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Tags: Chatter, Reviews, Wordpress, Wordpress Hints and Tips
I decided to start a classified ads website for my local area a few months ago. I searched Google for a couple of days and couldnt find software that was quite right.
I found Noah’s Classifieds and although I was not totally sold buy their website and demo of the software, I did find the recent feature of a bridge to Wordpress very interesting and useful. So having found nothing better I decided to purchase the latest E-Commerce SEO version at $199.95 and the Wordpress Noah Premium Widgets at $49.95 (I believe the actual bridge is free).
So having just spent $249.90 I was eager to get started. The email arrived from Steve (the owner) with the script and plugins etc, it also contained a link to a video guide for installation.
I watched the installation and carried it out without to much bother. So I had a Wordpress installation with a Noah installation in a sub folder. I then initialised the premium widgets/plugins and the bridge. I then set about getting used to Noah (as Im pretty good with Wordpress I thought I would leave that until last), this I found was no easy feat. The admin is poorly laid out, illogical and clunky. The code is also not the best Ive seen, a lot of use of tables and inline styling. It also feels like it hasnt been built from scratch, more like its been adapted from something else.
Anyway having fiddled around with it a bit I decided to make a start on my Wordpress theme. Upon trying to log into the Wordpress admin area I found I couldnt. It threw an error and gave me no access. I asked Steve for help and he couldnt understand my problem and why I was having difficulties and told me to simply start again. Install Wordpress then Noah then initialise the bridge. I did this and it seemed to work until I tested out the functionality of the bridge and widgets.
The bridge hardly functioned at all; I created an account in Wordpress and tried to login to Noah with those details….it didnt work. I also found out from another Noah user that the bridge only works one way! So it only works if users register through Wordpress…well it didnt even do that for me, but even so releasing the bridge in this state seems like its only half done.
So obviously I looked to Steve for support and found none, he simply replied “nobody else seems to have these problems”. Which is obviously a lie as there is numerous people unhappy with the software and Steve’s lack of support, he replies to your emails quick enough if you are interested in buying Noah but as soon as you hit any problems you will be lucky to get a reply!
After countless attempts to get it working, contacting Steve (to get no reply) and visits to the ‘cleverly’ called Norum which is the owners forum (which also uses a horrible forum script, thats slow, clanky and looks rubbish) that is rather sparsely populated and you will need to wait for a reply if you get one at all. Steve also doesnt support his product through the forum, he lets other Noah customers do the work for him.
It got to the point where I was so annoyed with everything I asked for a refund, to which Steve replied with an email basically saying that nobody else had any of my issues and that other noobs to the software manage fine and so its my fault. Doing his usual and not addressing the issue raised. I pushed the matter further and now receive no feedback whatsoever.
I thought I would check the terms and conditions on the Noah website and found these two lines:
“REFUNDS: Payments made to Noahsclassifieds.org are final and shall NOT be refunded under any circumstance.”
“REFUNDS: Payments made to Noahsclassifieds.org are final and shall NOT be refunded under any circumstance. Unless you elect for a 30-day Money Back Trial Period.”
I dont remember an option for a 30-day money back trial period when I made the purchase….funny that!
I suppose its my own fault. If you look at the Noah website, the checkout system, the forum. Non are particularly good and well designed so why would the classifieds script be any different. I hope by writing this review that people looking to purchase a classified script will avoid Noah like the plague and realise the lack of support should you run in to difficulties.
Im currently looking into other options and think I found a good alternative which I will write a review on when I have tested it. Still Im angry that I have wasted over £150 on rubbish that I no longer want to use and have no hope of getting a refund for.
UPDATE: I have found a really good out of the box classifieds software called ikiclassifieds. Its very easy to setup and has excellent admin customisation options. It also boasts excellent adsense and banner ad integration. You can set top ads (featured ads) and homepage placement ads payable via Paypal. Overall the site is excellent with phpBB included. I havent customised the code too much as I havent felt the need to, everything is almost perfect straight out the box…a highly recommended bit of software. Support is slightly slow (think the time difference effects it) but so far so good, they have answered all my comments etc. I also think its quite new so cant wait for updates!
UPDATE: Please read all the comment before purchasing iki. There may be a better option for you like using Wordpress and a custom theme like Classipress or Classifieds Theme.
Join the forum discussion on this post
dear sir i too purchased the ikiclassified script but adsense and banners are not working.i add the adsense code in the admin panel but ads are not showing in my site plz advice
Hello, there, I bought ikiclassifieds too, but I had problem after the installation. The software installed without any error, the problems are AFTER that.
I found that the GD library on my host is no activated, because the site was looking like text links only with no pictures at all, no buttons, no nothing, so I asked the to activated for me, in less than 5 min was done (bluehost).
Now I have other problems, the script is too slow (I have noah classifieds and ikiclassifides on the same).
The other problem is that it shows some kind of SQL error, and I don’t get any replyes from them.
Hi Harald, I edited you comment as the SQL error you provided was huge and wont help me help you. I dont know why the support is not replying to you. Have you used the proper ticket system? They can take upto 24 hours to respond but they always respond to me.
I would advise re-installing, if you are getting SQL errors then perhaps something went wrong in the DB setup etc. Did you installl IKI yourself? Because if you ask support they will install it for you for free.
Also what do you mean you have noahs and iki on the same? You mean the same bluehost account? So you have noah on a different domain/folder and database?
Hi Rahul, well you have made a good choice as the script is pretty good. A few changes I would like to make and have advised owners, hopefully they come out with updates.
However to address your problem. The adsense and banners do work as can be seen on my site: http://www.perthshireclassifieds.com
What you have to do is enter your adsense code on a per category basis. So choose a category, insert you banner, or adsense code then click save. Do this for each category you have and the adsense will show on every ad in every category.
Also try inputing a banner or adsense on the homepage…you wil see then that it works.
Let me know here if you get it working, if not I will email you my contact details and if you want I can log into your classifieds admin panel and have a look.
Wait for Solostream.com to produce their classifieds wordpress theme. It should be SUPERB!
There other themes are EXCELLENT and I am very much looking forward to their classifeds wordpress theme scheduled for release early 2010.
Hi Sheri, their themes look good but I couldnt see any link or post relating to an upcoming classifieds theme. There are already classified themes for Wordpress (Classipress) but if you want to run a fully fledged classifieds I feel that custom designed software is probably a better way to go, unless you can build all the functionality of them into Wordpress.
Neil,
Nice review! I was looking at the free noah classifieds in fantastico located in my hosting cpanel account. Any opinions on that if I were to run it by itself without connecting wordpress to it?
Also, nice classified site you put up. You’ve created a bunch of categories but are they all populated? How are you marketing it?
Thanks,
Tony
Simplescripts offer a better/later version (4.1) than Fantastico.
Hi Tony,
If your starting a serious classifieds website and wont be connecting it to Wordpress I would avoid Noah even the free version and pay a small amount (£150ish if you get discount…if not ask for it) for ikiClassifieds.
If only I could take credit for the site, its basically ikiclassifieds straight out of the box, you can edit styles and colours etc from the admin panel.
