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cozy35
Baggage Handler
Joined: 11 Mar 2010
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Location: South Africa
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 Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:35 am Post subject: Is Home Exchanging a good Option? |
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I have lately been communicating with many people about home swapping. I just completed a website that I hope will bring together people interested in home exchanging as a means of free accommodation but it seems that people are reluctant to list their homes. I suppose it is a case of wait and see what others are doing. Maybe my introductory page needs some tweaking - any ideas
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BrittLemana
Baggage Handler
Joined: 24 Feb 2010
Posts: 11
Location: France
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| Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 8:30 am Post subject: Re: Is Home Exchanging a good Option? |
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| cozy35 wrote: | | I have lately been communicating with many people about home swapping. I just completed a website that I hope will bring together people interested in home exchanging as a means of free accommodation but it seems that people are reluctant to list their homes. I suppose it is a case of wait and see what others are doing. Maybe my introductory page needs some tweaking - any ideas |
I guess people are reluctant because of privacy issues, there are a few companies around doing the same thing - have you looked at what they´re doing? You might want to
Check out this blog
http://www.homelink.org.uk/
http://www.homeexchange.com/
I know for me it would be a big thing to post on one of these websites, and would be hesitant, although I´ve heard great things from people who swap houses.[url][/url]
Last edited by BrittLemana on Thu Mar 25, 2010 8:28 am; edited 2 times in total |
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cozy35
Baggage Handler
Joined: 11 Mar 2010
Posts: 6
Location: South Africa
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| Posted: Thu Mar 11, 2010 9:14 am Post subject: Re: Is Home Exchanging a good Option? |
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| BrittLemana wrote: | | cozy35 wrote: | | I have lately been communicating with many people about home swapping. I just completed a website that I hope will bring together people interested in home exchanging as a means of free accommodation but it seems that people are reluctant to list their homes. I suppose it is a case of wait and see what others are doing. Maybe my introductory page needs some tweaking - any ideas |
I guess people are reluctant because of privacy issues, there are a few companies around doing the same thing - have you looked at what they´re doing? You might want to check out these websites -
http://www.homelink.org.uk/
http://www.homeexchange.com/
I know for me it would be a big thing to post on one of these websites, and would be hesitant, although I´ve heard great things from people who swap houses. |
I've take every measure to ensure privacy. A member will not have his e-mail nor contact info displayed to anyone. Members who want to contact other members can only do soy via the pop-up contact window and unless the contacted member does not reply to the contacting member, his/her email is never revealed.
Perhaps the only privacy issue that may be a concern is that the location of a home is displayed on the GoogleMap, but then again would be home exchangers wil want to see the location of a possible listing? Unless I restrict maps from non-members?
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BrittLemana
Baggage Handler
Joined: 24 Feb 2010
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Location: France
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| Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 7:53 am Post subject: |
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| I think those websites you have to pay to be a member, which ensures only serious people are applying - its like $50 or something? Do you do the same thing? If you are, I´d probably make the googlemaps for members only too. It´s a big thing for people, and privacy means a lot more to people now than it ever has before. |
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cozy35
Baggage Handler
Joined: 11 Mar 2010
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Location: South Africa
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| Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 8:20 am Post subject: |
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| BrittLemana wrote: | | I think those websites you have to pay to be a member, which ensures only serious people are applying - its like $50 or something? Do you do the same thing? If you are, I´d probably make the googlemaps for members only too. It´s a big thing for people, and privacy means a lot more to people now than it ever has before. |
I think I'll change it to a paid site once there are a good number of listings. At this time I figure it would be a far cry to have people pay for a sparsely populated listing service.
I will make the GoogleMaps visible only to members and see if that improves the hit rate on member subscribers.
Thanks for the feedback
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BlackEyes
Flight Steward
Joined: 13 Nov 2009
Posts: 97
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| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 2:29 am Post subject: |
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Well, one of the biggest issues there is privacy. You also need to consider the culture of the one you will be exchanging homes with, plus whether or not he will be comfortable here.
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HomeForHome
Baggage Handler
Joined: 01 Feb 2010
Posts: 5
Location: UK
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| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 4:06 am Post subject: Work, work, work |
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Hello cozy35,
You have done a great job with your website, you have covered what most home swap websites offer in terms of service and information. I think you need to put more effort into offering something new or unique to set you apart, because new users looking for a home exchange website are probably just comparing the number of registered users in your website and others and say: "Well, if I'm going to give home exchange a chance, between equal service offers I'd rather go for the website with the most users already registered"
I hope you get what I mean. 
Best luck!
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BadlyBurnt
Trainee Steward
Joined: 09 May 2010
Posts: 27
Location: Spain
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| Posted: Mon Jun 28, 2010 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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Its a good looking site.
Personaly I think that the thing that puts people off home exchange is the worry that you are effectively handing over the keys to a stranger and that if something goes wrong you won't be covered by your insurance.
I think that if you put some more information on your site which put peoples minds at rest then you would get more people using it. I don't know about the legalities but maybe a section explaining how people can ensure that their property is safe and possibly some sort of written contract that the exchangers both complete and sign before exchanging might help.
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cozy35
Baggage Handler
Joined: 11 Mar 2010
Posts: 6
Location: South Africa
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| Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2010 5:58 am Post subject: |
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| BadlyBurnt wrote: | Its a good looking site.
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Thanks for the compliment. I too had the same thoughts about insurance and giving carte blanche to some one I do not know but later it dawned upon me that likewise they too have to contend with the same insecurities. So it is a mutual trust that happens by default and naturally people have some degree of respect for other peoples stuff.
Regarding insurance - well in SA insurance companies welcome house sitters. It makes burglaries almost non-existent. I suppose it will be seen in this light across the world as well.
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