Major Additions - vBulletin classifieds mod from Panjo

As of September 2015, the Panjo marketplace mod for vBulletin has been completely rearchitected.

You can learn more about the latest version of the mod on Panjo's vBulletin partner page.

This mod enables you to launch a peer-to-peer community marketplace that is integrated into your vBulletin forum.

Here is how it works:
1) Install the plugin.
2) Customize the categories you want in your marketplace.
3) Contact Chad at Panjo: chad@panjo.com to activate your marketplace.
4) When a seller goes to a new or old subforum dedicated to buying/selling/trading, and clicks on the "post new thread" button, the mod will load a listing creation form.
5) The seller will create a listing. The listing will appear in the marketplace. A synchronized copy of the listing will appear in the appropriate buy/sell/trade subforum.

Is this plugin free?
Yes, this plugin is free.

Can you make money with this plugin?
Yes, you can optionally use this plugin to generate marketplace transaction revenue.

How is it with mobile?
The marketplace loads with layouts that are optimized for high res desktop, tablet, and mobile.

Examples:
Porsche Marketplace <syncs with> Porsche classifieds subforum
BMW Marketplace <syncs with> BMW classifieds subforums
Audi Marketplace <syncs with> Audi classifieds subforums
Belly dancing marketplace <syncs with> Belly dancing classifieds subforums

Gallery:
The marketplace home page

A listing detail page

The listing creation form for a seller


Do you have questions about Panjo? Contact the team at Panjo:
chad@panjo.com
1-424-272-0291

[DemOnstar]

Originally Posted by dougdirac

So apparently this mod got included as part of the vB4.2.2 update. Why is that? Will IB get a cut of sales now?

I didn't vote for this..and will probably never use it. Uninstall in fact.

[charlesr]

I'd like to hear vbulletin.org user feedback on this plugin too. It only has 7 installs prior to being included in vb4.2.2
It certainly seems promising.

[Videx]

Originally Posted by dougdirac

Will IB get a cut of sales now?

I googled up an interesting article about Panjo getting some venture capital last July. I imagine they just hired a lot of new sales people to help hit up all the forum and blog people, IB included.

The article says Panjo takes a cut of sales, but I take it that's an error? If I use this on my local forum and members pay each other directly, there is no fee to anyone.?

If so, there's really no downside and god knows we can really use an updated Classifieds section on our forum.

[dougdirac]

I'm having trouble with one of my other mods while trying to upgrade to vB4.2.2. Can I install the Panjo plugin on vB4.2.1 and then upgrade to 4.2.2 later (with the other mods are sorted) without any issues?

[Panjo]

Originally Posted by dougdirac

I'm having trouble with one of my other mods while trying to upgrade to vB4.2.2. Can I install the Panjo plugin on vB4.2.1 and then upgrade to 4.2.2 later (with the other mods are sorted) without any issues?

Doug - We spoke by phone yesterday. For the sake of the group I'll answer here too. Yes, you can install the Panjo plugin on vB4.2.1 and upgrade to 4.2.2 later. BUT - if you do that... there is a Panjo 'exporter' and 'importer' to bridge you from any earlier version of vB with Panjo to vB 4.2.2 with Panjo.

[Panjo]

Originally Posted by lazytown

I did not get answers my questions (above) from months ago. I have viewed the html source code for your demo sites, and the classifieds system unfortunately uses iframes for practically everything. While I think you have excellent software, this makes the classifieds section invisible to search engines. I understand it creates a thread in the forum, which is a good idea, but it is not a replacement for a user being able to search google and go directly to the classifieds system. With your setup, all users searching google for an item would always end up at the duplicate forum thread instead of the actual classified ad. I wish the system let our servers grab the data off your servers and throw up the html directly, rather than using iframes.

We don't agree with your SEO assessment... Most Panjo partners have a legacy subforum or subforums dedicated to items for sale. Google is accustomed to crawling and indexing those legacy subforums. Panjo creates thread posts for listings in those legacy subforum(s) so that Google can efficiently find, index, and credit them. The thread versions of the listings automatically update when listing information charges or when the item sells.

Example:
Here is the iFrame version of one of our partners, Planet-9 Porsche Marketplace.
Here is the corresponding subforum. By design, google indexes the subforum.

Originally Posted by lazytown

More questions from above: What happens if someone posting an ad edits their ad or chagnes a price/etc? Does the duplicate forum thread get updated or does it become out of sync with the ad? What about when it sells, does the thread created have [SOLD] or something added to the title?

The master listing is synchronized with the thread post version of the listing. When a listing sells, the thread gets a [SOLD] designation.

Thanks for these great questions.

[Panjo]

Originally Posted by dougdirac

So apparently this mod got included as part of the vB4.2.2 update. Why is that? Will IB get a cut of sales now? Can anyone here report their experience with this plug-in?

IB does not get a cut of sales. As stated in the announcement about the Panjo-vBulletin partnership: "Panjo is a unique platform that unlocks a new premium revenue stream for site owners," says John McGanty, General Manager at Internet Brands, the parent company of vBulletin. "By integrating Panjo into vBulletin, our customers can monetize their sites through commerce. The members who visit those sites benefit from newfound convenience and improved security."

If you need us to make intros to any current Panjo users, ping me, chad@panjo.com and I'll make some intros. If you scroll down this page, there are links to sites using Panjo.

[Panjo]

Originally Posted by charlesr

I'd like to hear vbulletin.org user feedback on this plugin too. It only has 7 installs prior to being included in vb4.2.2. It certainly seems promising.

Thanks for the kind words. I am not sure how active current Panjo partners are on vBulletin.org. Prior to the 4.2.2 partnership, Panjo was live on ~40 sites. Now, ~24 hours later, Panjo is live on ~80 sites.

Here are some examples:
Snowboarding marketplace
BMW marketplace
Porsche marketplace
Belly dancing marketplace
Men's fashion marketplace

[Panjo]

Originally Posted by Videx

I googled up an interesting article about Panjo getting some venture capital last July. I imagine they just hired a lot of new sales people to help hit up all the forum and blog people, IB included. The article says Panjo takes a cut of sales, but I take it that's an error? If I use this on my local forum and members pay each other directly, there is no fee to anyone.? If so, there's really no downside and god knows we can really use an updated Classifieds section on our forum.

We aren't spending the money on sales people. We are spending it on developers and support. We now have two backend developers, a visual designer/front end dev, a mobile developer, and three support people. Here is a picture of us:



You are correct. If members pay each other directly, and you don't charge any fees, then members won't incur fees. We agree, "there's really no downside and god knows [sites] can really use an updated Classifieds section...."

The plugin is great now. We look forward to continuing to ship new features. You can find a history of updates and improvements on the Panjo blog.

[adwolf1]

Originally Posted by Panjo

We aren't spending the money on sales people. We are spending it on developers and support. We now have two backend developers, a visual designer/front end dev, a mobile developer, and three support people. Here is a picture of us:



You are correct. If members pay each other directly, and you don't charge any fees, then members won't incur fees. We agree, "there's really no downside and god knows [sites] can really use an updated Classifieds section...."

The plugin is great now. We look forward to continuing to ship new features. You can find a history of updates and improvements on the Panjo blog.

Before I install the mod, i just have a few questions --

If I understand your business model correctly, the module is free to install and use, but you take a % out of the transactions that close through the platform?

What if I have some classifieds that don't have monetary value -- free stuff that site members are giving away?

What if we have a listing where people don't want to close the transaction with a credit card? (ie, like a piece of equipment that's $90,000 -- it ain't going on their Visa. )

How do you handle those types of listings?

thanks!