Press Release
Date: 29 September 2014
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Preloved Proud To Announce They Meet PAAG Industry Standards
As one of the UK’s largest classified ad sites, Preloved has over 45,000 advert listings in their pets category. Every two minutes a new pet is advertised on Preloved. The classified ad site has always been dedicated to maintaining high animal welfare standards on site since they started accepting pet adverts in 1998. Preloved was the first site of its kind in the UK to introduce age requirements on pet adverts to ensure young animals were not taken away from their mothers too young. In September 2013, the site welcomed the advice and advert moderation processes conducted by the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG) as part of a 6-month pilot scheme in regards to animal welfare industry standards.
PAAG is a government endorsed advisory group who work closely with DEFRA and the following animal welfare charities and organisations. The group was set up in 2001 to combat growing concerns for the welfare of animals being sold irresponsibly in the advertising market. In September 2013, PAAG set industry standards for all classified ad sites to meet in order to be considered a site that maintains animal welfare regulations.
- Battersea Dogs & Cats Home
- Blue Cross
- British Veterinary Association (BVA)
- Cats Protection
- Dogs Trust
- The Kennel Club
- PDSA
- OneKind
- The Rabbit Welfare Association & Fund
- Wood Green
Preloved is proud to announce that in June 2014, the site officially met ALL the industry standards set by PAAG and continues to regulate adverts according to these standards. Preloved sees the industry standards set by PAAG as a minimum requirement. The site continues to find new ways to increase the animal welfare regulations on site to ensure pets and its members can find their perfect forever friend.
PAAG have been impressed with the site's continued and improved attitude towards animal welfare since The Hut Group acquired Preloved in March 2014.
"Since taking over, the Hut Group have worked to increase the amount of advice on the site and to also implement new and innovative ways of communicating with prospective pet owners, this includes online webchats, newsletters and partnerships with charities. This again shows the Hut Group’s commitment to the PAAG project and is extremely positive from a pet welfare perspective. Going forward we hope other sites will start to follow suit." - PAAG Final Report on 29th September 2014
Preloved now review 99% of all animal adverts within 48 hours of the advert being created on site, reviewing 100% of priority adverts considered high risk within 12 hours. The site is aiming to review 100% of animal adverts within 24 hours by 2015. Preloved has a dedicated support team on hand to assist and advise via support message regarding animal welfare and pet rehoming, and the site fully investigates any concerns raised by its members and aims to respond the same day to ensure animal welfare is their main priority. To find out more about Preloved and their efforts to maintain a high level of animal welfare, please visit their Preloved Pet Pledge.
Preloved has also made partnerships with organisations outside of PAAG to help build on their animal welfare content. On 8th July, MedicAnimal and Preloved conducted their first Vet Q&A session live on Google plus. Preloved takes animal welfare very seriously and maintains contact with the charities listed above to ensure their Animal Welfare Pages are constantly updated with useful welfare information for its members and visitors.
ENDS
For further information, please contact us via email
Notes to Editors
Preloved is the UK's most passionate buying and selling site. Started in 1998, Preloved has grown to become the UK's leading second hand website with hundreds of thousands of adverts in over 500 categories. Each month the site attracts over 5 million unique visitors. As a community-based advertising site it has over 2 million active members. Preloved is ranked amongst the top 500 most visited sites in the UK.
For buying or selling second hand, Preloved is the UK's destination website. Preloved also has the largest amount of pets, horses and livestock advert listings in the UK. It also recently launched a fee-free property service to disrupt the property market to deliver value for users.
Follow us on twitter @preloveduk
Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/preloved
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