I posted this previously, but was deleted by AW. I am new to this forum and didn't realize I could not promote information of a promotional nature.
Gegy.com is a new Auction site that is currently looking for Beta testers before our launch in a few weeks.
Please visit http://www.gegy.com for all
complete details and beta sign up form. If you have any questions, please feel free to post them here and I will
check back often.
[ edited by gegy on Jun 18, 2001 11:25 AM ]
posted on June 18, 2001 11:33:55 AM new
how do you plan to promote, it at all??? I hope you don't end up like ePier and Bidville with tons of sellers and NO BIDDERS!
Have you thought about offering a Fixed Price marketplace like Half.com? We need more than 2 of these venues!
The integrated payment solution that's low cost sounds good to me. What if people don't want to provide CC info, is there another way to pay for items??? Is the payment mechanism going to require our life history like PayPal??? Hope to heck not!!! Integrated and immediate payment should eliminate deadbeat bidders! I like that!
First of all, I did get your reply to my first thread. I appreciate you taking the time to repost your comments.
First of all, on the point of marketing and advertising... We have allotted approximately 80% of our advertising budget to print and broadcast media, including trade newspapers, magazine ads, etc. and our focus is to target BUYERS - and this will ensure the success of our sellers.
GegyPay - our internal payment system is custom developed and is a cross between PayPal and Billpoint. We will provide services to more than 40 countries and you can optionally use your bank account information. Just one more point is that when buyers use GegyPay, they do not have to register just to pay for an auction.
I have tried to answer your questions, without being blatantly promotional I hope I have remained with AW guidelines.
I would welcome any other comments or questions you have.
posted on June 18, 2001 11:59:48 AM new
Where's your funding coming from? Are you affiliated with some large existing entity??? Are you public or have plans to go public?? That's what ruined eBay!
Are you going to go it alone, or have you thought of cobranding with existing firms to leverage their user base and name recognition???
You don't have to answer if you don't want to. Just curious.
posted on June 18, 2001 11:59:52 AM new
Whoa, how come this guy gets to "announce" his new site with a new thread and I don't get to? I believe Joice posted that is specifically prohibited. If not, please let me know.
We are a large private group that is very well funded, with many years combined experience in the traditional and online auction arena. We are not affiliated with any other online auction site, etc. We have been entertaining some co-branding opporunities and will continue to do so as the site and its membership matures and grows. The auction platforms have been custom designed and the venture has been in the works for a long time now - very carefully and meticulously thought through.
We would love to have you as a beta tester, since you seem to be so familiar with online auction sites. I hope you will consider registering to test drive our sites.
posted on June 18, 2001 03:25:10 PM new
Hi, I just reviewed the flash intro at Gegy.com after getting word from a friend who read this thread. Did I get this right? 1) A ebay style auction site 2) a 24/7 Live real time action site (wow!) GegyLive 3) a kids site (auction too?)GegyKids 4) competing site with paypal.. GegyPay 5) elite B2B site- GegyConnect and 6) Gegy Email site?
Good lord you cant be serious! Paypal + ebay + yahoo +. Must have cost a gazillion dollars to build this. I will have to sign up for beta check this one out myself. Should I sell my ebay shares??
posted on June 18, 2001 03:36:39 PM new
I'll repeat my response to the other thread.
Here are some "beta tips" for you:
1) Lose the music. While I actually kinda like it, it's creepy. Tone doesn't go with an auction -- doesn't inspire me to buy (or sell, for that matter).
2) As soon as you said anything about B2B, you lost me completely. I've had it up to here with corporate sellers. I've had it up to here with disdain for small sellers. IMO you can't be all things to all people. You can't go all out for corporate sellers and STILL cater to small sellers.
posted on June 18, 2001 05:25:40 PM new
Good evening CleverGirl -
Thanks for taking the time to repost your comments from the closed thread. I appreciate it
Not sure if you read my response but I will repeat it here for you...
The music is only for the site introduction, and will not be present once the site goes live.
The B2B site will launch during our 2nd phase in October 2001. It will be geared specifically to wholesale auctions and the resale trade - similar to what ebay did with its sister site TradeOut.com.