Yes I have a lot of categories and Im sure you already know they are not populated. I will be conducting a mass email campaign (localised to my chosen area) and trying to persuade local businesses to start using it in February (hopefully). Hopefully family and friends will get on board to and I will be listing as much as possible. As with most websites it can take time to build up a decent user base, especially when the user base is limited to a small area like mine.
I would definitely advise ikiclassifieds though, they have been very supportive and have sorted out a few bugs for me and its not really that expensive to get something so complete and ready to go out of the box!!
The way you are advertising this ikiClassifieds makes me wonder if you are merely merely a user. Instead of strongly inducing people to buy it why dont you give pro and cons of each software and let people make their choice?
What the one affiliate banner? Well excuse me for trying to make a few bucks online. I think you will find I have been pretty fair with what I new at the time. I mentioned that it was good straight out the box unlike noah, and I also mentioned that support was a little slow but qatleast you get it not like Noah. If you would like me to add what I know now I would say that iki is still a good script and great for people who want something straight out the box that works pretty well, however I did have to have multiple conversations with support to get all the features working right on my site. Whether this was the script, my host or what Im not totally sure.
Perhaps other iki users could comment on the issues they have had. I had an issue with the feeds not working or the cron job to remove old adds. This seems to resurface every upgrade which pissed me off.
Right now Im leaning towards a Wordpress solution because I know WP pretty well and love it!
Even handed enough for you? Maybe if people clicked a few more of the Google ads around here I wouldnt have to waste my time with crappy affiliate banners which bring in bugger all money anyway.
I am still looking for a classifieds script but having read your so called review, I have ruled out Iki and Noha’s By saying “Noahs Classifieds Review – DO NOT BUY IT” is exactly the same by saying Iki – BUT ITyea, making few bucks online. If you really wanted to be impartial review on your own blog, you should not have advertised the product you are also recommending to others against another product because that would no longer be a review. Perhaps you could also advertise Noha’s classified here if you can make few bucks online as you said. Perhaps you should read your own posts and see if they are impartial and unbiased. I am not writing this to advocate any script but I think that if you really want to review to a product then you do not need to tell people capital letters that NOT TO BUY IT. It is much better to give an inpartial review and leave people make their own choice.
It is an unbiased review? I dont work for Noahs Classifieds, I have no links to Steve or his software in anyway.
I used it, I dont like it and I have said so. The “DO NOT BUY IT” serves as an immediate warning to people searching Google etc.
Apologies for saving you money!
You really are a nugget if you think saying “Noahs Classifieds – DO NOT BUY IT” is the same as saying “ikiClassifieds – BUY IT”. How did you work that one out? Ive simply put down what I know about each product at the time of writing this. THATS IT! If you still choose to buy Noahs after reading this then go ahead…I gaurantee you will be back here making the same comments as everyone else. And if you wanna buy iki after reading this then for fuck sake do it, I really dont care. It does the job, its not perfect but it works and looks OK.
This post is getting quite old and it seems that Wordpress classifieds themes are taking the lead in the classifieds world. Oooops sorry that sounds like more advertising.
If you are so bothered about my approach to reviewing stuff then dont read it and dont click any adverts…nobody is forcing you. The fact is Ive supplied valid info and saved a lot of people including you a lot of money buy saying dont buy it.
But now I ould say dont buy iki either because Ive had more experience with it and delved depper into the code etc etc. Hence the reason Ive taken of the iki banner and now pondering WP themes.
Your not a communist Proches are ya? I mean I have the right to free speech, Im not a professional writer (obviously), and I write in the moment with the info I have at the time. You dont like it, you know what to do.
“The “DO NOT BUY IT” serves as an immediate warning to people searching Google etc”
Using capitals is not only harder to read but is considered to be shouting. I hope you should have known that already. It also help to make the Internet a bit friendlier and a nice place for everyone.
“And if you wanna buy iki after reading this then for fuck sake do it…”
You don’t really need to swear. Don’t you? Are you loosing it even on your own blog?
“This post is getting quite old and it seems that Wordpress classifieds themes are taking the lead in the classifieds world.”
Well if you read some of your latest posts as 21 June 2010, you’re also not in good mood with wordpress classifieds.
“If you are so bothered about my approach to reviewing stuff then dont read it and dont click any adverts…nobody is forcing you.”
If you are not forcing people why don’t you be objective then? Why write “DO NOT BUY IT” to serve as an immediate warning to people searching Google etc. If that is not using force so your “review” could appear on Google firt page, what is it then? There are plenty of info on Google on how to write a review. Yours is not a review but a personal attack against a particular script in favour of another. If you are disputing this take your “review” to a major review website and see if it will be accepted as review.
“Your not a communist Proches are ya? I mean I have the right to free speech, Im not a professional writer (obviously), and I write in the moment with the info I have at the time.”
I will not be surprised with this if you are American. Free speech guarantees you the right to say what you want but also within reason. It does not guarantee you a platform to make yourself heard in.
Furthermore, different countries have different free speech laws. What may be legal in one country may be entirely unlawful elsewhere. In case you are American, then even in the U.S., where there are strong explicit free speech protections, the Supreme Court has upheld many restrictions on speech, far beyond the stereotypical example of shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater (in this case shouting on the Internet: DO NOT BUY IT).
Of course, you have acknowledged that you are not a professional writer and that you write with the info you have at the time. I understand this basing on your posts on this blog. But surely if you have a dedicated area on your blog to review others’ scripts, then you should at least learn how to write a professional review.
Hahaha American. Aye right……Scottish mate. Its my blog and I’ll write what I want, how I want and SHOUT IF I WANT AND YEAS I WAS WELL AWARE THAT THIS IS SHOUTING AND IT WAS MY INTENT. I’ll also swear if I want to, Im an adult and Im allowed. Also Im Scottish…we all do it, its not a lack of vocab, I just like it. The capitals where used for maximum impact and hey it worked…you noticed it straight away right? Duh!
“If you are not forcing people why don’t you be objective then?” eh, you just answered your own question, anyway objectivity is debatable at best. Plus like Ive said before everything written in the post is true. OK I admit Im not happy with Noahs Classifieds or Steve, so what? I have a right to express this also as Steve is a part of Noahs Classifieds.
Dude you think everybody writing reviews should be professional….yawn what a boring (anal retentive) world you must live in. I see this as a more “consumer review” style with a bit of a rant thrown in for good measure. Why? Because I want to and I can. Who cares if it meets your review writing standards. Im not here to please you or anybody else, simply writing some shit down thats in my thoughts at the time. Furthermore who are you to be lecturing me on writing? Where is your blog?
Dude get over it….you should be thanking me for saving you money, like a lot of others have. OK this may not be a “professional” review in your eyes but Ive got my message across.
Yes the word review was included so I would obtain the search engine position (and save people the money I lost) but I think you will find I do actually review the software and put forward my own experience mixed in with it.
I think my concerns at the time were based on the WP themes perhaps lacking in the functionality of iki which I stnad by at the time of writing. Classipress has definately come on leaps and bounds and there are a few others now which were not around (or I didnt find them) at the time I bought iki.
