posted on November 27, 2002 12:59:48 AM new
Below is an exact quote at the Moo from one of our new sellers and what he had to say about us :
" Have you Tried AuctionCounter.com and their free offer...? I have and i have to say it's a good deal. I used The free promotion code they gave me free pictures, bold listings and highlighted listings ( i haven't used yet) and they ended up posting all of my auctions on their homepage even though that wasn't included. customer service is responsive too for now. By the end of this week i'm hoping to spend all the free listing credits they gave me and see if i get any sales. No FVF, i have nothing to lose but a couple minutes this deal gave me everything free to try them out. Unless you're a member you're not able to see the promo packages but it turns out for every say $1 you spend they give you back twice that amount in enhancing features so when you do the math it turns out you're only spending something like 12-13 cents per listing. check them out. i'll keep you posted.
see my current auctions
http://www.auctioncounter.com/selle...on.asp?memid=31
Visit us today and try us for yourself, invite your customers to buy from you there and save on FVF .
http://www.auctionCounter.com
[ edited by auctioncounter on Nov 27, 2002 01:02 AM ]
posted on November 27, 2002 03:42:39 PM new
I think you ment from your one seller diden't you?
They must have jumped ship.
The page cannot be found
The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
Ok enough of the crap I still do not like your site but here is a real question.
Other than spam and word of mouth do you have a plan to get customers to your site? Why should I waste my time at your site posting auctions instead of here posting messages?
posted on November 29, 2002 12:20:06 AM new
hello Gordoyloco,
To receive your free Promotion code simply register and email [email protected] and we'll deposit the promo code into your member account under auctions. your promo code will be good for : 25 free single item auction listings, 1 free bold listing feature, 3 free highlighted features, 5 free pictures. a $49.75 value.
Hello Lanefamily,
Actually Jim, We have at least 100,000 registered Sellers, but it seems ALL of the sellers just registered to receive leads from ewanted postings (another seller feature offerered by AuctionCounter). This is the reason we're offering the FREE promo codes, to help skeptical sellers take the plunge. We have just signed a deal with Dealtime.com ( a price comparison engine ) that serves more than 12 MILLION shoppers monthly. In a nutshell, Every AuctionCounter Listing will be spidered via a feed we're developping and fed to the Dealtime Database, and displayed in the search results on the Dealtime Website.Through this program All AuctionCounter Listings will be displayed on AOL, MSN, lYCOS, ALTA VISTA,INFOSPACE AND NETSCAPE for starters. We're working with many other such major engines regarding this type of distribution. this is the first phase of many, We've Estimated by the time all of these engines come on board with us, AuctionCounter Listings will be distributed to over 80 MILLION Targeted, ready shoppers. Buyers visit these engines pratically with their credit cards at hand ready to shop.The feed should be completed and tested by or before Dec 15th,'02. We're building AuctionCounter.com as the ULTIMATE sellers website. You can list on free auction sites but none of them are investing their resources to something that is so logical and basic to what an auction house should be, Bringing Buyers and Sellers together. I hope this answers your question.
Best Regards,
Price
[ edited by auctioncounter on Nov 29, 2002 12:28 AM ]
posted on November 29, 2002 01:26:17 PM new
HellO Toollady,
Actually our site has been live since May '02 and we have been promoting it since then. We've stopped all of the campaigns we had running b/c we think it beter to focus our advertising budget and resources on The kinds of distribution deals we're working on with Dealtime.com and the likes, in the long run this will help our site to acquire better quality buyers for our sellers. I think we only have one last campaign running for now and it's at the Moo. (Patty does a great job over there by the way, sent us a lot of sellers ).
I Only wish we had the counter idea from the day of our launch, i know it would have gone a long way towards establishing our claim. Since May, '02 a lot has changed at the site, we've added new features and 16,000 Categories up from 9,000 when the site began.
