By: E&P Staff The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times has added some zip to its online classified ads. To compete with the popularity of online auction sites such as eBay, people buying space on the Time's site can now enhance their ads with text, images and multimedia content. The new system also allows buyers and sellers the option of negotiating the price of items, sell merchandise at a fixed price and pay each other electronically.
"In three years I expect most leading newspapers will have online commerce capabilities integrated with their classifieds," said Mark Mateer, classified advertising manager, in a statement. The paper plans to support the new initiative with a marketing campaign.
The Times uses technology provided by AdPay Inc., a Littleton, Colo., company that unites classified ads with e-commerce capabilities. Earlier this month, AdPay announced that the Denver Newspaper Agency, publisher of The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain News, will also use the system for online classified ads.
The Times deployed the technology after a successful pilot program. "Even prior to the start of any promotion, results from the first few days were very encouraging," said Bonnie Trembulak, classified division manager for the Times, in a statement. There is an incremental charge associated for using the new service based on category. AdPay also gives papers the ability to capture user activity for every ad, including how many people look at the ad and place bids on items and the transactions completed.
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