5 Things You Should Know Before Launching A Marketplace Thread - Based On Experience

shiboshy

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So you just upgraded to a Jr. VIP membership and you are starting to realize that the marketpalce here is a gold mine and actually much better than Fiverr and other freelancing websites that would remove your services or force you into paying them more money?

Make sure you follow these simple tips before you get a marketplace thread up and running.

Make it look professional and clean
Everyone loves fancy stuff, but this knows to be expensive and if you attempt to be fancy with no experience in designing and colors, just avoid being fancy and use clean text. I love colorful things myself and i know to be colorful, but this is not a color book, it is a marketplace. You don't want to find out you are looking silly later and spend $30 just to edit your sale thread to something basic.

Offer free review copies instead thinking of ways to bump your thread the wrong way
You have been into this field for a few years now and feel like a king and thinking what is this guy thinking, i will buy a few proxies, create multiple accounts and blow my thread with replies.
DON'T!
Come on this forum has senior members that spent over 10 years here, you would be silly messing with guys with black shades everywhere... This is more than a marketplace and a basic forum. It's a community. Do you really think entering a bar where people are so nice and welcoming you makes them stupid? They know your actions before you even take them! The guy with shades goes on a dinner with the ban hammer guy frequently and you surely won't like to mess with them. You will get my point sooner or later.
Focus on free review copies instead, you will spend less time, you will do something you love and you won't spend cash for proxies and dumb things trying to be the silly l33t h4x0r.

Do not use your own personal details on marketplace threads
I know you now think i am fair, i have my own company or i have nothing to hide from the public and i used my personal details publically over the years...
Well, this is true, but there are some bad guys on hunting people especially like you, that will scam you or try to extort money from you if you don't do what they say. Use official emails and contact details such as [email protected]. Avoid using your real name, pictures or similar stuff.

Do not offer way too much
I know that there are people here that offer a lot, but always offer smaller amount of what are you actually able to do. If you sell links and you are able to provide 100, offer only 50 links for your highest package and keep the other half as a backup, just in case your PBN gets hit and discovered. This will save you a lot of cash, refunds and headache you would get and having a backup plan B always works and you can just provide a revision.

Be EXTREMELY CAREFUL with your guarantees
Let's say you sell apples that you know are 100% organic and good... a person will come and buy them and you guarantee that to them. This person does not usually buy apples or buys apples a lot. They take them to their home, but on their way to home they drop their bag, on purpose or accidently.
They ate half of your apples and the ones on the bottom of the bag are so bad a few hours later. This person comes back tomorrow and brings the remaining ones, asking for money back.

What will you do?
If you care about your business, you will give this person their money back. But, this type of people will keep returning to your store, tell their friends to do the same and basically you will have your business ruined in no time! You get the point, right?

Conclusion
Don't try silly things thinking you would stay under the radar like you do on other platforms. Offer the least you would be able to do as a guarantee and only basic things. Honest buyers would not mind buying a like service if you offer no guarantees. They know and they should be aware of the risks involved. Build up your reputation and give back to the community.
  • If you sell SEO offer a guarantee for report and work promised only. Avoid providing a ranking guarantee as things know to be different depending on the niche and competition.
  • If you sell likes, followers, etc. or have a panel make sure you state the purchase does not come with refills. What if Social Networks remove your accounts after a year?
  • If you sell shoutouts offer a guarantee for the post only, not the conversions.
  • If you sell web design, graphics, video production offer a fixed amount of revisions. Never offer unlimited revisions as competitors will exploit you sooner or later.
  • If you sell web hosting do not make your offer look like a miracle or offer years of support... What if you get hit by a car tomorrow, would your family give money back later?
  • If you sell any other virtual items and digital goods it's worth mentioning they buy under their own risk.
I hope you find this useful and this is based on my own experience.
 
Do you think posting case studies of your services will help your sales thread gain traction?
 
Do you think posting case studies of your services will help your sales thread gain traction?
That was never my intention. I was actually asked to share my experience by a lot of people here and i promised them to do so. I never posted anything about my services and most of the things i referred here are for services i do not offer. Also this is not a case study. No hate needed.

Sounds like someone has learnt their lessons well ;)
Never had issues with them if that's your point. One of them even paid for my Jr. VIP membership when i was unable to. Of course i paid it back a few months later. But, i remember what was done to the others, being dishonest.
 
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Like always a thread worth reading @Lychnobius
Thanks for the tips.
Very good advice.. for the future in my case.
Glad to hear that but when i see negative comments, such as this being posted on purpose, i feel disappointed.

Like the one below.
Do you think posting case studies of your services will help your sales thread gain traction?
Seems like lately we are not supposed to post anything, according to some people.
 
Glad to hear that but when i see negative comments, such as this being posted on purpose, i feel disappointed.

Like the one below.

