posted on August 22, 2002 06:12:02 PM new
Appears to be gearing up to be a huge event! Looks like lots of sellers will be participating this time. Many new sellers are showing up to list in the sale. The enthusiasm being displayed for this sale, coupled with the fact that many new bidders have been keeping some sellers busy at Bidville all summer, should make this one of the best sales yet!
posted on August 22, 2002 09:01:52 PM new
I'm anxious to see the final sales stats on this one as there may be more special auctions that ever. I have a feeling that the extra large number of sale listings may dilute the sold auctions final figures.
posted on August 22, 2002 09:11:00 PM new
Wow, a dollar sale. Woopee. Does that mean that worthless sports cards cannot be listed because they aren't worth a dollar. That would reduce the listings at bidville by 90%.
How many new bidders will this sale attract. I bet I can count them with less than one hand.
posted on August 23, 2002 04:24:01 AM new
Tooltimes, actually, the only "sold auctions final figures" that I worry about, are my own. This is true at any I site I sell from. I could care less about a site's "overall" sell-through stats. I try a site, and if it works for me I'll use it, if it doesn't, I move on. No sense obsessing about a site that just didn't work out for me. I grew out of that sort of thing years ago. lol! Bidville works for me. I like it!
As for the "sold auctions final figures", the measure of success will be up to each individual seller at the end of the sale. I'm not of the opinion that every item listed must sell to make it a success.
Caffeitalia, I don't buy or sell sportscards, so I really don't concern myself about them, at any site. I take it that you do, or you wouldn't be so obviously worried about them. The number of listings at a site doesn't worry me much either. As I mentioned to tooltimes, my main concern, at any site, would be "is it working for me?" About new bidders, if I only get enough new bidders to count on one hand, during the sale, that's wonderful too! They are potential repeat customers, who might bring more customers. Any good seller knows that 3 new bidders are just as important as 20.
The Bidville sales may be laughed at by some, but I've had much success with them. The sale items definately bring folks in to look around. I've sold items ranging from $1 to over $100 during the sale events. And during every sale, I have gained at least a few, and somtimes many, new customers. That works for me!
posted on August 23, 2002 05:12:30 AM new
One of the reasons that I am curious about the final sale results is that in the past the Bidville management has taken great pride in displaying those statistics. In fact, those are the only site statisics the the management ever displays.
What if this sale's final sales stats are very poor? That may cause the Bidville management to rethink any decision to continue operations. Maybe it is that Bidville has already decided to end all site operation on December 8th, the annual date of the renewal of their license, and this sale is merely a goodbye gift to the few remaining loyal members? It's fun to speculate on the future of the curious auction giant named Bidville.
posted on August 23, 2002 06:08:33 AM new
Since 60% of bidville's numbers are nickel and dime sports cards I cant see how this will help the very low sell-thru rate(1.2%-1.5% across the board). The book catagory has remained stagnant for months now, and every catagory except sports has been slowly dropping as well. The only advertising is internal so how will your typical ebay or yahoo buyer know about it? Its the same old story of sellers buying off sellers at bidville.
posted on August 23, 2002 06:48:14 AM new
Tooltimes, I really couldn't care less if Bidville ever posts sale statistics. I know mine, and that is what matters to me. I've never chosen an auction site because of their overall "stats". And I seriously doubt that many sellers do.
If "my" sale stats are very poor, from this sale, I will know that I must do something differently, or perhaps even try another site. Each seller must make that call for himself. If "my" results were favorable, I would not leave the site just because the overall stats were bad. That would be ridiculous.
And yes, speculation can be fun, can't it! Some people even make speculation their "life's work". I'm a grown up person. If Bidville were to decide to close it's doors, I would move on. It's that simple. I've had a successful run at Bidville, and would have no regrets to look back on. I also do not believe that anyone at Bidville is obligated to keep me posted on their business dealings. They do their thing, I do my thing, and all is well. If and when it no longer works for me, then I'll be gone. If this sale proves to be a "goodbye gift", I think it is going to be a good one!
Blairwitch, concerning all of your "stats" questions/statements, please read the above posts, and you will understand my opinion of those.