I could not agree with you more on the subject of corporate sellers. This is the sole reason why the B2B GegyConnect site will be separate from the main and live auction sites, which will be for the average seller and buyer, like me This is also the reason why we decided to never charge a listing fee, and have a commission based fee structure only.
I appreciate your comments, and I hope you will consider signing up as a beta tester and sharing your knowledge with us as we prepare for launch!
posted on June 19, 2001 04:47:10 AM new
quickdraw29,
Thanks alot! Never can have too many fixed price marketplaces with traffic! So, does this one get traffic? The name is kinda long and awkward. Should be short like eBay or Half.com or Yahoo or Amazon or even Gegy. Tough to forget the short names! Have you had any success selling at metaexchange?
First let me start by saying a try to look for the good before the bad. A fault of my upbringing I guess.
Secondly had I wanted to be negative I could have posted something like this "Gegy I am not crazy about the flash and really indifferent on the music, If I were you I would consider scaling down the music and flash"
Third - Gegy I am having a very hard time believing your market delivery is as you say. Why havent I heard of you before if you are as big as your preview claims to be?
Fourth and this is for you Joanne, am I the only one that actually understands that the site isnt even up until July?? This flash is just a flash to the beta sign up form, I would know because I have signed up as a beta tester
Fifth - Joanne what part dont you understand about a powerseller friend of mine who saw this thread here who then sent it to me via email. Perhaps some of the remarks I have and will continue to share in other threads you will be kind enough to comment on as well. It seems as one can read here at AW but one cannot post until one joins, so I did.
Sixth - As I am a software developer, this is for you Gegy, I build real time stock portfolio/price movement programs so my wow was directly towards almost exclusively towars your real time engine only. May I ask who programmed it for you, ie who are your developers if you dont mind my asking? And will you be posting info after launch regarding employment opportunities?
posted on June 19, 2001 05:13:39 AM new
Background music isn't a good idea, especially when your customers may be accessing the site from work or other environs where sound could offend others.
Lot of folks don't have Flash installed either. I like the animated setup, but the Flash intro ought to be some sort of optional access. Keep the fun and lighthearted setup though!
Are you guys intending to go after the broadband market with a heavy emphasis on high bandwidth graphics, video, and such? If you are it might be a few years too early for that with not many having broadband connections yet.
You guys ought to really consider setting up a separate Fixed Price Marketplace, stealing the concept and design of Half.com. eBay claims Half.com's fixed price marketplace concept is the key to their growth going forward. They seem to have stumbled on the idea by dumb luck! You have the instantanous payment platform in place, and all you need now is to replicate Half's UPC/ISBN/unique identifier driven backend database and page layout. Shouldn't be tough for you guys if you're as talented as you appear. Or if you cobrand with an 800 lb gorilla like Barnesandnoble, then you could set up an Amazon Marketplace type Fixed Price venue, selling items off the same pages Barnesandnoble or even Borders sells their new items --- you could then share the revenue generated. You could then branch into items Half hasn't, such as toys (i.e. Beanie babies, Star Wars, licensed toys, etc.), Comic Books, collectibles, etc. --- the types of things that exist in large quantities but range in condition. A centralized location/single page where you can find the same item offered by numerous sellers at differing prices and conditions saves a lot of search time and effort, and allows buyers the ability to make choices quickly.
How about telling us where we can see examples of your advertising. Marketing is going to be the key to your success. For example eBay and Half.com advertise relentlessly. I mean THEY NEVER STOP!!! They beat their name and concept into your head with radio, TV, banner ads, emails, etc. They're FANTASTIC at it!!!
By the way, what is a "gegy"??? Is it some sort of character or mascot you're going to use for advertising??? It definitely is an easy to remember moniker which is great!!
posted on June 19, 2001 06:36:42 AM new
I am with eSeller. Love the idea of fixed market for Gegy. Seems like you have everything else one could ask for based on your model. There is one more thing however that would be sooooooo Gegy! Whynot a Gegy Instant Messenger Application (I will work/program for food!)
I believe adding a fixed Market maybe with your 2nd launch in October (as your flash says for GegyConnect) and an Instant Messaging application (like AOL IM, ICQ or MSN Mess)would put you in the #1 spot on the Internet. Only Yahoo would have a site of comparable size, even then they might be a baby Gegy (heeheehee)
One final remark, Gegy there must be at least 15-20 software applications that you had to build to pull this off! Avg mega site has at least 3 applications per site. Good lord you must be cloning programmers!
