blairwitch
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posted on August 19, 2002 09:40:03 AM new
As of 8/18/02 Bidville's "customer service" has not addressed their members in the last 2 months. Maybe they will go for three.
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barncards1
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posted on August 19, 2002 09:43:31 AM new
Oh yes they do:
http://www.bidville.com/personal/about_me.cfm?user_id=158837
JB:}
I Sell @ TopNotchAuctions.com
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Yourdesigns
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posted on August 19, 2002 10:01:57 AM new
ROFL! JB. 
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robertsmithson
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posted on August 19, 2002 10:02:29 AM new
I believe that BW meant publically on the BV announcement message board. Sorry to see your account got suspended. You still have your main account though I see. There have been posts deleted and other signs of non-robot intervention at BV all along but no public posts or announcements by BV management.
That suspension cost BV $5 a year in verification money. There is much talk about the upcoming renewel of the BV license or failure to renew the upcoming license or whatever it is called. Early December will be an interesting time in the little village known as Bidville.
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blairwitch
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posted on August 19, 2002 11:39:34 AM new
Well since bidville is being run from a rental mail box they should be able to stay in business. The only rent they pay is for the mail box, and the rest of the site is being run from a house the way it seems.
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RB
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posted on August 19, 2002 11:42:02 AM new
What do they need the mailbox for?
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barncards1
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posted on August 19, 2002 11:52:57 AM new
What do they need the mailbox for?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For the same reason you don't tell us where you live:}:}
JB:}
I Sell @ TopNotchAuctions.com
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RB
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posted on August 19, 2002 12:06:03 PM new
No, I mean do people actualy have to mail them stuff?
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blairwitch
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posted on August 19, 2002 01:02:55 PM new
RB the mailbox is a requirement for them. Its not that people actually send them stuff, but most credit companies, etc they deal with require an address. I would say the PA address is the same just a rental box. I always said Bidville was run on a shoestring.
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robertsmithson
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posted on August 19, 2002 01:42:12 PM new
I bet they receive 100 pieces of mail every day at that mailbox. There are many people that do not use credit cards or Paypal and will only send checks, money orders or cash to pay their $5 fees or monthly memembership dues. I wish someone would drive by the Grace Ave addresses in PA to see if it is a Mailboxes Etc. too.  A rack of servers and routers would only be as big a refrigerator so why rent a suite of office buildings?
The thing that may cause BV to stop might be all of the time and effort to handle the emails and billing and extras might not be worth the $30,000 or so a year the site brings in. It might be enough for you or me but for an almost doctor that apparently has wealthy parents?
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tooltimes
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posted on August 19, 2002 02:38:32 PM new
Back to the thread theme ... no posts from management in over two months and even the last post has now been deleted. I wonder what newbies think when they sse that BidVille Announcements
Answers to some of your questions category right at the top of the message center and the 94 posts notation and then click on it and see nothing but a sea of nothing? A management team that is very involved with their site?
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paloma91
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posted on August 20, 2002 10:56:24 PM new
OOOH, something is happening! Last time I checked, it wasnt updated!
check this out! got to:
http://www.allwhois.com/cgi-bin/allwhois_2.cgi
and type in bidville.com
last updated: July 29, 2002
expires: Dec 7, 2002
If you notice, there is a physical address and phone listed.
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RichHillbilly
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posted on August 21, 2002 07:52:40 AM new
Hey!! Bidville made a Sale announcement today. Bryan must have gotten back from that long vacation in the Bahama's. Hardy!! Har!! Har!! Greatest Business Ethics On The Net!! You Go Ed!! Yeah!! Right!! Hillbilly
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robertsmithson
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posted on August 21, 2002 09:03:50 AM new
It looks like the BV sellers have some major 'organize a sale' burnout so Bryan organized his own. The no reserve auction rule, which will undoubtedly be broken on a grand scale, may cut into his favored sale statistics.
I believe that posts like this from some of the most ardent BV supporters may have goaded BV management into the new official announcement.
Why someone from BVCS can`t state as much is beyond me. I think the fact that the site is up and running with fair efficiency is enough for most, but the silence in the face of critical questions is often maddening.
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blairwitch
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posted on August 21, 2002 10:18:51 AM new
Hillbilly the only vacation he took was to the mailbox place.
robertsmithson the burn out is no surprise since the sell-thru rate remains very low even when there is a "sale". The problem with the sale is no advertising. While they send a notice to bidville members, there is no outside advertising. Also if you take notice to the stats I posted the other items are going down, while the sport cards keep going up. The book section remains dormant.
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caffeitalia
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posted on August 24, 2002 09:29:29 PM new
Bidville's record?
They have the largest collection of deadbeats in the online auction business.
