Same exact reaction from me. We should feel free to ASK questions without commiting.
It has put me off inquiring about an animal I’m interested in too.
Good communication is what we should promote.
Its not ebay - click and buy.
I may ask additional information about a few animals before choosing, I am a good buyer according to my ratings though
I want to ‘Purchase’ is a commitment to me. Interested is just that. I’m interested, tell me more.
Edit: as a seller too I want people to ask questions and not just click and buy. I want the animal to be right for them and for them to have full information, otherwise that can create problems down the line.
As someone who has made many MM purchases over the years, this doesn’t bother me personally as a BUYER. However, for the potential customer that is new to MM, I see this as a very bad change.
As a SELLER, I love answering questions about the animals I produce. In fact, at times this has even led to a new customer purchasing a different animal from me that was a better fit for them. I see this change as a discouragement to asking questions that can lead to a purchase. As sellers we have to contend with some customers that ask a million questions, only to ghost us after we answer, but this comes with the territory in sales. I’m not interested in scaring off customers in order to save a little aggravation over some tire kickers.
As a final note, psychologically this can make a potential buyer feel as though they are giving up ground in a negotiation if they click a button that says “purchase animal”.
I may not be the first to suggest this, but what about 2 buttons? A more information button and a purchase button. That way a very serious buyer that may be concerned about missing out on a good deal can express their level of seriousness. Someone who needs more information can communicate that. The inquiry to the seller would indicate which button the customer selected.
I really hope something changes. Two buttons, drop-down menu, change of wording to something more like inquiry. It really feels to me that the current wording is off-putting, which is not who we who of MorphMarket are as a community nor as a marketing entity.
At minimum, I, as a seller, feel I should be given the option to choose how it appears on my page.
The page the customer is directed to also comes off as kind of off-putting to me; as if I am about selling and nothing more. I care greatly about the animals I am selling. They are more than just a $ amount /sale to me.
I specifically don’t like the part where it reads:
“State your intent: I’d like to buy the animal”
I feel it’d be more welcoming if it said something like:
"State your intent: I’d like to buy the animal or I have a question about the animal?
the seller could bypass the “question” option and only read “buy” option.
if this starts to happen, everyone will just use the “buy” option. This will make the other one obsolete.
having a drop down option will end up doing the same thimg.
New users and not so frequent buyers will be turned off on just a “buy” button. Not knowing if they will be locked in to buy, they will just not do it.
The only and best option would be to change the wording. As someone stated “inquire to purchase” sounds like the best way solution.
I don’t know if this is part of the new management, but it seems like there are a lot of changes happening and most have not been good ones. This is typically of a new take over, but bad for current, loyal, dedicated users. This place was built by user input. That made this place a hit and people felt wanted. Now people no longer feel this way. Most will not say anything, out of fear. Others will just move on to other places.
I’ve been mulling this over for a few days now. I strongly agree that the button should either say “Inquire” or “Inquire to Purchase”. I initially thought the two button or drop down menu was a good compromise, but then I was thinking about which button would I choose to use as a buyer. I never go into a transaction without the intent to purchase, but I also rarely go into a transaction without also having some inquiries about the animal. And only if the answers are satisfactory do I then purchase. So I think with two options, I would be worried that the seller wouldn’t take me seriously if I chose the non-purchase button. So I’d feel forced to choose the purchase button and then feel a bit guilty if a sale didn’t happen because the answers to my questions weren’t what I wanted.
I am not a big time business, but I currently have ~70 animals available. Maybe it’s coincidence, maybe not, but since the change to “Purchase Animal”, I have had zero new inquiries and zero questions asked of me for now the 5th day. This is concerning to me as a seller. Previously, over the past month, there was a day here or there that I didn’t receive one, but never this many days in a row.
I’m curious if others have seen a down turn.
I have also noticed a drop in inquiries since this change was made but the time window is too short for me to draw a straight line from the wording change to this drop in inquiries. It could be that people are busy with Memorial Day or with graduations or with vacation plans or preoccupied with the debt ceiling or who knows.
I am concerned that this change was made without community input. It changes the tone of what a potential buyer sees as the first, direct interaction between buyer and seller.
Further, the MorphMarket site states that “Our Mission” is:
“To support and advance the herpetoculture industry. We promote the ethical keeping and efficient and legitimate commerce of reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates.”
After a lot of consideration, and reading all of the thoughtful responses here, I have to say that I think this change is not reflective of who we are. Buying living things is and should be different from buying pizza or car parts or towels. I don’t even think this change promotes “efficient commerce” as I agree with others that it’s off-putting to newer site users/buyers.
Maybe a compromise is to have both- Purchase and inquire.
Then the seller can prioritise responses based on their own priorities.
I will prioritise inquire though. I value customers more if they want berrer information unless i can see they don’t need it from their profile.
I might also want to ask my own questions.
I want to know if my customers know how to look after it and also for my customers to know how mine are kept, for one example, if they want to use a glass fish tank, I can warn them that the animal will need acclimatisation and lots of cover.
Is it possible for this to be amongst the ones highlighted on the front page, even be a “sticky” for awhile so that we can potentially get more input from the community as a whole?
I realise the banner at the top of this thread is not very effective The wording has been set back to “Inquire to Buy”, but please still vote above and continue to give feedback.
It seems to me that “Inquire about animal” and “Inquire” are basically the same. I voted for “Inquire about animal”, but it was a coin toss for me as I see them as the same. In my opinion they are both superior choices to “Inquire to Purchase” as that choice still indicates a higher level of commitment psychologically. They are all 3 better than “Purchase Animal” which no one seems to like.
To the other 5 people that voted for “Inquire” or “Inquire about animal” Is anyone opposed to combining those 2 choices into 1? I’m fine with either wording.
The wording has been set back to “Inquire to Buy”, but please still 