I don't really care if my bidders come from Yahoo, or Ebay, as long as they come. Most of my bidders are NOT sellers at Bidville, but I wouldn't mind if they were. Why should anyone mind? If I want to sell an item for $x and Joe Smo wants to buy it for $x, why should I care if Joe is a seller from the site or not?? The majority of online auction buyers are dealers who are going to turn around and resell the item somewhere anyway. My experience with Yahoo and Ebay was the same. Many of the sales are made seller to seller. This is a fact at any online auction site. It's definately not exclsive to Bidville, contrary to what you would have others believe. Bidville's only advertising may be internal, but the sellers at Bidville reach a very broad audience with their individual advertising. That is proven by the indisputable fact that new members are still joining the site after all this time. The water may be running slow, but as long as it's still running, you can't call the stream stagnant.
posted on August 23, 2002 07:33:03 AM newBidville's only advertising may be internal, but the sellers at Bidville reach a very broad audience with their individual advertising. That is proven by the indisputable fact that new members are still joining the site after all this time. The water may be running slow, but as long as it's still running, you can't call the stream stagnant.
The only way bidville sellers advertised was placing bidville banners on other sites, then complaining when they were kicked off. The listings are stagnant and I am sure this is the reason they are holding this sale. It should be called the five and dime sale lol.
posted on August 23, 2002 08:18:51 AM new
Blairwitch, is this your personal experience with the site? Are you, or did you list there, and ONLY advertise via banners that were kicked off? Because I assure you, most of the sellers at BV are advertising in many other ways. If you have been paying attention to the message boards there in the last year or so, you would know this.
Yes, some of the listings are stagnant, as some are at all online auction sites. But, evidently, they are not quite stagnant enough to keep the bidders away.
Hey, a five and dime sale might be just the thing! Yahoo and Ebay should try that too! As I see many "dollar store" items listed on those sites, at horrendous starting bids!
Isn't the purpose of a "sale" to offer things at lower than usual prices? I always thought it was! Whatever, it seems to work for most sellers at Bidville!
posted on August 23, 2002 09:40:43 AM new
Another possible reason for the BV management iniatiating this sale, since no one at BV seemed to have any desire to organize yet another sale, is to help maintain the number of current premium memberships. The number seems to be slipping a bit as more and more of the daily homepage featured sellers seem to be non premium membership sellers. Those membership dues are almost the sole revenue for the site that charges no listing fees or final value fees.
I wish all of the "$1S" sellers good luck.
posted on August 24, 2002 01:30:28 PM newBlairwitch, is this your personal experience with the site? Are you, or did you list there, and ONLY advertise via banners that were kicked off? Because I assure you, most of the sellers at BV are advertising in many other ways. If you have been paying attention to the message boards there in the last year or so, you would know this.
Bidville banners were a big problem on yahoo, but many of the troublemakers got the boot. When I see a banner the neighborhood watch comes in handy.
You are correct that some sellers are trying to advertise, but the site will not. Even ebay spends millions on advertising and they have no real threat from competition. The only things I notice on the boards is lack of management, advertising, bids, and the gallery is always down.
Yes, some of the listings are stagnant, as some are at all online auction sites. But, evidently, they are not quite stagnant enough to keep the bidders away.
Actually they are stagnant enough to keep the bidders away. When you have free listings the site tends to become cluttered which explains the very low sell-thru rate. On fee based sites sellers list fresh items on a regular basis thus keeping bidders happy.
posted on August 24, 2002 02:24:27 PM new
Even if many new bidders do arrive to participate in the newest sale won't they be limited to bidding only on a scant few items until they build up an acceptable feedback rating? Either that or pay $5 to get verified in order to bid on more $1 items?
I looked at many of the 2,000 sale items that are viewable and saw dozens of items priced from .01 to $1.99 . Many sellers are making their own rules as they go I guess.
posted on August 24, 2002 03:18:57 PM new
This sale just might be a fundraiser for bidville hoping they sucker some $5.00 membership fees. I dont blame the nickel and dime sellers for trying to sell their junk, but they should keep it to the five and dime sale.
posted on August 24, 2002 07:09:25 PM new
"This sale just might be a fundraiser for bidville hoping they sucker some $5.00 membership fees. I dont blame the nickel and dime sellers for trying to sell their junk, but they should keep it to the five and dime sale."
Blairwitch, this does not answer the questions I asked you. Let's try again.
