posted on February 4, 2001 09:48:31 PM new
In the last couple of hours they went from about 900 categories to 2016 and the auctions went up to 220,496. I checked these numbers out and they where in the ball park.
I really like that site (no buffered numbers).
posted on February 4, 2001 09:53:11 PM new
I have listed a few items there. I wonder if putting them for 30 days even with a buy price will scare off bidders who will not want to wait that long.
posted on February 4, 2001 10:08:59 PM new
WHEW! This is great news! I had sent Bidville (auxpal) an email about a week or so ago about some upgrade suggestions to their categories and I just received this email from them!!
"We just wanted to let you know that BidVille has added the categories you
requested along with over 1000 others."
Fantastic Customer Service! WOW! I am really impressed!!!
posted on February 5, 2001 04:10:30 AM new
They just increased their categories under books, I see. Most of the new categories have 0 listings ...almost makes me want to fill them up! ; - )
I would like to see Bidville do something to raise the visibility of their site. For example, yesterday I tried to find it by searching in a list of online auctions on Yahoo. Many sites were listed, but not Bidville.
Other than word of mouth, how would buyers know about the site?
posted on February 5, 2001 06:19:31 AM new
Just had a look at the new categories under DVD.
They show a total of (350) listings for DVD's under the general DVD category. They have added 13 new categories for DVD's breaking them down into genre. Each one of these new categories has zero listings.
Therefore, all 350 listed DVDs do not fall under any of the traditional 13 categories.
What's the point?
I wonder if BidVille plans to contact the DVD sellers with a suggestion to modify their listings to put their product into one of these new categories?
They didn't contact me about my my listings, but they have been there since Day 1 (auto relist relist relist relist ad infinitum .... makes the site look really busy!) and have had no looks or bids anyway, so there is really no point in wasting my time making the changes anyway.
I wonder how many more free reslists these things are going to get before they die a peaceful death?
posted on February 5, 2001 06:28:18 AM new
"If you build it, they will come".........it's just that some of them have trouble getting there. When I first started on Ebay, it didn't seem like I would EVER sell anything either, so I am willing to give Bidville the same chance I gave them. I did sell a video on TAKE IT & I have a bid on another item so I am just gonna work harder at this. goooooooOOOOOOOOO, BIDVILLE! @¿@
posted on February 5, 2001 07:29:52 AM new
You have to remember that BidVille is only about 90 days old. They are in the process of getting on search engines, etc. They were supposed to launch an ad campaign for sellers the first of February but I think they may have changed their minds on that with the influx of sellers they have had. I hope they wait a few weeks, get the site working well and then advertise for buyers.
posted on February 5, 2001 09:50:17 AM new
"You have to remember that BidVille is only about 90 days old. They are in the process of getting on search engines, etc. They were supposed to launch an ad campaign for sellers the first of February but I think they may have changed their minds on that with the influx of sellers they have had. I hope they wait a few weeks, get the site working well and then advertise for buyers."
Now, all poking fun, reality, and sarcasm aside, I KNOW I have heard this nonsense before
Gold's also made these same promises and guess what happened to that "answer to every eBayer's dream" ??
posted on February 5, 2001 10:06:45 AM new
As mostly a buyer I,d rather see a zero than numbers in a categorie that end up being non related such as (FREE or WIN or BUY THIS and make a million). I see a lot of buffered numbers over at Bid***.
posted on February 5, 2001 01:21:35 PM new
Why is it that I keep hearing ppl saying they don't see bidders on BIDVILLE.
When "take IT" bids are made, you won't SEE the bidders, because the auction closes. I think there is a lot more activity than what shows.
I have had a "take it" bid win, and I see some sellers set their "Take it' and minimum bids to match. TRuy checking fo rfeedback on some of the sellers. True, you will not see humdreds, but I have seen a number of 6's and even some 9's.
Sheesh! give it a chance folks. I have emailed them and asked them to consider posting "Closed with Wins" numbers. The feeling is that there are too many sites showing inflated numbers that Credibility becomes suspect.
30 days is not too long for the right format. I have several auctions of stuff that I have had sitting, and kinda written off. So I placed them 30 days, $1.00 min. no reserve. I have six of these with bids, two above the minimum, and over three weeks to go on all of these auctions.
TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT!
[ edited by jimhhow on Feb 5, 2001 01:29 PM ]
posted on February 5, 2001 06:06:44 PM new
I'm giving them my support. I decided to take the cookbook category and list some things which I think are nice items, we'll see how it goes. It's hard to find the time to support multiple venues, but I believe it's very important to have an alternative to ebay. Plus, I think their format is nice.
posted on February 5, 2001 07:00:00 PM new
RB, Take your listings off Bidville and see if anybody cares. Do the work and promote your auctions or pay eBay. Quit whining.
posted on February 5, 2001 07:45:58 PM new
spreland ... it has nothing to do with listing fees, at least in my case.
Tell you what ... come back in a year from now and tell us how well BidVille is doing (if they are still doing at all).