Regarding the page counter question. We place the counter on the site to display the use of the site, page views etc..., not to track unique visitors. We wanted to let people who visit the site know that our site is open. AuctionCounter is and will be a work in progress for a long time, we have so many ideas about how to bring buyers and sellers together.
Since May '02, We've Received 456,945 Unique Visitors and 3,767,621 page views, Tracked by Live Metrics, a site reporting tool we use. I'm sorry i cannot offer live evidence that truly reflects our membership. Our Exact Numbers from May '02 - now : 100,115 Registered Sellers, 200,052 Registered Buyers. Just take a look at our registration page to see how easily we figure out Who is Who at our site.
RE: " Why the low traffic recently ", For months our traffic have shown us Almost 100% of the Registered sellers who return to the site After registration, went directly to our ewanted pages seeking out Leads.
We made the ewanted pages as an afterthought for buyers who come to our site and don't find what they are looking for, until we get sellers who can see that and take advantage of the free promo codes to list their items and tap the already available buyer base we have, the ewanted leads feature will never become what it was intended to be. any more questions, Let me know i will gladly answer them. Thank you for your interest.
Customers First.
Best Regards,
Price
[ edited by auctioncounter on Nov 29, 2002 01:36 PM ]
posted on November 29, 2002 08:28:16 PM new
hello Toollady,
As far as i can see, we have 45 listings available at the site. When a user clicks our browse, it is set up as a buyer's perpesctive so someone looking for i.e a book by title would click " Books " and be presented with the selections. The set up is very simple and user friendly, and that's important b/c we have so many categories. On The sell page our categories are set up from the seller's point of view and is also very user friendly.
C2C Listings and B2C listings are all the same to us. While we do differentiate these categories by title, the intented activity is the same, individual sellers or small business using our channels to connect with potential buyers.
We differentiate B2B from B2C b/c it is clear that some users will not be looking for industrial items or advertising that we list under B2B. Any one can sell in any category, no restrictions as long as it is legal, and worthwhile to you the seller.
posted on December 1, 2002 09:07:02 PM new
Personally, i think there's something very wrong with that picture. Here we have a great site htt://www.AuctionCounter.com, with as much and more specialty categories (16,000+) than any other online auction site or marketplace for that matter created by auction sellers for auction sellers (not by self-centered executives) offering free listings, promising to deliver 12 million potential customers to buy those listings in the coming days (by Dec. 15, 02) and so far only manage to list 45 items. We're not asking sellers to abandon what pays the bills for now, we're asking sellers to try and test out a viable alternative.
Until sellers experience what AuctionCounter can do for them now and in the long run, you cannot get an accurate picture looking at us from the outside. We're spending our own money to advertise ALL your listings on Dealtime.com.
Our Current Allotted budget at dealtime will easily sell 250,000 Items once we start using this feed. when a dealtime customer goes on their site, it's because they're ready to shop, it's not quite the same deal when they're at a search engine, these customers are ready to spend.
We figure by the time we send 10 micro targeted customers per listing, our sellers will close with a high successful percentage rate. We don't limit our advertising to 10 customers per listing, our accountant came up wit this scenario based on info received from dealtime.com. you can imagine how disturbed we are with the current listing state at our site.
It doesn't stop there, Not only will we bring these customers in for our sellers we'll do every thing we can to keep them coming back with a very powerful buyer loyalty program we're launching in January '03 that rewards them cash back (our money, it will cost the seller $0.00, we do not plan on passing it anything to our sellers) every time they win an auction or a classified listing and post feedback for the seller. If you're a serious seller AuctionCounter is fastly becoming an Avenue you do not want to miss. Get over there and List your Auctions Free.
Right now is the best time to list while buyer to Seller ratio will be some 120 to 1. Remember, Free promo code is a limited time offer...This campaign ends soon, but the promo codes are available for purchase 365 days a year. We believe Sellers will see this opportunity for what it is very soon. We're keeping our fingers crossed at least.
