*dusts off the old accounts and removes a few cobwebs*
Well hello again, folks! Our account here has been restored, so without further adieu and after cleaning up some of the old kruft (rude shouts left on a defenseless account and a heap of notes people sent anyway), here's where we're at:
What you've missed (current state of affairs): One of the biggest bits of news is that FurBuy now has two paid (yes, you heard right, paid) administrators to handle reviewing new accounts, dealing with disputes, handling communications with customers, etc. FurBuy also set many new records in 2012 including hitting a whopping 585 live auctions, having more than US$40,000 in combined sales volume at one time, and the final sales total for 2012 was over US$455,000 !!! There were also a number of big fixes and new features added to FurBuy in 2012, mostly minor and convenience items plus a lot of behind the scenes admin tools and features to help support our new paid admins. In addition, we welcome our newest member of the team to FurBuy, a web designer and developer: :kaboukie: - we've also brought in a PR and marketing expert (who is not a furry so not linked here) to review and propose changes to the existing site's wording, layout and convenience.
What we still need: We're still looking for a dedicated furry Community Lead who will be the public face of FurBuy and help make fandom-conscious decisions about FurBuy's direction and who will help negotiate integration between FurBuy and other furry sites. We already have a large team of designers, developers and admins to implement features, update the site, make improvements and perform integration - so we need a positive, motivated individual who is close to the pulse of furry fandom and wants to bring FurBuy to everyone in an interactive and beneficial way!
Plans for FurBuy 2013: We are currently working towards a new Beta site/segment that we hope to open in the next week or two - this is not only a redesign of the site/concept for FurBuy, but also a completely new portion of the site that does not have anything to do with auctions. And it's all on a new modern web framework with HTML5 interactive functionality - much faster and easier to use than the current site! We will explain this Beta in full detail once we decide it's ready to public testing, it's currently in alpha state and there are a few more features we want to get nailed down before going to public beta.
After the new Beta is launched and we spend some time bug-fixing on it, we will then begin to convert the ENTIRE existing FurBuy system over to the new web framework and converting existing features into their more modern HTML5 counterparts - we plan to be doing this well into summertime as there is a LOT of work to be done. Many of the completely new features of FurBuy will be demonstrated in the new Beta market segment we're rolling out shortly: Watchlists, Multiple Images (with a cool HTML5 image browser), Improved Commenting, Private Messaging, Improved Login/Logout, Improved Page Flow, New Design and Themes. Meanwhile, our PR expert will be working hard to make sure all of the messaging on the site is clear, that FAQs are helpful, and that we have nice new pages to help out users of all aspects on the site.
We're also planning to completely revamp the account system and make some very important underlying (behind the scenes) changes so that you can actually change your username without having to make a new account! Since we only permit one account per user, this is a pretty critical feature but one that's been almost impossible due to an existing limitation in our design - that will be removed as part of the revamp! (We will be placing some restrictions and drawbacks on name changes though, so users will not be able to just abuse that system.)
Later in the year we hope to tackle adding two other very important new market segments to the system: Stores and Commissions. We will also be addressing SSL and Password Security in 2013, rejoice! We are also losing our office space in Washington, where we're currently doing business - so we will be dissolving the company in Washington and re-forming in California, as well as moving our servers down here into a much faster and more modern server hosting facility! Oh my~, 2013 will be busy!
Follow Us on Twitter and LiveJournal: https://twitter.com/furbuy http://furbuy.livejournal.com/ 
