posted on October 14, 2001 10:20:59 AM new
ballsandstrikes,
I am ROTFLMAO, you are quite clever! I guess sometimes we overlook the small details. I LOVE the redirect!
posted on October 14, 2001 10:33:13 AM newNow, we can talk about how to make online auctions better, instead of discussing the problems with #'s
I think you have to talk about numbers as they are the only real indication of an venue's success. Unfortunately, I don't think there are too many of us who are able to interpret these numbers, agree or disagree with them, or even have the desire to do so. They are interesting nonetheless.
The problem is, the bidder on Ebay doesnt care about the fees so as of now they dont think to look elsewhere
I don't see that as a "problem", but rather as a sign of their success. The reality is there is a much greater selection of items to bid on at eBay, there are thousands of buyers every day, and the sellers sell. If I was a seller, I would rather pay a percentage of my sales in fees in order to sell something than pay nothing to sell nothing.
Business kinda works that way - you have to spend a buck to make a buck, and eBay is still the best place to do this in the on line auction world. In spite of my current thoughts about eBay, they do offer the best protection for their sellers and buyers.
Has Bidville done anything about the proliferation of non-item auctions on their venue (pics of Grandma and the Kids)?
Has Bidville done anything about the proliferation of bootleg items on their venue?
Has the PreZ even commented on either of these problems yet?
I seem to recall last January I offered to volunteer my time and expertise to help the venue clean out the bootleg video sellers and I didn't even get a "thanks, but no thanks" response from the PreZ. To me, that indicates He doesn't care.
If He doesn't care, why should I support his site?
posted on October 14, 2001 11:07:11 AM new
RB,
You do not have to support any site. Some of us are sellers, and are trying to sell. Bootleg items do not affect my catagories, but I realize it is a problem. I want to help the sell thru rates, but did not care to read over and over about how bad they are. That is called bashing JMO. The numbers do not mean anything to me as I already know I am not selling anywhere near the amount of $'s that I was selling on Yahoo. What to do, what to do?
posted on October 15, 2001 12:05:06 AM new
Ballsandstrikes said
'there are bargains on the smaller sites.'
Hmmm, I've found most sellers on small sites only expect 1 bid & open high. Some ebay sellers think massive traffic will result in what they want and are willing to open far less than value. Often they lose that gamble and that makes me a very satisfied buyer. When I spot anything of interest I check every site I know of before bidding. My proxies are less than the best price on all the other sites and I haven't had to resort back to those sites to buy yet. Of my last 50 purchases 36 were on ebay-half & 14 Yahoo.
On BV the site composition is too uneven. Sports stuff-I'm not into, Toys and Beanies-no kids, no interest, stamps & coins-don't collect them, books & movies-Half.com has never been beat. That equals 87% of BV that holds no interest for me. Sure other people buy those items but my point is if a site only offers a tiny percentage of what a buyer desires it won't be a site they'll visit much. This is why I only check BV or other sites after finding something on ebay and I already stated the result. More variety & better prices is the only hope for BV.
posted on October 15, 2001 12:26:24 AM new
RB
"Has Bidville done anything about the proliferation of non-item auctions on their venue (pics of Grandma and the Kids)?"
A few people here made an issue of those TOS violating phony auctions and the sellers closed them.
Now there's a seller who solicited ideas for beating BV out of indiv feature fees with non-auctions. Just paying for 1 featured ad and using it only to point to their other ads. All responses were "great idea". Not surprising considering they thought the phony family pic ads were a great idea too. It actually wasn't an original idea, other people have done it but it will probably really catch on now. All those old sign post ads only leading you to other websites etc. are still around too.
Bootlegs I don't know about. I never look at BV's videos.
"Has the PreZ even commented on either of these problems yet?"
Nope. He hasn't even answered why a seller with 299,000+ ads was allowed a new category no one else can list in. Or why that seller is free to list with the clause items may or may be available at auction end. So much for the "if you get a valid bid you're required to sell" portion of TOS.
posted on October 15, 2001 12:39:27 AM new
The Prez never seems to visit his site or post in his message center. He is also having no luck selling his items on his own site. Some of his site improvement proposals are started and then abandoned ( remember the Feedback Committee? ). Not too impressive an CEO in my book.
posted on October 15, 2001 04:15:19 AM new
Hi uptoolate ...
I don't want to "bash" Bidville specifically - the proliferation of bootlegs on all auction venues is present, and not just videos. You'll find illegally duplicated DVDs, VCDs, CDs, PC software, Manuals, etc. etc. all over the place.
What is different about Bidville though is that the PreZ doesn't even want to talk about these issues. At least the other sites are trying to deal with them.
posted on October 15, 2001 04:54:49 AM new
RB,
If the other sites are doing something about the illegals then why do they suspend you when you report them? Just wondering?
posted on October 15, 2001 07:45:40 AM new
deichen ...
That's a good question!
In fact, the only venue that has suspended me for reporting bootlegs is Yahoo, and they didn't do that until they started their fee thing. Up until that point, I had "helped" them suspend 14 different bootleggers on their venue, and each time I provided them with proof, they would send me a running tally "thank you" email and the sellers would disappear. It's at the point now where Yahoo actually advertises their bootleg sellers items on the home page! For example, click on "The Sopranos" on their home page and see what pops up ...
Wonder why they stopped suspending the bootleggers when the fees came in?
eBay at least acknowleges a complaint, and if you provide enough information (names and telephone numbers of the Copyright/Trademark Owners), they will investigate and take action.
Carnaby is too young - there's not even a lot of legitimate bootleggable stuff listed there yet!
Bidville doesn't care enough to even respond to the problem. IMHO, ignoring such a problem is the same as encouraging it.
I gave up trying to make Bidville "safer", but I am still working with eBay (even though I, ahem, have "other" issues with them).
