Add-on New Classifieds Add-on - (Draft)

[ichpen]

In the interest of keeping things respectable I'm pinning this proposal up for discussion on a new classifieds addon for XF as a previous one appears to be abandoned.

Some of the original discussions can be read in Mr Goodie's original classifieds addon (here: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/goodfornothing-classifieds-paid.102085/page-24). Work your way backwards.

A working demo (last I checked) can be found here:
http://classifieds.gfn.ninja/demo/classifieds/

I'll put my copy back up on my test site shortly.

This is NOT a comprehensive list, I actually need to dash off to an airport shortly so will revise this over the next few days. This is a 5 minute spec job.

The premise of the addon (chime in as needed) is as follows:

Facilitates private one to one transactions between forum members.

Seller View
- List items for sale within a given category (categories predefined by admin i.e. cars, parts, services etc)
- BUMP unsold items periodically (permission based) to top of list
- Modify own items x number of times (permission based)
- Mark item as SOLD by seller thereby closing ad to further exchanges
- Mark item as DELETED by seller (completely removing ad from classifieds system)
- Feature own classified (premium/purchasable feature)
- Renew classifieds (see premium features)

Guest View (Unauthenticated)
TO DO...

Buyer View (Authenticated)
- Separate Classifieds tab/page
- User selectable Grid or List view of all active classifieds
- View Top level sticky ads and/or sliders for featured items (see kijiji as a perfect example of how this is done)
- View/Sort by date, price, title, username
- Sidebar filters (left or right):
-- Generic filters by category, by location (country, state/province/county, city), price (low/high), listing type (sale, wanted)
-- Category specific filters: custom fields per category i.e. car make, mileage, year for example

Item Create View
- Create Item
- Select category
- Specify prefix/title
- Short description
- Custom fields (per category)
- Long Description
- Optional image attachments/gallery in ordered list
- Location/Map (google maps lookup)
- Price and currency (defaulted by admin)
- Package (see purchasable/premium features)

Item Display View (Member)
TO DO...

Item Display View (Guest)
TO DO...

Automation
- Each category is linked to a forum
- Each ad auto creates a thread
- Thread is accessible via ad view
- Thread is autoclosed on ad marked as sold
- New thread from classified thread forcibly calls create new classified

Feedback system
TO DO...

Premium/Packages
TO DO...

Notifications/Lifecycle
TO DO...

User Interactions
TO DO...

Other stuff.. To do...

To be fair to Mr Goodie, his addon was pretty solid and relatively feature rich albeit unfinished.

I'm gauging interest for sponsors as well as capable devs who are able to create a much needed classifieds system and support it going forward.

As mentioned I'll continue to update the specs over the next wee while to make this more complete.

There's a fair amount of work here so a bit of crowd funding will be needed.

 

[Nelson T.]

Interested, depending upon who is doing the coding.

 

[CreationNation]

I had been watching the other one for a while now but not pulled the trigger due to the support situation.

That said, I would pay more than the norm for a classified addon. I realize it is a decent undertaking, so I would pay accordingly. Anxiously awaiting...

 

[Kintaro]

@Stuart Wright take a look here!

 

[Stuart Wright]

During our long American road trip in 2014, I spent down time planning a classifieds addon because we've needed one on AVForums for a while.
I put that into a spec and have been too busy to progress it further. Too busy even to look much into the other addon which is now neglected.
But I'm going to focus on this now on my own. I know what needs to be done for AVForums and there is not a huge amount of tweaking needed to make the functionality flexible enough for other people to use.
We, for example, already use an addon by Chris D to create custom forms.
Because I was a developer for so long with formal SQL database training, I'm pretty well equipped to steer this towards being a decent addon.
The focus will be to make it as standard within the Xenforo framework as possible.
It is a big addon, especially if it has trader ratings integrated. So I'll need to knuckle down.

The big thing I'm uncertain about at this point is whether or not to make it multi-country. I.e. Do we allow ads from multiple countries? Do we use IP based geo information to determine their country? (Like we do on the competitions addon). Do viewers see ads from their own country? Do we have to implement different currencies to cater?
And also in relation to geo, do we incorporate google maps to allow people to find ads within a certain distance of their own location?

