Dealers leaving sold adverts permanently listed

[markiii]

Still done sod all about it then, 90% of the Gt3 ads are listed as sold

[Scooty100]

renmure said:

I enquired about this Porsche, from this Dealer.. in April...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...

and was told it had sold some weeks previously.
Hardly the crime of the century but not really helpful

Probably the worse dealer for this is Paul Stephens Porsche. Take a look 90% of his ads are 'Sold looking for more' That is taking up the classifieds. Can this be looked into?

[lord trumpton]

Seemingly not as there has been no response to this thread

[DUMBO100]

Google have rules on "Relavant Content" and sold cars aren't relevant. I understand that they take out SEO sanctions against companies that have misleading adverts. PH should do the same

[AlexRS2782]

I wonder whether it's due to how much £££ is being paid by some of these companies in advertising revenue and that's why their adverts remain?

I only suggest this as a quick visit to the Focus RS section will show that nearly all the adverts (bar 4) on the first page are for RS Direct in Bristol either for current, sold or wanted stock (as is always the case).

Turned off adblock to see what adverts appear, and the top banner advert is a clickable redirect for RS Direct. Both side curtain adverts on either side of the page in that section are also clickable redirects to RS Direct. Scroll down the page and there is another clickable boxed advert for RS Direct.

I assume if you pay enough £££ for advertising then it will be left unnoticed. I can now see why a lot of Focus RS owners are now deciding to advertise their car privately via AutoTrader or eBay and their own Marque forums rather than here as you are pretty much guaranteed to have your advert knocked off page 1 by RSD within a day.

Edited by AlexRS2782 on Thursday 23 October 21:58

[berty37]

Sad state of affairs... I think someone once coined the phrase ''money talks and BS walks'
I had a thread pulled down for naming and shaming even though no one was named..someone alluded to who it might be and rather than pull that post they took it down..I am fully aware of how the naming and shaming policy that petrol ted put together 7 years ago works but herein lies my problem....
A site like the Daily Mail has some absolutely obscene comments on it at times-incitement to hatred,violence, and even worse...there is a little thing called a disclaimer they put stating the views expressed are not those of the editor or of the Daily Mail Trust etc etc but PH refuses to do this... I get they are a business that has to show a profit but that line as to what PH was created for and by who has now sadly become very blurred IMO.

[Monkeylegend]

AlexRS2782 said:

I wonder whether it's due to how much £££ is being paid by some of these companies in advertising revenue and that's why their adverts remain?

Edited by AlexRS2782 on Thursday 23 October 21:58

I asked that very question on the 8th October, still waiting for a response.

[Scooty100]

You won't a reply, nothing will be done and as for Paul Stephens Porsche he's been getting away with it for years.

As for the thread that got pulled last week it was all about the same person but he gets protection from PH.
As berty says money talks

[Rouleur]

AlexRS2782 said:

I wonder whether it's due to how much £££ is being paid by some of these companies in advertising revenue and that's why their adverts remain?

Of course it is. PH is owned by a large corporation and wes itself out to advertisers with little regard for its members, without whom there would be no website.

I await the usual moronic response along the lines of 'If you don't like it there are other forums for you to use' from a mod...

[Vaud]

Rouleur said:

Of course it is. PH is owned by a large corporation and wes itself out to advertisers with little regard for its members, without whom there would be no website.

I think it would survive quite well without the forums as a just car selling site...

[Rouleur]

Vaud said:

I think it would survive quite well without the forums as a just car selling site...

Don't you think that Haymarket would miss all the advertising revenue generated through the forums and the News section etc?

[monthefish]

How hard can it be to setup a script that removes all sold adverts X days after they're set to sold.
Perhaps 7 days max?

[Scooty100]

monthefish said:

How hard can it be to setup a script that removes all sold adverts X days after they're set to sold.
Perhaps 7 days max?

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/porsche/911-gt3-997/porsche-911-997-gt3-rs/2419422


Case in point. Uploaded again today yet car sold many months ago

[Scooty100]

Nothing's changed they are now uploading adds of cars they sold 5yrs ago.
Fekkin joke sums it up

[lord trumpton]

I fail to see why PH can't have the common decency to at least put in some sort of comment to this thread. Even if its just to say they won't do anything or whatever. Its in the appropriate forum section so I can't see why someone can't be polite and speak up.

[SV8Predator]

lord trumpton said:

I fail to see why PH can't have the common decency to at least put in some sort of comment to this thread. Even if its just to say they won't do anything or whatever. Its in the appropriate forum section so I can't see why someone can't be polite and speak up.

[renmure]

Totally agree.

In one of the other Classified themed threads the advice was:

RacingPete said:

As said in other threads, the nature of the classifieds has moved from more a browse (editorial look at nice car experience) to a connect a buyer with a seller. The downside is that you lose some of the traffic from browsers, and maybe the occasional bought on a whim purchase (but at these prices you have to be pretty rich, or not financially thinking right, to do that)... but the uplift in conversion from people visiting the classifieds to contacting a seller is the benefit.

Ok, fair enough, I don't browse as much these days because it is now too much hassle so that part of the plan is working.

But if the measure of "success" for PH is an increase in the number of folk using the classifieds who then contact the seller, then the statistics must be skewed beyond any relevance if you are including all the would-be buyers are contacting sellers about cars that aren't actually for sale!

[Monkeylegend]

Maybe the sales team are paid commission on the number of cars being advertised, irrespective of whether they are sold or not, hence an incentive to leave them there.

[AlexRS2782]

renmure said:

But if the measure of "success" for PH is an increase in the number of folk using the classifieds who then contact the seller, then the statistics must be skewed beyond any relevance if you are including all the would-be buyers are contacting sellers about cars that aren't actually for sale!

I wonder if it also includes the extra traffic from "potential buyers" that are actually no more than the fake "You pay Western Union, I collect" users and those who are messaging to harvest details and hack accounts

[Hoofy]

Just keep phoning up asking about the specific cars that are sold.