Joeychgo
Well-known member
I just posted my thoughts/opinions about Panjo on TAZ if anyone wants to read....... Thinking about using Panjo Classifieds? My thoughts.
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XenForo Classifieds Plugin by Panjo 1.0.1
- Thread starter panjo
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panjo
Member
Here are some clarifications on some of the incorrect information in Joeychgo's post. By all means we respect Joeychgo's opinion and perspective, but it is worth correcting the false and misinformed information.
Joeychgo wrote, "You lose those keyword rich ads from your site."
This is not correct. You keep adding ads (and keyword rich SEO content) on your site. When a seller creates a listing, Panjo creates a thread post in your legacy buy/sell/trade subforums.
Joeychgo wrote, "Panjo is expensive for your users."
It is 100% possible to use Panjo for free. Many users do use Panjo for free. For buyers and sellers who process payment through Panjo, there is a 6.9% fee for sellers (50% of that to the community) and a flat $1-$5 fee for buyers. Buyers and sellers get credits for on site transactions that are good for cash back rebates on future purchases, so the effective fee for active buyers and sellers is lower than printed above. If a buyer and seller complete a transaction off site, Panjo gives the seller an opportunity to make a donation to the community. These fees are 30% less than eBay fees. (Though some power eBay sellers may be getting lower fees.) Panjo is constantly looking at its costs and fee structure to see where we can save buyers and sellers and forum owners time and money. The onus is on Panjo to provide a time and money saving experience for all that more than justifies any fees incurred. We are doing that for many members today, and we still have room to improve those for whom we can benefit.
Joeychgo wrote, "Users don't seem to like it very much."
If you know change on a forum, you know users don't like change. It is not unheard of for Panjo to roll out or for Panjo or a forum to make a change and a vocal minority of users to protest, loudly. That does not reflect the 10,000s of members who are happy or elated that Panjo is there to benefit them. We historically did a bad job of recording all the thanks and positive feedback we receive. That feedback tends to come into us directly. We recently started to log that feedback to show the kinds of praise we get. You can find positive feedback on Panjo's blog and positive Panjo feedback here on a subreddit.
As some of you know, Panjo has been at this for a few years. You can review release notes for Panjo's weekly updates here. By no means did we deliver every feature and benefit that everyone wanted on day one. By no means was Panjo built for everyone. By no means is Panjo done improving and providing more benefits for buyers, sellers, and community owners. In the last few years we have navigated the shifting landscape of forums, Facebook, payments, mobile, classifieds, and marketplaces in an effort to provide a service that makes shopping enjoyable, efficient, and informative for buyers. For sellers, we work to surface a quality buyer willing to pay a fair price. We greatly appreciate our partnerships with our members and opinions held by folks like Joeychgo that drive us to positively improve Panjo for our partners.
Joeychgo
Well-known member
My mistake, you clearly made an improvement. Except now the ad is on the site and on Panjo. --- doesn't that create duplicate content issues with Google?
ie:
http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/s...ake-pads-for-BMW-3-Series-E36-or-Z3-(FCP725R)
and
https://www.panjo.com/buy/ferodo-ds3000-front-brake-pads-for-bmw-3-series-e36-or-z3-fcp725r-324647
panjo
Member
Great question. We have exhaustively dug into this. It does not seem to create duplicate content issues. We have done a number of tests and experiments over the years related to duplicate content. We have consulted with some of the world's leading SEO experts. The current configuration seems to be treated the best by SERPs.
panjo
Member
Here is an example of a XenForo forum that has a dedicated, integrated community marketplace on Panjo.
The buy/sell/trade subforums at the emergency vehicle equipment community, eLightbars.org, are synchronized with the eLightbars.org community marketplace on Panjo.
SneakyDave
Well-known member
I thought Panjo was dead 5 years ago. wow. I thought it overpriced itself out of business.
panjo
Member
Panjo is alive and well. Over 100,000 people use Panjo every month and growing. We have iterated through a number of pricing models. As of late Panjo's pricing is:
The Panjo plugin is free for forum owners seeking a XenForo classifieds solution.
