posted on July 1, 2001 06:28:51 PM new
RichHillbilly >
I just want to give my Bidville numbers. I sold at Yahoo for 1 year. I have sold 6 months at Bidville. I am only $300.00 shy of matching my sales at Yahoo for the same time frame. Thats not bad considering I spent $40 to $60 a month to feature at Yahoo. And I only spend $10 a month at Bidville
[Edited to deleted this Bidville userID given the follow-up by jimhhow.]
And this.
USER ID: RichHillbilly
Date Joined: July 1, 2001 05:18:33 PM
Message Center Posts: 1
So you just signed up to give us the news?
< ROTFLMAO >
[ edited by dimview on Jul 1, 2001 06:40 PM ]
[ edited by dimview on Jul 2, 2001 06:25 AM ]
posted on July 1, 2001 06:33:30 PM new
What business is that of yours? I think this is becoming personal. Who are you to say something about a sellers name?
I like his name, and have seen of picture of the hillbilly. Not bad at all! Why not post your picture, Dim?
posted on July 1, 2001 06:35:11 PM new
This is the problem with vague numbers. RichHillbilly says he is only $300.00 shy of yahoo sales. That is great if he sold $10,000 on yahoo, not so great if he sold $350.00.
posted on July 1, 2001 06:37:59 PM new
diechen, I was going to stay off this thread (Because the numbers make no since) But had to respond to your question! Some people have no life they watch TV till they get bored then they come on line and dreamup things to get people in a uproar and sat back and laugh. It is intertainment for them no facts just jumbled numbers and words. Well I have more listing to do on bidville my auctions are closeing have to restock so back to work. Have a nice buying/selling day.
posted on July 1, 2001 06:39:18 PM new
Careful dim, or you will have the posse all over you. It will take all night to figure out what some of them are saying.
deichen
I think it is sad when someone cannot see both sides. It is not always "my way or the highway"...
posted on July 1, 2001 06:44:10 PM new
wlaschin >
Careful dim, or you will have the posse all over you.
I always find it hilarious when someone posts a message, then you click on their profile here at AuctionWatch to find they just signed up, then at the auctionsite to check the veracity of their statment.
posted on July 1, 2001 06:46:00 PM new
Its OK to support Bidville, lord knows most of us would LOVE to see the site grow and prosper, I know I would!
It is also OK to point out potential problems developing on a site... Its OK in this forum to suggest that one policy or the other may be flawed, or otherwise create cause for concern. Must everything said about Bidvill be in its praise? Could it be that this site, above all others. is somehow perfect - with no problems at all?
I think everyone knows and accepts that some items need to wait for that right bidder to come along. Its nice to be able to keep these items in the public eye for more than just a few days...
Still, having available a thirty day auction, that can be relisted 99 times --- wow, its hard to argue for that kind of nonsence.
Constant and ongoing relists can not be usefull for an auction site. Back when Yahoo started charging, I had several phone conversations with some yahoo guys. Constant relisting was cited as a major problem and a primary reason for adding fees.
I myself enjoy dimviews numbers, although I suspect there may be a more accurate way to compute sell through. I await numbers and examles from bidville itself.
edited to insert tyops
[ edited by rustybore on Jul 1, 2001 06:48 PM ]
posted on July 1, 2001 06:55:01 PM new
Dose anyone on these "GOSSIP PAGES" really think it matters or changes what anybody thinks or does by posting their opinions on here or at any site, including Bidville's. Its their opinions and no one really cares cause they are like A.....S everyone has one. I really think what the second hand sellers need to do is get a life and stop sticking their noses in everyone else's business. I sell on the auctions, but I don't mind my fellow auctioneers business, but these pages are always good for a laugh.....
In my opinion dim is not bashing bidville, he is bringing up what he considers valid points. I am very much for the relisting, but if I were in his shoes I would not wade through 50 pages of re-listed post cards. There are those that want sunshine blown up their skirts and do not want any problems, so they say everyone with a different opinion is bashing. I would hope we could find a way to keep the few bidders that bidville has instead of telling them to look elsewhere. Ebay is great for the "if you do not like it go somewhere else" attitude. Once bidville gets the traffic they will start charging fees and then all of the "sunshine gang" will find a new site to root for.
[ edited by wlaschin on Jul 1, 2001 08:04 PM ]
posted on July 1, 2001 09:36:05 PM new
DIMVIEW, back in February, you were riding the crest about what Yahoo did to their auctions when they imposed the listing fees.
