posted on October 5, 2004 08:58:30 AM new
Per the CEO's report:
13,811 items have been listed to date.
10,945 are still active.
2,866 acutions have therefore ended.
1,441 sold.
50.2% is therefore the closing rate so far.
2,547 items now have bids (about 25% of active items, hevily skewed towards those whose auction end times are nearing)
5.33 average bids per product with a bid.
$57,173 total gross merchandise sales
$39.68 is the average auction close.
posted on October 5, 2004 09:32:09 AM new
So, Bill what was YOUR sales %? I registered and posted an auction just to try it out and reserve my name in case things took off...I only see one item in postcards with bids (I realize that the "Make It Mine" items disappear when purchased)). The postcard category is full of other junk and prices seem to be very low. I can't see a way to check completed auctions, so maybe we have to take their word for it.?
I am thinking that Overstock is a place for buying and selling NEW things, as the name implies.
posted on October 5, 2004 09:51:03 AM new
I sold one item by "Make it Mine". I have had two eMails wanting to buy items that have closed and have a bid on a belt buckle that did not sell on eBay in several attempts. I had, I believe 14 items listed with several yet to close. I am very happy with my sales, although the dollar amount isn't high, but none of my items are high dollar sellers.
Now, back to the sales report, what is your comment on that, not a comment on "What were YOUR sales". Can you dispute the fact that Overstock did well in the first few days. What is it about people's negative reaction to the new auction site. The CEO and staffers are working hard, they answer eMails and monitor the boards. Ask Meg a question and hold your breath until she answers.
PS: You doubt their word. Overstock is an old, well established company. I don't think they lie. Now, as to the facts: That beats eBay's opening stats!!
You all hate eBay and bad mouth it all day long but you don't want to support the start-up of anything else. Please don't list on Overstock. It will mean more sales for me.
That's my two cents worth. Bill
[ edited by etexbill on Oct 5, 2004 09:59 AM ]
[ edited by etexbill on Oct 5, 2004 10:01 AM ]
posted on October 5, 2004 10:12:36 AM new
Right now I am buying more than selling and hard as I tried I could not find anything that I wanted to buy in the 10,000 + items. From the stats it does seem like they are getting off to a better start than most of the new auctions have in the past but I am not yet feeling like it is going to be a place with anything for me. When the first item in the "Antique" category is a set of 1976 Elvis mugs it does put me off.
I wrote to tell them that access from a Mac was a disaster and I did get an answer within a day that they were aware of problems. Why then is there nothing on the site to tell Mac users to take a hike and come back later when they get around to investigating the problem? Any site that requires me to fire up my PC emulator (even though it works great) is not going to get visited that often.
My advise (which of course they did not ask for)
Change the name to something that does not say "All New Stuff"
Post better information on requirements for use
Get some control of the category requirements
Loose the "buddy" stuff (I do not need any more clutter in my In Box)
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on October 5, 2004 10:18:42 AM new
I am sure they kept the name of Overstock at least temporarily, because that is their old, well known, well respected company name. Maybe they will change it the future, and maybe they won't. Makes no difference, read the stats. Maybe they just don't give a flying hoot about Mac users, who knows? You wrote them, and they answered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Overstock did well in the first few days. What is it about people's negative reaction to the new auction site. The CEO and staffers are working hard, they answer eMails and monitor the boards. Ask Meg a question and hold your breath until she answers"
That's my two cents worth. Bill
[ edited by etexbill on Oct 5, 2004 10:20 AM ]
posted on October 5, 2004 10:31:27 AM new
Uh, the company was founded in 1999 (according to their web site). I suppose in the internet era that may make them old and established, but I probably have stuff in the freezer older than that. So if that precludes their lying about anything, eBay must be like the Bible.
I don't think anyone, including myself, begrudges sales anywhere. I just don't see how these eBay clones are going to set the world on fire.
Possible scenarios include either fizzling out or gaining an incredible number of sellers. If the latter, I just see the same issues for sellers as eBay, namely, more sellers chasing few buyers. It's not like Overstocks is finding people who never heard of on-line auctions, and it's not as if people will be more if there are two major venues. And if they have to compete with fee slashing, eBay may get a bloody nose, but the upstart will be auctioning off their servers and office supplies (on eBay).
posted on October 5, 2004 10:39:55 AM new
Another person worrying about some distant point in the future. Who cares what happens in the future.
"Make hay while the sun shines"
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth"
Why does everyone fret and worry about what's going to happen to OS in the future.
I have a friend who got up last Thursday, without a worry, and was dead that evening in a car wreck.
Live in the present and enjoy. Your future may end today.
posted on October 5, 2004 11:39:42 AM new
While we don't know what the future holds, it is best to plan for a little longer than 6 hours from now. I know people who don't look past the moment at all, and they tend to lead much more complicated lives because of all the crap they deal with that a little bit of planning might have avoided. I'm 1 out of 3 for OS, I will try a few other items, but at least for the time being, the complicated process of listing something is not going to have me selling too much over there.
