posted on November 12, 2001 11:29:55 AM new
I took a look at Yahoo auctions because ebay's checkout drove me to it. Boy, was I disappointed. In my main selling category, books, Yahoo had 4 offerings by a particular author while ebay has 78. I couldn't even find my other category, old car ads. On top of that, Yahoo peppers all its auction pages with links for its other sales channels; this directly competes with the auction items. What's a person who is fed up with ebay to do???
posted on November 12, 2001 11:38:29 AM new
ebay has been very successful and that breeds imitation. The new Yahoo Shopping mimics eBay in most ways but in a low cost fashion. To get away from an ebay auction/selling setup you may need to go to the ultra-low traffic third tier auction sites.
posted on November 12, 2001 05:15:22 PM new
if more people list on bidville,the buyers will come.
bidville has a nice crisp layout,easy to navigate,unfortunately the merchandise is nothing to write home about.
posted on November 12, 2001 05:26:42 PM new
Bidville has had its day in the sun, They are now rideing off into the sunset..
Yahoo on the other hand inspite of new fees last year loseing millions of auctions continued advertizeing its auction and promoteing its business even hired new management.
yahoo has been where ebay has been heading for a while now and they are listing and working hard to get back to what they were and better.
Bidville never kept a single promise and advertised its site so little that after several years first as nobidding then AUXpal and bidville still have no buyer base even after hitting well over the million auction mark.
http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
Email [email protected]
[ edited by dman3 on Nov 12, 2001 05:29 PM ]
[ edited by dman3 on Nov 12, 2001 05:31 PM ]
posted on November 12, 2001 06:24:08 PM new
wowwow:
What makes you think that if bidville had MORE listings that bidders would come? Do higher listing numbers mean that people suddenly know about bidville and magically appear?
bidville was counting on paypal. That didn't happen, and now bidville is a pet project of Ed Orlando who doesn't care one way or the other.
In all honesty I think paypal.com has something up their sleeves. Their IPO and the money raised for it would generate enough funds to REALLY put a site together that could give ebay some competition.
I think one of the reasons for the paypal/bidville partnership falling apart was that paypal.com really didn't like the results Nobidding, Inc. (aka bidville) put together and probably had some top designer tell them so by consulting with them.
Why partner with a low end site that no one even knows about (ie: nobidding.com) and put a site together when you have the ability to do it yourself?
If paypal.com puts an auction site together themselves, and users use paypal.com to pay for the auctions, that gives the auction site 10 million registered users INSTANTLY.
Keep in mind the moment that paypal.com does that, ebay will have every right to stop paypal on their site. Which is perhaps why they have been forcing billpoint down our throats. Perhaps ebay senses something is up.
Also, how do we know that paypal hasn't already started putting a new auction site in place? We don't. They could easily hide behind a corporation until the truth is known.
Food for thought.
ALL of this is just my humble opinion. No flames that the words written here are in stone someplace.
posted on November 12, 2001 06:28:24 PM new
i recalled yahoo auction offering to auto-relist your items up to 6 times if it does not sell,the good old days??
bidville also relists your items if not sold,thats why they still have listings .
remember gold auction??
how aBout all the store fronts like aw,COLLECTOR ON LINE??
is there any life on TIAS ?
a long time ago someone said ebay is bad for retail business,look at it now,first we take business away from traditional brick and mortar retail stores,then more and more come to cyberspace and price gets lower and lower.
no one is making much money,the gold powersellers who sell electronic goods will tell you their margin is narrrowing.
is there anything which is not up for bid on ebay??
posted on November 12, 2001 08:24:05 PM new
yourdesigns,
you brought up something interesting,every one these days is speculating what paypal is going to do with the money raised from IPO.
first i think billpoint as 80% owned by ebay and has really no other source of income outside ebay ,will have to make its living from ebay and watching paypal with 75% of the ebay market share is not funny,just like your mom gives the best part of the sunday roast to your neighbor's kid while you lick on the knuckle bones ??
i asked paypal once if they ever want to get into providing venue to facilitate retail sales as they have a directory of paypal shops.their rep replied that they are a financial service company and is looking to expand in that direction.
but that does not mean anything,first they sleep in the same bed with providian bank and that bank is in trouble but it is a BANK.
just think all that criticisms about paypal not being a bank will go away if they merge with providian bank.
second ,it is just a matter of time paypal will be driven out of ebay,as amzn has one click and yahoo has yahoo direct .
amzn is pushing one click -it is mandatory in amzn marketplace and is recommended in zshop,altho i have heard that will change .
so it must be a good business having your own cc processing.
so back to paypal,if paypal has no choice but to set up a venue to allow its members to conduct what they do best,that is trading each other 's dirty laundry (call it collectibles),then why reinvent the wheels,why not have bidville ,it is already there ,it just needs bigger and better merchandise.
the saying goes,buyers go where seller go,and sellers go where buyers go,someone has to get off the ass and go first,it makes sense for sellers to lift their asses and their merchandise to go to say yahoo or bidville .
knowing how paypal operates in the past,some of that ipo money will go into enticing sellers to list at the new site which takes paypal and paypal only.
i like bidville,i put my money where my mouth is and actually buy items there for my own bedtime reading,i go to a page where it shows all major categories and the number of items listed within each,then i go to my categories and look around.
it is easy to use and pleasant format,the only problem is that the merchandise is awful,pcitures are awful and some books have no descriptions,so how do you expect some of us to bid on your book??
interesting ebay checkout has become so controversial,amzn marketplace you must use one click and the high fee(15% commission and 99 cents transaction fee and a paltry shipping rebate),and i know some of the discount booksellers who sell on marketplace make the ebay gold powersellers look like chinese chopsuey chefs??
in case you are not aware,they are e r hamilton,strand bookstore of nyc,powell bookstore of oregon and a fourth one i cant remember.
