Awful new setup

[Chughes]

Many months ago, on a quest for a smallholding i joined this group. Sorry guys. I won’t be renewing.

1. Substack? Why? Im now having to navigate pages of tripe in an attempt to find this group.
2. I Cannot find anything on here!
3. Repeatedly having to follow complicated instructions on how to log on, which don’t seem to work.
4. I’m not receiving updates despite being logged in (I think)
5. Can’t find sales/buyers
6. Cant find Chats
7. Sorry guys won’t be renewing. This is a waste of time. Whoever upgraded this saw you coming. It’s dreadful

[Admin]

HI @Chughes - we understand the difficulties experienced by members whilst we migrate our system.

In short, here’s a quick response in an attempt to make things plain - and to help you get value, whilst you’re onboard:

How Our Marketplace Is Set Up

Our marketplace operates across 2 platforms:

1. Substack → for email newsletters.
2. Talk Smallholdings → for access to listings and community

We’ll continue to use both for the purposes listed above.

Your patience is appreciated whilst we migrate

Granted, we’ve just launched this community and are currently migrating our scouted listings to this platform.

We’ve run newsletters now for some years, and Substack has been our platform of choice throughout 2025 - to some success.

However, Substack has failed us in the community stakes. Hence, us switching the community to this current platform (but again, keeping newsletters on Substack ongoing.)

Daily Updates (Digest Emails)

That said, we’ll send daily community digest emails from this platform (automated) to fill you in on everything that happened within the preceding 24 hours. These digests will INCLUDE all our LIVE Scout Listings ~20 per day across the UK (*paid) and Editor’s Choice sample listings ~ 3 per day (free).

But this just scratches the surface - there’s now much, much more value on offer.

Some Simple Steps To Get Things Going…

We hope this brings you up to speed on recent developments within this marketplace.

But to get you fully settled in …

…here are a few helpful links:

(1) Getting started: plain-English guide to getting optimal marketplace value from day 1.

(2) Community Channels: A-Z conversational threads to share your POV with our team or other members.

(3) Buyer & Seller Posts: post your offer or request to recruit the help of our Scouts and peers.

(4) Reply To Posts: message other members directly who post, or leave a comment with our Scouts.

(5) DMs to arrange viewings: line up viewings with members who post complementary ads.

(6) Listings & Alerts: access the latest links to agent listings discovered by our Market Scouts.

(7) Daily Email Digests: look out for these useful marketplace updates from our team.

And that’s it for now. Any questions, feel free to ask, we’re here to help.

“Here’s to your smallholding success!”

Speak soon,

The Smallholdings For Sale Team

[Antiquecrofter]

I totally agree on every point. I am the same and will not be renewing.

[Admin]

Hi @Antiquecrofter - We just received direct message to our team stating:

“I have just read your tutorial and am totally confused about how to access Smallholding’s for sale. I can ‘start a new topic’, ‘sign up for alerts’ and many other wonderful things but all I really want to do is search for a Smallholding for sale in Scotland, which I have found impossible.”

Here’s how to search Smallholdings For Sale in Scotland - in 4 easy steps:

1. Log in

Log in (as a *paid member, you have access to ALL listings)

2. Visit LIVE Scout Alerts

Visit LIVE Scout Alerts for real-time listings from our Scouts

3. Click on ‘ Scotland’ in the Sub-Categories Dropdown

4. Browse All Listings from Scotland…

That’s it….stay posted. We update every day.

Also: just to add - we’re currently scouting throughout the Western Coast of Scotland - so highly likely to find a coastal smallholding much like your target described in your post: ** WANTED. Shorefront Smallholding/croft anywhere in scotland**

Any problems, just ask - we’re here to help you.

@Admin

[Eliz007]

I thought it was just me. Fed up of receiving emails with multiple listings from £x to £xxx and when you follow the link all you see are the “editors choice”, which is usually not what you were looking for.

[Admin]

Hi @Eliz007 - thanks for commenting.

It seems you missed the fact that ALL listings quoted in our emails from £xx to £xxx were linked to at the bottom of each email (for *paid members).

(*In the screenshot example below, the picture is cut off at No.5, but as stated, that list goes on to reveal 28 listings. Every daily email has been the same - with a total of 1,600 UK-wide listings shared this year.)

It’s worth revisiting those emails if you missed it.

That said, we’re now publishing our daily findings here…so visiting this site will keep you up to speed with the most recent activity.

Though do bear with us as we establish this daily routine over the coming days.

Any questions, feel free to ask.

@Admin

[Janemc]

Same here… I think I’m logged in and every time I click on a link it says ‘oops that page is not available’ or ‘private’ or ‘log in’. But I’m a paid subscriber, how can it be private?

The logic of Substack is not what you think it is… It’s not straightforward. It’s not easy to navigate.

Each time I click on a listing (on the rare occasion I can find one) I get redirected to an estate agent and then have to do a brand-new search in every estate agent. Previously, I at least had an idea as to which country the smallholding was in. Now I just got a whole bunch of an estate agents.

Honestly, I don’t think I’ll be renewing either.

C Hughes got a ‘concise’ answer to his comment - but again, it was long and even when I took the time to read it, couldn’t find a simple & clear view of ANY listings. You say Substack is your platform of choice but, as a user, I don’t think it presents as you think it does.

I still can’t access the small holdings or the listings. There’s so much rummaging & very little result.

[Janemc]

I agree with these guys. You say Substack is your platform of choice but I don’t think it presents to the user quite the way you think it does.

I don’t want to chat to other purchasers. I don’t want areas where I can chat about things.

I want a bunch of listings of small holdings and, as used to be, at least a vague idea in which country they were in.

Now I just get a bunch of estate agents links to their websites and have to do a new search each time.

I’ve just spent five minutes putting in a response to this page, submitted it and can’t even find my comment anywhere on here.

It’s disappointing because I thought I’d found a little gem in my search for a small holding.

[Janemc]

Agreed.

Agreed.

At least previously there was a flag he had an idea which country you were searching in.

And the link went to a link of the property. Now it seems to go to the estate agents website,

I seem to be getting funnelled into a forum of discussion and chat. I don’t want to go there. I signed up for small holding listings. Not chitchat.

I’d like to know which country and what price the listing is in and I don’t want to have to do five or six clicks / redirects to get there.

I preferred the old system..