All in all a decent review thats saved thousands of people time, money and stress. Porpaar jaaab.
I see. Just show how adult you are.
Surely this will attract more visitors on your blog. Keep it up.
If its your thought why are forcing them to others as if its a rule?
Having a blog is not a big deal. It is what write on it.
What money? The script is free any way.
You could possibly be a spammers then? Writing some rants and calling them review in order to get search engine position?
People also got stressed by reading your rant with F words. If Scottish older people are entitled to swear, dont think that non-Scottish around the world are the same.
Be responsible with what you write your blog and readers will respect you.
Jesus Christ you really are annoying. Im guessing you really want the last word but you will never get it!
I didnt say having a blog is a big deal but you are on here lecturing me…so where is your fine masterpiece with perfect language and reviewing style?
Nobody can take your comments seriously because you dont have your facts straight. Noahs Classifieds V8 is not free and never has been: “Noah’s Classifieds VC (Full-Ecommerce Version with Help Desk Support $199.95) (One Time Purchase – No recurring costs)”
If you get stressed by reading an F-word Im suporised you havent died from a stress induced heart attack!!
Oh yeh and Im a spammer too because I have expressed my opinion and suggestions in a review….get a grip, seriously!
Please stop suggesting Im forcing people to do anything by writing some words. OK here goes: PROCHES YOU SUCK, GO JUMP OFF A TALL BUILDING! Have you done it? Did I force you to do it by writing some words on an unprofessional, unimportant blog? Really you are starting to annoy me now and you are cluttering up the comments with non-relevant shite so no more, thanks.
Hi Neil,
Just found your post, thanks for the real insight about the above classifieds! Do you have any idea how much is it going to cost to develop a site like gumtree from the scratch? (in UK £ please!)
Cheers!
Yup.
It cost me more because I wasted my money on Noahs Classifieds and got no refund. However because you dont have to you can simply buy ikiclassifieds. The prices are detailed on their website but I paid around £150 for the standard version (there is also a multicity version available for more). They will even install it on your host for free!
As you can see from my site http://www.perthshireclassifieds.com it is almost exactly the same as Gumtree (category and function wise).
So £150 and your off! Plus domain and hosting cost of course. By the way i own http://thepathhosting.com so if you need a host Im really cheap and that is where my classifieds website is hosted.
Hello Neil,
Do you know if IKI works with Google Checkout? I emailed them but i’m still waiting on a reply.
How are you enjoying your IKI Classifieds? What features do you wish for now that you’ve had it up and running?
Looking forward to your reply.
Cheers..
Hi Shell,
Currently no it doesnt have Google Checkout integrated. Which would be a feature I would like.
I think the software is very good and really like my site. However there is improvements to be made. One of these is more control over ads, the ability to make them featured or homepage placed through the admin panel would be great (currently you have to do it manually in the database). Secondly there is a lack of documentation and instructions. I also think the ad image display could be better but I may change this in future by myself if I find the time.
All in all though everything is working well after testing and getting ikiclassifieds support to sort a few things.
Im very happy with it and if it goes well I might start another one. Im not sure about the upgrade process with ikiclassifieds though, I may have to pay a php developer to do all the extra things I want.
I would definitely recommend iki though!
Hello Neil,
Do you have an email I can correspond directly with? Thanks.
Yes I have emailed it to you and I will add a contact page at some point today here.
Thanks Neil, waiting on your email, though.
I have emailed you already, and now done it again, did you check your junk email folder?
thanks sir now adsense are working.Again one problem is contact forum is not working.
when ever my customer send me message via contact form there comes ur message is sent we will contact u soon..
but iam not receiving the message in my inbox.plz sir help me
Hi Rahul,
I take it you have done all the usual checks. You have stored your email in the admin screen correctly, and you have checked your junk mail folder etc.
Unfortunately its practically impossible for me to help you as I cant see your site admin or the files on your server. You should contact ikiclassifieds support and start a new ticket.
My form works fine so I can only imagine that you have a setting not right somewhere or your missing a few files on your server.
Hope you get it sorted.
I second your article and further support your warning. DO NOT PURCHASE NOAH’S CLASSIFIEDS!!!
I to received zero support. Eventually i was banned from the forums for complaining about the lack of support. I wasted $200 on a buggy, poorly supported stupid product which i could not (and if you check the forums you will see similar problems) could not even install!!
Do not purchase, Steve and his classifieds script are a pair of cheating frauds.
Hi Anna,
I wish you had found this review before you paid the money and wasted your time (Im sure you do too).
The forums are sparsely populated anyway and it just goes to show their commitment to the project when they ban people from the forums.
Steve actually threatened me with legal action because of this review!!
Like you said its too buggy and needs to much work done on the front end to make it look good, plus the admin is not logical and clunky!
If you are looking for a good script get ikiclassifieds. The support is OK a bit slow but they do help you!! Also you shouldnt need them as much. They also install for free so no worries there. Plus the software looks great out the box and you can change the styles etc from the admin.
I bet you didnt get a refund either did you Anna? I have to say its bad business practise doing that because this review is on page 1 of Google and must be costing Steve a lot of sales.
Thanks, for the review! You saved me because I was about ready to purchase their script! I am going to check out the site you recommended.
Yeh keep looking. There are a few alternatives. If you dont fancy IKI have a look at some others that advertise.
IKI is really good though.
I pay $330 last week and i’m regret.
The script is toooo slow, it takes about 2 minutes to show a page, and the support is very bad. They answer always that is all ok.
I make a claim to Paypal but they answer that dont gone do nothing. Beware.
You can see how bad it works in the link: http://www.xanuncios.es
Can anyone give-me feedback of a good classifieds script ? I need one, but i’m not interest to spend money because i was already cheated by iki classifieds.
Thank you.
Im sorry to here your not happy, having a look at your site everything seems fine. It is slow but I can only suggest you have substandard hosting or its on a rubbish server.
Who does your hosting? As you can see from my website its pretty quick: http://www.perthshireclassifieds.com
I would have a look at your hosting and get your site on a quick hosting provider.
Yeah, thanks for your review. Steve is not a good business person because he lost my sale after reading this as well. And, yes it did come up on the first page of Google. He should have just refunded your money because there’s enough people that read this that was going to buy and will not now. That seems like he’s losing money to me. Hmmm, how smart is that! Everyone be sure you have at least a 10 day, no ask, refund period before buying.
Yes Ive already checked by typing in Noah’s Classifieds Review and hey presto there I was. Well I just hope I can save some people their cash by avoiding Steve and his pants classifieds script.
Hi Neil,
Had the same problem with Noah , iki works very well. Just started new site in the Canary Islands.
