BHW marketplace 2.0 - thoughts.

BHW 2.0 is now well on it's way, which will be delivered for public beta in the next few weeks. For clarity, it will maintain the current marketplace structure on release.

I let the cat out of the bag in a previous thread https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/concerning-review-by-mod.1105836/page-3#post-11920269 we're looking at options around a second tier of the marketplace, whilst still maintaining the current marketplace side by side with an AirBnB / fiver model which with a spin which will provide additional sources of leads and revenue to those with a 2.0 marketplace seller account and affiliate deals for all forum members baked into your BHW account. It's a work in progress at the moment and early stages of what we're going to do exactly but we've been putting the idea out there to select members and have had some engaging feedback.

If you have any thoughts on this - please feel free to pm directly or post below.

For clarity:
1. It will be totally optional
2. Transactions will run through BHW directly so we can confirm review are from buyers.
3. It's going to run as invite-only to start with.
4. This isn't part of the first release of BHW 2.0 it will be released later in the year.

Would you pay 20-30% more for a service backed by BHW who's quality is reviewed on a monthly basis with service indicators and air bnb style review processes.?

This is a fantastic idea.

20%? I would pay 100% more, especially for link campaigns, but @Zwielicht would have to be the one reviewing them as he is the only Super Moderator in this place I can fully place me trust into.

When you says "AirBnB/Fiverr model", do you mean that instead of a fixed fee per year, you would take a percentage of sales on every sale? Follow up to that, if this is the case, will the current Marketplace structure eventually be replaced by this revshare type of concept? While new and innovative, I could see that doing terribly. People complain about PayPal fees constantly as sellers. Skimming even more off the top would exacerbate this quite a bit.

One of the major draws to BHW's marketplace, and the main reason it is so popular (besides the volume of users) is the low entry point. If you could explain more about this new model, and explain why a 30% price increase is necessary, that would provide a lot more insight. Also, would the marketplace reviews be one-liners for public consumption, or be more in-depth, with a visible end product?

Excited to see what the future of the Marketplace brings regardless. Thanks.

If it would mean that the quality is high(er), then I would defintely pay more for that second marketplace. As of now, I think the marketplace has a poor reputation.

Definitely.

I would also like to see posts on the marketplace marked with "This person bought this service" on top of their post.

Diamond Damien said:

2. Transactions will run through BHW directly.

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Can't really tell if I think this is a good idea or not. What system will that be? How fast will a seller get his funds? How much you will charge for this on top of the costs of BST? I feel like after the revenue BHW is already generating and after the increased price for new JR VIP there shouldn't be that more rices.

That looks like a great idea.
Though I hope it won't bring a design change with a grid view like on fiverr or airbnb

fostdecile said:

I would also like to see posts on the marketplace marked with "This person bought this service" on top of their post.

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'verified purchase'

Billy Batts said:

Can't really tell if I think this is a good idea or not. What system will that be? How fast will a seller get his funds? How much you will charge for this on top of the costs of BST? I feel like after the revenue BHW is already generating and after the increased price for new JR VIP there shouldn't be that more rices.

Click to expand...

I have the same question, hope it will accept PayPal

Diamond Damien said:

BHW 2.0 is now well on it's way, which will be delivered for public beta in the next few weeks. For clarity, it will maintain the current marketplace structure on release.

I let the cat out of the bag in a previous thread https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/concerning-review-by-mod.1105836/page-3#post-11920269 we're looking at options around a second tier of the marketplace, whilst still maintaining the current marketplace side by side with an AirBnB / fiver model which with a spin which will provide additional sources of leads and revenue to those with a 2.0 marketplace seller account and affiliate deals for all forum members baked into your BHW account. It's a work in progress at the moment and early stages of what we're going to do exactly but we've been putting the idea out there to select members and have had some engaging feedback.

If you have any thoughts on this - please feel free to pm directly or post below.

For clarity:
1. It will be totally optional
2. Transactions will run through BHW directly.
3. It's going to run as invite-only to start with.
4. This isn't part of the first release of BHW 2.0 it will be released later in the year.

Would you pay 20-30% more for a service backed by BHW who's quality is reviewed on a monthly basis with service indicators and air bnb style review processes.?

Click to expand...

How do you get the invite? I would love to contribute!

Billy Batts said:

Can't really tell if I think this is a good idea or not. What system will that be? How fast will a seller get his funds? How much you will charge for this on top of the costs of BST? I feel like after the revenue BHW is already generating and after the increased price for new JR VIP there shouldn't be that more rices.

Click to expand...

I am pretty sure that those extra 20%+ will be for the staff that are going to be "looking over" the threads, if I am not wrong.

Veil123 said:

I am pretty sure that those extra 20%+ will be for the staff that are going to be "looking over" the threads, if I am not wrong.

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BHW is already a 6-7 figures earning platform plenty of money to pay "staff" of which the majority don't even get paid as they are doing this voluntary.

Sherb said:

When you says "AirBnB/Fiverr model", do you mean that instead of a fixed fee per year, you would take a percentage of sales on every sale? Follow up to that, if this is the case, will the current Marketplace structure eventually be replaced by this revshare type of concept? While new and innovative, I could see that doing terribly. People complain about PayPal fees constantly as sellers. Skimming even more off the top would exacerbate this quite a bit.

