Equibus.com is an online classified e-commerce site serving the international horse buying and selling community.  The company had been operating a mediocre online horse classifieds site for over 2 years with diminishing interest from the target market when they approached IXION.  By combining a graphic interface redesign with greatly improved functionality, Equibus was able to recapture old customers and attract new ones.

The new site needed to accomplish a complex set of goals.  It needed to appeal to the wide range of horse audiences, allow visitors to set international localization preferences, revolve around powerful searching capabilities, provide secure and scalable e-commerce functions, as well as integrate comprehensive administrative access via a web-based interface with control over ad durations, horse disciplines, breeds, age, height, sex, pricing, promotional codes, customer accounts, and site traffic analysis.

Based on the client’s requirements our development team created a blueprint for a scalable and robust e-commerce online classifieds application. The architecture employs the use of multiple Component Object Model (COM) objects that improve stability, security, performance, and speed of a number of site functions.

Because one of the site’s main goals is to serve the international horse community, it is by design that one of its most distinctive features is the visitor’s ability to establish an international localization preference. This setting helps the visitor by filtering all classified advertisement searching and posting – displaying only results within that location.  Expanding on the localization feature, the visitor can then establish their region (for example: Southwestern US versus Midwest) as well as an individual state (or smaller region in the case of countries outside the US).

The advanced searching module allows the visitor to specify exacting details regarding their desired horse’s location, discipline, price range (with realtime currency conversions based on international localization settings), breed, color, sex, age, height, formal registration, bloodline, and more.  Adding more visitor control over their search, the site allows the ability to only display ads with photos, the most recent ads first, or sorted by date posted. 

A customer favorite, the HorseWatch and StallionWatch services notify the registered visitor via email when a horse matching their desired details is posted to the site.  Automatic advertisement renewal notices round out the customer experience and provide yet another way to retain current customers.

Customers who wish to post an online classified advertisement have great flexibility when it comes to managing their horse's details. Depending on the level chosen, the customer can upload up to 12 photos - all of which are resized/optimized for both the web and the advertisement templates.  And at any point after posting their ad, the customer can log in and change any of the previously entered information - including the asking price. If the customer wants to upgrade from the most basic ad to a higher level, this can be done easily and is streamlined to save time.  The system also allows the ability to manage multiple ads with one account - a feature used by a large portion of the site's customers. Equibus.com customers have ultimate control over their ad and international exposure.


Equibus.com trumps the competition when it comes to user experience, powerful visitor controls, administrative functionality, and branding. For visitors trying to find a horse to buy, the site provides the ability to quickly locate one with the exact desired traits.  For those who have posted a Premium Listing, the exposure they receive is first rate, with visually appealing ads and comprehensive details.

With the administrative ability to change pricing or ad duration on the fly, promotional code discounts, and a featured horse section, Equibus can immediately respond to market demands and improve customer acquisition. The administrative reporting module also provides the ability to export critical reports to MS Excel: (1) all site users and related details, and (2) all advertisements and related details.  Of course, no solution would be complete without the included comprehensive Site Traffic Analysis engine.

Rounding out the site administration is a custom implementation of IXION’s Content Management Solution (CMS). All content on the site can be immediately updated via the robust web-based administrative control panel.