[ edited by caffeitalia on Aug 25, 2002 09:25 PM ]
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kodiheglin
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posted on August 25, 2002 03:12:02 PM new
Congratulations to BidVille management for waking up to their users cries for attention and support.
I wish them the best
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blairwitch
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posted on August 25, 2002 07:06:24 PM new
caffeitalia bidville also does not have a system in place to eliminate deadbeats so that will always be a problem there. But since they charge no FVF or listing fees almost nothing can be done.
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yellowbud
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posted on August 26, 2002 03:55:04 AM new
Blairwitch, please explain the system that all other auction sites use to keep their sites 100% deadbeat free! That would be interesting to hear.
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blairwitch
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posted on August 26, 2002 10:24:32 AM new
yellowbud we had this discussion before many times. yahoo and ebay have a npb policy while bidville does not.
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RB
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posted on August 26, 2002 11:32:46 AM new
You can have all the policies that you want ... all that does is complicate the venue to the point where many novices won't even bother trying. Ever wonder why eBay has a "university"?
The only effective way to truly eliminate deadbeats is to get Fat Tony to track the varmits down and ...
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yellowbud
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posted on August 26, 2002 12:11:04 PM new
Blairwitch, "we" have NEVER had this conversation.
Now, would you please explain WHY there are STILL non-paying bidders at Yahoo and Ebay?
RB...exactly!
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RadarLove
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posted on August 26, 2002 12:47:35 PM new
Seems to me that the majority of NPB's are Troll's out to make it look as though BV has a problem with NPB's.
A good example is the now suspended ChristmasPass.... check out the feedback he left every Seller on who's auctions he bid. Kind of obvious, but then Troll's are not known for having very high IQ's.
BV doesn't really need anything special for NPB's other than common sense and an alert community, but they do offer the following advice:
The best weapon available at this time is the appropriate use of the feedback forum. However, we do support our members using the Traderlist at http://www.traderlist.com. This site is in our opinion the best place to report and learn about 'deadbeats'.
RL
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blairwitch
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posted on August 26, 2002 02:38:44 PM new
RB the problem with 99% of deadbeats are kids. Now that school is in things should calm down alot. When I sold WWF figures in 1997/1998 summer months were horrible for deadbeats. Fat tony would have come in handy!
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caffeitalia
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posted on August 26, 2002 03:42:01 PM new
Yellowbud,
No one is saying that ebay or yahoo is 100% free of deadbeats. But the system is in place to keep them in check. The example I like to use is Yahoo vs Bidville.
Back before Yahoo implemented listing fees, I was averaging 3-4 deadbeats per month. As with many sellers, when Yahoo started listing fees, I bolted to bidville along with many other seller. Low and behold, I was getting bids over there and thought the move was great. Until the deadbeat syndrome set in. Of the bids I received there, 95% were deadbeats. Than I began to investigate what was being listed there and the reasons that Yahoo gave for the listing fees started to evolve. Yahoo's reason for implementing listing fees was to rid the site of junk auctions. That was accomplished. What they did not expect is the amount of deadbeats that those junk auctions would take with them. The majority ended up at bidville. Since I went back to Yahoo last fall, I have filed only three NPB's with only two of those actually being deadbeats. That is only two deadbeats in nearly 10 months since I went back to yahoo. And my sales there have been better than ever. It was very clear that the sport card crowd was the main culprit. And blairwitch is likely correct stating of those deadbeats, the majority are younger people just looking to screw up auctions for others trying to sell items of value. Thus, bidville does have the record of deadbeats and there is no fix in sight.
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tooltimes
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posted on August 26, 2002 05:25:55 PM new
Many of the deadbeats on any online auction are young, immature bidders. But I would not call them the majority of deadbeats. Many people simply change their minds on items won and know there is no way the seller can force them to pay up.
eBay has the best system to stop deadbeats but many sellers do not use it so it's effectiveness is diluted somewhat. All bidders are allowed 'three strikes' then they are out. The bidders earn each strike when they do not pay up on an auction win and the seller goes through the hurdles of filing the forms. The sellers risk an unwarranted, retaliatory negative feedback each time they file on a bad bidder.
Yahoo has the next best system. All users, both sellers and bidders, must have a valid paid ISP email address and credit card with security numbers found on the back of each card. New bidders are made unable to bid if they get a negative feedback as their first feedback since all sellers can set the minimum feedback rating that they will accept.
Smaller sites are more open for deadbeats since most do not have the means to verify paid ISP email accounts. For instance, a person could use a free email account to register at Bidville and then bid on up to 10 auctions and default on all of them. The $5 verification does nothing to stop them but is more effective in stopping the bad sellers selling new laptops for $350.
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