Why don't we want to run the site as a co-op? - I answered this question in an earlier reply - we don't believe that a business site can be run by the members - they don't think with a business mind, only as members wanting to get the most for the least -- check up a few comments and you will see where I have explained my experiences with real world co-ops.
You will also find if you read the pages on the web site more carefully and earlier replies in this thread, we do state that our goal is to let the members decide for themselves many things that directly affect them and the auction site. We also state both on the web site and in this thread that we intend and GUARANTEE to do our best to provide services etc. at a very reasonable rate.
It would be impossible for us or anyone to have the answers to every possible question on our web site - we do our best, but there is always something that we forget. That is one reason we want questions asked on this thread, as opposed to accusations of wrong doing or possible shaming.
You're right, you don't know me or my motives, but I assure you that they are exactly as stated, and would appreciate it if you would accept that and understand that I haven't reduced my income by 2/3rds in the hopes of scamming the auction community into possibly making a few buck in a year or two. I too am an auction seller, and I have felt the pressures and constraints eBay and others have put on us.
Actually waving the co-op flag is not as great a draw as you might think, this should be evident by the number of members these co-op have drawn. I believe 300-400 is about tops for their mailing lists right now -- and I feel that is because most people don't want to do more work in order to make money - they just want to do less work to list. If you look at other for profit sites you will see that they have grown at a much faster rate, than any of the co-op sites. But the idea is still one that we believe in - but we don't want our site only controlled by the members. We feel that many decisions need to be made by true business minds , who do have a vested interest in keeping the site viable and our members happy.
So please feel free to ask your questions, and we will answer them as honest and quickly as possible.
quickdraw29
LibertyBid wouldn't mind -- our money comes from the dues and the dues alone -- I pay hundreds of dollars a month (membership fees) to sell on eBay -- why can't sellers do the same thing for a minimal monthly fee. With the freedom to list without fear, as long as it is legal to do so, and they don't cheat their customers?
Good Night all - got to sleep now have an auction to take items to tomorrow.
JC
Founding Member
LibertyBid.com
www.libertybid.com
posted on June 20, 2001 01:03:19 AM new
Twinsoft,
I apreciate your critisizm, Libertybid should be scrutinized, since you went to the site you can see it's still being developed, and your ideas as well as others will help.
In response to why LB supports co-ops yet, isn't one? My personal opinion is among other things. There is/was a co-op group. Libertybid will not succeed at the expense of any developement of a co-op.
I can tell you that LB will always try to support any company, group, site that benefits the auction community.
I agree with Cathy that a co-op can work. I know some here don't. That's fine. I do however, think it will take the right set of circumstance. It will take a group of egoless, tenacious, hardworking, intelligent individuals who can CO-OPERATE with eachother.
Doesn't matter whether you have a co-op, non-profit, private company, it still comes down to people. You can't get support without trust.
posted on June 20, 2001 01:30:40 AM new
quickdraw29
About FVF or Listing fees as opposed to Membership fees, I believe, in a community supported site that membership is a better way to go for just the very reasons you pose. With a small membership fee it doesn't matter either way to the site or the seller.
posted on June 20, 2001 03:12:44 AM new
Hi, Quickdraw. I'm not sure if I understood you correctly. I think you said that fixed fees for sellers might (or should) make a difference in how the co-op views off-site sales, links to sellers' (commercial) home pages, etc.
One of the principles of cooperatives is that members work together to benefit the co-op. In the case of online auctions, one seller might be bringing in a customer who would also bid on another seller's item. In an ordinary online auction house, where the house is trying to squeeze every last nickle out of sellers, and sellers are trying ever-more creative ways to avoid paying fees and cheat the house, that idea makes sense. But not when everybody is pulling together in the same direction.
Cases like the one you describe (let's say, putting up one item and selling 10 additional items to underbidders) hurts other sellers and so DIRECTLY hurts the co-op. This doesn't have to be about listing fees and final fees at all. It simply means that one co-op member, instead of bringing business TO the co-op, is slicing off a piece of the pie for himself.
The same could be said for many of the prohibitions eBay makes. The difference here is that eBay is making a profit for shareholders, whereas the co-op is only charging the bare minimum to survive. Unlike eBay, the co-op makes nothing on the seller's deal. It makes no profit. For a seller to further take advantage of the co-op in such a way would be unthinkable.
It is in sellers' own best interest to support the co-op and grow it. If 500 co-op members each bring 10 customers to the co-op, that is 5,000 customers shopping at the co-op who might bid on your items or mine. If 500 co-op members each draw 10 customers away, that is 5,000 customers that the co-op as a whole has lost.
