holysmokes
|
posted on October 22, 2001 09:56:51 AM
I am curious about this site. They have a national magazine ad campaign running. Of course as I look to my left I see ads for them here. I have seen full page spreads in Antique Collector and Stamp Collector.
This company has a unique concept and money to spend. I am surprised they have the small number of listings. What sells well there?
|
labelle
|
posted on October 22, 2001 10:16:46 AM
I haven't seen any of the print advertising. I have also seen them advertising on some auction user or vintage newletters.
I am curently marking time til I travel outside the US on business, so I am using this site. I like the 30 day free listings that I can pull when I will have to. I have 2 categories of items there- both vintage--jewelry and books.I have sold jewelry. Books have been deader than a doornail for me. All in all, the quick listings, since I can move them there easily from auctions makes the effort worth the time. The occasional sale makes listing at all worthwhile.
I just wish their support was more that a half step above Yahoo's canned answers. Looks like B&H maybe has their own canned set.It is sometimes hard to remember that they are primarily a software company. The advertising is a good sign though that they take this venue seriously.
|
opals4u
|
posted on October 22, 2001 10:31:42 AM
I feel the main reason is that most auctioneers do not care for the numerous emails required to haggle on a price. The time and effort expended for a sale is not worth the bother unless it is a VERY VALUABLE item. Just my reason for not using that site.
|
aliceroad
|
posted on October 22, 2001 11:01:12 AM
I like the sight a lot and sure hope it takes off. It is a leisurely way to sell in my opinion. I am not forever trying to find the right time of day and the right day of the week, etc. I can go away for a couple of days and my busness is still going.
With the auctions, sometimes, I wait for payments and always waiting for something. End of auction, what have you...and right now, Ebay is slow. So I list without having to worry about listing fees and relisting.
Was just going to look again at Ehammer ...and here comes anotice; closed! I am sad to hear that. Sure hope B&H keeps building.
|
opals4u
|
posted on October 22, 2001 11:27:07 AM
aliceroad wrote:
I can go away for a couple of days and my busness is still going.
((( just my opinion, but that is not a very good business practice, especially when someone wants to haggle.))) I don't think they want to wait a few days for you to return any more than waiting for an auction to end. At least at in an auction they have the opportunity to bid without having to wait for the seller to get around to answering their offers.
Again, this is just my opinion and I personally would not wait for someone to return at their convenience, but would look elsewhere.
|
eSeller004
|
posted on October 22, 2001 12:40:32 PM
On Auction you bid prices UP. On BargainandHaggle you negotiate prices DOWN. That's one major advantage over auctions for buyers. 
The back and forth (goes 3 rounds) while negotiating usually doesn't take very long or much effort (1 minute to log in and counter offer or accept, if that). No waiting 3-10 days for an auction to close either. Most of my deals take a few hours to a max of 2 days to close negotiations. It's much quicker than auctions. I've had some people who are so quick the entire negotiating process closes within an hour.
|
pecosa
|
posted on October 22, 2001 12:52:23 PM
I've had a few people who offered me more than the posted price. Gotta luv 'em!
|
ezinkjetstore
|
posted on October 22, 2001 12:57:39 PM
I like the format at B&H, but I've had people make an offer and walk away an hour later before I can get to them.
I've also had a 50% non payer rate as well, so take that how you want.
http://www.ezinkjetstore.com
|
labelle
|
posted on October 22, 2001 01:07:26 PM
I'm as curious as holysmokes.I sell jewelry and books with mixed results. I see good and bad news.
What categories are working for you and what are problems? I have found that the type of item you sell can make a site good or break it for you.
Thanks!
Cathy
|
frodoXII
|
posted on October 22, 2001 11:42:27 PM
holysmokes & labelle:
I've been selling on B&H since July and have done incredibly well. I sell vintage items mostly; a few jewelry items are new. The items that sell best so far are salt & pepper sets, porcelain, glass, pottery, dinnerware, figurines, costume jewelry, advertising, and clothing ~ all vintage. I have about 250 items listed at all times. What has NOT done well for me are books (the hits are almost non-existent).
You get three photos per item, a hit-counter which only you can see, it's free to list, and the FVF's are reasonable. Customer support is weak, except when it comes to non-paying buyers. On three occassions B&H has lit a fire under these buyers and they all eventually paid. There's a 3 strikes and you're out policy, and not paying will get you one strike.
The negatives are: very limited HTML allowed, you can't have more than 3 photos if you need them, poor customer service (except as noted above), and the category break-downs could use improvement.