Need a workround for featured gallery, at the moment can’t add from admin panel, also if you edit an ad in the featured gallery, it’s removed from the gallery! Need to get it back especially when someone has paid. Asked their support – no reply
Hi John yes I too have complained about how featured and homepage ads are handled. they should be configurable via admin (switching them on for admin ads etc would be awesome). However if you log into your host cp, and the into PHPMyadmin for the database. Your will see a list of tables, I think the one you want is called Ann or Announces…anyway if you open this table you will see all your adverts. Find the correct advert and change the featured/homepage fields to 1 instead of 0 (except the number of days one obviously). This should make the ads featured again! Hope that helps. If you get stuck come back and give me a shout and I’ll help you out!
Thanks Neil,
PHP Admin edit worked like a charm!
No worries John. Tell IKI you would like this feature built in. I did. I think their email is contact@ikiclassifieds.com
I agree, DO NOT BUY NOAH’S CLASSIFIEDS!!!!
I paid $149 for the software, $49 for the bridge which has never worked, $49 for the theme, $149 for support that includes installation and upgrades. They cut me off of support after a one hour install saying I had used up all of my available support time. I paid for 6 months of support not one hour of install!! The search feature has never worked, the theme is buggy and breaks some of the basic Noah’s features. Now during Noah’s own website upgrade they shut off all support altogether.
Every few weeks it will say the install key is not valid. I can’t fix this, I have to get a hold of Steve to do it.
They have deleted the more unfavorable threads from their forums. Several of my own threads have been deleted.
Steve (the owner) actually hung up on me when I said his code was buggy and not working as advertised. He claims to have written the code himself, but I am pretty sure he isn’t Russian, which is what the code is commented in.
STAY AWAY FROM NOAH’S CLASSIFIEDS.
I wish I had found these warnings when I was researching.
Hi Shanna, dude all you had to do was type Noahs Classifieds review in Google and you woulda saved yourself a packet.
Yes I told Steve his code wasnt the best and he was not impressed. Yeh Im not sure of the origins of the script, I heard it was taken from a pre-existing script. Ah well we learn from our mistakes eh!
Very disappointed with NoahV8, money down the drain.
They want to do the big thing but doing it badly.
Looking at http://www.abscripts.com/gold-classifieds/features.html to get over the Noah nightmare.
Any comments or revues?
Cheers NN
MMmmm yeh Ab looks OK but for me I would have a lot of work to do on front end to make it look nice. Also there seems to be a lack of features/functionality on the back end. There are a few nice features I quite like the look of but no adsense/banner ad stuff and didnt even see any different ways to make money from ads?
I didnt see the price but it would need to be pretty damn cheap for me to try it.
Dear Neil et al,
If you intend to perservere, get help directly from Rick Walrond or Arnold on the forums – they are really good.
Regarding Adsense – probably the only way you’ll get a ROI – you have to edit the prohibited filetype list in filters.php.
You are lucky to have had any reply at all from Steve. I bought this last year just after the so-called E-commerce version was released, and couldn’t get any help or response by email or on any of the help sites, eg the unattended zendesk, until finally a volunteer was drafted in to help via Skype. This guy was really helpful, but as he was not using Noah’s Ecommerce features himself he was unaware of the shortcomings – i.e. that there is no system at all for renewing ads or rebilling after expiry. I and others have raised this, but like MS, they seem to concentrate on bells and whistles instead of fixing things that are broken.
I believe that a Hungarian guy called Zoltan Nemeth (http://www.noahsclassifieds.org/blog/index.php?user/28712) wrote a lot of the code, and he left just after the Ecomm version was released.
There are no links or any kind of integration between the various sites – the main site, the owners’ site, the site where you can download the new versions – you have to hunt for everything (I had all these bookmarked, but installing FF3.6 lost me those!)
About half the things that are supposed to happen with this software don’t happen, but it gets blamed on server errors or bad installation.
I consider Noah’s Classifieds a waste of money and a bigger waste of time – at least until it has the basic functionality as claimed, or indeed reasonably expected.
There seems to be a sort of cult mentality, where nobody wants to see that their god has feet of clay. Useful helpful peole get banned from the forum, probably for voicing criticism.
It doesn’t do what it says on the tin, so look at the alternatives first.
I really cant see anyone persevering!! Just scrap it and put it down to a bad choice. Has anybody tried 68 classifieds? Again the frontend needs work but the have a module system and extra payment gateways which is pretty cool.
I agree that to persevere is a waste of time – if you can afford to keep trying alternatives, but for those of us “stuck” with Noah’s it’s a good idea to find out how to make the best of it.
For instance, I will have to change my business model to one-off payments because ad-renewal/re-billing just doesn’t function. Tgis won’t work for most scenarios, but will be OK for my users, who advertise caravan hire, so are in it for a few years at a time – just an example.
it’s like one of those old vans that you have to keep on using because you spent £3x getting it through the MOT and thats money down the drain if you sell it for £1x!
It also reminds me of a 70’s cult, where there is a lot of invested “bad faith” and heretics are silenced! (Iain Banks’ ‘Whit’ rocks)
Oh and BTW, Proches – STFU. Working with Noah’s has been a frustrating experience, so unless you have tried it and found it OK, you have no right to slag off those who have and don’t like it for lack of impartiality.
Neil: Why not do another thread with reviews of available classifieds scripts, with maybe a ratings plugin?
There is a lot of fairly cheap alternatives. Why would you stick with it? Id rather save another few hundred bucks and buy something else than use Noah.
But yes good comment. And there will be hopefully be a full “review” of the classifieds scripts Ive used so far and yes I will include a poll for your voting pleasure!! Just nee to find a bit of time….
Let me tell you, Noah’s has been a nightmare; after spending $200USD for the EComm version, then you find out you can’t upsell time periods and users can’t renew their ads AND you get paid. They can renew for FREE, but there’s no automatic way for them to extend or renew their ad and you get paid. Everything you need to know about how “good” Noah’s software is is this: Steve started a new classifieds portal for HIMSELF and isn’t using his own software. He’s using someone else’s (SPBAS, it’s put out by SolidPHP) that you can buy yourself…so his own software isn’t good enough for his OWN PAID classifieds portal Noah’s Neighborhoods. Isn’t that just ducky? So if you’re thinking about buying Noah’s, just think of that: it’s not good enough for the guy who owns the company.
There’s NO support whatsoever. If you ask for it you get a twenty minute long rant about how Steve thinks everyone wants everythign for free. AND, like Shanna, I’ve had posts deleted from both forums (public and owners) and I’ve been banned (from the public just for saying you couldn’t do something with Noah’s that they say they can do). You can’t do an EBay-style store, even though they claim you can, because they dont’ have auctions OR ‘buyitnow’ capability. So you can’t rely on what you read in the forums, either, and Steve once BRAGGED to me that he edits users’ posts on the forums to “make them sound stupid.”
Run, don’t walk. Try one of the others like 68Classifieds or whatever. Hope this helps somebody save their money, wish I’d seen this before I bought.
Well Peanut thanks for the comment and advice to others. I think Steves and Noahs Classifieds time will come. More and more people like me and yourselves will write reviews like this and eventually it will get such a bad name that nobody will purchase it.
This review alone must be costing Steve 1000’s in lost revenue! Page one, position one on Google for “noahs classifieds review”…..haha yeh baby!! Picked the wrong guy to not help/refund and be rude too!