One of the major draws to BHW's marketplace, and the main reason it is so popular (besides the volume of users) is the low entry point. If you could explain more about this new model, and explain why a 30% price increase is necessary, that would provide a lot more insight. Also, would the marketplace reviews be one-liners for public consumption, or be more in-depth, with a visible end product?

Excited to see what the future of the Marketplace brings regardless. Thanks.

Click to expand...

From the way I've read it it looks to me like nothing extra would he skimed off the sellers fee as the extra 30% would be to cover bhw's cost so for example if you currently charge $10 for an article the price with the new system would be $13 with you keeping the $10 as usual and the $3 going to bhw. I may he totally wrong but that's the way it looks to me. So sellers wont make less but us buyers will pay slightly more for the peace of mind knowing the service is always going to be to the standard of the original product provided to get the thread approved and that the quality don't slip once there approved

If I was a seller I'd be pissed, 30% higher prices to customers and they have to trust you to handle payments... Paypal/stripe and 2CO are about 4% and they are a global companies with stiff financial regulation. What are BHW offering for the other 26% percent? I suppose it's optional but just looks like greed. Not to mention are you going to pay out daily like these platforms offer? Or hold their money and pay out monthly.

As a buyer I am just left confused. You have marketplace rules that you don't enforce now and some of the mods doing reviews don't seem to know what they are doing (see my last thread) so for the extra 30% are you actually going to follow your own rules and hire mods who know how to review products?

I'm not sure this is the solution to applying your own forum rules to your current marketplace. I kind of like that we deal with service providers directly.

I'm curious if you centralizing the marketplace will mean the end to some "less than whitehat" services such as buying fake/photoshopped ID documents from @secondeye (and others) or buying VCC's from various other sellers. We also have services that help get adobe licenses/spotify/microsoft accounts for cheap. Facebook/instagram also come down hard on those caught selling likes, does this mean your new platform won't allow these kind of things as I imagine they are a liability? If they go wrong what happens to everyone else on this new centralized payment system?

Billy Batts said:

Can't really tell if I think this is a good idea or not. What system will that be? How fast will a seller get his funds? How much you will charge for this on top of the costs of BST? I feel like after the revenue BHW is already generating and after the increased price for new JR VIP there shouldn't be that more rices.

Click to expand...

I didn't even notice that, @Billy Batts. This brings up another point of concern. There has been quite a bit of scattered downtime on BHW in the past few months. If purchases are routed straight through the site, what happens when the site goes down for two hours and the home page has to be redirected, etc? That would compound the lost potential orders and income from not being able to access purchase and sale information.

I'm not sure why this thread needed to go out now. I am getting "Changes to the Marketplace coming at some point. Would you pay more (as a buyer) for more features?" In my eyes, how things are currently, no, I wouldn't. Why would you not hire a few additional people to specifically handle the marketplace review process and consider that overhead, instead of tacking the expense onto the community?

Sherb said:

I didn't even notice that, @Billy Batts. This brings up another point of concern. There has been quite a bit of scattered downtime on BHW in the past few months. If purchases are routed straight through the site, what happens when the site goes down for two hours and the home page has to be redirected, etc? That would compound the lost potential orders and income from not being able to access purchase and sale information.

I'm not sure why this thread needed to go out now. I am getting "Changes to the Marketplace coming at some point. Would you pay more (as a buyer) for more features?" In my eyes, how things are currently, no, I wouldn't.

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This is a great question. Especially when paying for position 2... Although, the staff was EXTREMELY nice enough to offer an extra day of ad time to accumulate the servers being down, but this is a good point to bring up!

Billy Batts said:

BHW is already a 6-7 figures earning platform plenty of money to pay "staff" of which the majority don't even get paid as they are doing this voluntary.

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Well obviously that has to be changed. When someone is doing something as a volunteer, he will try to spend his (free?) time helping as much as possible. On the other hand, having the already experienced volunteers get a slice of the cake is something totally different and the thing becomes an obligation.

If this brings more strict control over the marketplace then yes, I am up for it. However, I can't say/state anything else until I/we actually see the full picture.

Edit:

Sherb said:

I didn't even notice that, @Billy Batts. I'm not sure why this thread needed to go out now. I am getting "Changes to the Marketplace coming at some point. Would you pay more (as a buyer) for more features?" In my eyes, how things are currently, no, I wouldn't. Why would you not hire a few additional people to specifically handle the marketplace review process and consider that overhead, instead of tacking the expense onto the community?

Click to expand...

It is not just the review process but the actual quality of the same service as the times goes by.

In addition to that, if you take a quick look at the 'shitlist' you will see tens of threads being opened on a weekly basis because of so many 'trustworthy' sellers.

Sherb said:

In my eyes, how things are currently, no, I wouldn't. Why would you not hire a few additional people to specifically handle the marketplace review process and consider that overhead, instead of tacking the expense onto the community?

Click to expand...

I agree.

Diamond Damien said:

Would you pay 20-30% more for a service backed by BHW who's quality is reviewed on a monthly basis with service indicators and air bnb style review processes.?

Click to expand...

Hell yeah. I will, because of the trust factor.