Automotive Parts Classifieds - Powered by Styckyd

What does it do?
Adds a new marketplace to your forum specifically designed for automotive enthusiasts to buy and sell parts to and from the entire Styckyd network, add a non-advertising revenue stream for you, and eliminate classifieds moderation.

How does it do that?
We have built it on top of a parts classification standard that many large parts retailers and auto recyclers use. This has allowed us to build a part cataloguing system that makes searches much more relevant and allows sellers to associate parts with specific vehicles.

This is a hosted solution and by using this plugin you'll have access to the for sale listings of all the other forums in the network and vice versa. We'll handle any customer service issues that may arise and alleviate you and your team from having to do the same.

We charge a fee when a seller successfully sells their part - there is no fee to list a part for sale. 10% of that fee goes to the forum.

Who are you guys?
We are automotive enthusiasts and are trying to make buying and selling automotive related products effortless. You can read more about us here: http://partners.styckyd.com/whoweare

Features?

• vBulletin Single Sign-on
• Automatically calculates shipping between buyers and sellers
• Built-in Want to Buy system that notifies buyers when a part they're looking for has been listed for sale
• Hosted solution but users remain on your site - similar to placing Facebook Comments on your site.
• Hosted on the Amazon Web Services cloud so you don't have to worry about spotty service
• We handle any problems and issues with classifieds for you. If you hear any complaints from users, send them our way!
• Integrated Tire Rack affiliate program
• No template edits required

Learn More:
http://partners.styckyd.com

Screenshots:

[SamirDarji]

Originally Posted by KerryF

Ah, I see. This is where the confusion is then. In response I propose a question: By using Styckyd: Classifieds, why do we need a traditional classifieds system at all?

You don't, but the problem is that which is common in forums--users don't like to change something that works. Why bother changing from the existing system? That's the barrier that's got to be overcome. I can see users using the styckyd system more than a regular forum to the point the regular one gets phased out, but only after they are ready to let go of the existing system. They're going to need hand-holding and training wheels through this time or they'll demand their old system back. Tight, seamless integration with a traditional classifieds forum is the only way I can see my users accepting and using styckyd. And I think it's going to be similar everywhere. In the last week, I've had two requests to add a classifieds forum, and yet I can't get one bit of feedback from my users about styckyd:
http://www.huntsvillecarscene.com/showthread.php?t=3876

Originally Posted by KerryF

Until the system is also able to appropriately handle cars I see Styckyd: Classifieds along with a regular forum for cars and then a regular forum for everything else (couches, watches, etc.), those things that people sell on forums that don't fit within the car domain.

Exactly. This is why I see tight integration as crucial.

Originally Posted by KerryF

As with above, Styckyd becomes the classifieds on forums and the functionality I'm referring to (customization) isn't viewed anywhere on our site. These things are served for just your forum and just your users. The experience will be different on everyone's forum as we build out these customization features. They're easy for us to do but useless for us to create them unless we have data to work with.

Hmmm...so are there site requirements to have this sort of customization?

Originally Posted by KerryF

With the understanding above, have your thoughts changed on this? If I'm still missing something, please help direct me so I can understand better.

I think I'm still missing something. I know that styckyd is customizable, but how will that make transitioning from one system to another smooth, or running both traditional forum-based classifieds and the styckyd system concurrently feasible?

Originally Posted by KerryF

One way that we'd like to make this more relevant to the users in time (And our goal is to be useful while not being invasive) is to have a text based results search on forum threads. For example, if a product is mentioned within a thread that matches with a search result from our database we can deliver information that is relevant to the content in that page. Like more details provided by Styckyd: Part Forensics, or even some parts for sale. This, too, needs to be developed after we have data to work with, though. So we're at the beginning of our journey.

All of this will be able to be turned on and off at the admin's discretion. For example, if you just want Styckyd: Part Forensics to take advantage of the Tire Rack referrals and links to your other vendors, you can disable Classifieds entirely.

Sounds like a neat bunch of features.

[KerryF]

Originally Posted by SamirDarji

You don't, but the problem is that which is common in forums--users don't like to change something that works. Why bother changing from the existing system?

That's why we built this, we've been using forums and their classifieds for a very long time. We don't think they work well for classifieds. Forums were built for conversations and they're great at that, but they're really not built for buying or selling things.

Originally Posted by SamirDarji

That's the barrier that's got to be overcome. I can see users using the styckyd system more than a regular forum to the point the regular one gets phased out, but only after they are ready to let go of the existing system. They're going to need hand-holding and training wheels through this time or they'll demand their old system back. Tight, seamless integration with a traditional classifieds forum is the only way I can see my users accepting and using styckyd.

We're doing this differently than anyone else has even attempted so I don't expect, nor would I want everyone to switch over all at one time. We will have to encourage and engage the users to show them the value. As they begin to use it we'll learn more and make it better. And it will become easier and easier for each new community that joins the network.

Right now we have a bit of a communication problem - many people don't understand exactly how it all works when they take a quick look at it. This will be improved on our next release (Aiming for next week). Which leads me to this one:

Originally Posted by SamirDarji

In the last week, I've had two requests to add a classifieds forum, and yet I can't get one bit of feedback from my users about styckyd:
http://www.huntsvillecarscene.com/showthread.php?t=3876

Unfortunately there weren't many people that came through that link, and with the communication problem I mentioned above they might not have understood exactly what it was doing or why you were looking for feedback. It's not clear from that page that it will integrate nicely into a vBulletin forum. So I imagine they came and saw some classifieds site, clicked through to one of the listings and then left confused.

