Welfare System? Perhaps. But I don't think so. I don't know about anyone else, but for me, an auction site has to promise that to me, in order to get me list on their site. Especially after Yahoo. Why? Because, otherwise, I will not waste my time listing on their site. I will use ebay. Why should I list on a new site and help them bring in a pool of customers and then once they are sucessful, start charging me fees for what I and the other sellers helped build. The sellers who started listing there when they had only a few thousand items listed and only a few bidders.
Yahoo was free to list on until they thought they had enough of a base of customers, both sellers and buyers to start charging.
PayPal was also free, until they had a base of customers. Then they started charging for their services.
Free today, to me, means nothing.
Why should I or anyone of you list on a site that doesn't promise, that if you register now and list on their site, you will never be charged a fee.
Otherwise, you will help them build up their site, then once they have that base of customers, guess what.
If you don't have that pledge, such as LowestBids has already made, you are going to be charged a fee, same as the new seller who has never listed there before.
In my opinion, you have wasted your time. Sure, during the time the listings were free, the sellers made some money. But think of this.
How did ebay get to the number one spot. It sure wasn't because of advertising. It was because there was enough good sellers, putting out good products that brought buyer back time after time.
And the buyers were telling their friends about ebay which in turn brought more buyers and sellers into ebay.
That is how I discovered ebay.
And what of the sellers that helped build ebay? They get charged same as everyone else. I don't know, but I really doubt that anyone from the ebay corporation has even said, thank you to them.
And if I were the CEO of a new auction site, I would also make a pledge like the CEO of LowestBids made.
Why? Because it would be one of the fastest ways to bring new sellers into my site. And they would be building something for their future too. The business they helped create would benifit all of us.
And once we were sucessful, they wouldn't have to drag their auctions to another free site and start all over again. Like the sellers who helped build Yahoo auctions are now having to find another free site to list on.
Yes, I like the look and workability of AuXpal, and ePier, just hope they have some buyers. I think is AuxPal or Epier, one or the other doesn't have a 1st BID WINS feature, which I like to use, as I don't have much patience with auctions which run on and on, I'd rather it end when the first buyer bids, and we can close and get on to something else.
posted on January 14, 2001 05:50:52 PM
jwpc Auxpal has a function called "Take It" which is similiar wo 1st Bid. The person who bids that first gets the item.
That must be it - AuXpal has a similar function and I suppose it is ePier that doesn't.
I reviewed Lowestbid.com again, and I simply find their User's Agreement, lose, open ended, and well, guess Lowestbid.com just isn't for me.
No biggie, there are so many sites out here, just depends on what one sells and what type of site they are seeking.
I went back and did some eBay posting tonight, I don't have to love them to use them. At least good ole eBay and I have mutual respect, and that counts for something.
