posted on January 28, 2002 05:34:22 PM new
I'm looking for suggestions and opioions on the very best free site?? I'm a fan of popula, but it's the same 10 biddres over and over.
posted on January 29, 2002 04:02:55 AM new
oh, definitely try Bidville. ( smile ) Most sites have bulklisters. (Bidville does)
There are some limitations at Bidville though. At a minimum you'll need to fork over either $2.50 for 3 months or $5 for a full year to get verified. There are limitations on the number of images allowed on the Bidville imagehosting so unless you have you images hosted on your own site you may need to sign up for either a Premium Membership ($5/month) or Premium Plus Membership ($10/month).
Good luck.
posted on January 29, 2002 05:32:25 AM new
You may want to give Carnaby a try... they have a nice site and a great bulk listing program (MaxLoader). Sales are a bit slow over there at present, as they are just about everywhere.
http://www.carnaby.com
For a list of various auction sites, you may want to consult the following list:
http://www.kenzy.com/auctions.htm
Everybody has their opinions as to the "best" free auction site, so don't be surprised if people jump in and challenge other folks recommendations. I can only suggest trying a few of them to find out your own personal preference.
posted on February 12, 2002 11:03:42 AM new
Don't bother with <auctionaddict.com>. It is spam hell, and lots of annoying ads mixed in with the auction description.
I have actually sold stuff on Bargain and Haggle and Yahoo! Auctions. Have not had much luck on Carnaby, BidVille, ePier, BidFields, or SellYourItem.
posted on February 21, 2002 07:16:37 AM new
I can't believe that Bidsbids said it, but do try Bidville. Now is a good time with the March Madness sale coming up. there are thousands of items already listed for it as earlybirds, and getting some bids too.
posted on February 24, 2002 05:40:51 PM new
Auroranorth,
You're kidding about bidbay and tbay, right?
There is no action at bidbay, unless you are selling for funny money.
tbay is pretty much a ghost town, except for the owner's auctions. Even the category numbers are inaccurate. Everything else category says there are 43 auctions, 11 of which are in pets/canine. But, when you click on canine to see those 11 auctions, there are zero listings.
posted on February 24, 2002 09:03:46 PM new
I know some people have grudges against sites for whatever reason, however In just the catagory collectables tonight i count one item with 2 bids and 16 items with one bid, enough to make me go in and list more there when I get the chance.
As far as tbay, I have had sales there, they do appear to have things on hold there.
posted on February 26, 2002 09:11:49 AM new
What to say about Auctioncow... I don;t think they have a chance. They are building up some fanfare, but overall, they will die down just like others. I have seen no mention about their site on any search engine or forum besides their cheerleaders.
I would say that in about six months time, a lot of these sites will either be dead or O.O.B.
posted on February 26, 2002 03:21:45 PM new
They are in google search results. They have possibly made an error by hinting that they know a new way of attracting bidders to their site. If they are not at least moderately successful in six months they are toast. Here's a news release from Carnaby last June that showed much promise too ...
posted on February 26, 2002 08:29:25 PM new
Comptalk, there are several of us who're using Auction Cow at the moment and I personally don't see a one of as a cheerleader. If anything, I believe every one of us is cautiously optomistic about the site, sort of a wait and see kind of thing.
Maybe what you're taking as cheerleading was our posts on Mootropolis about actually getting bids on our auctions? I can say that from my perspective, at least, those bids came as a complete surprise.
I've spent a lot of time trying to decide on which auction sites to use and I've ruled out quite a few of them and because of personal obligations have had to put some on hold at least for a while. Auction Cow and SYI so far are the two who listen to their users and seem to have a clear goal of where they're headed. Granted, AC hasn't been around long enough to see growth yet, but SYI shows a consistent increase in sell-through percentages and has a solid if lean marketing plan.
I've been on sites before where users were suspended for speaking their minds on the site's chatboards; other sites where when constructive criticism was presented the PTB could only get defensive and talk about what they felt was so good about their site and then maybe, just maybe after several people said the same thing might begrudglingly implement a change or two; yet others who turn a blind eye to auctions and users that breach TOS; and my list could go on and on. Frankly I'm too war-weary to stand up and cheer for any site. It will be through their actions or non-actions that they gain any of the sellers' trust. The vast majority of us just have a 'wait and see' attitude.
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posted on February 26, 2002 09:21:27 PM new
Time will tell. The new PayPal auction site that is rumored to be coming may take some of the disgruntled eBay sellers away from the unknown sites though.
posted on February 28, 2002 12:07:32 PM new
I am just tired of new sites promising the sky, but at the end, they just cannot or do not deliver. You have ePier solicting advertising money, Bidville refusing to advertise, SellYouItem doing some advertising, Carnaby doing little to no advertising, Auctionweiser doing some advertising.
Who else? Oh yea, Auctioncow with BIG marketing plans, but makes not promises? Strange.. How can you promise BIG marketing plans, when I do not even see them on a PPC search engine.
Atleast most of the other sites are listed with the regular search engines, and also on some PPC search engines.
It just doesn't make sense to support another site that has limited funds to support them selves.
I guess we will see who is still around within the comming months. I bet that at least a few of them will fall.
posted on February 28, 2002 12:20:00 PM new
I've often marveled at the rational it takes to start a new online auction today. I believe ego must play a big part. Like the people that are constantly inventing items to make the big money.
Here are some copy and paste notes by the AC brass ....
-----------------------
What would make AC different from most of the third tier auction sites IS the unique marketing plan, and the fact our entire goal is to market it.
We have a long term marketing plan like I have stated in lengthly posts (I am a bit long winded) that we developed FIRST before the actual auction site. Over a year ago we came up with some very unique ways to get bidders and we tested it on several different sites with encouraging results.
The idea is to return to simplicity without having people lose interest. We have also stated our main marketing goal is NOT to get sellers to the site, but BIDDERS. Sure this is a chicken-and-the-egg scenerio mind you, but we think that many sellers will come when they see some solid work on our part.
Will we succeed? Only time will tell. We hope that people give us more than just a few months to build, as this will NOT be an overnight success type story.
posted on February 28, 2002 09:06:53 PM new
I disagree. AC has stated they don't make promises because of so many BROKEN promises by other sites.
However, they have been very clear on their marketing and promotion of the site. Take Mootropolis.com their "sister" site and it is growing by leaps and bounds. In 4 short months Moo has managed to match AW (discussion boards) after they took years to build to this level.
I haven't seen a single "head in the clouds" promise by AC at all, in any single post. They were asked questions, and have answered them.
Search engines and such. That comes with time. Since this is my line of work, I know that they moved their servers recently and were not setup. Plus did you know it now takes $299.00 to get your site listed with Yahoo? I was ASTONISHED when I went over their to list a site that I had just finished up for a client.
Now, don't get me wrong, AC could easily fold. But tell me, who else is out there that even INDICATES they are going for it? SYI makes these pitiful attempts, and Carnaby gets all excited about nothing.