Hope to hear from you again gegy, hope some of the not so friendlies didnt scare you away (by the way is that mr or ms. gegy...lol)
Please explain how it is that you heard music (that you didnt like) from the flash preview when you already said you dont have flash installed and you WONT install it. The music IS part of the flash. Some us know a thing or two about computer software on this thread and your post just doesnt add up.
posted on June 19, 2001 06:58:26 AM new
Hey Canvid...could be; I have been a sucker before, lol!
Guess we will find out in a couple of weeks wont we!? I have signed up to test this bad boy. In the email I got after signing up as a beta tester they sent me this:
Thank you for applying to participate in the Gegy.com Beta Program. Your offer of assistance to test our revolutionary new site is greatly appreciated! Gegy is the largest dotcom startup ever, nothing of this size has ever come to Internet right from the start. It's been an enormous undertaking taking many, many months to build.
As we mentioned previously, the beta program will last 2 weeks in total. In the first stage, the actual beta testing program will last approximately 9 days, and you will be given a special beta login ID and password. We will forward this information to you via email as soon as we are ready to begin!
The last four days of the program you will be asked to formally register, and be given the opportunity to list your own auction items to take advantage of the buyers that will be flocking to Gegy.com, via our massive international marketing and advertising campaign. Unlike other new startup auction sites, we have allotted the majority of our marketing budget to get the word out to BUYERS – via magazine, print and broadcast medias – to ensure the success of our sellers!
One last important issue – One of the contests we will be running will be a cash prize for the most beta referrals. So make sure you send your friends, colleagues and fellow collectors to http://www.gegy.com. They must include your email address in the REFERRED BY area of the Beta Tester Form.
We look forward to working with you during our Beta Program, and we will work diligently to ensure Gegy.com is the kind of auction site that sellers and buyers alike have been searching for.
posted on June 19, 2001 08:24:10 AM new
eseller, metaexchange started two years ago mainly selling beanie babies and the traffic still today is extremely good for that category, we're talking thousands of buyers daily. Since then they have been adding categories and the traffic hasn't built up yet in those categories.
They do promote the site at collector shows.
I've done extemely well selling on that site. They have a chart showing the price movement of each item and you can price accordingly, the item will sell fast. Or, you can locate a buyer on the site and if you like their price you can sell to them immediately. I've done lots of buying on the site too.
I don't mean to be their promoter, I just like the site and have used it successfully for two years now. They call the site the "Stock market for stuff."
posted on June 19, 2001 08:28:16 AM new
Good morning -
I have been reading all of your posts with great interest and would like to attempt to address them, if I am able.
1- FLASH - We decided on a flash intro to breath some life into the presentation, and make it a little more fun. After reading the comments here, it is obvious that Flash presentations are not appreciated. Point taken. We are working on a non-flash version of the introduction and it will be up shortly. In the meantime, we have added a button at the bottom that reads "Skip..." so that the Flash introduction can be bypassed.
When the site launches, there will be NO flash... the entire site has been designed in fast-loading html format.
2- MUSIC - Again, thanks for the comments regarding the music on the intro. Our reasoning behind the music was to add an entertaining element to the introduction. Based on the overwhelming number of comments, we have removed the music. The only sound that remains is the audio pronunication of GEGY at the very beginning, which we feel is important.
3- CREDIBILITY - It is true that we have done everything humanly possible to keep this project under wraps for more than a year. It was difficult with a large team of developers, marketing, administration, etc. We did feel that it was the best way to approach the situation. However, I can assure you that the company is for real. Hundreds of thousands of dollars has been put into this venture to ensure that the final products are state of the art. I wont say more than that so I dont cross the AW promotional rule line
4- FIXED MARKETPLACE - We originally started with one additional platform, which was a quasi-marketplace, and then we axed it. However, I found your comments most interesting. I would love to hear more comments regarding a fixed marketplace - benefits and advantages and how/why it works so well for sellers.