Seems like lately we are not supposed to post anything, according to some people.
Great post @Lychnobius well worth reading for newbies and experienced sellers. I am looking forward to the day I become jr vip and start to offer in the marketplace and this info is a gold mine. Thanks so much for your hard work
 
That was never my intention. I was actually asked to share my experience by a lot of people here and i promised them to do so. I never posted anything about my services and most of the things i referred here are for services i do not offer. Also this is not a case study. No hate needed.

I think the member was asking a legit question, not bashing your insights, rather wondering if a case study is a good way to gain traction of a marketplace thread. So he /she was not in any way negative against you, seems like you missed the "message" in the comment here.

.
 
I think the member was asking a legit question, not bashing your insights, rather wondering if a case study is a good way to gain traction of a marketplace thread. So he /she was not in any way negative against you, seems like you missed the "message" in the comment here.

.
Well i hope the same, but i don't think so as the member sounded serious, he can reply when online...
If I know how to rank a site, I wont do it for others. I am not a good guy.
How is this related to my post?
 
That was never my intention. I was actually asked to share my experience by a lot of people here and i promised them to do so. I never posted anything about my services and most of the things i referred here are for services i do not offer. Also this is not a case study. No hate needed.

I'm not hating on or criticizing you in any way.

My question is a direct and conversational question that's why it uses the SECOND PERSON

Do you think posting case studies of your services will help your sales thread gain traction?

If I used the THIRD PERSON it would seem too theoretical

I'm asking for your opinion because some of the best selling marketplace threads show CASE STUDIES - especially involving links - that indicate RANKING SUCCESS progress over time.

Just judging by views and replies as metrics of success, these case studies seem very effective because they highlight the impact of the service being offered.

Maybe folks should use case studies in certain situations or if their service falls within a certain range of types.

Since your thread is about helping people succeed with their marketplace threads, I figured I'd ask you and hopefully by doing so contribute VALUE to your thread by bringing up this important topic.
 
I'm not hating on or criticizing you in any way.

My question is a direct and conversational question that's why it uses the SECOND PERSON



If I used the THIRD PERSON it would seem too theoretical

I'm asking for your opinion because some of the best selling marketplace threads show CASE STUDIES - especially involving links - that indicate RANKING SUCCESS progress over time.

Just judging by views and replies as metrics of success, these case studies seem very effective because they highlight the impact of the service.

Since your thread is about helping people succeed with their marketplace threads, I figured I'd ask you and contribute VALUE to your thread by bringing up this topic.
Ok thank you. There has been a lot of hate over me lately and even some of my partners turned against me, doing false accusations and looking silly at the end in front of the staff - some of them, i would not mention who, went so far that started telling people to massively post negative stuff about me. I still have that going over my mind.

Let me apologize first if i overreacted, i am not a native English speaker and i suck at grammar lately...

I haven't tried case studies, what i find working the best for me is providing free review copies to get orders. Out of 10 review copies i provide, i would get 2-3 sometimes even 5 orders, from the same users that got the review copy and for a package that is higher price than the one provided. I will stick with that for a while, plus the reviews are a bonus and organic orders tend to come too once they post a review, from unregistered members and from Newbies.
Let me know if you have any more questions!
 
Thank you for your post. I have a question for all of you here: what do you think it's best: image that explain your service like many of guys are doing here or nice, clean and short text describing what are you offering? I see many guys here likes to place a lot of text on their images and I read like 10% of that.
 
Nice thread OP.
I'm looking into potentially starting BST services on this site soon once I move to Bali in the coming months.

The same rules apply for a lot of selling in general. Scarcity + social value = money in your pocket.

You want to have a service that is limited so that the demand for it is higher, and you want good reviews + testimonials from users so that people are more likely to trust you as a seller.
 
Thank you for your post. I have a question for all of you here: what do you think it's best: image that explain your service like many of guys are doing here or nice, clean and short text describing what are you offering? I see many guys here likes to place a lot of text on their images and I read like 10% of that.
Clean and short text works wonders, i also do not read long sale threads. Have both types of them for different services.
Nice thread OP.
I'm looking into potentially starting BST services on this site soon once I move to Bali in the coming months.

The same rules apply for a lot of selling in general. Scarcity + social value = money in your pocket.

You want to have a service that is limited so that the demand for it is higher, and you want good reviews + testimonials from users so that people are more likely to trust you as a seller.
Good luck.
Cool, but really only one thing you should know before launching a marketplace thread - how to read:
https://www.blackhatworld.com/forums/bhw-marketplace-rules-and-how-to-post.203/

Made my share of mistakes, and found it is best to go back to reading the rules a bit more now and then.

Good luck
Yes, these are the most important ones.
 
nice op, very good tips. I am also planning to start selling on BHW marketplace, but dont you think there is too big competition for seo ,link building, writting, design services?

I mean, if starting a new service will get sales and customers?
 
nice op, very good tips. I am also planning to start selling on BHW marketplace, but dont you think there is too big competition for seo ,link building, writting, design services?

I mean, if starting a new service will get sales and customers?
Here it depends on the quality of the work, not on the competition. If you provide HQ services, you will surely get orders.
 
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