posted on April 9, 2002 07:53:04 AM new
I meant without having a secret marketing plan waiting in the wings.
I give AuctionCow only a 1 in 10 chance of ever attracting more bidders or items than sites like Carnaby or SellYourItem. Hype fades quickly.
posted on April 9, 2002 12:44:10 PM new
Also, what does listings necessarily have to do with sales? A site like Bidville.com has over 1,000,000 listings but a very low sell-through rate. Most items are warehoused until they have dust on them. A smaller site can have a lot less listings, but a higher sell through rate which is really the important part (like SYI and such with only 28,000 or less listings but a higher sell through rate than bidville overall).
I also think that AC's goal with the marketing was to get bidders, not sellers. Several small sellers have reported good earnings so far according to their own words on Mootropolis.com.
If more sellers were to list, then sure, more bids would happen.
posted on April 9, 2002 01:57:53 PM new
There is always a fair degree of selling success on new auctions as sellers try to build their feedback ratings. A few sellers that are buddies can easily buy and sell from each other and not even complete the transactions since their are no FVFs or way of ever getting caught. There is shill bidding and good old boys bidding and both can have the same effect. I'm not accusing anyone of that but that is a very simple thing to do without fear of geting caught.
We are seeing a constant stalling by AC on the secret strategy issue because once they announce it the clock is running. That stalling is a good thing if the site needs tinkering but a side effect is that people will tend to discount the coming of the release.
As an example, take an imaginary hot young pitcher in the Yankees farm system. The longer it takes that pitcher to reach the major leagues the less that is expected of him and a tag of 'he once was a hot prospect' get attached to him instead.