Did you, as a nickel and dime seller yourself, try to sell your junk at Bidville without success? Is that why you are able to speak with such knowledge of the site?
Or, are your opinions and statements strictly formed from speculation?
Perhaps Bidville IS trying to attract more fee paying members by having this sale. That makes good business sense to me. Doesn't Ebay and Yahoo try to attract more sellers, in order to bring more money to their coffers? After all, the more sellers a site has, the more bidders are likely to visit. And the more money the site brings in, the greatere the possibility of advertising.
You can spend many hours childishly trying to persuade the masses not to sell or buy at Bidville, but most of us are adults here, and will, in the end, make the decision based on our on experience.
Regardless of anything you might spread around the message boards, the sale will happen. Some new sellers will join the site. Some new bidders will join the site. Some sellers will do very well with the sale. Some won't. Each seller will measure his/her own success by his/her own sales. I really doubt that any one of them will judge the end result by any remark that you make.
Now, would you care to share your experiences, so that we may know of what knowledge you have to back your claims?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Even if many new bidders do arrive to participate in the newest sale won't they be limited to bidding only on a scant few items until they build up an acceptable feedback rating? Either that or pay $5 to get verified in order to bid on more $1 items?
I looked at many of the 2,000 sale items that are viewable and saw dozens of items priced from .01 to $1.99 . Many sellers are making their own rules as they go I guess."
Tooltimes, sure there will be some that only be allowed to bid to the limit, until the specified feedback is reached. If, in fact, that rule is still enforced. But, with the many online payment options available, some of those bidders will be able to reach that feedback quickly. And there is always the possibility that the bidders who don't will come back when they have done so. If 1 out 5 come back to bid again, after gaining the feedback, that's more business; however small. Remember, we must crawl before we walk. And no two babies reach that goal at the same age.
Yes, some don't seem to be following the sale rules. That, also, is not something exclusive to the site. Every day there are sellers breaking TOS at Ebay, Yahoo, and any number of other auction sites. ( There's one in every family! )
posted on August 24, 2002 07:31:28 PM new
Blairwitch just can't stand to admit that Bidville's sales are always successful-it negates his old, tired argument that Bidville is dead.
I sell on several sites, and my sell through rate is higher on Bidville than anywhere else-due in major part to repeat buyers I got to know during sales. Generally, buyers are very loyal to sellers that they can trust-a commodity that is increasingly rare on Ebay and Yahoo!
This is perhaps BV's greatest asset and generates the 'word of mouth' advertising that is better than any company generated hype-that BV sellers are honest and trustworthy to a very large degree. In a small auction community, one cannot be a scam artist and last long-maybe that's why some people dislike Bidville-they couldn't play their games there and get away with it?
posted on August 24, 2002 09:07:11 PM new
Here's a word of mouth for ya. Bidville, where you find hundreds of thousands of auctions of crap (sports cards and recipe auctions) listed without regard to what catagory the item is listed, clogging up the system for any buyer looking to purchase an item of value. Why waste your precious time sifting through pages and pages of crap just to find one item of value? This is why buyers do not stay around long enough at bidvilles clique. This is the main reason the 90% of the sales there are between other sellers.
[ edited by caffeitalia on Aug 24, 2002 09:09 PM ]
posted on August 25, 2002 05:31:56 AM new
I have a question over the latest announcement by the BV management concerning the upcoming dollar sale.
[i]All items must start with a $1.00 minimum bid. Anything starting at over $1.00 or under $1.00 will not show up in the search once the sale begins. Also, if the item has a reserve price, it will not be included.
[/i]
Since there are well over 2,000 auctions, we can not get an actual number since the BV search engine is very weak and can only display 2,000 auctions at a time, what happens on 9/1 with items with more than one bid that started at the legit $1 ? Will an item with a $1.25 or more bid be excluded from the BV search engine when the "$1S" info is placed into it?
This is the first that we have seen of this 'Terrence the BV Tech' but it seems like he is going to try to bring some much needed discipline to the BV seller's $1 Sale ranks with the new sale search modifications. There should be some major squawking on 9/1 when many items do not appear after the special search, or does it even matter if the search engine can only display a mere 2,000 auctions at one time.
posted on August 25, 2002 06:12:25 AM new
Shouldn't be a problem at all. Very few people will actually scroll through the entire list-they will go to the categories that interest them. I did this last night, worked great!