If you don't have a classifieds forum already, isn't that a perfect opportunity to use Styckyd as your classifieds system? I think your users are geographically focused though, so it may not be as useful until there is a network of communities involved (One of the main features is that we calculate shipping and include it in the price the buyer pays).

Originally Posted by SamirDarji

Hmmm...so are there site requirements to have this sort of customization?

Yes, install Styckyd.

We can handle everything from there. For some of the features to work we'll need to add some information to your forum profile (Like if your community is focused on one particular make or model), the rest will grow organically out of the features we implement over time.

[SamirDarji]

Originally Posted by KerryF

That's why we built this, we've been using forums and their classifieds for a very long time. We don't think they work well for classifieds. Forums were built for conversations and they're great at that, but they're really not built for buying or selling things.

Oh you don't have to convince me. It's the users that will need to be convinced. And unless they perceive it to be at least 50% better than what they're using, they'll dig their heels in.

Originally Posted by KerryF

Unfortunately there weren't many people that came through that link, and with the communication problem I mentioned above they might not have understood exactly what it was doing or why you were looking for feedback. It's not clear from that page that it will integrate nicely into a vBulletin forum. So I imagine they came and saw some classifieds site, clicked through to one of the listings and then left confused.

I didn't think many people would click on it, but I expected at least one or two 'yay or nay' type of comments. To be honest, I don't even know how it will integrate nicely, so I could see their confusion.

Originally Posted by KerryF

If you don't have a classifieds forum already, isn't that a perfect opportunity to use Styckyd as your classifieds system? I think your users are geographically focused though, so it may not be as useful until there is a network of communities involved (One of the main features is that we calculate shipping and include it in the price the buyer pays).

Starting out with styckyd would be a serious consideration if there was tight integration. But the CC barrier to posting will immediately turn off the users in this area who expect everything for free. There's other local forums with more active classifieds sections even though they have less traffic, and yet the postings primarily go there and craigslist because of 'free'. For my site, I would already be facing competitive pressures from the other traditionally-formatted classifieds sections, so adopting an unfamiliar format would probably work against me unless users had a choice on using styckyd or a forum and both were working concurrently.

Automatic shipping calculation is great, but Fedex is horrible in our area. So adding UPS will be important. Especially since UPS is the only shipping company in the US that guarantees their ground shipment times. I have a UPS daily account and used to do almost $2k a week with them in a previous business. I tried every company out there before I settled on UPS.

Originally Posted by KerryF

Yes, install Styckyd.

I could install styckyd, but frankly, it would be a tab on my navbar that wouldn't be clicked if there's a classifieds forum. This is why I need integration to make both systems simultaneously available to the users.

I'm currently in the process of a complete site re-design, so any classifieds implementation will come after that, and maybe not until the end of the year since the content producing season is basically here. During this season, I rarely have time to breathe moreless consider any infrastructure changes.

[KerryF]

hmmm. ok. Let me think about your comments for a little bit longer and I'll get back to you. I'm pretty sure I have your e-mail address. If you have more thoughts in the mean time feel free to e-mail me @ kerry at my domain. We'll be able to make something work - just not sure exactly what yet.

I'm definitely listening to you and hear what you're saying.

[SamirDarji]

Sounds good. As you can tell, I believe in styckyd and want it to succeed. Thank you for listening to my concerns, and I can't wait to see what you guys come up with.

[KerryF]

[A copy of the blog post I just made about vBulletin single sign-on:

Many forum admins are asking us for greater vBulletin integration. On the top of the list is integration with the vBulletin login system. So because you asked for it, we built it. Here’s how it works.

If the user is logged into the forum and has used Styckyd before, nothing more will be required. If the user isn’t currently logged into your forum and they attempt something that requires authentication a lightbox will open up that looks like this:



If they’re logged in but haven’t used Styckyd before we need to register them quickly before they can continue. Here’s the lightbox that pops up in that case:



Finally, if they’re logged in and have already used Styckyd on a different forum, then as a security measure to ensure we’re keeping accounts safe this lightbox will pop up asking them to confirm the auth code we sent to the e-mail address that they first registered with:



We have much more on the way. Let us know if there’s something you really need working on your forum. Every day we make this system a little better.

[SamirDarji]

Very well done!

[KerryF]

We have recently added two new features: A 30 day free trial for new forums (Any listings created by your members within that timeframe will never be charged a listing fee) and integration with Tire Rack's affiliate program.

On deck: A feed to seed listings into the regular classifieds forums and link back to the plugin, and the ability to add free local listings.

[KerryF]

We have recently updated the app so that Want to Buys are more prominent and useful - users can add a wheel size and bolt pattern they're looking for and they'll receive an e-mail when there is one available.

We have also added functionality for "Feelers" which allow sellers to post up an item that they have to see if there is any interest from buyers. If there is, then they can move to a full listing and add other details like price and pictures.

We've made it so that sellers can list their part locally which buyers within 60 miles can purcahse and there is no charge for local listings.

Try it out: www.styckyd.com

More on the way.

[SamirDarji]

It's great to see continuing development on this product.