BLUEMOMENT

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Still tinkering to get it right but it is looking OK so far.

First 20 listings are free, so if you know anyone who is selling a boat let them know. Only bug so far is that the activation email link doesn't work because the URL includes a spurious / as in www/. - just take the spare forward slash out of the link and it works fine.

http://www.bluemoment.co.uk/boatsforsale

Nick wrote:.
Still tinkering to get it right but it is looking OK so far.

just take the spare forward slash out of the link and it works fine.

Looking good - but as a 'buyer' I can't remove the extra slash. It keeps giving me new characters to copy, but that's maybe tied in to the faulty address bar.

Hope that you get enough users to make it worthwhile.

Ash

Nick wrote:.
Still tinkering to get it right but it is looking OK so far.

First 20 listings are free, so if you know anyone who is selling a boat let them know. Only bug so far is that the activation email link doesn't work because the URL includes a spurious / as in www/. - just take the spare forward slash out of the link and it works fine.

http://www.bluemoment.co.uk/boatsforsale

Looks good enough to use to me! Only problem I had was up loading the photo's, some of them are a little disappointing but otherwise quick and easy to use.

Thanks

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The forward slash after www - copy and paste the link then put your cursor in the address bar and remove the extra /

Hopefully will be fixed soon.

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The activation email link should be clickable now if anyone else wants to sign up.

So_Sage - when you say you had probs with the photos do you mean the quality was not as good as you expected after uploading?

I suspect this is because the image resizing function in the script is less than brilliant . . . it is always best if you make the pic the right size beforehand for best results.

I will include a FAQ section with this and other info in it - but so far, so good. Later today I will change the existing Classifieds link trhoughout the site to point to this one. I think I am going to have to go into the old database and look manually for evberyone's email addresses to let them know th e old system is closing down.

Anyone reading this who has a boat on the old system, please move it to the new system ASAP - all entries will remain free for a week or so to allow this to happen.

More feedback please . . .

Nick wrote:.

So_Sage - when you say you had probs with the photos do you mean the quality was not as good as you expected after uploading?

More feedback please . . .

Hi Nick yes, I was doing it in a hurry, I will resize the original immages and replace them in due course.

Regards

Bob

As it is "cruising Yachts", I assume no sail=no sale? (I have a potential customer, but it's a stinkboat))

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On the web, if you ain't a niche you ain't nuffin'

I want it to be somewhere people look when they want a cruising yacht . . . not just any old waterborne device

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Feel free to put it on just now free of charge for three months, then whether or not you renew it once charging starts is up to you - hopefully it will have sold by then. You can in any case send me a cheque if you don't want to use PayPal but would like to renew when the time comes.

The UK bit is to try to avoid people just using it as cheap web space for boats that aren't relevant to the majority of the target audience of this site. (The old Classifieds site has boats in the States, Greek yachtbrokers and all sorts on it just because it is free).

If you are targeting UK buyers then I don't mind, and Corfu isn't the end of the world.

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As everything seems to be working OK I have changed all the links on the site to point to the new Classifieds section and have e-mailed people who have posted a vessel on the old system within the last two years.

Please tell anyone you know who has a boat for sale about it - the first 30 or so advertisers will get the full package for free.

Once there are a dozen or so boats on it I will advertise it on the front page of the site.

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Just got an (apparently) genuine enquiry about Fairwinds from the new site!

Must get some more boats on there so I can take her off. Even at 16K we can't afford to sell her - unless someone has a seaworthy Nic32 for 15K

No mention of Western Union yet then. Subtle.

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Dave, this isn't competing with SailRoom

There always has been a classifieds section on BlueMoment - well, for the last five years anyway. It was a bit mickey mouse, having been cobbled together from an old copy of OpenRealty. The new system is a big improvement and has PayPal charging built into it. It is however specifically about selling cruising yachts, nothing else, and is not an auction site, just a classifieds site.

So no, I don't see that it is in any way in competition with SailRoom.

I DO however think that SR has wandered a long way from the niche I had in mind for it. I intended it to become THE place on the web for sail cruising stuff, a niche market but potentially a very lucrative one. Instead it seems to have become a bit of a dumping ground for vaguely nautical job lots, all selling at fixed prices. It now includes camping and caravanning and team sports stuff as well FFS.

Personally I believe that this has discredited the site in the eyes of the market it was originally created for and that the 'pile 'em high and sell 'em cheap' approach is a long way from my original concept. I still believe that the only way to take the idea and make it sing is to throw a lot of money at it t0 raise brand awareness and move it upmarket. That is why I sold it - I could spend the time, but not the money.

I have been involved in the internet for 15 years now and have had a lot of good ideas in that time, many of which have been successfully taken to market by people with money to invest or with better business heads than mine. I have never been able to bring an idea into the mass market without money. 'If You Build It They Will Come' just doesn't work on the web - much like real life really. Unfortunately a lot of people believe that their site will be the exception - and I have built a few of these for people only to watch them sink without trace

Don't know if you wanted this much information Dave, but it might be a good opportunity for you to get some public feedback about the current state of the enterprise . . . at least we are not going to knock the thread on the head for blatant advertising