Past history says this new site will not survive. Their promises and your pom-pom waving are almost identical to the stuff I read here about Gold's, PayPal, and those other upstarts that have come and gone. I'm delighted that it is working for you, but for every one of you, there are 10,000 of me who are spinning their wheels with this new saviour-site. Out of the 228,000 odd listings, 68,000 are for "sports stuff" and 45,000 are for books. Some people are just not interested in these relocated Yahooooo listings or the get rich quick schemes that are prevalant on BidVille.
BidVille looks good right now because of a major Yahooooo blunder. Yahoooo looked really good last year because of a major eBay blunder. This is the result of knee-jerk reactions by the big time sellers who do this for a living and got nervous when the real biggies started having a problem, not the rest of us who do it as a hobby.
And, with the average prices I am seeing on Bidville for the category I shop in (movies on tape and DVD), it's cheaper for me to shop and buy at the Brick & Mortar stores. Maybe that's why these items are not getting ANY bids.
If you don't like my whining because it hurts, then consider my whining as simply a matter of balance ... someone has to balance all the pom pom waving , don't they??
posted on February 5, 2001 08:38:05 PM new
I consider it whining because you don't offer any other options. Do you know of any free sites that look more promising than Bidville? Are you trying to say that eBay is the only option for sellers? Have you tried promoting your items in the newsgroups and clubs?
posted on February 6, 2001 04:54:33 AM new
Spreland ...
Yes, as a matter of fact I have, and I have been trading my stuff for the past 16 years all over the world ... quite nicely without the help of these auction sites.
I don't do eBay.
Yahoooooo was hit and miss (too many misses to justify a listing fee though).
I started trying this 'free listing' thing simply as an experiment to see if it works. Apparently, it doesn't.
posted on February 6, 2001 06:07:52 AM new
RB: one reason I am basically optimistic about trying a new free listing site is because of what happened last year.
First came half.com. Who ever heard of that? Basically a crummy looking interface...lots of bogus 1-cent listings. But I made a BOATload of money on that site. I listed for free, and set the prices I thought were fair but profitable.
Next came AMazon Marketplace. Granted, that piggy-backs on one of the most popular web sites on the Web, but the concept was new. No listing fees. I listed nice things for fair prices, made a lot of money.
I think it CAN work, but it takes sellers being willing to invest some time and effort and put up products that someone would conceivably want to buy. The site has to do something to bring in the bidders. I still don't understand why this didn't work for me on Yahoo. But books DO sell, so maybe it will work on a site with an attractive "ebay-like" interface like Bidville's.
posted on February 6, 2001 06:36:21 AM new
I love Bidville as I am now with 4 completed sales (waiting payment - but have heard from everyone) and about 8 with bids. I hope the site keeps growing as I am telling everyone about it. Here is where I will get in trouble - I love the free listings but wish they would charge a FVF (even if its 1%) so that have revenue to use for advertising and upgrading equipment. I do not want a free ride and do not expect one. And at 1% its not too much money for the sale.
[ edited by puppypumoo on Feb 6, 2001 06:37 AM ]
posted on February 6, 2001 06:46:45 AM new
I use eBay as my primary site as I have done very well there. However, when selling lower ticket items such as books, when I've already paid 60 cents to try and sell it twice on eBay, I see nothing wrong with putting those same items up at BidVille to save on further listing fees. And especially, when I've now make my second sale over there and have a bid on a third item, I feel that the site has potential.
If you advertise the site in your emails to your buyers, they will go over and look. They may buy from you, or they may buy from someone else. Makes no difference really. As long as sellers are getting some business, we will continue to put stuff up, which in turn will keep buyers coming back as they will see that more new items go up regularly.
And for those who would say, well, the stuff must be junk or it would have sold the first or second time on eBay, that's nonsense! Why does something not sell the first or second time, but sell months later on free listing day? Same item, just a different group of buyers. Why have I sold 2 items, soon to be 3, that I couldn't sell on eBay 4 times? (1 listing, plus relist on that, then free listing day, plus relist on that.) Who knows?
But with small ticket items, $4-$5 or so, it doesn't make sense to allow all the fees to erode your profit if there is an alternative to try. BidVille gives us that alternative.
Now, if the stuff is still sitting there after many months, then there's always the hope of another free listing day around Christmas to put it back up on eBay.
posted on February 6, 2001 08:03:29 AM new
I'm having better hits & Sales at Bidville (200 Items up). I run about the same at eBay and have been selling for 3 years. My eBay auctions are so bad that I had to start everything now at a $1. Now they bid. Sad !! I'm getting 3x the bid amount on the same item at Bidville. As my items run out at eBay I'm putting on BV and get my normal starting Bid plus hits everywhere.
And its free. I'm paying 30 cents at eBay and can't even run items ten days.
Just shows that eBay doesn't care about the small guy anymore. They want Power Sellers only.
If your selling something at $5 and relist at 10 days it cost you 60+20+25 cents. Why bother selling. No small guys wanted here is the eBay "Motto". Why, Pierre is a multi Millionaire, so what has he got to lose? An extra trip around the World?
