posted on July 8, 2001 04:51:41 PM new
How many of the current 1,260 $1-sale items were listed between June 19th and July 2nd? Those should have ended on the 2nd (as per the rules) and the high bid honored. Anything Listed after that is fair game and the sellers are just stating the item in question is starting at $1.00.....
[ edited by wlaschin on Jul 8, 2001 04:53 PM ]
posted on July 8, 2001 05:13:07 PM new
Here is an email I got from Bidville 7/2:
Mon, 02 Jul 2001 15:40:44 GMT
Reply-to: [email protected]
Subject: $1 Sale - One more day!
BidVille Member,
Monday July 2nd is the last day for the Bidville $1-Sale. You can still bid on over 5000 items with $1 starting bids and no reserve prices. If you haven't checked it out, you could be missing some really great stuff. Just go to Bidville and click on the $1-Sale logo from the home page. See you there!
-----
Since the site is the one sending the LAST day of sale notice I feel they should have stepped in days ago. Not necessarily suspending sellers but something. Perhaps a post like hey guys we sent every user a notice the sale ended please don't make us look like liars. It could be harmful to the reputation we want to establish. If that didn't get much result they could have made a decision about what to do next, be it end the ads themselves, put the link back on the front page or whatever.
While I do agree sellers are free to use "sale" or whatever they wish in titles THIS particular program was meant to be a unique promotion. If sellers didn't like the dates quite simply they should not have signed up for a "special" 14 day event. Easy enough, "No thanks I am going to run my own type promotion as long as I want".
Several users besides Wallypog politely tried to point out the continued running of the ads took away the uniqueness of the promotion. Many understood and edited, others made rude replies amounting to 'buzz off control freaks, my auctions, my decision'. The site has had 6 days to rule yet I've seen no statement from administration. IMO it's time they speak out on one side or the other instead of letting the controversy further turn users against each other.
Auctions sellers can always put $1 SALE in their auction titles, in fact they have, but $1-SALE is unique to what is presumably going to be a twice yearly promotional event.
posted on July 8, 2001 05:31:06 PM new
Where on bidville does it state the $1-sale is going to be a twice yearly event? I did not use the $1-sale since shill bidding would be so easy to do on that site. I would LOVE to know how many users there are on bidville (been asking this since I found the site). That would be more helpful than knowing the number of auctions.
posted on July 8, 2001 05:40:54 PM new
Wlaschin: Unfortunately, the number of registered users can be meaningless. Another auction site (who has to remain nameless because of an AW decree) was boosting its registered users by signing up people without their knowledge. I'm not saying any other auction site would do this, but I no longer trust any registered user numbers.
A number of auction sellers mentioned "over there" that the $1-SALE was a successful event; there's talk about running another one in October.
It will be interesting to see who will step up to the plate, and put in the many hours that wallypog did, to put another together given the "who cares" attitude from a handful of auction sellers.
posted on July 8, 2001 05:47:56 PM new
So how do I as a seller gauge if a site is growing? Bidville lists 650,000 auctions half of which are cards. I would like to know if I am dealing with 1000 "buyers" or 10,000 buyers. How about listing the total number of auctions that have SOLD?....
I know wallypog put in a ton of time on this and in no way want to diminish that. The sellers "over there" are also talking about a $5.00 sale, end of summer sale, buy one get one free sale and others, you get the idea. I never saw any post that laid claim to the $1-sale. If bidville wants something like that they need start a section that only has items started at $1.00 and remove the reserve option for that section. Sad part is, it would have 300,000 25 cent cards....
Rate of increase (decrease) of total listings;
Rate of increase (decrease) of closed auctions with bids; and
Sell-through rate, which is closed auctions with bids divided by total listings.
I prefer the sell-through rate because it includes both measures.
posted on July 8, 2001 05:57:53 PM new
Also, there is already a site that has the $1.00 category, but we are not allowed to mention that one by name here.
posted on July 8, 2001 06:03:26 PM new
it's hopeless!