 

[empire]

I'm not sure about the multi-country part. IP may not work though as someone could be traveling on business or be at school in a different country. On our site people care more about whether the seller will ship to their country, rather than what country the person is in.

@ichpen One thing that came up with the other add-on was that people wanted to have 'wanted' and 'trade' listings too, but those don't work with the sales form for the category. So the process would be:

Item Create View
- Create Item
- Select category
- Select listing type (buy/sell/trade)
- Specify prefix/title
[etc]​

It's not possible to use the same form for both buying and selling, so they'd need to be different if you intend to offer both options.

I don't know if you are intending to offer want ads or trading but just wanted to point this out in case you do, as it could be a stumbling block later.

 

[HWS]

Given the fact that we are appro. 1 year away from XF2, IMHO it makes no sense to write such a large add-on from scratch for XF1. It was said that XF2 would be more efficient to code for, so it makes sense to wait.

I would estimate the development costs for such an add-on to be $7-8.000. If it will be sold for $70 per license (incl. tax), you would have to sell more than 100 licenses to even cover the development costs. I doubt that more than 100 licenses for XF1 could be sold for such an add-on.

But I would buy 1 license for sure.

Also I see it very problematic, if a XenForo developer (with all his background knowledge) is allowed to continue to code personal add-ons and sell them. This may lead to even more other developers to leave, because it s a clear privilege for one single developer. XenForo developers should be allowed to code official add-ons only. This is my personal opinion. And I think it is reasonable, sorry Chris.

 

[Kintaro]

The big thing I'm uncertain about at this point is whether or not to make it multi-country. I.e. Do we allow ads from multiple countries? Do we use IP based geo information to determine their country? (Like we do on the competitions addon). Do viewers see ads from their own country? Do we have to implement different currencies to cater?
And also in relation to geo, do we incorporate google maps to allow people to find ads within a certain distance of their own location?

If the add-on will be released I would like to have this geo-features. (its ok if they will not be available in v1.0)

 

[Chris D]

Given the fact that we are appro. 1 year away from XF2, IMHO it makes no sense to write such a large add-on from scratch for XF1. It was said that XF2 would be more efficient to code for, so it makes sense to wait.

I would estimate the development costs for such an add-on to be $7-8.000. If it will be sold for $70 per license (incl. tax), you would have to sell more than 100 licenses to even cover the development costs. I doubt that more than 100 licenses for XF1 could be sold for such an add-on.

But I would buy 1 license for sure.

Also I see it very problematic, if a XenForo developer (with all his background knowledge) is allowed to continue to code personal add-ons and sell them. This may lead to even more other developers to leave, because it s a clear privilege for one single developer. XenForo developers should be allowed to code official add-ons only. This is my personal opinion. And I think it is reasonable, sorry Chris.

I am allowed to spend my personal time doing as I want. If I want to spend my time developing XF add-ons then I don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to do that.

The fact that I am an XF developer puts me at no advantage in terms of developing XF 1 add-ons so I am somewhat confused what your point is. Please explain.

 

[Kintaro]

We, for example, already use an addon by Chris D to create custom forms.

Meanwhile what other add-ons do you suggest to use to have a "classified system"?
If you list here what addons are you using... maybe it will be easier import existing ads in the new classified system once will be out.

 

[Jake B.]

Also I see it very problematic, if a XenForo developer (with all his background knowledge) is allowed to continue to code personal add-ons and sell them. This may lead to even more other developers to leave, because it s a clear privilege for one single developer.

There is no "clear privilege". Not sure how any of this really makes sense oO. Only difference is that he knows the changes coming to 2.0 and has a head start on migrating his add-ons, which really doesn't hurt much as I can only assume there will be quite a substantial alpha/beta period publicly released and if you have add-ons that haven't been upgraded to 2.0 yet either ditch the add-on temporarily or don't upgrade?

 

[HWS]

I am allowed to spend my personal time doing as I want. If I want to spend my time developing XF add-ons then I don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to do that.

The fact that I am an XF developer puts me at no advantage in terms of developing XF 1 add-ons so I am somewhat confused what your point is. Please explain.

I do not want to spread this discussion further and I respect that some developers may have a different view. Also once there was a similar discussion which got deleted. Just to answer your question:

It is fact that you already have knowledge of XF2 and it's code.
If you code anything now, you have that in your mind. Which is a clear advantage over any other coder here. This is also an advantage for the people who let you create add-ons for them, because such add-ons may be able to be converted more easily to XF2 than add-ons from other coders.

