

Just to note, currently, most marketplaces do not offer custom design templates for stores and listings. This was not always the case, but over time, design practices shifted to focus on a more cohesive experience for buyers - which makes marketplaces easier to navigate and increases sales. That's why ebay phased out most custom templates and html in listings, and Amazon for example has never offered this (the two biggest third-party marketplaces in the US).

We've seen similar data, so we're not planning on offering custom designs and html templates for listings at this time (in fact, we don't allow any html in listing descriptions for just this reason).

If you set up your own website, however, yes, many website providers offer their users different templates - but in that case there would only be one template per site.

Harry Patsalos

Mark, I know this was discussed in the past, but an ability to Search in the Description section would be a major boost for buyers looking at this site. I know it would help the Topical / Thematic Collectors since this category section is lacking in depth. Should be fairly easy for your IT Staff to implement.

Doug Noernberg

I like the custom searches idea. Boy, now where did I hear about that recently? :-}

Ron Lenke

Ted's enhanced store

Jerry.Burkhart

one thing a category area could be used for is a "items not listed on other sites" category. a sale category, giveaway category..

the options would be only limited by one's imagination. but the end result would be to increase sales which would increase funds to the site. It would also, imo, get a lot more return traffic to the site here and keep people on the site longer. Browsing one's store would be simple and easy and no strain on the search. this would be especially important and beneficial for the larger stores.

Michael Duehr

Jerry,

I never stated my preference. My preference would be based on what the buyers are looking for. If the buyers are basically turned off by it or have no desire for that type of enhancement what then would the purpose of adding those type of templates in the first place? My personal preference has NO BEARING on what the buyers are looking for.

Jerry.Burkhart

Hi Mark, Thanks for the reply. Like i said.. the place is very nice now.

I think the main thing that would tie everything together is to personalize the stores with seller designated categories (to the left?) and be able to click on these to go to that area of the store. The Hipstamp stores are huge.. this is fantastic by the way and something no one else really offers (huge inventory for low costs). a very big selling point and positive feature. If there were categories on the left to click on - we could let the buyers browse the stores without using search and would be a great seller/buyer tool to add more sales. My guess and bet is it would keep buyers in stores for a lot longer time. I do feel some are simply overwhelmed with the stores without this option..maybe start with say 20 categories per store? Maybe also set it up so we can reach the categories via the store url.. example hipstamp.com/store/name/category. The existing listings would need to have the edit ability to update the new feature to add a category and hopefully can edit in bulk to change or set the categories for existing inventory. "other" would be the default for those not wanting to add categories

Maybe also custom pages? this could be to set up a blog like area in the stores. maybe this needs a lot of thought as to rules like no out going links but similar to the forums here even "with or without" the ability of others to post back there. the custom pages could be used to really personalize the stores and educate the buyers, promote sales or simply blog like posts. i'm sure this is secondary to the above but it would really attract long term store owners if they could post in their store. Some may use this to drive traffic elsewhere but they could have the feature removed (a shut off button for staff?) if abused. seems silly to want to cheat so most likely not an issue. i could see this really being an overall fantastic option if created and could take Hipstamp to another level not available on the internet now. maybe have picture loading ability or even get crazy and allow short videos? (ok a little out there) :-) sort of a Facebook
or twitter feel

many more ideas from me and the members , i'm sure. if the store was put together with more options.. i'm sure more fees to pay would be fine or do it considering more sales will be created. The work required to do a big project like this would create funds for the site through increased sales and interest as it would be a lot more fun and personal for the sellers and buyers.

Jerry.Burkhart

a selection of design options /colors templates for members stores would also be nice though i would put this down on the priorities list. the existing store template could also be worked on but it is ok as is.

Jerry.Burkhart

perhaps a promo code we can offer members from other places to get them here would be good? could be in $ or %

Jerry.Burkhart

I don't know about the custom search category? but i was here for Bidstart. The categories i was suggesting has nothing to do with search but a sorting function for stores. so maybe search related? :-) not sure

Michael Duehr

Jerry,

If people are already having a problem with a functional item that is to a degree background noise,IS the need help pop up that after it pops up just sits there and many people can't stand it,what would be the purpose of adding MORE non-functional back ground noise that for many could be viewed as being annoying back ground noise?

Jerry.Burkhart

well michael, that would be why there would be a selection of various options.. it is clear what your choice would be. i on the other hand would select something else that looks more like a store front and not just a generic site page. i doubt it will be considered anyways -- but keep in mind almost all stores on the internet (total stores = many millions of store owners) offer this template option and i doubt they would agree with you on this.. but hey, to each his own opinion. like i said.. the option to keep it very plain would most likely exist. In my opinion this helps to make a site less boring, more attractive and offers inventory placement options. a plus especially for a site that wants to stand out and attract new members. Generally the site offers 20-50 template designs and each design would then offer various color schemes. ALL these suggestions are very expensive to enact as a huge amount of work to redesign a site. i have a bit of experience in these areas. programmers are not cheap. LOL

some sites charge extra for the better templates and pass some of the fees on to the template designers.

Mark Rosenberg

From the Members Area > Sellers > Seller Tools > Promotions / Sales section, you can set up any sale or promotion that you would like. You can also set a Promotion Code. So you can already do this: "perhaps a promo code we can offer members from other places to get them here would be good? could be in $ or %"

Jerry.Burkhart

cool.. i suspected i missed that..Thanks! :-)

Jerry.Burkhart

i would assume 10 million+ websites with templates in use of various designs would show that you do not speak for the majority of buyers :-) i will also have to assume that that is your opinion as you can hardly speak for what others want.. Try to understand the difference between your opinion and facts. Believe me a lot of studies have been done on this subject and hundreds of millions of dollars spent on template designs and usage. It is the norm on most sites. not that any of this matters as it would be a very big expensive project to transform the site here to incorporate templates. and maybe impossible without a complete redo of all the code.

Michael Duehr

Mark,

Is there any way on being able to have a magic number for using with the topics in the bulk lister on Hipstamp like we do on Hippostcard? That I think could be a big help on the topic listings.

Jerry.Burkhart

Mark, a bit confusing on my post.. sorry for that. I was not implying that sellers provide their html templates which could be a disaster in the wrong hands but that you provide the templates for the sellers example since you brought it up Ebay and Ecrater are two examples that provide the templates or as they call them on ebay themes. about 25 options. Not that big a deal and i think it is just an idea that you have thought out many times.and a conversation is always cool :-) I did set up a site that had a blog area in it for the sellers that allowed most all html. it was interesting but hardly ever used. not a lot that use it anymore as you said