Classifieds Change

[Frank C]

What’s the rationale for no longer allowing posts of used Olivers for sale here on the Oliver forums?  Seems like it hurts both Oliver forum member owners and potential buyers by losing one channel of potential sale.  

 

[ScubaRx]

Frank, I will share with you and the rest of the group all the information that was passed on to the Moderator team on 10-20-2023. Then you guys will have as much information as we have. This came from Top Management through Matt Duncan. The reason your screen capture picture above shows as having been posted by myself on August 17 is because when they closed the classified section, the moderators were locked out as well. I wanted to be able to let the current owners that had advertisements posted what the situation was, but I had no access to enter a post with the information. What I did was revive an old, deleted post (obviously from August 17), delete all the information in it and past in part of what you see below. I DID NOT know in August that this was coming.

"Just wanted to give everyone a heads up we have locked the Classified Forum up to prevent future postings.

As we are moving forward with the initiative to start selling through dealers, it is in our best interest with those potential dealerships to not promote (or appear to promote) the sale of used trailers for sale on the forum.

We will leave the Classified Section up for a period of time with the following announcement and allow all existing Used Oliver Travel Trailer postings to expire.

Beginning October 20, 2023, members of the forum will no longer have access to post Used Oliver Travel Trailers for sale and other products for sale in The Classified section on our Forum. If you are interested in selling or buying an Oliver Travel Trailer, we encourage you to use one of the following websites or social media outlets that will help you better find a buyer or find a used Oliver for sale.

RVtrader.com

RVT.com

Oliver Travel Trailer for Sale Facebook page

If you have any questions, please let us know. Thanks for all your help and support!"

[Frank C]

Thanks for the info Steve.   Hopefully Oliver management will reconsider at some point in the future.  The one unique advantage of used Olivers posted for sale here is that a potential buyer had a very direct channel of communication to a seller, including being able to see the history of that trailer through the previous owner’s posts.  And in the case of John Davies recent sale, a LOT of history and background of the many great modifications that John did to show his incredible level of care taken with his trailer.   

[Harley]

Seems the reasons for buying an Oliver and joining the forum are getting less and less. What's next. Sad.

[Rivernerd]

5 hours ago, Frank C said:

Thanks for the info Steve.

What info?  I don't see a post from Steve in this thread. 

Regardless of the reason, closing out the Oliver Classifieds is bad for customer relations.  My opinion of Oliver Management just took a steep nosedive.

 

[katanapilot]

My bet is it's part of the transition to the dealer network.  Selling used Oliver's here bypasses that network and the dealers will want that piece of the pie. 

[HDRider]

Good for Oliver.  Bad for Oliver customers.

 

The Thor model. 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

I truly love this forum, but have to ask the question, is it time for a non Oliver controlled forum?  Example gratis, Air Forums…

[Rivernerd]

39 minutes ago, HDRider said:

Good for Oliver.  Bad for Oliver customers.

 

The Thor model. 

Also bad for potential buyers of used Oliver trailers.  My contacts with car and RV dealerships have uniformly left a bad taste in my mouth.

Conversely, my dealings with Oliver's management and service staff so far have left me feeling good about their commitment to their customers---until now.

One must wonder if this signals the "end of an era..."

[Rivernerd]

26 minutes ago, Wandering Sagebrush said:

I truly love this forum, but have to ask the question, is it time for a non Oliver controlled forum?  Example gratis, Air Forums…

One of the great joys of using this forum is the absence of pop-up ads.  Anyone operating a forum has to pay for server time and storage space, and the usual way that is accomplished is by selling ads.

I, for one, will be sorry to see that happen.

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Just now, Rivernerd said:

One of the great joys of using this forum is the absence of pop-up ads.  Anyone operating a forum has to pay for server time and storage space, and the usual way that is accomplished is by selling ads.

I, for one, will be sorry to see that happen.

Superb point!  I had not taken that into consideration and now retract my musings.

[HDRider]

1 hour ago, Rivernerd said:

One of the great joys of using this forum is the absence of pop-up ads.  Anyone operating a forum has to pay for server time and storage space, and the usual way that is accomplished is by selling ads.

I, for one, will be sorry to see that happen.

I use a number of forums and ad block works on them all.

https://getadblock.com/en/

 

 

[Tom and Doreen]

1 hour ago, Rivernerd said:

 

One must wonder if this signals the "end of an era..."