By the way, very few recipes and cards listed. Some incredible deals on other items! The fact that sellers are willing to list these items at such a low starting price shows their faith in the amount of traffic this sale will generate.
posted on August 25, 2002 07:12:24 PM new
yellowbud welcome back to AW
tooltimes maybe bidville took notice to your post here about the nickel and dime listings mixed in. I agree bidville has a very weak search, but another problem could be sellers marking up five and dime goods to $1.00 thus flooding the sale with worthless items. And as far as terrance goes I say its one person using diffrent names. I wonder who runs to the rental mailbox?
posted on August 25, 2002 09:30:21 PM new
JB,
You prove my point to the tee. Your main seller is low grade sports cards. That is the problem with most big time buyers. They are not interested in them and must weed through them to find good items. Not telling you to quit selling those at bidville, that is where you should have them, just tell all of the card sellers to promote bidville as a sports card venue only. That way so others will quit wasting their time thinking they will find quality items there.
posted on August 26, 2002 05:41:36 AM new
Why thank you Blairwitch! I haven't posted at AW in probably about a year. I can't really say, yet, that it's nice to be back. If your "little wink" is supposed to signify who I am, I assure you that you are way off base.
About Terrance, and the "one person using different names" thing...one usually jumps to judge others by one's own actions.
Caffeitalia, JB's hot auction at Bidville is not a sports card. It's a decorative basket. Oh my, someone forgot to tell everyone that "other items" should not sell at Bidville. ( You have every right to keep plugging away at it though. ) lol!
posted on August 26, 2002 06:01:00 AM new
Hey yellowbud ... if that caffe thing gets you down (it follows me around like a leech), use the "ignore" function
On the sports card issue, while I am not a sports card collector, I do collect non-sports cards. Many of my sets were started or completed by purchasing the "nickle/dime" commons. I suspect there are probably many folks out there who are just getting started in the sports card collecting hobby and are looking for the easy ones first.
There is a need for these types of auctions, and I suggest Bidville is in the right place to convert their venue to "Sports Cards Only". That way, the collectors will be happy, the card sellers will be happy, and those who do not dabble in cards (of any type) collecting will have nothing more to whinge about wrt Bidville.
posted on August 26, 2002 10:50:32 AM newAbout Terrance, and the "one person using different names" thing...one usually jumps to judge others by one's own actions
I dont know why people like to hide behind diffrent names. We all know who you are so stop wasting our time. We all know bidvilles center of operations is a rental mailbox lol.
RB I agree bidville should become a sports only niche site. The other catagories are doing almost nothing. The book section is the worst. It will be interesting to see the the numbers during the sale.
posted on August 26, 2002 11:27:35 AM new
blairwitch ...
There are many good sports card sellers on Bidville, and I hope this sale works for them. I do think they would have a better chance though with better venue management.
posted on August 26, 2002 03:53:27 PM newBidville's only advertising may be internal, but the sellers at Bidville reach a very broad audience with their individual advertising. That is proven by the indisputable fact that new members are still joining the site after all this time. The water may be running slow, but as long as it's still running, you can't call the stream stagnant.
Only problem with this theory is when these new bidders arrive, they are driven away because no matter what they are looking for, they end up flooded with so many crap auctions that they get frustrated and move on. Hence the deadbeat rate goes up and the only sales completed are between other sellers.
posted on August 26, 2002 05:35:38 PM new
Italian Cafe, it's not just the low value sports cards. If a bidder wants to look at Mason jars then no sportscards will have to be waded through on the search results. One of the problems with all minor auction sites is the quality of the listings. How many auctions at ebay do not have photos? 10-15%? At the small sites, especially Bidville that figure may be as high as 85-90% because of all sportscards. Also many of the listings are now almost 2 years old. There are many things that are very poor in their auction descriptions such as super brief auction descriptions, no mention of shipping terms, poor descriptions of auction items, etc.
There are many class auction sellers at Bidville with excellent auction descriptions and photos but the percentage of good auction descriptions to bad auction descriptiond is very low and the high percentage of low value sportscards is the major culprit.
posted on August 26, 2002 06:31:18 PM new
I do wish the sellers good luck, but so much is against them at bidville. Some of the items on for 2 years was from yahoo post fees.
