posted on August 2, 2001 06:49:33 AM new
Here's some recent datapoints. The order is date, total listings, sportscards listings and percentage of total listings, and listings in all other categories. Mandatory Premier and Premier Plus memberships for image hosting was announced July 27 and began August 1.
08-02 694,122 370,091 (53.3%) 324,031 @ 9:40 AM ET
Three trends at work here since the "announcement": (i) an overall decrease of 11,746 listings, or -1.6%; (ii) an increase of 6,583 sportscards listings, or +1.8%; and (iii) a decrease of 18,329 "all other categories" listings, or -5.4%.
posted on August 2, 2001 07:04:17 AM new
That's correct. During the first phase of this "experiment" we are looking at the decision of auction sellers with 21 or more expired listings with regard to signing up for a Premier or Premier Plus membership in order to relist their items using Bidville's image hosting services.
posted on August 2, 2001 07:16:49 AM new
How are you going to isolate that decision? For example, how do you weed out sellers going on vacation from those deciding to leave Bidville?
posted on August 2, 2001 08:30:40 AM new
I don't think the listings decline was solely caused by the image hosting/premium membership flap. Sellers are simply "giving up on Bidville" after 7 months of no improvement in sales or pageviews. The site has a lot of other problems including a search engine that can not search auction descriptions at all. That may sound like bashing but it not, just observations from a seller that was there from the begining.
posted on August 2, 2001 08:45:50 AM new
You may very well be right, bidsbids. There are several things going on that may make it difficult to pinpoint what is happening because of the image policy change.
posted on August 2, 2001 08:50:47 AM newWouldn't it be a better idea to wait and see, rather than guess?
There are many free image hosting services available to those who wish to use them. Most ISP's reserve free space for their customer's, and are more than happy to walk them through the set-up right over the phone.
Listing is free at BidVille. Sellers who do not wish to take advantage of the Premier or Premier Plus Membership, or want to give BidVille's excellent image uploader a trial run are allowed 20 images with a maximum file upload size of 300KB every month at no charge. That's great news for Sellers with only a few items to sell!
BidVille is The OTHER Auction Site offering ALL Sellers and Buyers an alternative to larger sites who have a tendency to shut out the little guy with huge fee's and even huger attitudes.
The continued use of the word mandatory is misleading. Sellers can upload pictures without a Premier or Premier Plus Membership. Both of these memberships offer unlimited image uploads, featuring, bold and other options that provide a Seller with the tools to get their auctions seen at a huge discount.
In an effort to provide the general public with an accurate overview of what BidVille has to offer I think a little patience would serve best. Anything else will only serve to mis-represent the facts. Wouldn't you agree?
I see you are quite knowledgeable about bidville. Any idea of what their advertising plans are besides running internet banners?
I see that sellyouritem.com has already begun print ads after just 2 1/2 months of being live and only charging sellers for final value fees.
I see the Prez mentioned 20% allocated for advertising and marketing but never said where the advertising would take place other than banner ads (that can be had for free by placing banners with link exchange).
posted on August 2, 2001 09:28:01 AM new
yankeejoe >
How are you going to isolate that decision? For example, how do you weed out sellers going on vacation from those deciding to leave Bidville?
Let's take a look at the Yankeejoe Sellers-On-Vacation Theory:
Sportcards listings are UP, "all other categories" listings are DOWN. So sportcards sellers did not go on vacation, but "all other categories" sellers did. That doesn't sound all that reasonable to me.
Let's take a look at the Dimview Few-Pageviewers-And-Even-Fewer-Bidders Theory:
Sportscards listings are UP, "all other categories" listings are DOWN. Sportcards sellers do not have images for their "common" listings, thus are largely uneffected by the updated image hosting policy. "All other categories" sellers are keenly aware that an image is essential to making a sale, they are significantly effected the the updated image hosting policy, and the average seller doesn't even generate five bucks a month in sales. That sounds more reasonable to me.
bidsbids >
I don't think the listings decline was solely caused by the image hosting/premium membership flap. Sellers are simply "giving up on Bidville" after 7 months of no improvement in sales or pageviews. The site has a lot of other problems including a search engine that can not search auction descriptions at all.
That sounds reasonable with the updated image hosting policy being the catalyst.