Seems your Blog Post has made Noahs Classifieds Version 5 FREE. Cool !
FREE is good. Oodle integration and from what i have been reading the noahlist.com will be the next thing in classifieds.
I wrote an Automated Google Sitemap Generator for Noahs, if anyone is interested in it. FREE and can download it from my Blog
classifyit.ca/wordpress
Good Luck with the 68 Classifieds and the rest.
Noahs is now FREE….YAH Baby!!!
Hi Arnold, you must be one of the few Noah lovers?
Ive just checked the website and this is how it reads:
“Noah’s CLassifieds V8 5.0 E-Commerce Perpetual License FREE! Just get the Activation Key. (Community Support)
Noah’s Classifieds V8 E-Commerce 5.0 Perpetual License Activation 49.95″
Ahhh typical Steve. So you can download a ‘Perpetual License FREE’ but the activation costs 49.95!! That doesnt look or sound free to me!!
Anyway after all we have said here who cares if its free or not. What Steve should be doing is refunding all the people unhappy with this crap software! Plus if hes made it free you can bet V6 or something new is coming out and he will discontinue V5, so what little support was on offer will completely vanish.
Noahs classifieds still sucks, “FREE” (ehem 49.95) or not!
ps Im glad this post is affecting him. Fud!
Is it the car companies fault if the car doesn’t run when you put mouthwash in the gas tank?
Hi Gary, well your analogy is completely flawed and unfounded. I am quite proficient at setting up, running and even creating websites. Also take Peanuts comment above, he obviously knows what hes talking about and has used Noah, yet he thinks its pants too. Infact even Steve himself thinks its pants because he doesnt use it for his own classified websites and has devalued his product recently!!
No more comments for effect will be allowed, if you cant be constructive, bring news or backup your statements your comments will be spammed.
Ok, so you have a handful of people out 100,000’s of installs that think the program is pants (whatever that means). It an opinion and you are certainly entitled to it, but I, and many others have used it and are happy with it.
I see the same comments with any php script with all these people whinning that it doesn’t work like they thought or just can’t set it up properly. When you buy a DVD player does someone from the company come to your house and set it up for you and hold your hand? Of course not, why would you expect anything different when it comes to software. In your post it seems your primary gripe is regarding support. You admittingly got fed up, asked for a refund, without giving it much effort (or so it sounds).
Not to sound like a jerk but if you were so good at web design/programing you wouldn’t need any support- you could simply look at the script and tweak things as you go. That is the true beauty of Noah’s is that it is so customizable if you know what you are doing. If you are looking for a rigid out of the box classifieds script, your right, Noah’s might not be the best option. The fact is that the program works and your experience can only be chalked up to user error.
Christ here we go with the analogies! You cant compare buying software to a fecking DVD you punnet! There is a lot more to software than bunging it in a slot!
The fact is that Noah describes itself as an “out of the box” product and it isnt; the coding is sloppy (admittedly Im no PHP expert and dont claim to be) and the admin is illogical and clunky.
“Not to sound like a jerk” (Being a jerk immediately inferred). Ive never stated being “so good” and certainly never said Im a programmer. I can design, setup and generally bodge my way through PHP etc. However Ive worked with quite a few scripts and you are completely wrong saying all PHP scripts have people moaning, checkout Opencart. The community and creator are very helpful and Ive seen no real complaints like you have found here. Plus the Opencart is totally FREE not Steves idea of free (I might put trading standards onto his “free” claim).
What was I meant to regards support? I tried asking for it and didnt receive it, the same story with refund requests…….so what was I meant to do? Fly over to the US track down Steve’s trailer and demand a refund.
MWahaha you really think Steve has sold hundreds of thousands of this script…well if hes made 2million+ bucks out of it then no wonder hes made it free (ehem $49.95). I dont think so…
If Noah is so great where are the fantastic reviews opposing mine with just as many if not more people saying how great it is? For Christ sake Steve even sensors the forum…then boasts about doing it!!
Gary I dont want to sound like a jerk but you can keep Noahs classifieds and shove it up yer…..
Gary:
What you’re missing is that those “hundreds of thousands” of people who downloaded it did so when Noah’s was FREE, and didn’t have an EComm function. Sure, if you’re sticking on your site for your users as an add-on, and not charging, probably works fine. There wasn’t even an Ecomm module until fall of last year.
The Ecomm version is poorly thought out and implemented. People ask for support because when they finish putting this thing on their server, they find out–surprise!–that it doesn’t do what it’s claimed to do, and moreover, doesn’t have any of the most basic EComm functions for classifieds, like: upselling time periods, paid ad renewal (I mean think about that–NO paid ad renewal? Is that simply a cruel joke?), Admin can’t add other admins (seriously); you cannot batch approve or disapprove or delete ads (unbelievably tedious on a busy site); the list goes on and on and on. Web owners had to practically revolt to get them to fix a problem with the Ecomm system where the javascript pop-up user notifications weren’t working AND certain combos of field types were resulting in undercharging the customers.
People would probably be a lot less pissy about what goes wrong with Noah’s if the idea of “support” wasn’t so alien to the ownership. No support is bad enough; abusive non-support is just intolerable. The Owner’s Forum has been taken down, apparently because too many people thought that a) they ought to TELL us WTF was in 5.0 before we downloaded it for “free” (har-de-har-har) and b)that we all thought the use of the word “free” was hysterical, as you need to pay $49.95 to “activate” the “free” software. I mean…how STUPID does he really think we are?
And, like I said previously: just how stupid DO we have to be to buy the software that the owner HIMSELF isn’t using for his own paid classifieds portal?
The paid classifieds world is a whole different critter than the free-with-your-GoDaddy-Account freebies.
As far as your insinuations regarding the capabilities of the owners, the most vociferous people on the (now-removed) Owner’s forum ALL WRITE CODE. The point is, you shouldn’t HAVE to hack the damn thing to make it function as a basic classifieds EComm solution. Nobody’s asking for “hand-holding;” mostly, they are asking for bug fixes and basic paid classifieds features–like being able to be PAID when a user renews his ad. If that ain’t basic, I don’t know what is.
P.S. – Arnold may very well be the best guy on the planet, for all I know, but according to Steve he WORKS for Noah’s part-time in support. I don’t think he’s quite unbiased, and saying that 5.0 is “free” is simply….the kindest way I can put it is GROSSLY MISLEADING.
Peanut
Here here Peanut.
Its interesting to here where Arnold works part time. I received an email from another disgruntled Noah user who informed me of the demise of Noahs Owners Forum (Norum) which was Steve boasted about in his recent newsletter. Yeh you know its bad when a products devalued and the “support” is pulled.
Arnold if there are 100,000’s of Noah sites surely their must be some that are making decent money…….do you know any? Also why is nobody bar you and Steve coming on here to say how great Noah is?
Arnold is probably only paid in perks and promises
Neil. You are a serious Idiot. You have Infringed on the Noah Trademark and are being sued for it. You will receive the parers soon enough. Yes, of course I have your address you moron. I am speaking ever so bluntly for you invasive and horrific actions you twit.
