search by price points would be extremely useful and appreciated

[mandolin breeze]

especially the ability to define a search by price levels, for instance show me only mandolins that have a listed price of over, under, or between $x

[Bill Snyder]

What are you talking about? This is a forum, not a store.

[Jess L.]

What are you talking about? ...

The Classifieds, presumably.

... This is a forum, not a store.

I would take an uneducated guess and say that the Classifieds might be a source of financial support *for* the forums?

It costs money to own/operate websites. I don't think a busy high-traffic website would qualify for any free web-hosting.

We readers aren't being charged to read/post stuff here, so (GUESSING follows) the money to run the site presumably has to come from somewhere... aside from just the vendor ads at the top of pages...

The Classifieds seller's 2-percent donation (discussed on a different page) might, maybe, help to keep the whole site, including these forums, running smoothly. *If* that's the case, then what goes on in the Classifieds *would* have relevance to the forum.

Anyway, I'm just speculating/guessing, and I probably better cease further speculation as it might not please the site owners since I really haven't got a clue about how any of this stuff works. Aside from I know that it's a nice website.

... define a search by price levels, for instance show me only mandolins that have a listed price of over, under, or between $x

Seems like a reasonable way to get more people to browse through the Classifieds.

People might end up buying stuff they didn't even know they needed if it's quick & easy to find, and in their specified price range...

[Bill Snyder]

I also assumed that he meant the classified ads, but he did not specify.
This is still a forum and not a store.

[Chris Daniels]

I also assumed that he meant the classified ads, but he did not specify.
This is still a forum and not a store.

I agree that OP could have been clearer in his wording but I'm not sure the point you're trying to make. Are you saying that you believe that posts about the classifieds are not appropriate topics for the forum? Or is the issue that he posted in the Forum Software Support forum?

For the record, I think the ability to search the classifieds by price would be useful but the current design does not lend itself easily to such a search function because there is no specific price field or even a requirement to include price in the ad.

C.

[mandolin breeze]

Sorry for not being clearer. When searching the classified ads, it would be helpful to set parameters for a search based on the asking price in the ad. For instance, to list only instruments between a low and high price, such as between $7,500 and $12,000 . . . or only instruments that have an asking price of over say $5,000, or under $5,000.

Even using the "advanced search" function, there is no way to search based on price criteria, and that would be very helpful.

I thought about posting in the "general" forum section, but thought that directed more to the staff was the way to go. Thanks.

[Tom C]

That's searching for a string. Different animal.

[mrmando]

Yeah, for that to happen, first the ad submission form would need to be changed to include a field where sellers enter a price. Then a search function would have to be added so users can search that field, similar to CraigsList.

Right now, sellers just list the price in the text of the ad. Sometimes they forget to list it at all. A few of them put it in the ad title, which is helpful.