Abuy takes off

Audlem Online's new Buy/Sell/Free to a good home service has really taken off since its launch last Monday. Called Abuy, short of course for 'Audlem Buy' and not to be confused with any competing international rivals, is easy to use and makes sense as buyers and sellers will all be local.

The menu bar – that's the blue horizontal line at the top of each page – now includes BuySell. This accesses the new feature which allows readers to advertise items for sale, wanted or available for freecycle. And it's all free.

Clicking on any individual entry brings up more details about the item, together with a button to click to request further details from the original advertiser. The list already extends to more than one page so click on 'Next' at the bottom of the list to find more items.

You can find out much more by clicking on the page and then on 'New users are advised to read more by clicking here' at the top of the page.

The e-mail addresses or telephone numbers of those placing or responding to the advertisements are not displayed. The webteam will moderate advertisements entered on the site, primarily to try to stop Abuy being hi-jacked by traders or businesses.

We would be delighted if people would try to use this new feature and let us know how successful it turns out to be, or how it might be improved. Items are already being advertised ranging from a car to a rabbit hutch and student bedding.

For those advertising, your free ad could well reach a large audience. Over the month of August over 21,000 people, or almost 700 readers a day, clicked on to Audlem Online. It's the first time the site has passed the 20,000 monthly figure and is almost 50% up on last August's figure of 14,467.

ChatboxIt may be coincidence, but since the launch of Abuy the Chatbox has gone rather quiet. This follows a few days when contributors agonised over Chatbox etiquette.

While a few of the Chatbox comments had been devoted to items for sale over recent weeks, does this explain the silence? The webteam were so disturbed by the absence of comments that a test run was carried out yesterday. The good news, Chatbox devotees, is that it all still works.

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