New Classifieds Rate Beginning 11/15/22

[dc]

Greetings ApexSpeeders,


On November 15th, 2022, we will be changing the payment format of the Classifieds subscriptions here on ApexSpeed. As of now, we currently offer a single month of advertising for $8 with a full year option for $50. On Tuesday the 15th, we will be removing the yearly option and changing the monthly fee to post a classified listing anywhere on ApexSpeed to $20 per month.

Again, this is not an immediate change, it will be implemented in a couple of weeks. If you currently have an active monthly or yearly subscription, that will continue unchanged to the end of your subscription duration without you needing to do anything. There will also no longer be a yearly Classified subscription available for $50, starting today.


If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask.




Doug & Kim

[BeerBudgetRacing]

Is the time restriction (per month) for posting new ads or will posted ads remain until sold etc. ?

[dc]

Is the time restriction (per month) for posting new ads or will posted ads remain until sold etc. ?

Yes, both. It's 30 days of new posts, and your listings are indefinite just as they are currently. Nothing else is changing but a lack of yearly subscriptions and the initial price to list.

[mikey]

wow 250% increase in the monthly rate and an effective 500% increase for a year's worth of advertising. I wonder how this will affect whether some things, especially smaller listings, even get listed at all now..

[dc]

wow 250% increase in the monthly rate and an effective 500% increase for a year's worth of advertising. I wonder how this will affect whether some things, especially smaller listings, even get listed at all now..

And yet, still...

ApexSpeed Classifieds: $20 for unlimited posts in 1 month
SportsCar Magazine: no more classifieds
Racer Magazine: no web-visible classifieds
RacingJunk.com $30 for 16 weeks
racecarsdirect.com: $50 (EU)
bringatrailer.com: $99
race-cars.com: $125

We have been by far the cheapest and most visible place to buy and sell formula cars for the last 20 years. With browsers now blocking banner ads by default, our advertising support has fallen to a point where we aren't offering the larger sponsor banners anymore. This site continues to grow and is still on a private, dedicated server because of the traffic it sees. Without advertising revenue, the site's main source of income is the Classifieds. Ad banner blockers will kill forum communities in the long run. GoogleAds cannot sustain larger forums like ApexSpeed.

$20 to sell $10,000-$100,000 race cars on the internet is still the most cost-effective place to post your cars and parts for sale. Listings on ApexSpeed are still indefinitely visible, as your listing fees are the ability to post ads—not keep them active.

In the end, ApexSpeed is still a small business and not a charity, so decisions had to be made. And more tough decisions are still to come.

[SteveG]

I did not notice that there were no more banner ads, kind of spoils a revenue source.
I'm up for paying more to sell stuff and I'll still contribute yearly.
Where else would I go? Facebook?

Steve

[mikey]

And yet, still...

ApexSpeed Classifieds: $20 for unlimited posts in 1 month
SportsCar Magazine: no more classifieds
Racer Magazine: no web-visible classifieds
RacingJunk.com $30 for 16 weeks
racecarsdirect.com: $50 (EU)
bringatrailer.com: $99
race-cars.com: $125

We have been by far the cheapest and most visible place to buy and sell formula cars for the last 20 years. With browsers now blocking banner ads by default, our advertising support has fallen to a point where we aren't offering the larger sponsor banners anymore. This site continues to grow and is still on a private, dedicated server because of the traffic it sees. Without advertising revenue, the site's main source of income is the Classifieds. Ad banner blockers will kill forum communities in the long run. GoogleAds cannot sustain larger forums like ApexSpeed.

$20 to sell $10,000-$100,000 race cars on the internet is still the most cost-effective place to post your cars and parts for sale. Listings on ApexSpeed are still indefinitely visible, as your listing fees are the ability to post ads—not keep them active.

In the end, ApexSpeed is still a small business and not a charity, so decisions had to be made. And more tough decisions are still to come.

not a bad price for selling a whole vehicle but probably discouraging to anyone trying to sell parts. Especially for the often seen garage clean out events. Perhaps the implementation of banners or ads is not being done correctly? I frequent Corvette forum and they still have banners and sponsored vendor links. Hope you all can figure out how to generate needed revenue again.

[DaveW]

This forum is the most civil and useful of any site I have visited.

While I'll miss being able to sell stuff any time I want for $50/year, I can certainly understand that the Carters can't keep operating this invaluable site at a loss. And to put it somewhat in perspective, 3 months of posting ads that never get removed (say 1 month every 4 months) = $60. Most of us, IMO, can put up with consolidating our stuff to sell to 3 times a year - that shouldn't be much of a problem. I doubt I've ever exceeded that.

IMO, the ability to log on here to keep informed and get solutions to perplexing racing issues is huge. Those are the main benefits of this forum. Maybe if more ApexSpeed members donated $ annually, this new fee structure for ads wouldn't be needed.

So, having said that, I just donated $50 to ApexSpeed - call it an early Christmas donation..

[Jonathan Lee]

wow 250% increase in the monthly rate and an effective 500% increase for a year's worth of advertising. I wonder how this will affect whether some things, especially smaller listings, even get listed at all now..

It's for a good cause. . If your looking at it from a business standpoint, for $20 you are able to sell items ranging from $100 to $100,0000, it is peanuts in comparison.

A good deal in my opinion!

[Steve Demeter]

What can we as a group do to help lure the advertisers back??

I do not know if we all disabled pop up blockers for Apex that it would matter without some way of giving the advertiser confidence that their ad would not be blocked.

Maybe not a good idea, but it might lead someone to think of a good one

Anyone??? I know this is a long shot but having the revenue source back will keep Apex alive

[Steve Demeter]

Anyone?? I was hoping that this probably less than practical suggestion would stimulate some practical ideas. But not being very knowledgeable about such things I can only guess what might be possible.

[true racer]

I did not notice that there were no more banner ads, kind of spoils a revenue source.
I'm up for paying more to sell stuff and I'll still contribute yearly.
Where else would I go? Facebook?

Steve

I'll agree with others that it did sound like quite a rate hike at first ($50 annually to $240?). But in thinking it through, I do not post things for sale each month, so 20 bucks when I have something to sell isn't that bad and what Apex does for the road racing community at large is something we must all support. I'm in. Only problem is, like each time before when I paid my annual dues, I cannot find a way to do it. Where is the tab / button / link? Doug, can you insert a tab at the top of the page to lure in the sellers of parts and cars?

[SteveG]

I'll agree with others that it did sound like quite a rate hike at first ($50 annually to $240?). But in thinking it through, I do not post things for sale each month, so 20 bucks when I have something to sell isn't that bad and what Apex does for the road racing community at large is something we must all support. I'm in. Only problem is, like each time before when I paid my annual dues, I cannot find a way to do it. Where is the tab / button / link? Doug, can you insert a tab at the top of the page to lure in the sellers of parts and cars?

At the top upper left corner of all views is the yellow "PayPalDonate" button.

Steve

[Lotus7]

I'm running out of race-related items to sell, but I'll still make annual contributions to keep this site alive.