so why is ebay having such a hard time convincing its sellers to accept billpoint?
if paypal gets into sponsoring an auction venue,i am interested,lets hope it does not spend millions designing a new site,take bidville .
posted on November 12, 2001 08:32:21 PM new
You can weep in your cornflakes and do nothing or you can get busy and build your business using new tools - Auction sites are tools. Use as many as you like. It takes hard work to cut a new path - Im doing some ebay ( 75% less than pre Checkout) a little epier - some Naughtybids.com and Im making a major Investment In Yahoo. Its goint to hurt like hades for awhile but at the end Ill never be caught with only one viable sales channel again.
posted on November 12, 2001 08:33:23 PM new
jsut close your eyes and think-you the seasoned ebay seller goes to bidville and start listing-your business savvy,acumen,attractive merchandise shown off with super photos and descriptons.
your faithful ebay bidders follow because they miss you so much and they just have to have your items,so voila,a new ebay is born with paypal only method of payment.
you make just as good if not better money on this new site,and to sweeten the pot,no listing fee,no final value fee and wow,every time you list and someone bids,paypal gives you one big dollar,how is that for appetizer,my friend??
posted on November 12, 2001 09:11:31 PM new
IMHO, bidville is a poor design, bad graphics, and just not technically there to handle 10 million users.
Management has already shown their heavy handy approach to people who speak against them. Not a good sign.
Paypal was SMART to drop bidville (aka auxpal.com) like a rock. With the money paypal.com has at its disposal, they could easily afford a better ASP auction site version with a lot more features and better control. There are several that some large corporations use that have some VERY powerful features and easy to use design. Of course, with a price tag to match.
Also, since when do buyers follow sellers around in general? I have seen a few in very select and niche groups, but in general (say a computer seller) doesn't have a very good "follow me around the auction sites" following.
Unfortunately, just saying, "build it, and they will come" just does not work when it comes to online auctioning. Look at the 200+ auction sites out there.
If bidville wanted, they could do more. They just don't want to do so.
posted on November 13, 2001 06:03:13 AM new
Well, I certainly have learned alot by reading the responses to my initial post. I am going to stand up and be counted among the Yahoo sellers. Maybe even bidville. most of my auctions sell for near the minimum bid, so all I have to lose is the time it takes to post.
posted on November 13, 2001 07:42:55 AM new
i will be spending more time on bidville to see if it is as bad as you described.
as a bidder,i find bidville easier to use and pleasant to work with than yahoo or amzn.
for some reason,amzn reminds me of the library of congress,too intellectual,auction is a fast moving,fun and casual place to be and neither yahoo or amzn gives me this feeling,as for yahoo i wont enough know where to begin ??
no auction site is set up to handle 10 million users on day one or day 100,i remember the old days of ebay where at nite sellers cannot list as capacity was exceeded.
but whether paypal wants to provide venue for retail sales be it auction or shops,it would be costly and with the IPO environment today,i doubt if their share price will rocket ?
i think paypal primary focus is to be an online financial service provider,if it is driven out of ebay,it may have to heavily back some ebay rival sites for its own survival.
in retail business,sellers will have to move first and then buyers will come,there is no such scenario of buyers going to an empty lot and wonder where the sellers are?
every now and then ebay sellers will talk about a broad boycott of ebay by withholding merchandise from ebay for a certain number of days,the key is how long can individual sellers afford to withhold selling on ebay??
not only are they not getting the proceeds from sales,they are also giving others a chance to replace them,powersellers are made not born,if you are doing well selling digital cameras in the heydays,leaving the site for 10 days just allow your competitor to move in and laugh all the way to the bank.
to convince the ebay sellers to move to another site,paypal would have to offer large incentive and the timing too-these days sales is very slow on ebay and the listing fee sure adds up,so why not just list somewhere else for free,the merchandise is there,the skills are there,all you need to waste is your time?
and cybersellers are notorious in thinking their time is worthless?
but then i am not sure there is a bright future in auction ?? when there is only one bid ,then may as well set up a shop and let someone buy it at a fixed price??
auction is meant for rare one of a kind items,not something which is available in thousands .auction is for something worthwhile,taking a picture of your closet of old sneakers,tank tops,t-shirts and expect someone to bid on it??
may be this whole concept of bidding on someone else 's old stuff is fading,the whole idea of receiving someone 's used item in a box picked up from the dumpster and packed with old newspaper,taped together with usps priority tape?
how long can a buyer keep a straight face and say he/she is thrilled receiving some of these old stuff ??
posted on November 13, 2001 10:13:50 AM new
Hello
The thing many seem to miss is why do we list material anywhere on the Internet?
Is it to sell items and make a buck? Is it a hobby? Is it a social outlet for you?
Are you trying to guide Internet auctions to be like you would like them to be?
None of the above is wrong but you need to know your core agenda? If it is to sell then get on eBay and sell. Don’t focus on what is wrong focus on what is right. Sales! If your sales are off try to do better. Better listings, better communications during and after the sale, better stock, better prices. Be creative. Know why you are doing what you are doing and have a nice Thanksgiving.
posted on November 13, 2001 11:59:39 AM new
there is a HUGE discussion on amazon board on amzn website on why some folks list books at one penny??
some did the math and try to justify with numbers that these sellers can still make money selling books at one penny?
some claimed that these are lonely people who are trying to reach out and touch someone electronically??
some claim when they sell a book at one penny,they are saving storage fee as they store their books outside their homes.
whatever the reason is ,i want to wish these sellers good luck until the venue provider,be it ebay ,amzn or yahoo find out they no longer can pay their utility and bandwidth bills on commission they collect on books sold on their sites for a penny.
then we really have a case on our hands-last guy turns out the light.
