posted on October 22, 2001 05:53:26 PM new
I joined Bidville a month ago and using the bulk loader listed 500+ items. No sales, no looks and now someone on crack running the place wants to charge me to view the community section. Any suggestions on other sites that do not expect personal info without earning my trust?
posted on October 22, 2001 06:00:59 PM new
None. I went from Ebay to Bidville at the suggestion of people on the Ebay boards. Ebay shoving checkout down my throat and now this. The online auction world is changing for the worse IMO.
posted on October 22, 2001 06:37:39 PM new
I've done so-so at epier. Bids (mostly just one each on any given auction) come in spurts. I recently listed with ePaganAuctions.com for all the oddities (Tarot Cards, Horoscope Books, etc) and that is doing surprisingly well.
M A Dorman & The Woman's Club of Ramsey
posted on October 22, 2001 07:11:49 PM new
kerrigirl,
I don't mean for it to sound bad. It's being realistic.
If you are looking to make a living, then stay at ebay and put up with the constant changes.
If you are looking to build an alternative or second home, then patience is needed when listing on any of the other sites. That includes Yahoo and Amazon too.
It is up to us as sellers to build our business where ever we can and not be at the mercy of ebay.
Putting our eggs all in one basket has gotten us where we are today. We all rely too heavily on ebay to make a living, or even to make pocket money.
If we continue to do so, we only have ourselves to blame when there are no alternatives.
posted on October 23, 2001 05:44:51 AM new
Well, I have been pretty pleased with Bidville as a second site. I've listed about 150 items, sold maybe a dozen since I started two weeks ago.
Not great, but I didn't expect great. Bidville is a place to list my lower priced items, Yahoo is still my main site. But nearly everything has views, some in the double digits!
My observation concerning auctions on Bidville has been that descriptions are very poor. Some have no description at all! That item may be selling for a dollar, but people still want to know if there is any damage, markings, etc, before they spend their money. I've seen things I'm interested in, but not without knowing more about it.
If sellers would put the energy into listing and describing that they do on Ebay or Yahoo, their sales would increase-and so would BV traffic.
posted on October 23, 2001 08:52:53 AM new
Auctionsolder, every one of these second tier sites is 'iffy' to put it mildly. During the last summer I listed strictly off eBay and did surprisingly well. I think I hauled more stuff to the post office than I ever did on eBay during the summer.
I had the most sales on BidVille. I listed things there that weren't selling on eBay (checked the listings for similar items and they weren't moving). I figured I'd just take my chances with free listings and it actually paid off.
I think one thing that helped was to sign up as a Premier member and get some of my auctions in the front-page featured and the category featured.
I had plans to get some stuff listed on eHammer within the next couple of weeks--until I received the message they're closing their doors. (I'm really glad I hadn't started sorting out stuff to list there yet.)
I agree completely with Toollady--it does us absolutely no good to list exclusively at eBay. As it is they don't listen to us but most sellers are willing to put up with nearly anything to make the almighty buck and I do believe eBay knows this. I also believe that somewhere in their warped minds they truly believe they're doing what is in the best interest of the 'community'.
BTW, if what I read is accurate, that automatic check-out thing they've come up with is optional. I'm really hoping it is because I have to start listing some of my dad's stuff there and I sure don't want to use it. I'm getting too old for too many changes, LOL.
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posted on October 23, 2001 06:45:04 PM new
The lies of Bidville and Epier which I just read about have me shaking my head. The owners of both sites have no integrity.
I will move the rest of my items to the site that for some stupid reason is not spoken about here. At least you can buy, sell, chat and host images for free there.
posted on October 23, 2001 07:47:58 PM new
I have been selling at B****y for a year with moderate sales. I could care less about the past of the CEO. At present, I was promised free auctions and a year later, I still have free auctions.
posted on October 23, 2001 08:07:00 PM new
You know, we all don't have much respect for Meg, but millions give her the credit card numbers.
If a company is incorporated, and following the laws set forth, and there is no history of wrongdoing in the past operations (most states require a disclosure statement), what do we care about what CEO is running an auction site?
If they are doing a good job, we should support them, especially if they are good at bringing in the bidders.
Besides, you are protected using your credit card. If you PAY ATTENTION to your bill and see charges that are not correct, you dispute them, and your liability is limited to $50.00. So why are people so worried about giving out a credit card number? Someone gets it and runs up a billion dollars, you are only responsible for $50.00 and even then you can dispute that.
Bidville needs to work on bringing in the bidders.
posted on October 24, 2001 12:32:05 AM new
All the free sites have near-zero traffic/bids but Bidville has decided to alienate all new users by making them pay to have site access. This has got to be the weirdest move ever by an online auction site and should make the demise of the site a sure thing.
posted on October 24, 2001 01:15:39 AM new
The reason is to try and make the site safer for bidders and sellers alike. If you want to buy it cost you nothing. If you wish to sell you must become verified and it will cost $5.00 to be verified for a year. Lets make shoure the body is dead before we put the dirt on it doctor. JMO.
posted on October 24, 2001 01:33:27 AM new
There are many restrictions now placed on new bidders. For instance, they can not view or post on the Bidville Message Center and they can not post feedback until they attain a +2 feedback rating.