It is like if Mike or Kier would be available for custom coding. Any contractor would search their services and prefer it over any other coder. If other coders would get contracts than only for a much lower price.

This is why my opinion is that no official coder should be allowed to release paid add-ons or to be hired for custom work in his "personal" time. I know that the reality is different, which is wrong. Because it adversely affects all other coders and harms the XenForo developer community. IMHO.

This is all I have to say in that matter. Thanks for reading.

 

[Chris D]

If you're willing to get into a discussion about it, feel free to start a separate thread or discuss with me in private.

You're essentially wrong in a number of points but I'm not going to waste time discussing them if that's all you have to say.

 

[HWS]

I'm not going to waste time

Correct. Me too.

It also would have to be discussed with Mike and Kier, because it is about their company. You - of course - can certainly do what you want and are allowed to do. I have no problem at all with you personally and would do exactly the same in your position.

 

[Nelson T.]

The purpose of this thread, as I understand it, is to determine how many people would be willing to fund or buy this. We have a few so far.
Can we hear from other interested parties, please?

 

[ichpen]

@All you naysayers

I'd rather not derail this discussion if you please.

Purpose is:
1. Gauge interest i.e. number of sponsors (please like the OP or drop in a reply) - this will give us a very rough number
2. High level spec for add-on - this I will undertake and update the OP based on feedback and my own concepts
3. Ultimately high level estimate from developer(s) willing to do this - this I will attempt to coordinate with any Dev that shows an interest. This will be an rfp process.
4. Figure out plan, timeline, milestones etc. - TBD/we're not there yet
5. Figure out voting process (if more than one vendor/dev/company throws an estimate together) and logistics to crowd fund this - TBD

I'll continue to update this tomorrow and over the next few days. Unfortunately I'm en route (at airports) today.

Appreciate the positive responses.

If you're not interested in contributing or don't like the idea. That's fine, but please reserve your comments for another thread. I'm not here demanding money from anyone.

Again this is a 3rd party ADDON proposal funded by the community not a proposal for changes to XF core so I'm not sure what relevance the version of XF has on the matter.

P.S. If someone else wants to take the reigns and organize this and/or project manage the initiative feel free to chime in.

 

[Digital Doctor]

Is there a demo login for http://classifieds.gfn.ninja/demo/spinball/threads/audi-a4-avant/ ?

Can one be made ?

 

[Mike Edge]

In the interest of keeping things respectable I'm pinning this proposal up for discussion on a new classifieds addon for XF as a previous one appears to be abandoned.

Some of the original discussions can be read in Mr Goodie's original classifieds addon (here: https://xenforo.com/community/threads/goodfornothing-classifieds-paid.102085/page-24). Work your way backwards.

A working demo (last I checked) can be found here:
http://classifieds.gfn.ninja/demo/classifieds/

I'll put my copy back up on my test site shortly.

Maybe I missed it somewhere.. But where did Goodie2 give permission to use his code to build an offshoot? Just because someone is MIA doesn't grant their code as a free-for all.

 

[ichpen]

Maybe I missed it somewhere.. But where did Goodie2 give permission to use his code to build an offshoot? Just because someone is MIA doesn't grant their code as a free-for all.

No one is suggesting that his code be reused. This would be a new addon.

I also don't imagine many developers would be interested in inheriting someone else's code even if permission was granted.

References to his addon are purely for illustrative purposes much like references to kijiji.

 

[Stuart Wright]

I'm already satisfied that there is plenty of interest in a classifieds addon and it's worth doing.
Certainly worth doing for us primarily because ads on AVForums are 100% in threads and aren't archived until the deal is complete. Which is when the goods are exchanged and both parties are happy. Which means there are lots of adverts which you have to read the end of before you can see that a deal has already been made. So we need some kind of 'complete' status on adverts so that people can filter these out.
Also we need to make some money from classifieds, so we could have a menu of chargeable items like Highlighting (sticking to the top of the ad list), Spotlighting (showing in a side-scroll of ads in a sidebar widget), charging more for more concurrent ads, charging dealers, charging a % of the sale price (which we wouldn't do), charging for auto bumping etc.