TVS users can see the
evolution of The Virtual Saleyard over the past 4 years by reading through the news below.
January 2003 - More
Updates to The Virtual Saleyard
We have made further
improvements to TVS functionality to assist users to get best results from the system :-
Members can log in to the Member Services area directly from
the home page instead of having to first go to a Members page.
Navigation has been improved to simplify access to
frequently used system features.
Listing types have been simplified to 3 types - text,
enhanced and featured.
Pricing has been simplified.
Vendors will be notified by email if a listing has not been
changed for 6 months. If they do not change it within 2 weeks, the listing will be marked
as sold.
July 2002 - Photos
in Search Results
When an Enhanced or
Featured Listing comes up in a search result, the user has the option to enable the
thumbnail photo to be displayed in the search results. Not only does the Enhanced or
Featured Listing come up first in the search results, but now the user can see at a glance
which ones they want to find out more about.
May 2001 - TVS
Totally Revamped
In response to many
suggestions from users and our own market research, we have introduced a number of major
changes to The Virtual Saleyard.
TVS now has categories for listings other than Horses.
These include Other Listings (clothing, transport, real estate, horse
gear, machinery, employment etc), as well as an all breeds Stallion Directory
and a Products & Services Directory.
All TVS Members now have access to TVS's free Email
Notification Service. This service allows Members to specify search criteria and
to be notified daily of any listings added or changed which match.
A new promotional feature has been added known as Feature
Impressions. This allows vendors to have their advertisement featured on
Cyberhorse's most popular pages. Featured Ads can be zoned to appear only where the vendor
wants them to. These ads have achieved up to a 30% response rate in testing.
A much improved Member Services function
allows vendors to access a Control Panel where they can view their ads, make changes or
order Enhancements and Feature Impressions. A full
history of all changes can be seen, together with the number of Feature Impressions shown
and clickthrough performance when these have been ordered.
The Horse Search function now allows
searches for height and age ranges.
All listings now have country and state as selection items
and allow for searches for words or phrases.
Listings can now be withdrawn instead of having to mark them
as sold.
Horse and Other listings can be For Sale or Wanted.
The Products & Services section has
been extended to include many more categories. Ads in the Products & Services
Directory have a 12 month duration. Zoned Feature Impressions can be ordered to provide
extra prominence for a Directory listing.
The Stallion Directory has now been
extended to include all breeds instead of only thoroughbreds. Ads in the Stallion
Directory have a 12 month duration. Zoned Feature Impressions can be ordered to provide
extra prominence for a Directory listing.
The Listing Enhancements ordering procedure has been
streamlined in order to simplify purchasing.
Tax Invoices are now emailed to vendors when ordering
Enhancements or Feature Impressions.
April 2001 - 4000
Listings in TVS
In April, we reached a
milestone with 4000 horses listed in TVS, worth a total of $17.5 million. Of that total,
over 1200 horses worth $4.5 million have been notified as having been sold. 2800 horses
worth a total of $13 million are available for sale - the largest selection by far of any
horse sales service in Australia and one of the largest in world.
July 2000
- NEW! Enhanced Search Service!
Due to the volume of
listings at TVS, we have improved the search function to help buyers to narrow down the
selections. As well as breed and discipline, you can now search on age, colour, sex and
height. As an added aid, the listings returned are sorted so that enhanced listings are
first and then basic listings in descending price order. Individual listings are presented
in a pop-up window, so that you don't have to redo the search between viewing each
listing. Note that the popup requires at least a Version 4 browser with Javascript enabled
to work properly.
February 2000 -
1500 Horses in The Virtual Saleyard
We've been going for more
than a year with the new TVS format. Listings are coming in at an increasing rate and we
are well ahead of our targets in terms of the number of horses available for sale. There
are now over 1500 horses in our database. We recently were featured in The Financial
Review, in an article entitled "Cyber Sales the New Game".
August 1999 -
Thoroughbred Stallion Directory
We have now introduced the
latest feature of TVS, which is a comprehensive stallion register for all Australian
thoroughbred stallions. This register is now linked to The Virtual FormGuide Quickfind
Listings, so whenever a stallion has a runner at any of the races around the country, a
racing follower can quickly find out about the stallion. Studmasters can enhance their
listings in this database in a similar way to those for the existing TVS, again very cost
effectively. You can imagine the promotional value of having a form guide user being able
to look up the sire of a race winner and then being able to jump to the stud web site of
the stallion.