You likely speak puke from your ass and I have never seen such an ASS in all my life. We helped you more that anyone I can ever think of it shocks me that you even have this blog up.
Am I concerned about you, no. Was I when you were working with Noah. 100% yes.
And for the price change. Dude, whatever. I have made it free for those who cannot afford it for people that need assistance, and the Reg. $199 that sells as always remains in tact.
So do this, find you way out of what you will be hand received (Called being served) for defamation and Trademark Graffiti. Also, Learn to spell.
I have to get back to working with my great customers now. Enjoy!
You cannot spell, you admit you do not know php yet you blast the code structure?
Ahh Mr Taylor (Noahs Classifieds owner) nice of you to (finally) join the discussion.
Haha an American telling me about spelling!! Thats a laugh and a contradiction in terms! Anyway I dont think my spellings that bad, admittedly I tend to rush the writing on my blogs but hey it adds to that personal feel. If you want to get pedantic about English though perhaps take a look at your grammar and spelling taboot. I wonder if there is any spelling errors on your websites? Mr (Perfect) Taylor. I do always find when people cant find a real criticism they resort to spelling…..duh, poor Steves got no more ammo!
Mr Taylor as Ive already discussed threatened legal action 5 months ago upon the publication of my review and whats happened…..nowt and you cant do a damn thing about it as its free speech mate! Your threats carry no weight, do not scare me and are (yawn) boring me.
You barely helped me at all and as the comments here suggest anybody else for that matter. Yes I have this blog up and many other websites, thankfully Wordpress is good software thats easy to develop for, not your hash of Hungarian rubbish.
I have a degree in Games/Software Development and a PgDip in Entrepreneurship, so I know about software languages (PHP admittedly is not my best language), however I know about the structure and logic. I know a little about business too and would suggest you look into customer service and support which might improve yours. Personally I think the more people that use Noah the better as after working with it for a while will soon go elsewhere.
Am I concerned about you…erm No. Am I concerned about your empty threats and lawyers….erm No. Do I think you are rude, sell sub-standard software, offer zero support or customer service….erm Yes.
Please do not be put off writing a true report/review on Noahs Classifieds for fear of “being served”. Mr Taylor is full of piss and wind! Zzzzzzz
Good info.
Though its really hard to tell the truth from lies. I mean, how can I be sure that the email from Steve is actually authentic? How do I tell this is not just a strategy to sell ikclassifieds? A comprehensive review comparing the various classified systems (not just ik) would be more helpful.
And to Steve, if your software works as claimed, it should work in all cases and if it doesn’t you should offer refund. Perhaps the best thing you can do is offer a money buy guarantee plus 10% more, for wasting people’s time. That will show how much confidence you have in your software. In addition, if you want to run a business seriously, you might want to consider some serious investment in support, even the pre order service takes weeks before you can reply…makes me thing all the criticisms are true!
BTW: If the post from Steve is authentic, then I wouldn’t buy his software.
Why is it hard? Good info is good info.
I can tell you absolutely that every comment on this post has not been altered in anyway by me! I wouldnt do that as I believe in free speech. Steve was entitled to his say….I was surprised it took him so long but I was pleased he made such an arse of it.
Take what you will from it. If you buy IKI instead og Noah you have made a good choice.
As already mentioned I am in the process of implementing and testing Classipress on a site. Im going to spend a bit of time getting to know it before I put finger to keyboard however. Give me a bit of time and it will be here. From what I have seen so far though its very good!!
Woah! What a thread! Thanks Neil for saving me from spending hundreds on the Noah software. And as for steve…..LOL! What kind of an a$$hole backs up their product with insults and then goes on about poor spelling!? Esp when I had to re-read several of your sentences because of your crappy grammar.
Sort your product and service out steve – honestly, its shocking!
I’m going to check out iki. If anyone has any other recommendations please post them below…
Hi Sunny, although iki is good straight out the box Im thinking about trying: http://www.classifiedstheme.com/ for Wordpress.
iki uses the a Smarty template system which personally I dont like, plus it slows the site down. Also I have had to contact support everytime Ive upgraded to fix certain things. So not ideal really.
I think if the classifieds theme for wordpress is good then I’ll ditch iki and use that instead. Also check out the payment gateways supported, plus if you are good with WP you can have fun with the design.
Thanks for letting me know. While researching classifieds theme I came across classipress which seems a little better. If all checks out will purchase in a day or two.
Feel free to reply to this thread if you would like me to share my experience as I go along – likewise, if anyone has experience with WP classified themes post away!
What do you think is better about classipress? I just had another look at it and its looks have improved since I last looked. I would say its a better looking theme than Classifieds Theme but Im not too worried as Id probably change it all anyway.
I couldnt see anywhere if Classipress works with other plugins and it doesnt have the Affiliate function which would be good for filling out some categories while the site is quiet.
Also the basic package doesnt have transaction logging. Plus Classipress is more expensive for unlimited websites!
But Im open to persuasion?
It seems to have more features… Check out the huge feature list whereas classifieds just seems to have a handful.. But to be honest I havent compared them in detail yet
Hmmm im really confused between the two… I asked the question in the classipress forum regarding what differentiates classipress against both the classifieds theme and sitemile and this is the response from I got from a moderator:
Unless someone has actually tried all three, then I’m not sure it’s possible to really compare them apart from what you see on the features page for each product.
For me personally, when I was originally looking around for a Classifieds theme, of all the plugins and themes I tried, ClassiPress was the most feature-rich solution by far which is why I chose it. Sure, since that time, I have noticed similar products now available, but it’s pretty clear that they have pretty much copied ClassiPress and by the looks of a lot of them, they have also taken information from these forums to use for their products. To me they are all still imitations though, and it really goes to show how great ClassiPress is that others are taking the features and functions for their own “versions”.. That’s my personal opinion..
Ahh but the competition may have stolen or copied ideas but hey thats what competitions does. Just because they imitate doesnt make them worse. So is Classipress an imitation of all the other classifieds scripts out there just done in a WP?
I think thats a rubbish answer, they are basically saying well Classipress was first so must be the best? That doesnt make sense to me.
Granted they both look pretty good, well I guess its gonna take somebody like me to try both of them and do a review.
Interesting review of Classipress vs. iki:
http://tak79.com/classipress-vs-ikiclassifieds/
Yup very interesting. I would agree with a lot of what he says, especially the code being bloated and reworked/revamped. Its not as bad as he says and does a lot of things really well and the admin panel isnt that bad…Ive seen way worse (like noahs). Anyway I would agree its not value for money compared with Classipress and others.
Im definitely going to go for A WP theme but which one aaargh….I think I’ll just buy both and reviwe them on here.
This thread is great… I almost bought Noah’s, but it looked like it was over rated, so I went with Iki. After reading this thread (and seeing the way Steve reacted to his product being criticized), I’m extremely glad I didn’t go with Noah’s. I wouldn’t want ever to support that guy, even IF his product is worth buying.
