Preloved - Free Classified no longer free.

vinylmusic

I got a surprise today when I went to contact a seller on Preloved.
I got a page saying that I have to upgrade my membership in order to contact the seller.

OK it's only £5 a year but for a site I hardly use I don't feel like paying since there are other sites that don't charge anything.

Also I feel that when I do advertize some people will be put off if they are forced to pay just to get my details

Agreeing to pay is helping them to set a precedent. Others may follow suit and then what? higher subscriptions to follow perhaps?

They already make money from commercial sellers and listing upgrades.

I answered a questionnaire that they put out expressing my feelings
If anyone else feels as I do then I urge them to do the same

http://www.preloved.co.uk/questionnaire

I rated them 0 in the questionnaire just to draw their attention to my view

DONT LET THEM SET A PRECEDENT Sites Like Gumtree, Freeads etc may follow suit then you can bet it won't be only £5 a year forever

amymkeen

I can still access preloved for free?

I dont know if this is something they are phasing in, or whether its to do with the item you are trying to buy, but I wouldnt pay just yet.

Abbafan1972

Thanks.

I was considering using preloved to sell my Ipad, but will reconsider after what i've just read.

I've filled in the questionnaire too, stating my concerns.

lexuslass

This isn't a new thing for Preloved.. it happened to me last year when I was looking for a rabbit.

Because the advert was less than 10 days old, the only way I could contact the seller was to pay the £5.. which I did.

I've just logged in to look and that was March 2011, so my membership will have expired now. I did only use preloved just that once to contact that one seller!

so if you pay £5:
Full Members can respond to adverts from the first day they are placed on Preloved. This gives them first refusal on all the best bargains.

or to continue with free membership:
You can do most things on Preloved for free, including submitting your own private adverts and participating in the forums and reviews areas.
However, you will not be able to respond to adverts until ten days after they are posted, by which time the best bargains are often sold.

Abbafan1972: You can still sell, but you will probably get limited enquiries for the first 10 days.

HTH

vax2002

So you pay £5 and the item could be sold ?
A right deal that !
No Thanks.

CrazyRatLady_2

I think you're all making a big deal out of nothing.
I managed to sell alot via preloved, with people contacting me soon after I posted things for sale (who had thus obviously paid to do so) and some who waited until the ad was old enough that they could contact me for free.
Eventually I paid the £5 myself as I wanted to contact someone about a car but unfortunately they had sold it and not pulled the listing (grr) still can't grumble really at a fiver for a whole year.
As a platform for selling I've found it to be far more successful and easy to use than gumtree and I've never been targetted by any scammers on their either.
In short I've been very impressed with preloved.

hermum

CrazyRatLady wrote: »

I think you're all making a big deal out of nothing.
I managed to sell alot via preloved, with people contacting me soon after I posted things for sale (who had thus obviously paid to do so) and some who waited until the ad was old enough that they could contact me for free.
Eventually I paid the £5 myself as I wanted to contact someone about a car but unfortunately they had sold it and not pulled the listing (grr) still can't grumble really at a fiver for a whole year.
As a platform for selling I've found it to be far more successful and easy to use than gumtree and I've never been targetted by any scammers on their either.
In short I've been very impressed with preloved.

I'm the same as you. I've sold several things & bought a few things on there, so have been happy to pay £5 for a year.

vinylmusic

amymkeen wrote: »

I can still access preloved for free?

I don't know if this is something they are phasing in, or whether its to do with the item you are trying to buy, but I wouldn't pay just yet.

You can still view and list for free and sell but if you want to buy something as soon as you click to get the sellers details you are asked to pay

That means as a seller you can sell all you like but to buy anything now you have to cough up a fiver even if you don't end up buying it. Even if you dont wish to use preloved for anything else.

I'm also not happy because it may put off prospective buyers

Seems they are not content just collecting money from advertisers who's ads we'll still have to wade through to find what we want

"You can do most things on Preloved for free, including submitting your own private adverts and participating in the forums and reviews areas.

However, you will not be able to respond to adverts until ten days after they are posted, by which time the best bargains are often sold." (Their words)

vinylmusic

hermum wrote: »

I'm the say as you. I've sold several things & bought a few things on there, so have been happy to pay £5 for a year.

You may be happy but what if the others follow suit. Then when they are all doing it how can we be sure the prices won't creep up?

These sites are out to make as much as they can out of us consumers. we let them get away with charging then they'll all take advantage to make extra bucks.
As consumers we also have the power to prevent it happening by refusing to bow.

If enough protest then they may listen

See what ebay has become over the last 12 years. It's totally different to what it started out to be

hermum

I think it's for the first 10 days an ad runs for that you need to be a paying member to contact a seller.
A bit like a lot of car boot sales that charge buyers a higher fee to go in early to get the chance of the best bargains.

vinylmusic

hermum wrote: »

I think it's for the first 10 days an ad runs for that you need to be a paying member to contact a seller.
A bit like a lot of car boot sales that charge buyers a higher fee to go in early to get the chance of the best bargains.

I think that a lot of people miss the point I'm trying to make.
Preloved could be setting a precedent.

People accept it then other sites like gumtree and freeads could follow suit.

Then when they are all doing it why not £7.50 then why not £10

Accepting it could in the long term mean the death of free classifieds altogether.

I already feel conned like with those so called free dating agencies who say its free when it isnt. They rope you in with free set up and free to have a profile then if someone messages you you have to pay to read it. How free is that?

I feel that whichever way you turn these days someone's after your money.

I expressed my feelings in their survey
http://www.preloved.co.uk/questionnaire
I also put zero for would I recommend preloved to others

I urge anyone who agrees with me to do the same

Let's keep free ads free