comptalk
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posted on February 28, 2002 11:54:22 AM new
I have a question. How come sellers keep on supporting sites that just do not advertise?
If the site refuses to put money back into the company to advertise, then they just don't care about their customers.
I wonder how long it will take for sellers to finally wake up?
Does anybody know the magical answer for this question?
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blairwitch
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posted on February 28, 2002 01:49:23 PM new
Many sellers at bidville think the owner should pay for advertising, but keep the site totally free. Its hard to advertise when the cheapos refuse to pay a small FVF. The free sites are dying off quick.
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bidsbids
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posted on February 28, 2002 02:46:40 PM new
Most of the items on BV and other third tier sites are very low value items such as Hotwheels and baseball cards. The listing fees at ebay and even Yahoo eat into the profits too much to list at those two sites. Where else can a seller send hundreds or even thousands of items on an 800 day auction run without the slightest hint of maintenace? Once a year send $5 to BV for a warehousing fee. If you think about it, BV is a great deal on these low value items and really the only place to sell these items.
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dadofstickboy
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posted on February 28, 2002 03:22:21 PM new
Bidville is not a totally free site,forsay!
I'm sure that the total fees pulled in from their paying customers would be enough to fund a small advertising campaign. All these third tier sites charge something to some extent. Many of these sites would succeed if they just parted with a small amount of revenue! Bidville has a good amount of sellers and a fair amount of items. Just does not want to let the public know they are there. They all find out in the end that if they won't part with some now, in a little while they will have none at all. It's too bad I liked Bidville in the begining then it turned into a warehouse, not good.
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emak
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posted on February 28, 2002 06:02:11 PM new
I don't see how the premier memberships can help to pay for anything more than the servers that run the site and (hopefully) a salary for CS. I can't imagine the banner ads bring in much revenue.
I personally would have no problem with paying a FVF for items at Bidville as long as the money was re-directed into making the site grow. I know many sellers that were promised 'free forever' claim they will leave if it ever happened. My only question is - to where? Back to eBay or Yahoo? I signed up well before the 'free forever' promise was made, and my honest reply to that promise is 'I don't care, just do something to bring more people to the site.' I know a promise is a promise, but I'll take a broken promise and a growing site over a mothball any day of the week.
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stavecards
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posted on February 28, 2002 07:53:38 PM new
Emak,
I totally agree with your viewpoint. I also signed up early with the free forever promise, but I would rather have sales and pay a FVF. I have posted that viewpoint at Bidville several times.
I believe those that say they will leave because of a FVF are just blowing hot air unless they intend on leaving on principle only. I don't know where they would go where there is no listing or FVF fee. All sites that I know either charge a FVF or intend to do so in the near future.
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bidsbids
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posted on February 28, 2002 08:18:43 PM new
Do you think the BV CEO would rather close the site than go back ( more ) on his no fees promise? There would still be no listing fees which as pure poison to the third tier sites if a FVF were started. To tell the truth the sell through rate is so small and the dollar value of the items is so low, that even a 5% FVF like Carnaby's may bring in very little revenue for BV.
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reality1
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posted on February 28, 2002 09:16:10 PM new
I have no idea
[ edited by reality1 on Mar 14, 2002 03:02 AM ]
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jimhhow
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posted on March 2, 2002 02:49:29 PM new
THe magical answer is;
Because it works.
It works because of one basic thing that Bidville has done, and I am not sure anyone has seen it yet..
K. I. S. S.
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bidsbids
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posted on March 2, 2002 05:07:50 PM new
And that was from a seller that uses the BV 30 days auction duration almost exculsively. Any other auction sites offer a 30 day duration?
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YourDesigns
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posted on March 2, 2002 06:53:09 PM new
Wow, I never thought I would see a thread I agree with Comptalk on. 
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jimhhow
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posted on March 3, 2002 12:24:18 AM new
Yeah, right bids. Now show how smart you really are and pick my methods apart.
The answer is NO, I don't know of any other site that offers 30 day listings. That is one of the reasons I like BV.
[ edited by jimhhow on Mar 3, 2002 12:25 AM ]
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threeoldladies
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posted on March 3, 2002 05:49:34 PM new
Advertise, Well if one was to go look at the
bids on keywords one might get a better understanding about how hard this is. Ebay has a $.06 bid on just about every keyword out there. What they pay the search sites a month must be in the millions. BV can't do that, BV can't afford a national radio and TV ad campaign for less then a around 20 million for a weeks worth of ads?
The General goods Auction sites have a complete 90 degree climb to compete with ebay.
It's kind of like when K-Mart tried to play Wal-Mart's game, We all know who won that one.
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barparts
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posted on March 3, 2002 09:02:39 PM new
"The General goods Auction sites have a complete 90 degree climb to compete with ebay."
It could better be summed up as General Goods auctions have to compete with the junk auctions just to climb the 90 degree hill at bidville. And that is why there or no real item bidders there.
bp
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dreamgirl
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posted on March 11, 2002 03:18:28 PM new
Hmmmmm! Interesting philosophical question. I don't know why. It seems to appeal to increasing numbers daily. What's your take on it?
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bidsbids
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posted on March 11, 2002 04:36:10 PM new
I feel the steady increrase in BV's listing numbers is almost all common sportscards. It just passed the 51% mark according to the dominatrix of statistics over at www.mootropolis.com ( whip cracking sound in background ).
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robertsmithson
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posted on March 12, 2002 01:41:31 AM new
Perhaps a renaming of the site to CardsVille or CardCity may be in order?
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RichHillbilly
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posted on March 13, 2002 04:37:59 AM new
I left Bidville with the door still open. In other words if the PREZ will start communicating with his flock and possibly do some type of "Advertising" then I would go back. I basically was pacified with my sales but it is the other guy whining because of no bids that alarmed me. Bidville is a neat little auction site. Easy navigation with lots of fringe benefits compared to some other small sites. I guess really what makes my @$$ want to take a drink of whiskey. Is the simple fact that he does not communicate. I have been in some form of business since I was 16 years old. You have to communicate with your customer's. Of course I also have some disagreements on the way the boards is handled. Certain suspensions being handed out to some and then others get left to do whatever the hell they want. Bidville has many excellent buyer's & seller's and I can see how they would jump to defend their site. I know!! I did it for over a year. But I believe I could stick my finger up my butt and do a better job than is being displayed. I am not a FVF groupie. I was just trying to find different ways to find revenue. They could still sell front page ads to seller's on a monthly basis. At least that would create some funding for advertising. I really can't say if the PREZ is lurking and reading the boards or not. Hell!! I guess he could still be on his honeymoon. I won't step down to the level to bash Bidville or to call the PREZ any kind of names. But!! The unethical manner of business being conducted by him or his one man crew. Just doesn't sit right with me. So I left at the top of my game. The last time I looked I had 2,129 100% positive ratings. I have noticed that at least 5 of my old customer's has given me bids at my two new homes. They both seem to have advertising & marketing in their plans. I just hope it stays that way. I have already been consulted by both owner's asking for my opinions on things. I call that customer communication. JMH"Unbiased"O
Hillbilly
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