Now, about Ikiclassifieds… Is this still a good “out-of-the-box” classifieds software? How about installation? I don’t know anything about php (although I’m learning little by little). I’m just looking for a user-friendly classifieds site that has simple admin controls. Is Iki the way to go for me?
They offer free installation at iki so you dont even need to do it yourself. Personally now if I had my time over I would go for a Wordpress Theme, probably Classipress but iki works and the support will help you. Im about to buy Classipiress so stayed tuned for a “review”.
Hey guys, Noahs are on the way out by the looks of things, i sent a request for info – presale – 3 days ago and still no reply. Real simple question, I was almost going to get this until i seen these posts and did not get a reply from them.
cheers
Peter
Hello, i just wonder how is this classifieds script, anybody used it?
http://classifiedstheme.com/
Need a review.
Wow… great to see this coming out! Though I agree that the use of the uppercase in “DO NOT BUY IT” was a mistake… it should have been extra bold, 72 point font. I have battled with NOAH for some time and know others who have wasted thousands of hours on it (and given up). The support was very minimal – what little there was came from other dedicated and helpful users on the norum (a really clunky forum that seems to have vanished) but we were basically all just trying to find workarounds for the bugs and deficiencies. I think it might have been a good program once, but the original designer has moved on.
And yes… that post above from Steve is typical of his tactful and considered approach to any negative criticism.
Wish I found this yesterday
I just purchased Noah’s classified; Steve gave me a 30-dollar discount.
Sales must me getting slow…
I found this site today, and laughed when I read over Steve’s post.
Ya that’s him in a nutshell, he’ll be talking to you like that in no time.
He will reply to you when he is trying to sell you his crap but when you have purchased the so-called directory, your lucky to hear from him again.
I uploaded the Noah’s ark to my server and started to add categories to my site, the more I added the longer it took to load. When I finish it took over 2 minutes each time I added a category.
Also found spelling mistakes inside the admin section, funny how he’s telling people how to spell here when he can’t even do it himself.
Since he reads here every day, I can’t tell you what is misspelled, as that would be helping him.
I can’t spell for beans, but I’m not selling overpriced software.
I’m pissed because all I asked for was my money back, I was unhappy with his script and just asked for my money back.
Ok so when your reading this I sound pissed and poor Steve doesn’t deserve this. Let me tell you that poor Steve is lining his pockets with your money selling a worthless script and doesn’t give a poop if your not satisfied. Ya I’m pissed, he just stole 169.00 from me and is telling me to read the fine print.
Don’t get sucked in, ask for a money back guarantee or you will be sorry.
Better yet just boycott Steve and his Noah’s ark.
I’m going to be using phpMyDirectory.
Told Steve, I had 3 kids to support and he said “everyone at Noah has kids to support also”.
So I told him my kids would learn something here today.
No reply from him because I told him to come to this site to read my review about Noah’s Ark.
How’s sales Steve
Sleep well
Well Im sorry to here another person has been bumped by Steve. However atleast you can be safe in the knowledge that the more people voice their opinions on this site, other blogs, forums and reviews sites the less sales Steve will make. Its scandalous really, perhaps if we all got together on this we could form some kind of legal action against him!!
We should form an action group against Steve and his shitty software. Travel the net letting everyone know how rubbish it is. UAN = Users Against Noah
I as looking at phpMyDirectory too. It seems to be able to cross-reference locations and categories. Keep us posted on this if you go for it
I too purchased Noah Classifieds it looked great and appeared to deliver as promised. I was also advised they had a Directory template which they had not yet published that would be perfect for my needs. I had them install and then the problems started.
1, Unable to login as it did not recognise my details
2. Unable to access the Admin area
3. Unable to save changes
4. Requests for license number several times as it was not recognised and even when entered advised it was incorrect even though it had been supplied to me by Noahs
5. Response from Noah namely Steve extremely slow each time
6. Then advised that it would have to be re-installed so lost work
7. The waited and waited and waited and waited for the install and when inquiring advised that the installers kept putting it to the back burner because they weren’t getting paid for it!!! sorry it was taking so long!!
8. received a very unfriendly email from Steve when I stressed it was Urgent
7. Realised Steve was stressed so tried to be understanding and then waited and waited and waited and waited and still waiting.
This has cost me money and lost opportunity as I tried to have the issue resolved and the software re-installed i have no site.
I have asked for a refund of my money but still no response at all!!
Will now try legal avenues.
Now seeking an alternative quickly.
Argh another buyer. Well you will never get your money back thats for sure! Nobody does.
As to an alternative I am currently working with Classipress for Wordpress and so far its pretty damn good. A new version has just been released with improvements and I havent had any bother with it as yet but I havent finished getting it fully operational and running on a properly live site. However watch this space as I intend to do a huge write-up about classifieds software I have used, which is 3 so far but Im also planning on trying the Classifieds Theme for Wordpress too. So should be a large and informative article (which of course Noahs will feature in the DO NOT BUY section).
Hi again,
Just got A refund from Steve,
It says the following…
Note from merchant
$84.00 from NC And so you go purchase a directory software?
What the “F” is that?
So he’s saying Yes my software is shit, sorry for taking your money, I spent most of YOUR money and this is all I had left.
Gee thanks Steve
Wow Im surprised you got anything back! I take it the $84 is not the full amount you paid. And so you go buy a “REAL” directory software. I have to say Ive heard some good things about PHPMydirecotry and had thought about buying it at one point. I think there is some directory themes for Wordpress?
Steve if you are listening Im still waiting on my “full” refund!!!!
Posts: 3
Shifting my license from one domain to another.
« on: July 27, 2010, 01:38:08 PM »
Hi,
We are clients of Noah’s based in Malta and have recently purchased two working versions of the software Noah’s classifieds version8. The first one is being used at http://www.idealsmalta.com and the second version was being used at http://www.nisbarazza.com.
We are satisfied with our first website and we were using the second website (www.nisbarazza.com) as an experiment to learn the software properly. We paid a lot of money to have a designer build us idealsmalta.com. but we figured with time we could learn how to design a nice site ourselves and save money on the designing phase. We therefore used nisbarazza.com as experimental grounds which we now want to scrap.
We have already moved all the contents of nisbarazza.com including the classifieds software to http://www.zenguli.com. The license however is stuck with nisbarazza.com. We need to move our licence to our new website : http://www.zenguli.com as soon as possible. We would greatly appreciate any of you guys’ help in this matter. Can anyone help us? We have contacted Noah’s and Steve through e-mails and their helpdesk but unfortunately never got a reply even though we stated it was urgent. I tried buying a new licence key to reset but unfortunately I paid 5 dollars and did not receive anything in return. It’s almost as if there’s nobody at Noah’s anymore. Can anyone tell me what’s going on since I see other people complaining that they too have never had their e-mails answered in July ? Getting frustrated….. I heard of someone in the Noah’s forum who had the same problem and another member within the forum Hacked the software and solved his problem. Well I’m not into hacking but can anyone at all come up with a solution?
Ok, My problem has been solved now and I’m working on my site once again. I believe it was Steve that solved my problem, well whoever it was I am grateful that at least the problem is over thanks to your help.
Roger
Contact Arnold
Interesting.
