Thought I would review a site that I check very often.
Background
Gumtree.com started back in March 2000 when a local classified ads and community site decided to connect people who were visiting the city or for people who planned to move here. Since those dark days Gumtree has went from strength to strength today they have over 1million hits per day, they are in 60 cities across 6 countries. These include UK,
Poland,
Ireland, New Zeland and others. In 2005 Gumtree became part Kijiji within
EbayThe website
When you first surf over to www.gumtree.com you are greeted with a rather boring looking home page which has too much information on. A yucky beige and green colour will soon have you click on other links just to change the page. There are many different headers and subsections for you to choose from.
ON arrival at www.gumtree.com you are in fact on the London edition so make sure you choose the required city from the extensive list down the left hand side. Once you choose your required city the page will change to it accordingly, I choose Edinburgh and the new header reads "Edinburgh
Online Community"
Right Hand Side
Set near the top is a picture of a tree in what looks like a sunset - when you click on that it will take you back to Gumtree London.
Below that you have the following options - Post a ad, Edit/Delete an ad, subscribe free, Unsubscribe and my save ads.
Post an ad - Easiest thing on the site, having used this site many times I can say this from experience. So when you first click on post an ad you then need to choose which section you want your advert to be posted it. Ok so you have chosen what section and now you're about to post an ad, you will need the following information to hand, your area. Edinburgh etc - Price you want for the item, remember this is not like eBay there is no
bidding. Your title of your advert, make it sensible and use key words. Then you can type until your wee heart is content - go on sell it tell everyone all about it. Now a days you have the option to feature your ad, which means it will be at the top of the section.
That does cost £5 for 3days and £10 for 7days. Can I add that I have never used that and always sold my items? During the posting stage you will need to provide Gumtree with an email address or telephone number that your potential buyers can contact you on. I would suggest that you use a PAYG sim card and post that number you can also hide your email address from everyone and when people want to contact you regarding your item they fill in a form which Gumtree forward to you. During the post an ad process you can add pictures to your advert to help sell it, or even a video which has been uploaded to YouTube. Gumtree will also ask for your Name, Contact Number, Email address and password. This information will never be given to anyone. Ok so you a have pressed the submit button, you will get a preview and then need to confirm it again. At which point you will get an email to confirm your ad and the reference number.
It is important that you hold on to this number in case you need to edit the ad. Your ad will usually be on the site within 2/4hrs.
Edit/Delete
- Just as it says really - you will need your reference number from your email to edit and delete your advert. Very
easily done simply add your reference number and your password and then you have the option to delete your ad which is advisable if it's no longer available or you can edit it. Once you have finished simply press submit and then that it's done.
Subscribe free
-
Fantastic option this is, especially if you're looking for something in particular or just want
to see what people are giving away free daily in your area. Just fill in your email address and tick what you want to be informed about. I love this feature.
Unsubscribe
- Does what it says on the tin, take your email address of all of Gumtree.com - Please
do not use this option to cancel from your daily alerts just go back in to subscribe and take out what ticks you do not want.
Saved Ad's
- Is just like My Ebay it saves all the ad's you have looked at and at the click of a button you have them all in front of you.
For once a site that has a decent
search engine, ok it's basic but it is fairly accurate with its result. Simply input your keyword and then select the required section. Hit the green arrow and you will be taken to the results page. From there you can read and view all the related ads.
What can I find on Gumtree?
The sky is really the limit here, as you begin to spend time looking at the adverts you can expect to find from clothes to houses costing more than I can ever imagine. If you're looking for a part time job or even a
second hand car then Gumtree is your site.
Sub headers include - Houses for sale, rent and wanted - Stuff for sale which is then broken down in too many sections -
Cars for sale - Community - Friends and
dating - Jobs - Business services.
Just like many sites Gumtree has its very own forum where users of the site can discuss anything they want, I have found this very good way to learn about same, because these will happen from time to time. You need to register to use the forum and once again that totally free of charge. There is an extensive help section which covers the most frequently asked questions - If the answer is not available to you - all you need to do is click on the
contact us link and you can then submit any question you have.
Gumtree like many others now offer a Affiliate Programme - More information is available from - http://www.gumtree.com/gumtree_affiliates.html
Final Thought's
I would recommend this site to anyone that is looking to selling items at no cost; it's a site that is trying to connect the local community. How many more sites will allow you post an ad trying to sell an item for free? Yeah I said it not sausage. The layout of the site is boring and the colour is not the best but when you're selling items does that bother you. I have sold a
Jeep 4x4 on it, I got the price I wanted, did not pay any selling fees and was not hanged to post the advert. I have bought many items from it and as I use the local Edinburgh site I can go and collect the item which means I pay no postage. One thing to remember when you see an item you want offer the seller a lower price, try and haggle a little and I am sure you will get yourself a bargain.
Gum what???? 
