posted on July 18, 2001 06:52:05 AM
Apparently this site just opened yesterday - seems to be stocked with a lot of remainders - I registered but have not listed anything there yet -
posted on July 18, 2001 07:10:47 AM
It kind of looks like Amazon - the colors and set up. Also, while it only took me about three minutes to find that the commission is 15%, I never found what the shipping allowance was. Also a lot like Amazon. One of these days, these sites are going to figure out that before I even look at their set up, I want to know how much they want from my sales. Geez.
Other than that general gripe about selling sites overall, it looks ok.
posted on July 18, 2001 08:40:49 AM
Thanks for letting me know about this new site. I went there not expecting much, and ended up buying a cd and being favorably impressed with the functioning of the site.
Many regular readers of the AuctionWatch boards know I can be a royal pain and am very parsimonious with my praise, but this site, albeit a bit of a copycat, functioned correctly.
This alone is noteworthy since places like gegy and epier had problems from day one. Grababargain actually must of checked their code on both netscape and explorer browsers, and with webtv too! A miracle for a new operation.
The ease of buying and selling shows me that somebody has some background in auctions there, another rarity.
Most importantly, they are covering classical music which half.com does not, even after all this time. So they have a unique market they can begin to develop - classical music buyers are picky like me, but most spend $$$$ freely if they find what they want.
Now the marketing of this site is the crucial element - they have 2,000,000 listings already - when I signed up with half.com that was about they were too.
I actually think this site could succeed given enough time, deep pockets, and some marketing savvy.
posted on July 18, 2001 09:31:35 AM
Yup, thanks kudzurose! That's a FANTASTIC site you just found! A total ripoff of Half.com but who said you had to reinvent the wheel? Now that you can't sell items on Half.com without giving your items away due to growing competition (prices on Half are plummeting daily), this might be a a 3rd fixed price marketplace alternative behind Amazon Marketplace. I'll try and list most of my inventory tonight!
They have a very nice layout, bulkloaders, automatic payment processing in place, marketing gimmicks ($5000 give away, merchandise giveaways like DVD players, rebates like Half), etc. Nice!!!
posted on July 18, 2001 09:36:54 AM
A sharp lady had found it and posted about it on another board, which I can't mention here - maybe some of you can guess and go there for a little more information.
In the time I've had to browse there, I was impressed with how fast it was - all the pages load so slowly at Half.com it drives me nuts.
Someone on the other board says he listed some stuff and has already had two sales . . .
Here's hoping it does turn out to be a good place for selling!
posted on July 18, 2001 09:51:38 AM
It allows sales to Canada as well with an appropriate shipping allowance. I don't think Half.com does as of yet. They also explain the Customs form you need to fill out for International sales. Sounds like they've stolen Half.com's entire playbook and then added their own enhancements!
Items are also listed with a minimum 50 cent limit --- wish this was a $1. Half starts at 75 cents although there are still items on the site that sellers had previously listed for pennies.
The shipping allowance for sellers is more generous than Half or Amazon Marketplace. Not quite enough to allow for Delivery Confirmation on every item but it's closer. Obviously they plan to make money off shipping like Half and Amazon do since they don't forward the entire shipping charge to the seller.
posted on July 18, 2001 09:59:22 AM
Was looking for a good place to sell books. Here is is. Just signed up there as well and looking forward to their growth.
posted on July 18, 2001 12:44:18 PM
Hi, again - it may be that GrabaBargain is owned by the same people who own Carnaby.com; and there is a report on "that other board" that all the listings at that auction site may not be legit . . .
posted on July 18, 2001 02:12:13 PM
Does anybody know how long this site has been around?
They do not have the database size Half. does. We have also found some of the same type mistakes Half. has. Wrong titles etc. We added about 50, of these one came up "Unknown titled Western by...", another came up with the author's name misspelled, which would negate a search. We did the bulk loader for some. When we checked our inventory we found one book that we did not enter, the ISBN was not close to any we entered & two books that did not go through.
posted on July 18, 2001 02:51:41 PM
Looks like it has a good start. Noticed that the vast majority of listings of popular newer titles are listed by 3 or 4 big outfits that do a lot on half.com. Maybe is a partnership between these sellers. Also, it appears they are definitely padding their numbers, which worries me. Dishonesty is a problem we face on all of these various sites. Check out Stephen King books, and you'll see what I mean. Some have 50 available, and when you click it's just one of these big sellers, stating only 1 copy available. Probably just a glick, but what about the "other" editions, many available, at huge prices. What is that? Very few sales overall, but has a chance if they plan on being upfront with us.
posted on July 18, 2001 03:50:02 PM
Cool I signed up. The first thing I plan to do is buy something. I also like to buy something first to get a feel and since they are offering coupons for signing up I will get something I was going to get on Half.com. I don't mind selling on both : )
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posted on July 18, 2001 05:21:10 PM
Peter Antunes of Grab-a-Bargain has posted in the other discussion that I mentioned earlier, that there is no business relationship between GAB and Carnaby.com; there is a familial relationship, however, as the chairman of Carnaby is his father, Rick Antunes.
posted on July 19, 2001 08:31:34 AM
I've been reading these boards since January, and this is my first post...