This may sound like a great improvement to the oldtime sellers but to new site users this must be a tremendous turnoff. This bidder restrictions are unique to Bidville and may leave many new users scratching their heads as they try to register on the site. This is not mentioning the unusual and re-occuring verification fees for both sellers and bidders that are not found at most sites.
IMO buyers are the most important thing on an online auction site. No buyers, no traffic, no site. To alienate the new bidders is to cut off the supply of life blood to the site.
posted on October 24, 2001 01:45:42 AM new
I am just speeking for myself. But when I first came online I was a buyer only and to be honest I did not care about the chat boards I was looking for deals "Still am" I dont think chat boards are that important to buyers JMO. But what has been put in place should make the site unfriendly to deadbeat bidders and trouble makers. I have had honest bidders bid on auctions just to have a deadbeat trouble make knock them off my items that is not good for the buyer or seller. Hopefully this will slow it down. Was what Bidville done a mistake I cant say only time will tell but the trouble makers will not be happy and that makes me happy. Have a nice buying/selling day.
posted on October 24, 2001 02:54:14 AM new
The Bidville Help section is one of the worst of all online auction sites. It is almost a necessity to access the Community Center to get info about the site.
You are right about only time-will-tell thing , and it should be noted that there has been a rapid 12,000 decline in the site's listing numbers in the last 2 days.
posted on October 24, 2001 09:39:13 AM new
What a joke/jerk! I signed up there last month and listed almost 300 beanies. My opening bids were set at $1 just to attract pageviews. I got zippo. Now I get hit with feedback restrictions and no access to the for sale board to advertise them on the site.
Goodbye Bidville. Back to Epier where my stuff sells.
posted on October 24, 2001 10:19:58 AM new
With Bidville CEOs record it no surprize to me that they are going down.
After all his first site nobidding.com just closed the doors with no notice to the members and left them hanging with a bunch of worthless promo points from a game he was running.
The second site auxpal.com opened under an assumption that he had a deal with paypal. No contract signed! Very poor business man almost stupid!
And now Bidville.com I almost seems that he is trying to soak as much money as he can out of the members as he can before he closes the doors with no notice Like he did with nobidding.
Bidville is a waste of time & money.
[ edited by gmileske on Oct 24, 2001 10:22 AM ]
posted on October 24, 2001 10:28:34 AM newVery poor business man almost stupid
Them's fightin' words son
Before you lace on the gloves, just remember that the PreZ is apparently a medical doctor, and be aware that the smart medical doctors stay doctors and the not-so smart ones go into administration.
posted on October 24, 2001 10:44:20 AM new
Don't forget PlanetBeanie. The site appears to no longer be operative. Here's an article about the CEO. ( link below )
Bidville: Tries New Tract
A strategic partnership with PayPal was Ed Orlando's original strategy for his first auction site, AuxPal. Unfortunately, PayPal never embraced the idea and Orlando's plan faltered. The setback didn't derail Orlando's e-commerce ambitions. With financing and infrastructure already in place, he scrapped AuxPal and launched Bidville.
At 30, Orlando is another second-wave entrepreneur that's not afraid to take risks. He quit his hospital residency in emergency medicine to launch Bidville last October, which originally was a fixed-price site called NoBidding.com, started two years prior while he still was in school. At the time, he also ran PlanetBeanie.com, which still operates today.
"It was a hobby that I fell into because my fiancée collected Beanie Babies," said Orlando, a story reminiscent of another auction innovator. "I have computer experience and picked up Internet programming, and then started designing Web sites for collectibles."
Unlike 321Gone.com, Bidville doesn't charge listing or final value fees, and it doesn't appear like it will anytime soon. According to Orlando, it's quite possible to run a profitable auction site without such fees. "Planet Beanie and NoBidding.com were always free and we maintained them and generated enough money to start Bidville," he said.
However, unlike ePier and 321Gone.com, Orlando says that he would like to take Bidville public, ideally, in the next two years. In the meantime, Bidville's goal is breaking the 1 million-registered user mark. Although he declined to offer the site's current number of registered users, Orlando claims that Bidville's listings have increased from 30,000 to 450,000 in ten weeks, which, if accurate, makes it the largest site of our group, not much smaller than Amazon.com Auctions, claiming a daily total of 750,000 auctions.
Orlando also says he's proud that Bidville owns all of its servers and hardware, and that with a small staff of four programmers and an administrator, his costs per month are extremely low. "We have investors," he said, "but even if I had no income for the next three years this site would still be on the Web." Adding that the site makes some money through online advertising, he said, "It's possible [to survive] if you can keep your costs down."
posted on October 24, 2001 10:51:38 AM new
This guy sounds like someone who has no clue what direction his life or business is going.
I may be wrong but can we call him a doctor Iif he quit his residency? I thought you had to complete that before you graduate from medical school.