Noe you are suggesting Bidville and other "alternative" sites impose listing fees?
You say that Bidville is a webserver, and ebay and Yahoo are "auctionservers", and that Bidville needs to become an auction server like Ebay and Yahoo.
(assuming you accept the Yahoo numbers propaganda) I take from what you are saying is that the ebay, and the yahoo way, are the only ways to make a viable auction site.
This does not seem to be a reasonable stance.
If someone wants The ebay, or the Yahoo methods, why don't they just stay there? Why would you want another Ebay, or another Yahoo? I don't. That is why I and others are at Bidville.
Also, as far as RichHillbilly goes, if you were to follow the boards at Bidville, ( I realize you don't have the time to be everywhere and gather all of your numbers), you would know the story behind the name. And you are correct when you say that Hillbilly does not list under that ID.
For the benefit of those not familiar, RichHillbilly was an Id assumed briefly at Bidville by one of the sellers who frequents the boards. When he discarded that ID, another party picked it up to cause mayhem on the site, thus the suspensions. The person who posted here as RichHillbilly, is not the same as the person suspended at Bidville.
Please run and check out my "stats" and advise if you feel that I have been registered at AW long enough to deserve the right to post on the Boards here. You will find that I have open auctions on both Bidville and Ebay and use the same i.d. for selling and posting on all Boards.
I believe the topic in discussion here is the 99 relists on Bidville and the potential problems that they can cause, i.e. the continual relisting of the same items.
I must say that I believe that the relists do cause a problem; the same problem which Yahoo was forced to deal with. The spam on Yahoo was also an issue, one they could/would not control. I see a great deal of spam on Ebay also. I feel that when Yahoo did decide to deal with the problem, they made a very big mistake by labeling the relisted auctions as "junk". Many sellers took offense and I can't say that I blame them. This type of statement, teamed with their poor customer support and inadequate responses to questions in their "live meeting with management" showed the management of Yahoo to be somewhat egotistical and obviously unqualified in the public relations area.
I rarely browse categories on Bidville now due to the "same ole", however, new Sellers are flocking to Bidville daily now and I feel that the situation shall change. I do however, feel that it would be in the best interest of Bidville to lower the possible relists to a realistic number.
I also feel that the largest problem currently for Bidville is a lack of bidders. Given the marvelous sellers who are doing all they can to promote the site, I see a potential for Bidville. Unfortunately, I believe it is going to take many many more Sellers leaving the other place and bringing their bidders with them to accomplish results.
So, you see, I am not a "cheerleader", nor am I a "naysayer". I am only reporting "what I see" as you report "the statistics that you see". I do not feel that you are on a compaign to degrade Bidville and your message has been misinterpreted somewhat.
I see nothing wrong with anyone pointing out the faults that they see anywhere, as long as they are open to speaking to the good points, such as the changes that are being made daily....changes which the Management openly discusses with the membership asking for their opinions. Where else? I ask.
I feel very strongly that a solid foundation is being built and it could be "Only a matter of time!".
posted on July 2, 2001 12:13:14 AM new
DimView, I used the name RichHillbilly at Yahoo & Bidville for a short period. Then somebody picked it up and trashed and thrashed it around. Then they were suspended. If you want to check my stats, go look for "HILLBILLYLUVSCARDS". I personally love Bidville's relist. I list for 5 days with a 99 relist. I do this because it saves me time. The chances of a 99 relist getting to 99 is quite slim. I have less than 300 listings at the moment, but I sold 535 card deals for the month of May. I love Bidville, sure there is improvements to be made. But Rome wasn't built in a day, nor Yahoo or E-Bay. Take care, Hillbilly
posted on July 2, 2001 06:09:04 AM new
Before I start, let me just say that I haven't been endlessly relisting my items at BidVille. I leave them up for 5 relists, then move them back to eBay to see if I have better luck "next time around there".
But the endless relist problem will not go away I suspect for this reason: Personally, I use AT to launch my auctions at BidVille. The auction information resides in the software even after it's up on BidVille. Therefore, even if my allotted (and let's say BidVille did reduce that number officially to 5 someday) relists ran out, I could easily select the BidVille auctions that expired, hit Post Auctions, and there they are again.
So anyone using auction launching software that retains the information, can easily relist, and relist, and relist...
without it being much effort on their part anyway.
posted on July 2, 2001 06:41:43 AM new
jimhhow >
DIMVIEW, back in February, you were riding the crest about what Yahoo did to their auctions when they imposed the listing fees. Noe you are suggesting Bidville and other "alternative" sites impose listing fees?