Instead of buying the script and dealing with all the hassle that you guys dealt with, you can buy a license for your geographical area and let the owner of Noah (or his coding team?) take care of the software.
So instead of buying the script, uploading, creating categories, tweaking code, calling when you don’t understand something etc… you only have to market the site to your local community. Could this be the “out of the box” some of us are looking for?
Sounds like they’ve taken all the technical aspect out of the equation. All you have to do, according to the Noah website, is stay on top of your location’s postings and delete spam, overposts etc.
I think I’m going to try it. All the complaints here have been about the code, the upload (all the technical stuff) and customer support about the technical stuff. With a geographical license, all that technical stuff gets taken care of by Noah.
“But they’ll do a crappy job of keeping it up for you,” you say? Then I won’t renew my license. Simple as that. It seems to be in their best interest to keep things running smoothly if they want recurring monthly license fees. Right?
Look at this one: http://mesa.noahslist.com
The design looks pretty good to me. I see the mis-spelled words you guys/gals are talking about but it does say they are a month or two from an official launch.
I don’t know people. I know the owner of this opinion piece hates Noah but here’s how I’m seeing it:
1) I’m looking for extra income.
2) I don’t know techincal programming.
3) Everyone (well, almost) uses Craigslist or some other classified ad site for either buying or selling or both.
4) I see no real competition to CraigsList and every business needs competition (and so do the users/clients).
5) I can buy a license and “own” my entire geographical area (and therefore every single ad posting in my entire area).
6) I can be lazy and use Adsense banners for passive income or I can get aggressive and sell banner ads to local companies and make more income.
7) If my income from the site doesn’t equal (or hopefully exceed) my license fee, I can write off the license fee on my tax return as a business expense. I always owe the government money at tax time, why not spend it trying to be successful at my own classified ads site (not to mention the US Gov’t does not deserve any more of my money!)
So, looks win/win to me. I either make money while someone else takes care of the techincal aspects OR I pay a small licensing fee for the chance to make money instead to giving it to the miserable United States government.
I’ll post again with results if I go through with it.
Barry
Barry after reading all the comments and even Steves comments you still want to get the software when there are better options out there. Dude go ahead and waste you money on a Noah license! Its what you deserve if you have read this whole discussion and still want to buy Noah!!
First off a lot of the complaints are about Support and Steve the owner. Are you saying you wont ever need to contact Steve or Support (Steve again)?
Also a lot of the complaints have been about the code, and how the admin side works…..you not going to be using the admin either?
Why put yourself through the hassle when like I said before there are loads of better alternatives.
Also you are mad if you think there is no competition to Craigslist!! There are hundreds of sites. You will need a big marketing budget if you want to compete directly with Craigslist. Also if you want your site to look like craigslist then there is a free script kicking around that looks just like it (rubbish).
Basically whats going to happen Barry is you’ll take out this license, you wont like the software, you will have problems with Steve, you wont make any money and you will come back here and say man I wish Id just bought Classipress for a few dollars. In my opinion and a lot of others Im sure, you are wasting time and money, which could be better spent on a better system.
But hey if you are one of these people who like to make their own mistakes then go for it.
Why should you listen to me, well Ive used Noah, ikiclassifieds and just finishing a site in Classipress. I have to admit the flexibility of Classipress and the ability to use WP plugins alongside it is brilliant and is my favourite solution so far!!
Hi Neil,
Thanks for the review, and good for you for sticking up for a product you believe in. It’s also great to see a fellow Scot using IKIClassifieds (I could tell that good old Scottish personality anywhere!) – even if you are possibly from Perthshire
lol (I’m an Edinburgh man myself).
Anyway, I am likely to buy the multi-city version of IKI in the coming weeks/months after some market research around the concept we are developing. Would be very interested to talk to you further around it. Could we email directly?
Cheers,
Gary
Hi Gary, yup Im from Perth, born and raised. Although most of my family are from Glasgow.
Yeh you can email me directly using the form on this site or visit my business website here and get more contact details.
Barry: I’m sorry, but if you think that’s going to work, you’re wrong. The basic problems with the Noah’s software is still going to haunt you, like no paid renewal. How do you think having someone else administer a hosted version is going to resolve that? How is having it hosted going to solve the fact that you can’t upsell time periods, for example, offer 30-60-90 day ads, or auto-renewal, like EVERY OTHER classified system in the world?
And, frankly, if you think that Craigslist has no competition, you’re crazy. Do a Google search for classifieds in your geographic area and I think you’ll be shocked at the number of sites competing for advertiser $$$. I’ve been in this biz professionally, and Noah’s is THE LAST PROGRAM I would recommend to anyone for paid classifieds, and that has nothing to do with the coding; it has to do with the fact that it started “life” as a forum system, when Zoltan owned it; then it was FREE classifieds, and the owner knows nothing about classifieds. What he DOES know is that for every ad that goes through your “hosted” system UP to Oodle, he–not you–gets paid. Him, not you.
I don’t own this site, I don’t know the owner of this site, but I can absolutely guarantee you that the post above, from Steve Taylor, is 100% genuine, because I’ve had many just like it, just as abusive, just as insulting, and just as incoherently written, from him (don’t believe me? Read his blog posts, and his own posts on his own forums). Why don’t you wonder WHY the paid owner’s forum is SEPARATE from the “public” forum where shmucks like you can be sucked into paying for a product that the paid owners post about all the time–on the forum you are NOT allowed to see–about how it doesn’t work worth a shit? About how not ONE feature of normal, everyday paid classifieds is offered? Like PAID RENEWAL? For crying out loud, please think about what you’re doing before you do it. Think about WHY the paid owners who already have the software have a forum you’re not allowed to see; think about WHY the Noah’s Neighborhoods classifieds platform, owned by Steve Taylor, is built on a progam that is NOT Noah’s Classifieds. THINK!!!
And if you don’t listen, then when you’re back here in a few months, you’ll have no one to blame but yourself.
If anyone is interested ,recently I purchase a multi-city version of Iki Classifieds unfortunately I was unable to used it ,and because I received a fully functional product I did not meet the terms for a refund. I never used Iki so I can’t comment on the product, but their customer service was excellent. I never waited longer than a couple hour for them to respond to an issue. The multi-city version retails at 290, I’m am willing to let it go for 200. I’ve talked to the Louis-guillaume who I assume wrote the script ,he said everything good and I could email him when sold and he will update the buyers info so they receive yr of support and updates.
the problem of this software is that search engine cannot index the pages
igNOAH comes as a demo with Hostmonster.com and I used it for 30 minutes before dumping it. It’s great to read this blog and to confirm that I made the right decision. Trouble is I run a Wordpress based free online newspaper and I’m looking for free or extremely cheap classified ads solution. I tried “Another Wordpress Classifieds Plugin” and that took the newspaper down and the rest of the solutions are either awful or way above my budget of nothing. Any ideas out there?
Hi Malcolm. You definitely made the right decision. Take a look at Classipress or Classifieds Theme for WP. I can recommend Classipress, just havent got round to writing a review on it yet.