One who limits their thinking, and one who don't know what question they asked.
I'm leaving this thread.
I think Bidville has very good subject-based categories and would not like to see a dollar category tacked on, particularly since the average dollar value per closed auction with bids is probably around two dollars anyway. There's no reason a category cannot have a full range of item pricing.
I prefer browsing by category, not by price. If there were a dollar category, items attracting multiple bids would have been better placed in the subject-based category.
As an example, this past week I've bought several postcards, including one for just a buck and another (last night) for more than $50. It was nice having them both in the same postcard category.
posted on July 9, 2001 07:47:07 AM new
Very little mention has been made of the fact that a large number of the $1-Sale auctions had a reserve, a clear violation of the sales rules.
Perhaps Bidville has had its' fill of this type of sale controversy and we will not see site supported sales in the future.
posted on July 9, 2001 08:11:01 AM new
bidsbids >
Perhaps Bidville has had its' fill of this type of sale controversy and we will not see site supported sales in the future.
By all accounts, the $1-SALE items went very well at the dollar level with some items fetching a bit more on multiple bids. Unfortunately a handful of auction sellers don't think the terms and conditions of the $1-SALE apply to them.
They continue listing $1-SALE auctions making it clear they do not intend to abide by the simple instructions; they continue relisting $1-SALE acutions making it clear they never intended to abide by the simple instructions.
Should Bidville decide not to involve themselves in further promotional events, those auction sellers that DID abide by the terms and conditions need only point to the few that DID NOT as the reason.
posted on July 9, 2001 09:41:27 AM new
"Should Bidville decide not to involve themselves in further promotional events, those auction sellers that DID abide by the terms and conditions need only point to the few that DID NOT as the reason"
So, are you saying that the needs of a few do not outweigh the needs of the many?
I doubt very much if any service would stop their service using the excuse that a few of the many abused it. If that was the case, AW forums would have ceased existing years ago.
That's life my friend, and the reason we have laws, Codes, Standards, Regulations etc. You don't stop putting up Stop signs just because a few people don't stop
posted on July 9, 2001 09:46:13 AM new
RB >
That's life my friend, and the reason we have laws, Codes, Standards, Regulations etc.
And the reason Bidville has a User Agreement?
Bidville - User Agreement
6.1 Your Information (or any items listed therein): (a) shall not be false, inaccurate or misleading; (b) shall not be fraudulent or involve the sale of counterfeit or stolen items; (c) shall not infringe any third party's copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy; (d) shall not violate any law, statute, ordinance or regulation (including without limitation those governing export control, consumer protection, unfair competition, antidiscrimination or false advertising); ...
The terms and conditions of the $1-SALE were provided to participants, which included the provision that the duration of the promotional event was June 19 through July 2. To that end Bidville sent an e-mail to users stating that the last day to bid on $1-SALE-tagged auctions was July 2.
It follows that sellers continuing $1-SALE auctions have "false", "inaccurate" and "misleading" listings because the $1-SALE has ended, and are therefore engaged in "false[ly] advertising" a $1-SALE that is not now in effect.
posted on July 9, 2001 10:20:29 AM new
"That's my interpretation"
Cool. I think we all understand your "interpretation" now. We also know that there is no way to change your mind, and if someone does catch an error in your "interpretation(s)", you will start "interpreting" something else.
I respectfully suggest you give it a rest already
Or, if you want to take the gloves off and face your adversaries, c'mon over to that other place, reveal your ID there, and talk it up ... no moderators to worry about over there dim!!!
posted on July 9, 2001 10:38:05 AM new
Which part of my last post was insulting, relative to other posts that are OK in your opinion Sara? I respectfully suggest that the only folks who seem to be getting moderated and warned here are those who are disagreeing with a certain poster.
I further do not believe I have insulted anyone ...
btw ... I am looking for some beachballs for the summer ...
[ edited by RB on Jul 9, 2001 10:41 AM ]