Given the defense of inventory warehousing, I'm beginning to think that Yahoo! took notice of it and decided to jettison the listings of items that just do not sell, or do so with the frequency of Halley's Comet.
Consider this:
Bidville right now has a total of 660,000 listings, comprised of 45,000 new listings and 615,000 old listings.
Bidville right now has a "sell-through rate" of 0.8%, which translates to 5,280 sales each week.
Since we know these old listings are OLD because there's little interest in buying them, it follows that most of these sales are for the new listings.
If so, then
5,280 / 45,000 = 0.117 x 100 = 11.7% is the "sell-through rate".
I would say Bidville has a "viable auction site" there, but its foundation is a "dead inventory warehouse".
Bidville could significantly improve its sell-through rate, and therefore its auctionsite, by simply putting a "speedbump" in the path of inventory warehousers.
posted on July 2, 2001 07:31:19 AM new
Hey BidVille Prez ...
>I'd be very interested to see the post on Bidville where you asked about sell through and were told it's none of your business (nicely). Whoever told you that will be reprimanded.
I can't -- you very cleverly removed that entire thread that you yourself participated in. I believe it was, ahem, you who told me that. But then again, just like me and many others, you said a lot of things in that thread that were a little less than professional or appropriate.
Benember that???
At the end of the day though, this is all in jest ... isn't it?
btw - I have been buying a few items on Bidville but the market I really want to buy (and sell) in still has the same 112 items that it had when I joined BV in January. As Dimview has tried to say, there really is no point in looking there anymore. As a result, and I guess this is good for you, I haven't been playing in your forums lately either.
btw ... my head is still hurting ... any suggestions "doc"?
posted on July 2, 2001 08:04:47 AM new
Dinview wrote:
If you started a 30-day auction and got a bid the first day, guess what, your item would have that bid listed in the live auctions.
-----------------------------------------
I caught you in another error. Since you divide by the total number of weeks it doesn't really matter if you count this in the "live auction with bids" because you're still going to ultimately divide by 4. How do I know? Because it's what you've done in the past.... it's how you calculate your wrong numbers. You NEVER compensate for the actions that last longer. Plus you your numerator can be from 2 months ago (when Bidville had about 500,000 auctions), yet you use a current denominator (Bidville has 660,000) to caluclate your final sell-through percentage. WRONG again.
I just took a look at Bidville's official numbers. I trust those 1000% more than yours. Bidville has never done anything to make me think they would give false number. Look and behold: their numbers are a lot higher than yours. Why? Because they factor in the growth of Bidville... that you DON'T. The numerator and denominator come from the SAME week. Yours are lucky if they're from the same month. Bidville's numbers would probably even edge up a little more if they factored in the average length of the auctions (which they don't), because the average length is probably more near 10 days than 7 days.
posted on July 2, 2001 08:09:21 AM new
RB >
I have been buying a few items on Bidville but the market I really want to buy (and sell) in still has the same 112 items that it had when I joined BV in January. As Dimview has tried to say, there really is no point in looking there anymore.
Yikes. Those items have been around for about six month. Scary to think they'll be around for another 1-1/2 years with that 99 relist option.
posted on July 2, 2001 08:17:18 AM new
Dimview wrote:
And that's a "believable" difference?
-------------------------------------
Are you kidding here? I hope so. 1.4% is almost 100% higher then your number. That's a HUGE significant increase. By mocking that 100% you're really beginning to show your IGNORANCE on the meaning of Statistics. You seem to enjoy throwing out numbers, but it's clear that you fail to truely understand what you're calulating and HOW to calculate it.
Face it Dimview... you're numbers are wrong. Stick to reporting total auction numbers on a day to day basis. That's easy and thus something you can do right. Stay away from those "difficult" subjects of addition and multiplication.
[ edited by daredevil2010 on Jul 2, 2001 08:22 AM ]
posted on July 2, 2001 09:55:21 AM new
Ok, Folks, ya know what. I think we should all try to remember a few things here. First off, rumor has it that no one walking the earth today is perfect.
Dimview has admitted that there is a possibility for erors in his calculations when all the pertinent figures are not available. Added to that, the figures that are available, a flawed due to the fact they represent some differences in their make up. for example you are comparing 30 day auctions with bids vs 7 days auctions without. I do see where all the differences would be difficult to quantify.