GettaLife >
Wouldn't it be a better idea to wait and see, rather than guess?
We're only watching the decline in "realtime".
What are we supposed to "wait" for? And what are we supposed to "see?"
Listing is free at BidVille. Sellers who do not wish to take advantage of the Premier or Premier Plus Membership, or want to give BidVille's excellent image uploader a trial run are allowed 20 images with a maximum file upload size of 300KB every month at no charge. That's great news for Sellers with only a few items to sell!
Yup. Listings are free. Bidville allows twenty images for free too. If an auction seller lists twenty items, what's their likely sales experience going to be on average? Is that "great news" for auction sellers?
The continued use of the word mandatory is misleading. Sellers can upload pictures without a Premier or Premier Plus Membership. Both of these memberships offer unlimited image uploads, featuring, bold and other options that provide a Seller with the tools to get their auctions seen at a huge discount.
How can that description being misleading? Sellers that want to list 21 or more items are required to purchase a Premier or Premier Plus membership in order to use Bidville's image hosting service. Sellers that have already listed 21 or more items are required to purchase a Premier or Premier Plus membership within the next thirty days or have their images deleted.
I have no problem at all with the three-tier memberships: Basic, Premier and Premier Plus.
In an effort to provide the general public with an accurate overview of what BidVille has to offer I think a little patience would serve best. Anything else will only serve to mis-represent the facts. Wouldn't you agree?
posted on August 2, 2001 09:40:33 AM new
Like any online business it takes time to grow. BidVille's growth has personally amazed me after over two years of online auctioning at the bigger sites.
BidVille actively updates, improves and generally responds to it's members requests and offers all the bell's and whistles of the larger sites. Take all the best features of Yahoo and eBay and you have BidVille. I have seen recent changes at BidVille that it took Yahoo and eBay months, even years to implement.
I'm excited about BidVille. When I first checked them out (word of mouth advertising is a wonderful tool) the first thing I noticed was that not only did they offer a wide range of categories, but there were actually actively running auctions with bidding activity. That is not what you always see at a lot of the smaller sites. My overall experience has been that the majority of smaller sites have a lot of empty categories and no bids. I am speaking in general and not about your site or any other site specifically.
After initially listing I began to notice that people were making requests to BidVille Management and those requests were being heard and implemented when possible.
I believe that any small site that puts forth an effort will do better than one that does not. I think the more sites the better personally, but I'll stick with BidVille as it grows.
Advertising... I'll leave that to the owners. They obviously know what they're doing.
posted on August 2, 2001 09:50:11 AM new
See, you are calling this an "experiment", but you are not acknowledging that other forces may be affecting the numbers. I'm not saying that I don't agree with you to an extent; the new policy may very well drive some people away. I'm disagreeing with your "experiment"'s methods.
posted on August 2, 2001 10:02:13 AM new
yankeejoe >
See, you are calling this an "experiment", but you are not acknowledging that other forces may be affecting the numbers. I'm not saying that I don't agree with you to an extent; the new policy may very well drive some people away. I'm disagreeing with your "experiment"'s methods.
Gee, I thought the use of "experiment" was kind of interesting. We watched the Yahoo debacle unfold after their listing fees annoucement. While not of the same magnitude, we are watching the Bidville's listings decline unfold after their image hosting policy announcement.
I'm merely posting the datapoints, drawing my own conclusions. You are free to draw your own based on "other forces."
GettaLife >
Advertising... I'll leave that to the owners. They obviously know what they're doing.
Yes, obviously.
< GRIN >
and at midday ...
08-01 694,709 370,774 (53.4%) 323,935
08-02 694,122 370,091 (53.3%) 324,031 @ 9:40 AM ET
08-02 694,177 370,290 (53.3%) 323,887 @ 1:00 PM ET
posted on August 2, 2001 11:39:24 AM new
Yahoo was much better than BidVille will ever be. I said "was". If Yahoo had decided to charge FVF instead of listing fees, BidVile would not have all of those listings. It would not have mine. I am very upset about this STUPID 10 or 20 image limit. I manage auctions for 5 people. Hundreds of items. My ISP does not, in any way, allow me enough space, and alot of the free ones (image hosts) are a joke! I will slowly be moving my auctions over the next few months. NOT A HAPPY CAMPER. And no, I do not want a free ride, I would have happily paid FVF, if BidVille would do something to advertise. I have sold several items on BidVille, but not near as much as I used to on Yahoo. I have defended BidVille and promoted them as much as I could, but will not any longer.