For better or worse Oliver’s reputation will be measured somewhat by that of their associated appointed sales / service centers. Hopefully things will improve in the RV industry but currently there is a lot of distrust in this market, Oliver being the exception. Oliver provides a very unique purchasing, support, and quality experience which is what brought most of us to Oliver over the rest of the manufacturers.  Oliver is growing as a result which is fantastic and things will have to change as a result understandably.  Hopefully they’ll find a way to maintain a bit of that exceptional user experience. 

[SeaDawg]

11 hours ago, Rivernerd said:

Conversely, my dealings with Oliver's management and service staff so far have left me feeling good about their commitment to their customers---until now.

I don't see that changing, no matter what, honestly.  

Back during the 2008 downturn, and the hiatus, Oliver continued to not only give gainful employment to all their employees, albeit often in other jobs, but continued to support our "orphan" trailers. And, they paid the fees to keep our then very tiny membership forum going. Som of us, like mountainborn and I,  with more computer background,  kept it afloat with our expertise, and no admins. (I do appreciate our admins.)

Was I upset/angered by the decision to drop the classifieds?. Yes, of course I was. Absolutely. I was quite angry. But, if they feel that need, we'll figure out other paths.

Will we continue to be the best possible group to join, for access to experienced Oliver owners, who actually have factual answers, based on experience? Yes. We will. 

It's not my job as a volunteer moderator to offer marketing suggestions.  Oliver has  a paid team for that.

The benefits of having Oliver trained and  certified service centers dotted about the four corners could significantly outweigh the loss of classifieds for many folks farflung from Hohenwald.  We'll see.

I'd encourage all of you to do as I will. Take a deep breath, and see how this works out.

I know, personally,  from my solid experience with the Oliver family, that the commitment to contiinued  exemplary customer, and technical, service will not change. 

Its in their DNA. 

Sherry

Oliver mod since February,  2008.

 

 

[Steph and Dud B]

😢

[Trailblazers]

This is how I ended up buying my Oliver, very sorry to hear this news.  They just seem to slowly be getting away from what has made them special.  

[SeaDawg]

You know, @Trailblazers, I  think they're working on making the Oliver experience more widespread, and just as special. But, small centers outside of hohenwald. 

We'll see what happens. 

 No matter what, our Olivers are very special indeed. I wouldn't trade my 2008 for anything else in the market, today. 

 

[IL_Travelers]

How gut wrenching to learn this!  After some absence from the Forum, tonight I logged in to start the "for sale" process on our Hull #803.  So very sad to learn I will have to sell it on Facebook.  

One of the many benefits of Oliver was the built-in used sales listing.  Drat!

[ScubaRx]

4 hours ago, IL_Travelers said:

How gut wrenching to learn this!  After some absence from the Forum, tonight I logged in to start the "for sale" process on our Hull #803.  So very sad to learn I will have to sell it on Facebook. 

One of the last ones to post their Oliver's here on the forum never got a hit. A few days ago I spoke to him on the phone about what had transpired and advised him to list it on Facebook. I heard from him yesterday and he said he'd had a half dozen inquiries already with at least three of them very interested. I think you'll do fine selling on FB. Good Luck!

[Scott and Frieda]

One of the major reasons we bought the Oliver was knowing when it was time to sell, we could do it in a more personal way here. This is a terrible decision by Oliver Travel Trailers and I hope they will reconsider. 

[ScubaRx]

8 hours ago, Scott and Frieda said:

One of the major reasons we bought the Oliver was knowing when it was time to sell, we could do it in a more personal way here. This is a terrible decision by Oliver Travel Trailers and I hope they will reconsider. 

You’ll sell it faster on Foy Sperring’s FB page. After managing the classified section for about a year, I decided that only about 50-60% sold. Based on the number of hits each seller got, there didn’t seem to be as much traffic as I expected. Don’t anyone hold your breath waiting on Oliver to change their mind. That ship has sailed. 

[ScubaRx]

On 11/25/2023 at 9:45 AM, Scott and Frieda said:

One of the major reasons we bought the Oliver was knowing when it was time to sell, we could do it in a more personal way here. This is a terrible decision by Oliver Travel Trailers and I hope they will reconsider. 

Are you selling already? Your trailer is less than two years old. Good Luck and remember to check in here from time to time. 😄