Customers First. Connect . Have fun
Best Regards,
Price
[ edited by auctioncounter on Dec 1, 2002 09:12 PM ]
[ edited by auctioncounter on Dec 1, 2002 09:20 PM ]
posted on December 1, 2002 09:16:18 PM new
I believe it may be a case of too many other auction sites that have come before you have never amounted to very much and now, no matter what is promised, the sellers will no longer take the time and energy to try a new site out. Seller burnout with new sites syndome perhaps.
Did you go to the GT school of marketing?
Why would you bring 12million viewers to a site that only has 45 listings?
There is another auction site owner who has promised their sellers millions of new viewers and they have over 75,000 auctions - ask the sellers at Bidway if their sales have increased.
Do you really think you are doing your site any good by bringing that many views when the site is virtually empty?
Do your 100,000 sellers know of this marketing plan? If they do and they haven't boosted the numbers, then I would say there really aren't 100,000 sellers at AuctionCounter.
posted on December 2, 2002 10:57:44 PM new
Hya, hey, and howdy-do Price!
Thanks for taking the time to answer questions and bein' honest 'bout the low number of listings. It seems to me that you're headed in the right direction with that "dealtime" deal.
BUT, lemme see here...if I wanna list 125 items on your site, I'm gonna flip $110.00 in your direction and take my chances on traffic pouring in around the middle of this month? Hmmmm
Now, I'm not trying to be "ugly" here, but I don't think that pig's gonna fly. I'm not claiming to be smarter 'n a rat in a trap, but I don't like the results of this NEW math.
I think your site may benefit from temporarily(or permanently) throwing those listing fees over in junior's cornfield to enrich his soil. Maybe you oughta consider a final value fee instead. Shoot fire...with all the profits you'll make from the "dealtime" masses...you can probably afford to throw in a free picture with each listing.
I really do NOT mind paying final value fees. I think it is only fair to give back to the medium which helps me sell my items. The biggest problem for sellers right now is finding those buyers.
If you can produce those buyers in the numbers you're hoping for.....you can get rich in a hurry just on final value fees.(providing you toss the listing fees)
If I'm missing something here...please lemme know. I'm not extremely active on any auction sites at the moment.(but I could possibly get excited about those dealtime folks)
I agree with a previous poster regarding your lack of listings staring at all the soon-to-arrive buyers. I think you need my listings bout as much as I need your buyers. So, whaddya say?
Are those listing fees feedin' junior's corn yet?
Rob
PS: I AM quite serious, despite my kuntrified humor.
posted on December 3, 2002 08:57:39 AM new
Watch it its2chaep. He'll say you're wasting bandwith and all types of foul and evil names. Excellent public relations.
posted on December 3, 2002 12:01:51 PM new
hello Toollady,
you said:
Why would you bring 12million viewers to a site that only has 45 listings?
Answer:
It's my fault i wasn't clear. i mentioned this deal in passing. Our official press release will be more detailed. We will not bring 12 million 'viewers' to a site with 45 listings, we have 12 million available shoppers at dealtime on pay per performance basis, which means until a seller has posted a listing it will not be fed into the dealtime site and our cost will still be zero. This dealtime distribution deal depends so much on sellers, we're not just aimlessly sending people to view our site.
You Said:
There is another auction site owner who has promised their sellers millions of new viewers and they have over 75,000 auctions - ask the sellers at Bidway if their sales have increased.
Answer:
No other small marketplace has done it quite on the scale we're planning to distribute our site and our strategy. They have probably bought guaranteed visitor packages. You can't imagine it until 6 months from now you will see the sheer amount of Targeted distribution our listings will receive on so many top 10 internet properties. We know how to do it and we know whom to talk to also.
You said
Do you really think you are doing your site any good by bringing that many views when the site is virtually empty?
Answer:
We don't receive any views until sellers have posted listings. all of these views will not come all at once, surely dealtime doesn't have 12 milliion shoppers monthly looking for one item. We chose dealtime because they service so many of our categories almost to the last subcategory. Every AuctionCounter category will come with it's own targeted buyers.
