Just been wondering about this as i have just recieved a negative email regarding a payment and link that was recieved and processed. Firstly the link had not been submited to the most appropriate, deepest category so i went ahead moved the listing to the most appropriate category (which still incidentally had a PR3) and accepted the payment. This obviously didnt agree with the submitter and although i did offer him a full refund as he didnt seem at all happy he decided to retain the link and not take a refund. Should i have processed this submission in this way or would it be better practice to reject the listing and the payment OR follow up with an email to the submitter first informing them of the move of link into the most appropriate category and then await a reply? This then brings up my second point... as a directory expands (where you have been taking paid listings) most are likely to want to add new categories. As the directory grows is it appropriate to move the links into the new, more appropriate categories? Or should only newly submitted links be allocated to the new categories? Your thoughts...
i think you are 100% right. When someone submits to the section Directories, they should be added there but u as an owner have some rights as well ... like suppose u only accept featured in the top category like Aviva ... Jeff moved my listing because i submitted into Directories but it wasn't featured and he said he don't want to fill the page up so he moved my site to Paid Directory. I wasn't mad but i usually add this in my description if poss. please add it to the category i submit ... like i asked asim and my site got approved ... same with couple others for the expanding question ... i dont think u shud move the listings because ur new page might not have the right PR .... but u shudn't accept any more submissions into that category anymore and move it to the new one. Thats all i have to say about that one.
Some submitters do this on purpose with the hope of getting their site listed on the page with highest pr. I do not allow this but sometimes I'll let it slid if I really do not know enough about their market, other than that I move them to right category. If people read the guidelines then they know that this may happen and therefore should have nothing to be made about if it does get moved to a different category.
I'd build the directory with the end user in mind. Adding new subcategories is a natural growth of a directory - on the plus side it increases topical relevance by having a tighter focus. This is a good thing for both the listings and the search engines. It's only natural for a directory to grow and I would think that most submitters are fully aware when they submit that their listing may be moved or edited at any time.
I think it's good to include a terms of service, e.g. http://www.linklister.co.uk/guidelines.php which on this site is linked from the prominent 'about' on the homepage. Then if there's any problems you can refer the submitter back to it. I would say once you've accepted a payment for a submission in a certain category you should not move it without the owner's consent.
The problem with categories is that they are too restrictive and you end up with deep categories. Webmasters will always want to list as shallow as possible because of the SEO benefits and the greater traffic. sabian1982 you have a striking resemblance to Richard E. Grant
I just deal with it, I always try and submit to the highest possible category I am a chancer and half of the time I expect to get degraded, happens to me all of the time, sometimes it get's on my nerves a bit if say there is 0 sites listed in the category and then there is a whole new bunch of categories created and my site get's stuck 3 levels deep but even then I would not complain or ask for a refund, I just learn from it, if I really want to be in the higher cat I contact owner and do deal.