In this Storque article, admin kfarrell details some new Alchemy features:
Alchemy is almost a month old now, and after gathering feedback from a variety of places we have a round of updates that should make your Alchemy experience even better.
Changes include:
- RSS feeds for Alchemy searches
- A new “Batch Decline” option at the bottom of the bid list, allowing you to decline all undecided bids once you’ve selected your seller
- A new text field to send an optional message when you accept or decline a bid
- Updated text throughout Alchemy to make things easier to understand
- Hotlinking of URLs in bids
- The ability to email an Alchemy request to a friend
- A flagging form to fill out if you come across Alchemy listings that break the DOs and DON’Ts
- General bug fixes
We’re also changing Alchemy a little so a buyer may back out up until the point where the seller confirms the bid. This change has been in response to many requests from buyers who accepted a bid and did not hear back from their seller, finding themselves stuck in a stalemate.
Join the forum discussion going on here.
UPDATE - 9 April 2008 by GreenMamba
Accept/decline bid issue - Status: Resolved
Following the introduction of the new Alchemy features, there were a number of reports from members who were unable to either accept or decline their Alchemy requests. In this thread, RD announced (page 5) that the issue had been duplicated and a fix was being implemented. It has since been resolved.
April 7th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
still no categories? that was my #1 wish.
April 7th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Categories would have been great, JB.
And, not applicable to the main Alchemy feature but related, would have been the removal of the ‘Request Custom Item’ link from shops that do NOT opt-in for private alchemy. marymary said (on the first page of the Alchemy features thread) there are no plans to do so. I wonder why? It really just sets up buyers for disappointment and non-alchemist-sellers for lost sales. Bummer.
April 7th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
The flagging form is great though, I hope that’s a model of how they can do flagged items and shops too, instead of the “flag this item” link opening your email program. Although I don’t know how the form input is organized on the back end, i.e. where they go after people submit them, it has to be more efficient than using email. I hope they have some kind of sorting feature where if a listing is flagged multiple times, those reports can be grouped together and therefore avoiding wasting staff time by re-investigating a listing that has already been dealt with, etc.
With the eternally vigilant volunteer police squads, I am sure most violations will get multiple flags. ;-)