You Said:
Do your 100,000 sellers know of this marketing plan? If they do and they haven't boosted the numbers, then I would say there really aren't 100,000 sellers at AuctionCounter.
Answer:
Until The feed Has been completed and tested, we want to hold off contacting them, it will only be for another week. When we contact them, we want to make sure we can back up what we're saying, instead of talking cheap. Nobody wants promises, i personally want a manager that can deliver results.
Hello Itstoocheap
You're new to this thread, i haven't heard from you before. Thank you for recognizing the Dealtime opportunity and what it can do for us. We feel in time sellers will see it that way too.
You Said:
BUT, lemme see here...if I wanna list 125 items on your site, I'm gonna flip $110.00 in your direction and take my chances on traffic pouring in around the middle of this month? Hmmmm
Answer:
If you want to list 100 items at our site it's going to cost you 110 in buying a promo code, you receive $97.90 in free enhancing features: 1 free homepage featured, 1 free category featured, 4 free bold listings, 10 free highlighted listings. Your actual cost will be 97.90 -110.00 = 12.10. Now divide 12.10 by 100 listings you will be paying about 12 cents per listing. the homepage featured alone would have been enough for this package b/c once a buyer finds your product on the homepage, buyer will have access to all of your open items via " Seller's Other Auctions ". I think this is not a stab in the dark as some other smaller sites promise. i personnaly have used dealtime and bizrate for comparison shopping over the years. I know first hand what it can do for us. If i didn't believe in this opportunity, i wouldn't waste your time or mine, neither my resources in making it happen.
You said:
I think your site may benefit from temporarily(or permanently) throwing those listing fees over in junior's cornfield to enrich his soil. Maybe you oughta consider a final value fee instead. Shoot fire...with all the profits you'll make from the "dealtime" masses...you can probably afford to throw in a free picture with each listing.
Answer:
Not only did we consider temporarily removing the listing fees, we actually did. We're still offering new sellers free promo codes that will give you 25 free auction listings, 1 free bold feature, 3 free highlighted features, 5 free item pictures. In 2003, We will be introducing New promo codes that will include free pictures for every listing i.e. if your promo code comes with 25 listings you will receive 25 free pictures and other enhancing features.
You said:
I really do NOT mind paying final value fees. I think it is only fair to give back to the medium which helps me sell my items. The biggest problem for sellers right now is finding those buyers.
Answer:
We don't intend to charge our sellers any FVF, Sellers Buying the promo codes will generate more than enough revenue for us to keep our site growing in users and distribution. We're hoping either our sellers will make more when they make a sale with us or take the of 7% FVF average they usually pay and pass it on to their customers or invest in their own marketing.
You said:
If I'm missing something here...please lemme know. I'm not extremely active on any auction sites at the moment.(but I could possibly get excited about those dealtime folks)
Answer:
Itstoocheap, You're not missing anything, you came accross very clearly and we do want to listen to all feedback whether you're a registered user or someone from another site. I think most sellers are just used to paying a final value fee, But this is the New cooperative Auction where we all make money and not just the owners.
You Said:
I agree with a previous poster regarding your lack of listings staring at all the soon-to-arrive buyers. I think you need my listings bout as much as I need your buyers. So, whaddya say?
Answer:
I say YES, YES Register for a seller account at our site, email [email protected] and let us know you want a promo code and we'll deposit one into your account. these promo codes are available to sellers every day for purchase. When you use promo codes, you get FREE enhancing features like homepage featured etc... To view the auction promo codes, log in and click the "promotion " link found in the top navigation of our pages.
FYI: When you register, pick a user name that reflects your product line, this will be invaluable to you in the coming months at AuctionCounter. WE have so many Advertising opportunities within the site for our sellers in the pipeline. Auctions will never be the same again. We will never host 3rd party ads or offers on our site.
Thank you for all your comments.