I also have listings at BidVille and Epier, but if not for B&H, the clerks at my post office would think I'd died or moved away.
|
ezinkjetstore
|
posted on October 23, 2001 05:02:57 AM
I've experimented with alot of different things. Telephones for some reason get a ton of hits and offers, but everyone wants them for nothing. The things is though, that because there is no listing fee, unless you have unique items, there is alot of competition from the other people dealing with wholesale distributors.
http://www.ezinkjetstore.com
|
MANDM50S
|
posted on October 23, 2001 11:06:26 AM
I have had fair results on Bargain and Haggle. The best items to list are vintage items. I have a mixed bag but the vintage stuff gets the most hits. I really like the easy listing process and the haggling process is different but refreshing. I think the fvf are ok it encourages but sellers and bargain and haggle to advertise. I encourage all sellers to give it a try. Its free what have you got to lose?
mandm50s
|
katiyana
|
posted on October 23, 2001 11:53:18 AM
I had one buyer make 3 purchases from me on B&H and it was an NPB - I did the form for getting my fees refunded, and they did appear on my account (actually they Disappeared off of my account) - but not against my credit card.
Emailed CS about that and a week later got a response that they do all credit card charges once/month so they'll process the credit during the next cycle.. SO in the mean time I'll pay the CC and use the credit to offset the next month's bill - I hope.
|
goldenpony
|
posted on October 23, 2001 04:41:13 PM
I really like this site more and more. I'm on my second painless and carefree sale. No problems...smooth transaction and both paid immediately. I really like how easy it is to just list it and wait for the offers to come in 
|
kerrigirl
|
posted on October 23, 2001 08:02:32 PM
bargainandhaggle.com is not an auction site. They should call themselves a haggling site. We should start defining what an "auction" is and what sites are that "negotiate" prices one-on-one.
|
toollady
|
posted on October 24, 2001 07:42:47 AM
Okay, help me out here.
I know you dicker over price at B&H. How does B&H control off site sales?
An offer is made. Is the offer viewable to the seller only on site, or is an email sent, or what? How is that handled?
Just curious on how it works.
|
eSeller004
|
posted on October 24, 2001 08:49:52 AM
They send you an email with the offered price, but not the buyer's email address. You don't get the buyers contact info until the deal is closed on BargainandHaggle. You also see the offer on the site obviously.
|
toollady
|
posted on October 24, 2001 08:55:26 AM
eSeller004,
Thanks for responding. So all email goes through B&H?
What if a potential buyer has a question? The would need to go through the B&H system?
|
eSeller004
|
posted on October 24, 2001 09:21:58 AM
Yeah, contact goes through the B&H system until the deal closes and then you can freely contact the buyer. B&H has an Ask A Question button on the bottom of item pages.
|
kitcatclock
|
posted on October 24, 2001 09:42:01 AM
Toollady,
They also have a new feature that allows the buyer and seller to communicate back and forth during a negotiation (it sends an e-mail and adds it to the negotiation view). Reminds me of a mix of instant message and e-mail. Pretty cool! I find communication is easy, and my sales are great.
-KC
|
aliceroad
|
posted on October 26, 2001 08:15:45 AM
Just got another payment from a B&H sale. Wish they had a few more buyers. But I like this.
|
JWPC
|
posted on October 26, 2001 09:23:08 AM
I do well on many other sites, but I can get no where on Bargin and Haggle. I don't like the time consumption it takes, and I just don't see the future here. I won't be posting any more on Bargin and Haggle....I need faster turn overs than this site can offer.
|
petertdavis
|
posted on October 26, 2001 10:30:39 AM
I've sold a few things there, probably less than 5% of my total sales so far this year though. I do like the idea of the site, and my experiences thus far have been good.
The one thing that gets on my nerves about the mechanics of the site is the lowball offers. I can put up an ounce of gold over there, and be sure to have seven bozos send me an offer of fifty cents. I tried to set the filters to not allow lowball offers, but it doesn't work. I'd say that about half of the people who send offers are serious about completing a transaction.
|
capefeartrading
|
posted on October 27, 2001 09:38:40 AM
I personally LOVE Bargain and Haggle! Have been on there since April and have made 34 (I think) successful sales! To me - that's not bad. You mark your price up - like you would if you were selling a car, because both the buyer AND YOU know you are going to come down on the price! I have had more offers than just the 34 successful ones - the unsuccessful ones were "Walk Aways", because they didn't want to meet my minimum price or either they weren't interested enough to Haggle one more time (there are 3 rounds). I personally don't mind the e-mails and haggling that goes along with this site - in fact, I think it's rather fun! It's different than eBay of course and doesn't have the traffic that eBay has, but I think it's a super fantastic place to try to sell items that wouldn't sell twice after running it on eBay. And yes, I too have actually sold a few things HIGHER than what I was willing to settle for! I thinks it's a SUPER FANTASTIC alternative to eBay (still use eBay as my primary site)! And by the way, my non-payer ratio sounds as if it has been better than some of the other sellers that have reported here - perhaps it's the type items I have, I don't know. Don't get me wrong - I definitely have had non-payers, but there again, I would say it's just a little bit higher than the non-payers on eBay. For those of you that have not tried it - give it a whirl - you don't have anything to lose except for those of us that are lucky enough to have to pay a "Final Value" Fee for an item that's sold! I don't mind that! For a little over $1,000.00+ worth of merchandise I have sold, my "FVF" has been just a little over $49.00! NOT BAD!
[ edited by capefeartrading on Oct 27, 2001 09:41 AM ]
|
