To Our Members:
It has been six months since the launch of the “New Audiogon.” For those members who haven’t visited us in a while, it’s definitely worth the trip. While the reconstruction was challenging for us and our members, it has brought a lot of new traffic to the site. We are proud to let you know we have over 15,000 new listings a month – a significantly greater amount than we had before our transition.
For those who don’t know, we are a very small company that grew from humble beginnings in the basement of the Accutronics store in Ann Arbor, MI. Audiogon is owned by audiophiles and is dedicated to expanding the number of people committed to this hobby. Fast-forward 14 years, and as a company, we had reached a point where we could no longer grow and improve. Our technology platform was dated (to phrase it mildly) and thus did not allow for us to move to the next level.
We are the first to recognize that our launch did not go as smoothly as we had intended. However, over the past six months we have worked to handle and remedy some of our initial missteps and provide new functionality that was not possible in the past. This experience has taught us a great deal. The first thing we learned is how passionate and caring our community is. Secondly, we quickly realized that we needed to do a better job of supporting our members. Since, the start of this year we have put together a highly qualified team to meld our incredible database into the new technology platform. Once this is complete, our ability to serve the audiophile community will grow exponentially. Moving forward we will be able to implement features and improvement more quickly, thanks to our talented Web Developers. Our knowledgeable Technical Service Consultants are serving people with support questions in less than 24 hours.
If you are a member who has not visited the site since mid-February, please log in and see what has improved.
To name a few new or improved features:
- Find items using Zip Code by Radius, designate how far away your zip code that you would like to view listings.
- Single Sign-on, now members are only asked to sign in once to the site to access all areas.
- One click re-list functionality on sold and expired items allowing users to simply click and re-list from their MyPage. This will soon be available on items you are selling as well.
- Improved sorting so you can sort by expired, sold, or bought items.
- Increased anti-spamming measures, site speed, and site capacity.
- Enhanced Intelligent Search functionality so you can search/sort by any or all filters; the system essentially tries to “figure out” the items you want to find. Coming this week: partial word search.
- Updated feedback scores so they are displaying appropriately on the listings.
- Communicate with other members through our on-site messaging system this will launch in the next few weeks.
Additionally, we’ll be launching “The Hub by Audiogon” this summer. The Hub is a Community section on our site through which all members may interact with each other. It will have areas for articles, the return of the “Cool Pics” section, event announcements, live chat sessions for members to debate hot topics, video tutorials, story and photo sharing among members, and an area for local Audio clubs, plus much more. As we continue to design this social Hub, please let us know what else you would like to see on the Hub by sending us your suggestions here.
Our focus is to continue building a site that will be loved and used. We want to work very closely with our Members to ensure that the remaining updates are implemented more transparently and address your needs. Below you will find a Q and A we have compiled with some our most frequently asked questions that we hope you will find helpful.
These are some of the common questions or comments we’ve received:
Q: Why are the Newest Listings drawn out over several pages? Why can’t I just see one big list?
A: When you view New Today listings, the page automatically returns the first 50 results, but you can change that to view 200 results per page. That being said, however, we are working on modifying New Today so that all results will be shown on one page shortly.
Q: Why can’t I contact Members directly?
A: Safety is key in any online marketplace and in an effort to keep our Members safe, we needed to remove any chance for cyber criminals to gain access to their personal email information and protect them from fraudulent transactions. The on-site messaging system will add another layer of security, plus the opportunity for Audiogon to provide better support in the case of mishandled transactions. Currently, Members are able to communicate through the “Ask the Seller a Question” feature on listings, and we will be unveiling the Inbox function shortly.
Q: How will you raise the sense of community?
A: As this site is about and for the Audiophile Community, we’re excited to launch “The Hub by Audiogon” this summer. The Hub is going to be be a Community section on our site for all members to interact with each other. It will have areas for articles, the return of the “Cool Pics” section, event announcements, live chat sessions for members to debate hot topics, video tutorials on how to use the new site, story and photo sharing among members, an area for local Audio clubs to update, we’ll highlight members Audio rooms, plus much more. This month we will also be sending our first newsletter, The “Audio Files” by Audiogon.
Q: How do I search for items by Zip Code?
A: One of this issues we ran into on our old platform was that we could not change the Zip Code function from a simple search to a radius search. We felt that adopting a radius search was more user-friendly because Members would be able to determine just how far outside their zip code to look for items. Zip Code Radius Search is now available. To learn more about it, please read our post or watch our video tutorial.
Q: Why haven’t my feedback scores been showing correctly?
A: Converting the feedback scores was an involved process, but they are now updating correctly. Over the summer, Feedback will be displayed on a new page that will transition into an area in which you’ll be able to both read and leave feedback.
Q: After my transaction, how do I leave Feedback?
A: Feedback will be updated to be included in the final step of the transaction process soon. In the interim, you can leave feedback manually by visiting the feedback here. You would then choose whether you bought or sold the item, choose the transaction, or if it is not listed, look up the user, and proceed to leave your feedback. For a step-by-step view of this process, please see this article.
Q: Why can’t I see the offers I’ve made? Why can’t I see who’s made offers?
A: We understand the need for being able to track offers and counter offers, and apologize this feature is not available yet. We do have plans to improve the visibility of offers over the summer and are working towards this goal.
Q: How do I re-list an item?
A: Currently, you can use the re-list function from the Expired Items or Sold Items directly on your MyPage. For items that you are currently selling, you’ll need to create a new listing, but we will be adding a re-list function for those items soon.
Q: How can I see the number of times my listing has been viewed?
A: The number of views each listing has received is now shown at the top of your ad just under the item’s title.
Q: How can I search for items?
A: Another one of the updates possible on the new platform is Intelligent Search – where we try to figure out what you’re looking for. You can enter several keywords to narrow your query down to the specific item. For more on this feature, please read our article or check out the video tutorial via this link. A partial term search is on the way, as well.
Q: I used to be able to keep tabs on several items I was interested in on the old site. How can I do that now?
A: We will be bringing this feature back in the form of a “Watch List” for users to tag items they are interested in and monitor the listings from the “My Page.” We intend to have this ready by fall.
If you have questions that haven’t been answered, or would simply like to share your thoughts, please comment below or send us an email here.