Dimview has an obvious affection for numbers, some might say obsession. (with no disrespect intended)
I'm sure that it is a lot of work to try and put figures together such as he does.
I am also sure that he posts with the best motives in mind. I think it is impolite of everyone to diz him now that Bidville has come forth with some figures which were not available before.
Also, if you look at the figures the Prez posted, it does bear out some points of both sides. The bidville cheerleaders, and Dimview's.
As to the subject of warehousing, it is now easy to see Dimview's point better when you look at regular auction #'4 vs gallery and featured. Ditto with the results for the same categories.
So while the listing numbers bear out the warehousing principle, the results are also their own filtering system for that. It is obvious that if you are warehousing an item, you are not going to pay to feature it. That is where the action is. I would really have liked to see one more breakdown where category feature vs front page feature. I believe this would have pointed to an even larger difference between the front page feature and the regular listings.
So Dimview, in a fashion, Bidville does have a system in place that, while allowing the warehousing of items, pretty much segregates the newer items. Remember, even the gallery feature only relists three times.
I think this system works because it still allows you to let the card seller handle the 5 and 10 cent cards, that so many collectors look for to round out there collections. (I use sports cards as an example, I am sure there are other types also)
I think others here have agreed that there is warehousing, and I will also agree that there is. Personally, I list for thirty days, usually with 5 relists. if the item sits 5 months, I leave it off for a while, or take it to a live absolute auction. Or maybe I will change a starting price or something. But I don't actually consider myself a warehouser.
I also want to say I think it is great that you can keep your perspective throughout, and not resorting to name calling or other counterproductive tactics, even when baited at times.
posted on July 2, 2001 11:19:08 AM new
I just can't believe all of these letters and comments on this page. Why don't you let the Bidville President make his decisions and quit all your second guessing him? Also why is all these letters being posted here and not at Bidville where they are supposed to be. Why air out your hate rage and dirty laundry on this site? I have purchased items off of Ebay and Yahoo, and spent a lot of money on both sites and gotten no help or respect from either site cause I'm a buyer on these two sites and don't make these sites the bucks these kind of sellers does. Plus I never received no help from either site when I received counterfeits. I collect beanie and buddies for my two niece's and purchased two Sakura's off a seller on Yahoo and paid 75.00 each for them plus shipping and when they arrived, I'm no expert, but only a fool wouldn't know they was counterfeit. I informed Yahoo, but gotten to reply, and the seller is still on the site selling his counterfeits. Then on Ebay I purchased, 1 Britannia, 1 Britannia Buddy and lucky enough someone email me before I sent money for a Sakura I won and told me they was selling counterfeits or I would have lost that money also. But do you think Ebay did anything about these three sellers.....NO...The bottom line is all that matters to these auction sites. I better stay at a site that at least cares about your concerns, I received answer to the 3 questions I asked. So why don't everyone stop bashing this site, which will make people leave this site and inform people about the site. What does posting letter after letter on this site help Bidville?
Only bashing ruins a site, look at Beanie Exchange, LAO, OWP, Collection Nation, they are either closed down or are a Ghost Site.......I for one will let everyone know what a great and raising site Bidville is............
The other day I was in the post office mailing some auction items and ran into a guy that sold little cars (HotWheels or something like that) at eBay. I told him to check out Bidville and wrote down the URL on paper for him.
What I find hilarious is that some folks here seem to want to stick their head in the sand when it comes to talking about an 0.8% sell-through rate or a 1.4% sell-through rate, and then make wild accusations of libel and fraud when an effort is put forth to get a handle on some numbers.
You see, they just know there's gotta be an agenda.
Frankly, some "sellers", which look more and more like "inventory warehousers" must themselves feel very threatened that Bidville just might make some Yahoo-like changes.
I don't think that's going to happen because the Prez himself said he's pleased with the present sell-through rate.
posted on July 2, 2001 01:16:16 PM new
<I am sure you have some valid points but some of us are growing wary of the constant bashing>
Then don't read his posts. Problem solved.
It seems people loyal to Bidville, ePier, or whatever want *only* to hear positive things about their respective sites. Anything even mildly critical is considered "bashing."
Well that's hogwash. I want dimview to continue posting both his stats and opinions, his posted sell-through rates closely mirror what I've been finding in my own research of these "secondary sites," and I agree 100% that if they were to implement a listing fee of even a nickel, untold *thousands* of active auctions would suddenly vanish, as sellers pulled their listings because they know without a doubt that those items wouldn't sell, and don't want to chuck away a nickel. So why are these items listed at all?
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