[ edited by deichen on Aug 2, 2001 11:41 AM ]
posted on August 2, 2001 12:00:53 PM new
"Wouldn't it be a better idea to wait and see, rather than guess?"
What do you call 7 months of waiting? It is geting worse. Just like Dimview calls it, the bidders come and see the same old items over and over and they leave, never to return to a wharehouse auction web site.
Bidville's features are like Y and E combined? For Heaven's sakes, their search engine doesn't even support a description search!. Imagine the poor seller that has a "lot of 10 great cookbooks" as the auction title? The list of books will never get searched or found by a possible buyer.
Which would you rather have .. a bunch of bells and whistles or some real advertising?
We are witnessing the rapid decline of an auction site that once that once held great promise. If some of the other new sites come through with their announced ad campaigns the decline will acceleratee much more rapidly.
posted on August 2, 2001 12:05:56 PM new
Hey deichen ...
I am very upset about this STUPID 10 or 20 image limit.
I believe this was simply a kneejerk peace offering by BidVille. We have seen this with other auction sites, even AW (except Yahoo which steadfastly hangs on to their fee schedule). An announcement is made, people get upset and rebel, and then the announcement is modified to stop the evacuation. It's no different than the good feeling you get when the cost of gas goes down a penny after going up a dime the week before - everyone thinks "whew, glad that's back down to normal".
I am really interested in where the money is being spent on advertising though. Of course, 20% may not be that much in dollars to start with
posted on August 2, 2001 12:50:53 PM newdimview -- "Sellers that want to list 21 or more items are required to purchase a Premier or Premier Plus membership in order to use Bidville's image hosting service. Sellers that have already listed 21 or more items are required to purchase a Premier or Premier Plus membership within the next thirty days or have their images deleted."
dimview -- Are there any alternatives? Is this the whole story -- sellers are "required" to purchase membership and there are no alternatives? Is using BidVille's image hosting service a requirement to list there? Can people list there without using any images in their listings?
posted on August 2, 2001 01:11:33 PM new
Excalibur131 >
dimview -- Are there any alternatives? Is this the whole story -- sellers are "required" to purchase membership and there are no alternatives? Is using BidVille's image hosting service a requirement to list there? Can people list there without using any images in their listings?
Rather than addressing questions regarding Bidville's image hosting to me, I'm sure you'd agree that they are most appropriately directed to a Bidville representative.
I believe a Bidville representative posted something of a tirade "here" just the other day, so perhaps they'll take a few moments to respond.
posted on August 2, 2001 01:15:29 PM new
No, dimview I asked you because I quoted you. Your statement is the statement I saw, your statement is the statement I read, your statement is the statement I quoted. I would appreciate you answering the questions and posting your answers here for all to see.
posted on August 2, 2001 01:23:16 PM new
Excalibur131>
No, dimview I asked you because I quoted you. Your statement is the statement I saw, your statement is the statement I read, your statement is the statement I quoted. I would appreciate you answering the questions and posting your answers here for all to see
Your ad hominem arguments are not helpful. If you dispute my "statement" then either YOU or a BIDVILLE REPRESENTATIVE should not hesitate to provide the correct information regarding the image hosting policy.
posted on August 2, 2001 01:40:06 PM newI believe a Bidville representative posted something of a tirade "here" just the other day, so perhaps they'll take a few moments to respond.
I doubt it - he won't even respond to emails!
I was the first person kicked off his site as a result of his "new rule" about posting personal insults on his forums. Of course, once I was gone and unable to defend myself any more, a whole bunch of chickens showed up to throw insults at me. I have asked Ed to suspend them using the same rule, but nada ...
posted on August 2, 2001 02:08:00 PM new
When a member ask to be suspended then I say that the site should suspend them. That is what happened to that member. I also am not happy about the image charge but I was already and have always been a premier member anyway so I will stay onboard and see what happens. Hopefully bidville will advertise. I see that if you become a premier member then you can choice your auction closeing time I like that feature. I believe if you are going to tell a storie tell it all lol. Have a nice buying/selling day.
P.S. This suspended member took another ID and did defend himself.