5- ADVERTISING - eSeller brought up a good point... Our advertising will begin in just a few short weeks. Besides advertising all over the internet via banners, advertising and articles -- we have targeted many high profile traditional medias including a radio satellite tour in mid July, print publication in many newspapers and magazines including the NY Times, Yahoo! (2nd quarter), and all of the Krause publications and smaller trade publications like Antiques Weekly, etc. Our marketing budget for our first year exceeds 7 figures. We completely understand that the entire success hinges on our ability to bring in buyers - and lots of them!
6- GEGY - The name was developed for several reasons. Its easy to remember and it stands for nothing in particular. We wanted the association/recognition to lie with each of our members. The green guy is just a face - that is half troll and half human. He makes great advertising copy and consumer testing showed him as the favorite. He is cool, confident and ready to take on the Auction World
I hope I stayed within the guidelines here. It is tough sometimes when attempted to answer questions... If you have additional questions - I would welcome the opportunity to answer them.
The sites are not visible because we want to launch in a perfect state, or as perfect and functional as possible. As you can imagine, a venture this large takes some work! This is the reason why we called for beta testers, so that experienced users can have a say in the final products. I completely understand that most of you are veteran auction buyers and sellers, and I posted specifically at AW first because I respect your opinions and comments. I would like to invite one or two of you on a private tour (one-on-one with the CEO) to see the backend of our sites - and judge for yourself. I have spoken with the CEO and he is game.
Thanks for listening...
Oh, and by the way - its MS. Gegy but you can call me Tracey if you like...
posted on June 19, 2001 09:43:35 AM new
That's odd. I registered to do the beta testing yesterday, shortly after the original thread was started, and never received an email.
posted on June 19, 2001 09:46:30 AM new
toollady -
That is odd... You should have received a welcome email almost immediately after submitting the beta form to us. I am not certain if I can ask for your email address in here... but if you email me at [email protected] , I can see what happened.
posted on June 19, 2001 09:55:34 AM new
I just registered again, just before I posted above.
Still no email.
Just so you know I am not pulling your leg, the original sign up didn't have a referral email box in it. Hopefully, this will help you pinpoint the time of the registration.
posted on June 19, 2001 10:32:27 AM new
Hello TL: You mentioned that you never recieved our emails also. Perhaps there's something wrong with your email????
posted on June 19, 2001 10:39:37 AM new
Stockwell - I've seen far too many "shill" posters suddenly appear to rave about a new site shortly after the owner or whoever posted. I still don't understand why anyone would email you about a thread on AW concerning this particular new auction site, when there are new sites popping up every day, unless you were involved with the site or at least know the people who are. But, I extend my apologies if I'm mistaken about you.
Secondly, regarding the Flash, when I went to the page I got a popup window asking if I wanted to install and run Flash 5.0. I clicked No, and a couple of seconds later the music started to play. Maybe I have an older version of Flash and the popup was asking if I wanted to upgrade (although it didn't say that)? I never installed Flash but maybe it came with my computer?
posted on June 19, 2001 12:38:29 PM new
Joanne, pardon me? I am looking to get my foot in the door with a major dotcom start up. I was hoping you could have clued in by now, but I guess not.
You came across with a terrible attitude right from the start. Who cares if you dont understand why my friends are looking after me when they know that us programmers are starving for work in face of the dot com implosion. I was actually sent info on 3 new dotcoms I shoudl look for work at. A large new start up is very exciting for us tech guys. Given that the entire market has just about collapsed
Anyhow I believe I wont be speaking or addressing anything you have to say here or elsewhere. Its really too bad actually.
Just wanted to let everyone know that we have changed the layout of the intro pages. You now have the option of entering the Flash site or an html site - or if you want, you can bypass the intro altogether and head straight to the Beta Tester Area, that is also in html.
Thanks for all the input and we hope this format works better for you!
Sorry if you took my remarks that way I am just VERY surprised at some of the comments. Asking personal questions like "why would you's". I suppose one has to walk a mile in my shoes. I haven't had a decent contract in a while after being let go. My specialty is real time software applications and they are hard to come by.
I would give us my 1st born to get inside a major new start up that has real time technology because the opportunities just arent out there, not on the job boards anyway so I am having to dig some.
I hope I have remained with AW guidelines.
Have you had any success selling at metaexchange?