Farm Marketplace Update

[Clive]

Farm Marketplace will go offline today at 12.00am while we do some updates and make some major changes

Since launch last August the website has been a great success however what we launched (in a bit of a hurry !) was always intended to be a low cost but functional site to prove concept before we invested time and money in something more comprehensive and prettier. Through January we have been busy with that update and testing and are now ready to go live with it

This launch will see a compte new look to the site and big improvements to the user interface plus a lot of new vendors and products

I will post when the site is back live again, aim is wednesday morning at the latest

sorry for any inconvenience, if anyone has any urgent requirements or need to access their account please call 01543 728813 and we will do what we can to help

 

[milkloss]

Will be interesting to see. Not really an interface I’ve gelled with as it is to be honest.

 

[Clive]

Will be interesting to see. Not really an interface I’ve gelled with as it is to be honest.

I agree, version 1 was very bare and basic but its served the purpose of helping us build up vendors and proving that farmers are keen to buy in this way. It was built in a couple of weeks on a very limited budget with focus on making it work vs making it look pretty ! We had to prove concept before time and financial investment was sensible

this relaunch version 2 is VERY different in look and feel, everyone that has seen it so far likes it and we are very happy with it, can't wait for it to be live now !

 

[Clive]

..........................OK, job done and back open a bit sooner than expected

new look and hopefully a bit more user friendly and more inline with the forum branding, the top right navigation buttons enabling switching between forum, marketplace, classifieds and news

www.marketplace.farm

or press the button top right on the forum


next few days we will be adding a lot of new product including spring pesticides and some N P and K fertilizers plus we have some work to do refining categories


feedback appreciated, its as always a work in progress and we are always open to new ideas and suggestions


Although we have spent as much time as practical testing there are bound to be a few bugs, if anyone spots anything please let me know so we can sort it

 

[Karl]

Any issues can also be sent to me @Karl or [email protected]. Thank you...

 

[Great In Grass]

Looks very smart! @Clive

 

[Clive]

Looks very smart! @Clive

Thank-you, the team has been working hard on it this last month

We certainly feel it’s an improvement and step forward

Desktop / laptop view is pretty sorted but I think there may still be room for further improvement on mobile and tablet views over the coming weeks

 

[mo!]

It would be great to be able search for say slug pellets and get slug pellets rather than a GPS...

 

[Clive]

It would be great to be able search for say slug pellets and get slug pellets rather than a GPS...

I just searched "slug pellets" and got the results for the 2 slug pellets product on FMP - but I am logged in, to see professional use products (which includes slug pellets) you would need to also be logged in so that maybe why your search is not returning any relevant results

are you logged in ?

 

[mo!]

Just logged in and the search function is working much better.

 

[SilliamWhale]

Just some feedback as its a potential achilles heel.

I look for Rat bait. 20kg and I get a price of £44.

I know I can get it for £44 delivered incl VAT from ebay. But I don't know the courier cost and have to pay VAT.

I know the marketplace bait may be better quality but in the age of very rapid purchases being made you are potentially limiting smaller purchases by having to go through the process of delivery quotes and adding vat. As Marketplace is competing in a one click and your eliminated type marketplace these small differences may reduce interest.

Still very interested to see how well chemicals can be bought for. At the moment my usual supplier swings it because delivery is free and you can get 8 weeks credit. Again just an opinion, I hope it works.

 

[Clive]

Just some feedback as its a potential achilles heel.

I look for Rat bait. 20kg and I get a price of £44.

I know I can get it for £44 delivered incl VAT from ebay. But I don't know the courier cost and have to pay VAT.

I know the marketplace bait may be better quality but in the age of very rapid purchases being made you are potentially limiting smaller purchases by having to go through the process of delivery quotes and adding vat. As Marketplace is competing in a one click and your eliminated type marketplace these small differences may reduce interest.

Still very interested to see how well chemicals can be bought for. At the moment my usual supplier swings it because delivery is free and you can get 8 weeks credit. Again just an opinion, I hope it works.

talking directly to manufactures these eBay supplier are going to get themselves shut down as the regulation gets tighter, and certainly wont be able to supply anything beyond domestic use pack sizes soon they are not compliant and I know there is a big clamp down on this going on right now

prices are not down to us, they are set by vendors but I will feedback and see if they can get them lower, I did a bit of checking up and thought most of the rodenticides were pretty competitive when compared with other suppliers that are operating legally

delivery os free on many (but not all) of the FMP chemicals now, cant do credit though without inflating prices to cover risk and cost and we don't want to go down that road and would rather just offer the best and most open price

good feedback though, keep it coming please, do you have a link to the cheap eBay product so I can show it the FMP supplier ?

we will have a lot of the spring pesticides going on tomorrow and the remainder by the end of the week

also a new service - if you can't see the product you want phone or message us and we will get a price on it

 

[Clive]

Just logged in and the search function is working much better.

good to hear, the professional products (pesticides, pyrotechnics) will only show in search or otherwise to logged in users. We obviously have to be careful about who such products are sold to so have a number of checks in place

 

[mo!]

good to hear, the professional products (pesticides, pyrotechnics) will only show in search or otherwise to logged in users. We obviously have to be careful about who such products are sold to so have a number of checks in place

But if you can't find them then you won't try to buy them. It makes no sense for the search function to hide a product which they need to be logged in to buy, you just assume it isn't available and move on. The subdivisions on the menu are very broad as well, so browsing is impractical.

 

[Clive]

But if you can't find them then you won't try to buy them. It makes no sense for the search function to hide a product which they need to be logged in to buy, you just assume it isn't available and move on. The subdivisions on the menu are very broad as well, so browsing is impractical.

we can't allow none registered users to see these restricted use products, it's a condition of the vendors that list them

un registered users see a message inviting them to login or register to see such product, it only really applies to pesticides and pyrotechnics

 

[mo!]

You are also still offering products from Agricultural Supply Services (Ripon), haven't they gone bust? I've certainly had their supplier in touch with me trying to get some money. Not that their FM price is vaguely competitive.

 

[Clive]

You are also still offering products from Agricultural Supply Services (Ripon), haven't they gone bust? I've certainly had their supplier in touch with me trying to get some money. Not that their FM price is vaguely competitive.

need to check that one tomorrow @Karl @Chris F

 

[Karl]

I've temporarily put them on hold until I can confirm the situation...

 

[mo!]

I've temporarily put them on hold until I can confirm the situation...

Last I heard they weren't answering the phone so that could be interesting....

 

[Clive]

Last I heard they weren't answering the phone so that could be interesting....

Will confirm tomorrow and if correct they will be removed. At least anyone ordering in such a situation via FMP would be protected as we don’t pass payment to vendors until goods have been delivered