I've sold quite a lot on Half.com over the past year, but I don't consider us to be one of the "Big Boys," but Grababargain contacted us about two months ago and invited us to sign up.
I liked the look of the place, and modified the bulk listing tool we use with Half to work with them. It seems to work alright, and we have gotten a *FEW* orders from them.
I've spoken with their sales rep (Owner?) and their main tech guy- they aren't big enough yet that they've lost the human element.
However, I've never seen an advertisement for them anywhere, and I don't think they have much of a budget- I suspect it's just a few people who wanted to make a Half.com clone and have done a pretty good job of it.
Bottom line- It's free, so try it. We don't get 10% of the order there that we do from Half, but for us, it's been worth the effort.
posted on July 19, 2001 08:50:47 AM
15% commission sounds a bit steep to me.
And where did you guys find the classical section? There isn't a category for it under the music section.
[ edited by musicman1212 on Jul 19, 2001 08:56 AM ]
posted on July 19, 2001 09:11:43 AM
I found the classical listings by entering a upc number, also by tapping in "Beethoven" and "Mahler" under albums, and quite a few listings came up.
I suspect that the data base service they use (they didn't create it from scratch I am sure!) was originally created by a big music distributor for use by b & m store.
Like all such services, information is initially entered by a human being and thus susceptible to mistakes. Trying to correct all of them has been a challenge to half.com and I suspect will also be for any site that boasts hundreds of thousands of listings.
I guess it is possible they are not aware of their classical advantage. Let's hope they are able to define a classical category so those interested can browse and buy. Even if it is a small percent of the market, it is a unique offering that can be exploited. Classical folks buy other music, books and videos too. I know this from my retailing days. They are also not afraid to try something new.
Another great feature I discovered on the site is that sellers can reply to negative feedback of 2 or less. We half.com sellers have been begging for something like this for more than a year, but our pleas fall on uncaring ears.
It is little things like this that give me hope for the site to become an alternative to half.com.
It isn't that either half.com or eBay are bad. I am frustrated that they simply don't listen to their buyers and sellers. Meg and crowd are part of the elite corporate culture, and discount mere folks like us as annoyances to be "handled". For them co-branding with a Fortune 500 company is where it is at, not selling items one at a time.
However, we "little people" are both the buyers and sellers that built ebay.
And that is the achilles heel that will ultimately bring them down, given time.
This site is new, and I don't expect much right away, but for once I feel positive enough to list with them, investing my time and energy (always in short supply). This is the only capital I can offer a fledgeling site. Sweat equity. But I will invest it for my future sales and to continue to diversify the sources of income. I want to be far less dependent on ebay and half than I am.
[ edited by litlux on Jul 19, 2001 09:26 AM ]
posted on July 19, 2001 04:19:22 PM
I see one problem with Grababargain I ask someone else to look at the name real quick & tell me what she saw. She saw the same word I did with a quick glance "Garbage". Not the image I think they want.
posted on July 20, 2001 09:53:49 AM
We made a sale. About 36 hrs after we signed up. it is to someone in FL, as is grababargain. i wonder if they are doing local advertising. it is funny because one of our sources sent us about 50 books the other day and we where a little disappointed because there was 4 or 5 copies of one book. that is the one that sold so i guess it was ok.
posted on July 20, 2001 02:15:30 PM
Well as I mentioned at the beginning of this thread, I placed an order with grababargain and the seller did not confirm it, and the sale has been cancelled.
So my enthusiasm is now tempered with a cold dose of reality, and must ask....
someone mentioned earlier in this thread that their listings they claim may not be all legitimate. Can you shed a little light on this?
What I am sensing is that, like half.com, they may be accepting inventories from stores which can be presold or pulled if they feel the price is not high enough. I know that many sellers on half.com have terrible feedback from not delivering on what they list. Is this going to be the same story?
I will say the site has been offering me a lot of small discounts and incentives to order again, but it would help to know what advertising and promotion (if any) they plan to do to the larger buying public.
And will they monitor the performance of sellers for customer service?
Now that you can't sell items on Half.com without giving your items away due to growing competition (prices on Half are plummeting daily), this might be a a 3rd fixed price marketplace alternative behind Amazon Marketplace. I'll try and list most of my inventory tonight! 
Then again I just signed up last night.