posted on June 16, 2002 09:30:20 AM new
Hello everyone, this is a great site for auction information! I own an online commerce software & hosting company and we are currently in the process of creating a new auction site/software primarily as an additional sales venue for our existing merchants but the site will be open for business to everyone. Initially we feel that our auction site will be more about building a user base, both merchants and shoppers rather than a revenue stream which is why we will most likely be offer the usage our site for free for a considerable amount of time to facilitate the building of our seller base. Im pretty sure we have all the bases covered as far as functionality is concerned & so far one of the primary seller "needs" appears to be a utility for importing multiple items for auctions but will be open for suggestions once we roll out our public beta site. The difference between our new site and many others is we are completely aware that it takes time to build a community and traffic so we are not counting on our site to generate any revenue for us. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
posted on June 16, 2002 10:07:36 AM new
I didn't need to learn anything from the .com bust because I don't run my business on someone else's money while giving away services. Free internet services are an extremely lame business model, always has been. Free services last as long as the money lasts or as long as unwise investors are willing to throw away their cash. My company makes money, has since day one that's why we are still in business and have clients such as the Miami Dolphins, BOSCH, RealNetworks, Dictaphone and many other big brand names. I can afford to run my new auction site free for a limited amount of time as I consider it the cost of doing business.
posted on June 16, 2002 12:29:24 PM new
bids bid the site is not new its www.Xfactormm.com it seems to be a very well established site with many big name clients who are offering 30 free store front trail.
there lowest priceing monthly at this time seems to be $29 a month for a store of ten items with offering a fair amount of bandwidth for that price.
great for people with a small number of items they would like to offer for sale over and over again.
some of there clients over time are or have been many amoung them microsoft, AOL and goto network
posted on June 16, 2002 01:22:18 PM new
Hey Bids, No url for the auction site yet. I expect to have a public beta available around Aug 1st or so... The new auction service will be in addition to our current eCommerce storefront offerings. Our merchants have been asking for an alternative to eBay and other sites so we decided to put one together I don't think I would be trying to launch an auction site right now if it were our only revenue source but as a value add to complement our current services it make perfect since. We get a ton of traffic every month through our network and already have hundreds of merchants ready to use the service when it is launched so we will just have to see how it lays out. If everyone is interested I will keep you updated on progress and when the site is available.
posted on June 16, 2002 01:41:05 PM new
I consider Bidville the best store value on the internet by far. For $5/yr a seller gets unlimited space ( some sellers have 10,000 items ) . For $5/yr the seller will have to host his own photos though. If a seller can drive traffic to his store this is a great deal. The site is very easy to use and has a bulk loader. There is very little maintenance required as a seller may set items to 30 day runs at 20 auto relists for 18+ months of no relisting hassles.
The key is not counting on the scant BV auction traffic but your own ability to get viewers to view your own items from outside sources such as past customers or other auction site buyers.
posted on June 16, 2002 02:18:48 PM new
My eCommerce solution (Storehost) is an enterprise level application which is completely separate from my upcoming auction solution although we are working on some level of integration with our storefronts. Storehost Auctions will eventually have some sort of fee structure but until I can actually see what resources it consumes it would be unwise to just pull a figure out of the air. all I can say about how much Storehost Auction services will cost right now is they will be competitive and reasonable with great functionality for both the seller and bidders... I have no doubt at all that I can drive traffic to the auction site as my network gets much better than 12 million hits a month (the actual figure is probably much higher :^ ) ~
I don't think I would be trying to launch an auction site right now if it were our only revenue source but as a value add to complement our current services it make perfect since. We get a ton of traffic every month through our network and already have hundreds of merchants ready to use the service when it is launched so we will just have to see how it lays out. If everyone is interested I will keep you updated on progress and when the site is available.