Well, our project GTI just sold for $1,525! Not bad considering we picked it up for $400. In the end it had over 250 watchers and 4,000 page views. Although we did put a lot of time and money into it, we attribute the final selling price to the fact that it was viewed by all our readers. By featuring the car here on the site we were able to direct thousands of potential buyers to an eBay auction that would have otherwise only been viewed by a handful of people. Since it worked for us, we thought we should create a way for our readers to do the same for their cars when they decide to sell. We have thought about charging for write-ups in the past, but have always felt that it could become a conflict of interest. We want to feature cars that we like and find interesting, not ones that we are bribed into doing.
So, to appease both sides we have created something new. We looked at the empty space over there on the right hand side of the site and thought, “why not run some classifieds there?”. Our new classifieds system is a simple and affordable way to drive traffic to your eBay auction or craigslist ad. It only costs $20 per week and is guaranteed to be seen by thousands of enthusiast. Click here to read more about it. We do reserve the right to reject any ads that we don’t think fit, with a full refund of course. Please let us know what you think. Our thanks goes out to everyone who bid on the GTI and we hope that the next owner will keep us all updated on their progress!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with offering a service to try to generate a little revenue. Operating this site isn’t free, and it takes a lot of time and dedication. Anybody who has ever run a site understands this. Go for it!
Not only is there nothing wrong with running ads, it’s hard to think of any media that *doesn’t* run ads these days. People with interesting cars sometimes want to sell them, and people without interesting cars sometimes want to buy them, plus everyone else is interested in what’s being bought and sold, so everyone wins!
yes, very well stated.
Well written and ‘kudos’ for not going full out commercial, or becoming biased or more.
You found a wonderful middle of the road solution, that I appreciate and others probably will also.
As long as you don’t turn into that manipulating commercial ‘sell-out’ site that BaT turned into…….
…have you seen the cars they but up , that has nothing to do with ‘bring a trailer’ or the whole concept that ‘THEY’ started with.
Stick to the roots, that is why I am over here and not there !!
Sounds terrific to me .
Amen Dolphin and Rancho, staying humble is never a bad thing. I’m sure we’ll all enjoy seeing what’s actually for sale, with price.
Cheers,
Good idea, I just sent you an ad for a fine piece of British excellen… I mean errors that resemble a Jaguar (that I have on eBay). I truly enjoy seeing what people dig up at your barn finds page(s) every day. Thanks, Joe
Thanks Joe! Your sidebar ad is live as well as the Facebook post. Please let us know if you see an increase in traffic to your auction. You are the first person to use the new system so we need your feedback to work out any bugs. Those XJ-6 coupes were cool cars! Good luck with the sale.
~ there’s a great start! a complete, very restorable, and collectible Jaguar.
best of luck with the sale, Joe and the new business model, Barn Finds
Great move, Jesse! I think done as you described, it will even add more value and interest to your site. And, of course, I am happy to see it pay you back for some of your thousands of hours. One tip: start planning now for significant participation, as I think this ad sidebar will be very popular…. Keep up the good work, and I will have ads coming your way soon.
Thanks for all the support guys! We have gone back and forth a lot about how we should monetize the site. Obviously we need to pay the bills, but we want to do it in a way that is not too obtrusive to our readers. As previously stated, we also didn’t want to feel pressured into writing up cars that didn’t fit the theme of the site. I wasn’t sure if people would see the point of buying an ad to promote another ad, but obviously a few of you get the concept and can see the value. We already sold two ads! We hope it will continue to grow into something beneficial for sellers, buyers, and yes, even us. Thanks guys!
Count me as in . I’m good with it.
Great idea, a good, solid and yet subtle way to help offset the cost of running this site. Stay true to the original concept of Barn Finds and the like and you’ll be successful.
As for the Jag XJ6C, I always thought these were a cool combo: XJ good looks, 2 doors, 12 cylinders. In my dreams I own one and its a copy of the Walkinshaw BTCC Jag’s on the mid/late 70’s. His team ran these for a season or 2 if not longer.