Customers First. Connect. Have Fun
Best Regards,
Price
[ edited by auctioncounter on Dec 3, 2002 12:36 PM ]
posted on December 4, 2002 04:25:41 PM new
Thanks for answering my post, Mr Price! Much appreciated.
I am not quite ready to get an account at your site just yet.
I understand what you're saying...but I still say...I don't think that pig's gonna fly, as far as your $110.00 fee to list 125 items.
I DO realize you're giving free enhancements with those 25 free listings, but....heh heh...I don't give a hoot about enhancements. With only 45 listings on your site right now...I think my auctions would do okay without any extras, if the auctions are targeted thru dealtime.
And frankly...if I just list the free 25, I wouldn't really be helping your site either.
If I listed a couple hundred or maybe even 500 items...then maybe I'd be helping your site a tad.
Why am I being so selective about my listings? Well...this time of year is usually busy for all of us, whether we sell or not. So if I take the time to place some professionally done listings, they need to at least have a good shot at bringing in some bids.
All the great bargains in the world won't help without the traffic and all the buyers in the world won't help without stuff to bid on or buy.
I guess I'm hoping to find a smaller auction site with some potential. And that won't be a site with listing fees. Lemme repeat that....And that won't be a site with listing fees. Especially in the beginning.
I think any site that feels the need to start off with listing fees is pretty much doomed in this era of "tons of auction sites". So many come and go. I would truly like to see one of the sites really "make it". And to do it, I'm afraid the site will have to have some type of income. Final Value Fees make MUCH MORE SENSE than listing fees. Especially if you are going to spend a good deal of money promoting the site. If I don't sell...I can't afford to list. But if I DO sell, I can afford to give a li'l bit of it back.
Now if you only pay dealtime when they forward buyers...and you can be a tad patient...you truly could drop the list fees and go with a FVF which would sure help you to make a solid "jump" towards succeeding in this line of business.
If you decide to drop the listing fees(and I don't mean a 25 free list deal), please email me. [email protected]
And I wish you much success however you decide to operate your auction site!
Rob
PS: I alway choose "its2cheap" as my user ID...matches my website.
posted on December 4, 2002 10:50:59 PM new
hello Its2cheap,
You Said:
I am not quite ready to get an account at your site just yet.
I understand what you're saying...but I still say...I don't think that pig's gonna fly, as far as your $110.00 fee to list 125 items.
I DO realize you're giving free enhancements with those 25 free listings, but....heh heh...I don't give a hoot about enhancements. With only 45 listings on your site right now...I think my auctions would do okay without any extras, if the auctions are targeted thru dealtime.
ANSWER:
You 're right about the extra listing free listing features which are almost valued at the same cost as the $110.fee will not make a difference right now, b/c of low listing counts. That's just for right now, what about when we have thousands of listings in a category, when our shoppers browse thru our listings, (non dealtime shoppers) would it not help you when you use those free features to move your items up, giving you complete upper hand over sellers who don't use extra features or sellers who choose to pay for them rather than buy a promo code. think about it. We're not building this site for right now, the infastructures we've set up and continue to build will serve our site and its users for years to come.
You said:
And frankly...if I just list the free 25, I wouldn't really be helping your site either.
If I listed a couple hundred or maybe even 500 items...then maybe I'd be helping your site a tad.
Why am I being so selective about my listings? Well...this time of year is usually busy for all of us, whether we sell or not. So if I take the time to place some professionally done listings, they need to at least have a good shot at bringing in some bids.
All the great bargains in the world won't help without the traffic and all the buyers in the world won't help without stuff to bid on or buy.
ANSWER:
You're absolutely right again! We don't expect sellers to completely abandon what pays their bills, we're asking to carry 25 of their items and see how they do. While i would love nothing more than to give every seller that signs up a promo code, due to human resources restraints we can only extend this offer about 300-400 sellers realistically. These promo codes need to be manually generated on our side before we can deposit them into your account. Any auction site that can deliver more than 1 million shoppers monthly to its sellers will ask no less than 30 cents to list your items. we're only asking 12 cents. For a limited time we're giving 25 listings away with free enhancement features.
