Publish Sidebar Feature Available in Yclas Marketplace

A dedicated sidebar for Publish New page. 

If you want a cleaner page that has better conversion, insert explanatory text, rules, or any other thing you can imagine ;)

The Post a listing sidebar today: what to put in it

This feature still works on every current Yclas theme, including Nova, the default for new sites, but the place to find it has moved. Go to Design › Widgets in your admin panel and drag widgets into the area called Post a listing ("On the page where users post"). One thing has changed: in Nova, if you leave this area empty, the posting form doesn't go full width any more. Nova shows its own short "Tips for a quick sale" box with advice on photos, measurements and pricing. As soon as you add a widget, your widgets replace that box.

For most marketplaces the most useful widget here is Text, which accepts HTML, so you can write your own rules with headings, lists and links. Sellers see it at the moment they decide what to post and how, so a few lines here can prevent a lot of problems. Three things are worth putting there.

1. Your posting rules, kept short

List what can't be posted on your site and what gets a listing removed, such as duplicates, wrong categories or contact details in photos, and link to your full terms page. Keep it to a handful of clear points. A short list next to the form is much more likely to be read than a long terms page.

2. A safety warning sellers will actually see

The US Federal Trade Commission's guidance on fake check scams describes a pattern classifieds sellers run into often: a "buyer" pays with a check for more than the price and asks for the difference back. In the US, banks must by law make deposited funds available quickly, but a fake check can take weeks to be discovered, and the seller is then left paying the money back to the bank. The FTC's rule of thumb is simple: don't accept a check for more than the selling price. One line about this next to the posting form protects your sellers and your site's reputation.

3. What business sellers must provide (EU marketplaces)

If your marketplace lets consumers in the EU make purchases from businesses (traders), the Digital Services Act (Regulation (EU) 2022/2065) applies. Its Article 30 requires the platform to collect the following before a trader can use it to offer anything to EU consumers:

• the trader's name, address, phone number and email
• a copy of an identity document or an electronic identification
• payment account details
• trade register details, where the trader is registered
• a self-certification that the trader only offers products and services that comply with EU law

Article 29 exempts platforms whose operator is itself a micro or small enterprise, and this exemption does not apply to platforms designated as very large online platforms. Many niche marketplaces qualify, but check your own size. If the obligation applies to you, the posting page sidebar is the right place to tell business sellers what you'll ask for and why.