[ edited by telwil on Aug 2, 2001 02:14 PM ]
posted on August 2, 2001 02:11:41 PM new
....and many of us were more than happy to see you go. Even after you were suspended, you posted on the Bidville boards using another members ID (a violation of Bidville TOS, I might add) and you caused that member to get suspended also!
What next, RB (Buzzoon) (Gonzales)? A temper tantrum? A bomb threat? Making up another ID and crawling back to Bidville?
You were nothing but a PITA to the owners of Bidville and many of the users there.
FWIW, most of your detractors confronted and insulted you before your were suspended. You have an inflated idea of your own self image.
Get some therapy - you need it.
Aaron
comicscardsandmore here, on Bidville, and everywhere.
posted on August 2, 2001 02:16:54 PM new
While we're waiting for some clarification on Bidville's image hosting, here's the latest numbers to kick around:
08-01 694,709 370,774 (53.4%) 323,935
08-02 694,122 370,091 (53.3%) 324,031 @ 9:40 AM ET
08-02 694,177 370,290 (53.3%) 323,887 @ 1:00 PM ET
08-02 693,885 370,276 (53.4%) 323,601 @ 5:15 PM ET
Please confine your stats and your posts with stats to one thread per Auction site. You just did stats on this site on 7/31 on another thread and this is getting to be a bit much.
Not everyone is into stats you know and soon we will have to rename this forum "Dimview's stats" instead of Other Online Auctions.
posted on August 2, 2001 02:38:03 PM new
Hey Aaron ...
It seems that everyone except you had already figured out that buzzoon = gonzales ... I didn't get anyone else turfed
btw, if the prez was really interested in enforcing his "new rule", you'd be gone too. His real intent was to simply get rid of me because he, like many other cheerleaders over there, couldn't stand to hear the truth.
Anyway, I sincerly wish you every success on Bidville
soon we will have to rename this forum "Dimview's stats"
Hey ... now there's a thought ... a 1-Stop Centre for the numbers
My objective in posting data with the date in the subject line is to allow folks to quickly find the latest information. Users do not have to click through multiple pages looking for the latest data (most threads get bogged down with off-topic replies anyway), and the old threads can then simply expire from the server.
This *was* done during the Yahoo!Auctions listing fee debacle and no problems were encountered.
I'd prefer letting the old threads end on their own rather than requesting a moderator close them in order to put up the latest data.
posted on August 2, 2001 02:57:25 PM newI've already received an email that states that you have several ID's on Bidville.
Once again Aaron you're just a bit behind real life. I only had the two ID's on Bidville.
Life is pretty dull for you isn't it?
Not really, but I will miss playing around with you guys over there.
It's when you hurt the livelihoods of other people that you cross the line.
I have never done that. As a matter of fact, if you take the time to read my posts, you will see that I have never personally insulted anyone over there (the site and lack of bidders yes, but never a member), and when I did get mean, it was always in retaliation.
posted on August 2, 2001 03:01:22 PM newdimview, I don't know how you came to the opinion that I was arguing by somehow appealing to your feelings or prejudices rather than your intellect. I asked four questions that were directed specifically to you because of your own comments, not mine or anyone else's. I did not dispute your statements, I simply asked questions. Was it wrong of me to ask?
dimview, I ask again -- Are there any alternatives? Is this the whole story -- sellers are "required" to purchase membership and there are no alternatives? Is using BidVille's image hosting service a requirement to list there? Can people list there without using any images in their listings?
[ edited by Excalibur131 on Aug 2, 2001 03:02 PM ]
posted on August 2, 2001 03:12:23 PM new
I can help here, being an ex-expert and all.
Are there any alternatives?
Yes. You can host your images on another drive somewhere.
sellers are "required" to purchase membership and there are no alternatives?
Sellers are not required to purchase a membership, unless they want to use BV to host more than 20 pics. As stated above, the majority of items listed on BV are nickel and dime sports cards ... there would not be any point in paying for to include BV hosted images of these. Also, based on the lack of sales on all items at BV, it doesn't make good economic sense to buy a membership for any of the "priviledges" it provides.
Is using BidVille's image hosting service a requirement to list there?
No.
Can people list there without using any images in their listings?
Yes.
(C'mon ... you really do know the answers to these questions ... right?)
