What is Network?
The social side of Haubot — a feed where dealers post new arrivals, behind-the-scenes shots and short videos, and where buyers follow the sellers they trust.
Network is the part of Haubot that lives next to the marketplace and behaves like the feed of a social app. Sellers publish short posts — a quick photo of a machine that just rolled in, a 30-second walkaround video, a poll asking buyers what colour cab is more popular this season — and the buyers who follow them see all of it in one running timeline.
Where the marketplace is built around the formal listing — full specs, parameters, photos, documents, price — Network is built around the seller. The post is small, fast, and personal. A new arrival doesn't need a full listing the same day; a single photo on the seller's feed is enough to put the buyer's hand up.
Why we built it
Equipment buyers don't browse a catalogue at random — they follow specific dealers they've worked with, and they want to know:
- Did anything new arrive at the yard this week?
- What's the seller doing with that fleet of refurbished excavators they were teasing last month?
- Are there any short videos of the machine running before I drive 400 km to inspect it?
Email, WhatsApp groups and a half-broken catalogue page can't carry that conversation cleanly. Network does. It's a single place where:
- Sellers post freely without having to write a full listing every time.
- Buyers get a feed that's almost entirely signal — just the dealers they care about.
- A like or a comment on a post turns into a real conversation with a specific seller, not into the void.
What lives inside Network
The Network area sits at /network and has its own three-column layout:
- Left — your nav: Feed, Explore, Following, My posts, Saved, Settings, plus a profile-search box and a Create post button.
- Centre — the actual feed (different per route): your followed-sellers feed on
/network, trending posts on/network/explore, the seller's posts on a profile page, etc. - Right — Suggested dealers and a small What is Network? card for first-time visitors.
You'll also find the stories tray along the top of the feed — short, ephemeral updates that sellers post and which disappear after 24 hours. Stories are described in Stories and engagement.
Network vs the marketplace — when does each one apply?
Both surfaces share users, but they answer different questions:
| Question | Where to look |
|---|---|
| I want a 20–25 ton excavator under €60k, anywhere in EU | Marketplace — search and filters |
| I want to see what the dealers I trust are putting out this week | Network — feed |
| I'm looking for a specific make and model with documents | Marketplace — listing page |
| I want a feel for which dealer is active, professional, and shows their work | Network — seller's posts and Network profile |
| I want to grab a particular machine — pricing, contact, financing | Marketplace — listing page (linked from posts) |
A post on Network often points to a marketplace listing — sellers can attach the listing they're talking about, and a buyer can jump from the post directly into the formal listing page. The two surfaces are designed to complement each other, not to compete.
Who can do what
You can read Network without an account — guest visitors can browse trending posts on /network/explore and view a seller's profile and posts at /network/u/{handle}. Stories, the personalized feed, comments, likes, and posting all require sign-in.
To post, you need an active seller profile. Buyer-only accounts can follow, like, comment, save and share — but they don't appear in the feed as authors. If you don't have a seller profile yet, the Create post button will offer to take you to set one up.
To follow privately-set sellers, the seller has to approve you first. Public sellers accept follows automatically. See Following and the feed for the full flow.
What Network is not
- Not a replacement for listings. A post can mention a machine, but the buyer still needs the listing for specs, parameters, location, documents and price. Posts are the conversation around the listing, not the listing itself.
- Not the place to negotiate or close a deal. Use the listing's contact methods or the platform's contact flow. Comments under a post are public.
- Not a private channel. Public posts are visible to anyone — including non-followers and (for
/explore) the open web. If you need a private space for specific buyers, use TradeCircles instead. - Not throwaway noise. Posts, likes, comments and follows are kept. You can edit or delete your own content; you can also hide it without deleting (see Creating posts).
Next steps
- Your Network profile — the in-feed version of your seller page.
- Following and the feed — how to build a personalized timeline and how follow requests work.
- Creating posts — text, photos, video, polls — what you can publish and how.
- Stories and engagement — likes, comments, saves, shares and 24-hour stories.
- Discovery and search — Explore, suggested dealers and the inline profile search.