The free, small sites, are now where the small has to go or hes just getting his money back at eBay. Need to consider that and your time and packaging and you may find that in reality your sacrificing your families quality time for nothing gained.
In other words, if your not selling High Ticket items with minimal cost, your wasting your time at eBay. Unless you like earning 10 cents an hour for your time.
In other words, if you want to make a profit with lower end items, look for the free sites that work.
BidVille Works!!!
posted on February 6, 2001 08:59:45 AM new
I had listed CD's and LP Records last week on BidVille. The only way to list was Music - Record or CD. I was really happy to see the new catogories. I went in and did a update to my auctions and listed them under, the type of music ie POP, Rock Country and the like. I was so easy. I can't believe the sales on Bidville much better than I was getting on Yahoo!.
posted on February 6, 2001 09:03:04 AM new
RB, I think it would be more realistic to compare Bidville to Yahoo than to Gold's.
Bidville is actually growing faster than Yahoo did, while Golds had a small following with relatively few listings. At the time, few people believed they could be successful if they left eBay. Despite the current meltdown on Yahoo, it will be a long term benefit for thousands of sellers who discovered they could actually make more money without paying eBay's fees.
posted on February 6, 2001 09:09:55 AM new
Bidville is cool, it has a sorta "slick" look and feel to it, and its very easy to list on. Heck I even sold an item there! (whoo hoo)
A much smaller, and for me at least, much better sales is epier. Found three more items with bids there just this AM in fact. All transactions have gone well, and the site continues to upgrade their usablilty every day.
I'll continue to list items on Bidville, and surely hope the site takes off. Nevertheless, I need to make some sales, so I will continue to use "The Two 'Es" ebay and epier.
posted on February 6, 2001 09:56:34 AM new
Several notes:
1) Bidville said it was FREE to those who signed up before March. I assume, once it grows enough, it will start to charge the new sellers.
2) Things on Yahoo! sold slower, but my experience was that if you were willing to wait... it would sell at a higher price on Yahoo! I've sold the same items as other guys on eBay, but I usually sold it for 15-20% higher price.
posted on February 6, 2001 10:40:22 AM new
"Bidville said it was FREE to those who signed up before March. I assume, once it grows enough, it will start to charge the new sellers."
I asked that same question a while back, and none of the BidVille fans could provide an answer. I think somebody did point out though that BidVille already has a fee schedule page set up ... just waiting to plunk in the numbers. When that happens, I suspect the "Revolution" will cool down substantially a la Yahoooooooo
PS - I REALLY am trying to find something to bid on at this site! I, like many others, assumed that because it would be seller heavy, there could be some good deals to be had. I have been looking to add to my DVD and VHS collection, but the average starting bids for the more popular, pre-viewed DVDs are way out of line. Some of the more obscure DVDs (like old tv episodes) may seem like a good deal for people who don't shop off line. For example, paying $9.99 US (plus shipping) may seem like a great deal for a DVD with 4 episodes of "I Love Lucy", but I can buy this exact same DVD at Future Shop for $9.99 Canadian with no shipping. That works out to around $6.00 US.
Previewed VHS movies are the same. These can be had at Roger's and Blockbuster type stores for under $10.00 Canadian. Why would I want to bid $7.50 US (plus shipping which the sellers are gouging for ... $7.60 US to mail one tape???).
I was about to place a bid for an older movie on Bidville. It was a previewed copy of a pan and scan classic with a starting bid of $14.00 (plus shipping). On a whim, I telephone the local Roger's store and ended up ordering a brand new, factory sealed widescreen version of the same movie for $14.99 Canadian, delivered to the store I visit at least 3 times a week.
Finally, the only truly "rare" videos I have seen on BidVille are those offered by Canvid - and he's not getting any bids either.
In spite of what Bidville is promising in the way of advertising, we all went through months and months of similar promises made and not kept by Gold's. I do not understand how Bidville could pay for advertising without charging fees or getting a large number of hits on their site. If the owners are independently wealthy, this could explain it, but how long will the money last to keep it going? I don't know enough about ecomomics (does anyone?) to understand this.
It's like a Catch 22 for these folks. Without the ads they won't get the hits and without the hits, nobody will want to advertise there.
And, if they do get the banners et al, the site will slow down to a crawl ...
posted on February 6, 2001 10:41:32 AM new
I had never heard of "Golds" until I started watching the boards regularly through this Yahoo mess. However, I have heard of PayPal and although some people have had troubles with it - all my experiences have been positive and I still use the site.
BidVille's lucky day might have been January 9th. A year ago we were happily listing on Yahoo and didn't have the desire or need to move. So any new site didn't have much of a chance. Now we do. And as much as I loved Yahoo (and still miss it) BidVille is a much nicer site already.
posted on February 6, 2001 10:49:10 AM new
One thing I don't quite understand is the Banner at BidVille directing you to go to eBay ???
Why advertise eBay at BidVille?