Friends don't let Friends say stupid things like Friends don't let friends vote Republican!
posted on October 5, 2004 11:58:56 AM new
ebayvet: I list an item in less than 2 minutes using a template that I made. It was complicated at first till I got the hang of it. I was eMailed the beta trial of OLister, and tried it, but I had rather use the basic listing software with my HTML template with all the preferences filled in.
Bill
posted on October 5, 2004 12:37:42 PM new
Bill I would love to see OS take off, but I am so turned off right now by their search function. I have been looking for a widget this week and everytime I have tried to search OS, I get 145 items with most of them TOTALLY unrelated to what I want.
I think I just figured out what is wrong with their search, it looks like it pulls up anything that has the combination of the "letters" instead of the words. Type in golf shoes and you get anything related to golf or shoes. Doesn't sound like a bad idea, except I don't want to see glassware and car parts too! And every single time this week it has put a pair of Prada dress shoes at the top of the list! I've looked at that ad and can not figure out what the heck it has to do with golf. It just comes up beacuse it is a pair of shoes.
How many people with a life are willing to wade thru the junk to find what they want??
I'm not looking for soap, beer signs or glassware. And I don't even want to look at that stuff. Can't even set up a filter to clean out the stuff I don't want.
It is a PITA and I'm not going there for now. Let me know when they get the search straightened out.
I did finally find what I wanted , at a good price, at Amazon.
posted on October 5, 2004 12:41:52 PM new
And one more rant... once I do a search on OS, I can't it to go back to a normal category search. Try this, search for golf shoes. Get 145 pieces of crap. Click on the sports category, same 145 pieces. Click on the antique category, same 145 pieces .
posted on October 5, 2004 12:43:40 PM new
There are many different ways to sell, and every situation is different. If you can jump into any new site and get sales, more power to you. No, we don't know what the future holds, but some of us may have a business plan that requires a longer term, and just don't want to invest our limited amount of time unless there seems to be long term viability.
posted on October 5, 2004 01:42:45 PM newCan you dispute the fact that Overstock did well in the first few days. What is it about people's negative reaction to the new auction site.
I for one cannot dispute the success of the first week of Overstock auctions. I have tried many of the upstart auction sites only to be disappointed with no sales or bids that didn't happen for weeks or months at a time. Other than Ebay, only one site have I ever listed on where I had sales in my first round of listings, and that was Yahoo.
I can see the point of view of all of the doubting Thomas's with sites like Bidville, BidBay, bargain & haggle, Ioffer, where bidding is few and far between and if you get lucky enough to get a bid, it ends up being a deadbeat or worse, a sports card seller or buyer.
Overstock.com has done what 99% of the others could not. Actually turn buyers to their auctions and actually have sales. If early success is the sign of what is to come, ebay better watch out. The monopoly could be crashing to the ground.
posted on October 5, 2004 01:51:29 PM new
While I have not been 100% positive, I would love to see OS or some other company take some market share from ebay. More companies doing this I believe is good for everyone (except ebay)
Friends don't let Friends say stupid things like Friends don't let friends vote Republican!
posted on October 5, 2004 05:05:12 PM new
Quote: "So if that precludes their lying about anything, eBay must be like the Bible"
I have bought several items from Overstock and been completely satisfied. Yes 1999 makes them an oldie in the WWW business. LOL
On the other hand, eBay will lie to you in a minute. They told me that my first month of my Store would be free, and then charged me for it and took it from my bank account. They went four months without billing me at all.
I have yet to get that back, and probably never will since I got so fed up with eBay results that I closed my sales and the account.
Several months of lousy sales, change, change, change, enhancements, and lies were enough for me.
posted on October 6, 2004 12:07:20 PM new
I "WANTED" to try Overstock, so I registered, and went through their lengthy posting system, and then NOTHING, nothing posted, so I went back and did it over, and over, and over, and after wasting well over an hour and nothing - I gave up - after 8 years on eBay, and a number of years on other auctions, I KNOW I KNOW how to post, but there is some fluke in their system, and until they get it worked out, I don't have the time to waste simplying "trying" to post.
posted on October 6, 2004 09:39:47 PM new
Thought I'd try OS. Listed an item that sells well on ebay. Several days have past without a bid or a sale. I can't seem to find anywhere OS that lets me know about lookers.
Will withhold judgement on site until later date.
One bad thing, is my email incoming box has been filling up from all those OS people.
One good thing is that they all want to be my friend !
Please don't deflate my ego, I know it's only for the money OS is giving away.
posted on October 7, 2004 12:58:18 PM new
Curtis: there is a button on your home page to stop the "friend" eMails, but they will still show on your home page till you accept or decline.
!