Bikesoup has been around for a while now. I joined the team in 2014 and have been working on the site(s) in some way ever since. During that time many things have changed. Staff have joined and left. Changes to the business have been conceived, tested, implemented and later abandoned. Confidence in the idea of a dedicated cycling marketplace has strengthened, waned and strengthened again.
However, one thing that should have stayed the same — Bikesoup is a marketplace for cyclists, built by cyclists — hasn't.
Over the years, we haven't always got it right. We've made decisions and changes that seemed perfectly logical at the time, but turned out to have flaws. Our recent change back to listing fees from our commission-based pricing is a good example. We didn't anticipate the problems it would cause, both for you as Bikesoup users and us as a business.
However, we've also made changes for the wrong reasons. Those that made these decisons forgot that the most important thing is helping you guys — enthusiastic cyclists — to sell your bike, or find your dream one in our marketplace. They forgot that if we're not making things easier and better for you guys, we're not making any progress.
That's something I want to change.
From now on, we'll be thinking of you guys everytime we make a change. We'll be asking you what you think, what we can improve, and what we should change.
To that end, if you've got any ideas or advice for us, please send me an email at jamie@bikesoup.com. I'd love to find out what your experience of Bikesoup has been and if I can make it better.
Without you guys, we wouldn't have a marketplace — or a business for that matter — so it's time we started listening to you!