Panjo is free for buyers and sellers who opt out of using Panjo's transaction tools.
For buyers and sellers who opt into using the transaction tools, Panjo's fees are currently:
6.9% to the sell, capped at $99. (We are exploring plans to lower this in Q4 2016.)
$1-$5 to the buyer, capped at $5.
Panjo splits that 50/50 with the forum.
Wesker
Well-known member
I got it. So the data syncs over to panjo and you advertise the products? I thought it was you build a custom store or the forums turn into a store.
panjo
Member
I would definitely draw a distinction between a 'store' and a 'marketplace.' Panjo doesn't build stores. There are other software solutions I would recommend if you are looking for a store. (Shopify or WooCommerce for example)
Panjo builds marketplaces for communities. Panjo developed a XenForo plugin to 1) allow members to connect their forum and Panjo accounts and 2) keep your community marketplace on Panjo synchronized with your buy/sell/trade subforums. In a store, there tends to be one seller. In a marketplace, there are lots of sellers (your members). Some members might be 'power sellers' and have a lot of items for sale.
Yes, the data in your community marketplace on Panjo syncs over to the forum. For each listing in the marketplace, there is a corresponding thread post version of the listing in your database. When the status of the listing changes (like the item sells) or is edited (like the price drops), the thread post updates to reflect the latest status of the listing.
Wesker
Well-known member
Yes I get it now. It's possible we could allow members to open panjo stores and run dedicated forums there. This is a project we'll look at in 2017.
panjo
Member
Newest feature this week. SMS integration. Sellers can now optionally get a text message if a buyer asks a question about their item for sale. Panjo releases lots of features every week. Check out Panjo's release notes for the XenForo classifieds plugin on Panjo's blog. When asked about the new SMS feature, here is what members had to say:
- "I like it..very handy"
- "I got two of them. Seems like a cool feature"
- "Seems like a good thing"
- "Found it super useful. Was much easier than getting an email or having to log back on to check for messages"
- "I like the service you provide have to say you guys reach buyers with my listings and facilitate the sale all on one site. Wouldn't change a thing"
- "It was very convenient!"
- "Was fine. Received pretty early in the morning. Would prefer later in the day if possible."
- "Panjo is awesome. I check my email constantly so this didn't help me much personally but I could see how it would help others. Worked well though"
- "It's kind of annoying just receive a text that tells me to check my [marketplace messages], completely unnecessary. I'm only interested in communicating with email. Please remove my number, thanks."
- "Seems to work fine!"
- "That's actually a pretty cool feature!!"
- "Every experience with you has been simple and easy."
panjo
Member
And one more new feature this week. Buyers can now pay sellers via Apple Pay on iPhone devices running iOS 10 that support Apple Pay. 34% of transactions in the last 30 days were on an iPhone or iPad.
Visit these fun community marketplaces on Panjo and give it a try: used BMW parts, used Light Bars, used long boards, used belly dance costumes.
dondomainer
Active member
panjo
Member
The very first line of the write up about Panjo's XenForo classifieds plugin provides this information:
"The Panjo marketplace plugin is not your standard classifieds plugin. The plugin enables you to integrate a dedicated, customized community marketplace on Panjo.com with new or existing classified subforums on your forum."
It was not possible for us to provide the degree of security, payment processing, convenience, personalized email marketing, search, discovery, mobile responsiveness, and other marketplace benefits by building the entire marketplace inside XenForo. We tried to embed all the protections and tools into forum software for years and it was simply too cost prohibitive. The architecture of this plugin maximizes benefits and minimizes costs.
For those jumping into the thread at this point... Panjo.com has the ability to provide your forum with a dedicated community marketplace, (here is an example of a community marketplace for light bars) and integrate that marketplace into new or existing subforums dedicated to buy/sell/trade activity. (Here are the subforums on eLightbars.org (a XenForo site) that are integrated with that light bar community marketplace.)
You can read about all the benefits and features Panjo recently added to the marketplace on Panjo's blog for forum owners or Panjo's blog for buyers and sellers.
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