You said:
I guess I'm hoping to find a smaller auction site with some potential. And that won't be a site with listing fees. Lemme repeat that....And that won't be a site with listing fees. Especially in the beginning.
I think any site that feels the need to start off with listing fees is pretty much doomed in this era of "tons of auction sites". So many come and go. I would truly like to see one of the sites really "make it". And to do it, I'm afraid the site will have to have some type of income. Final Value Fees make MUCH MORE SENSE than listing fees. Especially if you are going to spend a good deal of money promoting the site. If I don't sell...I can't afford to list. But if I DO sell, I can afford to give a li'l bit of it back.
Now if you only pay dealtime when they forward buyers...and you can be a tad patient...you truly could drop the list fees and go with a FVF which would sure help you to make a solid "jump" towards succeeding in this line of business.
ANSWER:
Its2cheap, i can truly see your point and that you possess good working knowledge of the auction industry. Before i reply, i want to ask you a couple of questions:
how many can truly say they're making money for their sellers?
How many free listing auction sites have survived till now?
and if they've survived, what type of listings do they offer, anything worthwhile( can you really make money selling 1 item for $2.00) even if you bought it for a penny? what is your time worth (rethorical question) ?
and if you can answer that, what is the successful closing rate for these auctions?
Do these auctions have a proven way of connecting their free listings to expensive buyers that actually buy? FYI the cost for each and every new buyer to an ecommerce is between 30-90 dollars per new customer. Can these sites pay this fee?
FYI: we know these answers already.
What's the point of having 800,000 listings and 0 buyers. Forget about the cost to maintain those listings every second of the day, 365 days a year.
The business model you're suggesting looks like great business sense on paper, in theory or however you look at it until you put it to practice and you quickly see its true worth. I'm not at all surprised that so many sites started off that way and many more will come. There was a time on the net, where it was good practice to build a free site and turn it into a pay site once the site's mission was established, these times have passed for auction sites and competition is so tight now that, unless a site like AuctionCounter can come in and deliver a great product at a great price, we don't stand a chance at ever being even a small auction site. Our product: 12 million customers by Dec. 15, 02, our price, 12 cents per listing flat fee, no other fees. When you pay us this 12 cents, we turn around and sign more distribution Deals, increasing the number of buyers for each seller and user base for the site. Everybody wins, after all this is what an auction site is supposed to do. My business model is, to build a small great community first, then build on what works. this is not my get rich quick ticket, this is my passion.
You Said:
When you say you are offering a 25 free listing promo code.....how many of those are each seller allowed?
If you are allowing more than 1 per seller...this could be deemed the same as free listings on a temporary basis.
Just wanna make sure I totally understand the deal here.
ANSWER:
Each seller is allowed one for now, In 2003, We will launch a seller reward program that will reward sellers with a gold or platinum promo code that is more valuable than the one we are offering. it will either give the seller 75 or 100 FREE auction listings, but that will be in 2003.
I may contact you and offer you a special promo code deal once the feed is completed and tested. The work regarding the feed remains on schedule, so i'll be contacting you shortly.
posted on December 5, 2002 01:51:50 AM new
I sure don't have all the answers where auction sites are concerned.
You've got your work cut out for ya, no matter how you operate the site.
Ya know...so many sites have come and gone...but not ONE that I can recall, had a structure including all of these:
-0- listing fees
final value fees(any % amount)
practical category structure
optional paid enhancements
advertising budget(of any amount)
Your questions may apply to lots and lots of defunct auction sites, but they do NOT apply to my belief system in any way, shape, or form. Your questions tend to assume that I do not have the zeal/intelligence/experience/ability that you have. While I do not accept this as the criticism that it appears to be...it is probably not a good idea to underestimate and adopt a superior view to others. My only reason for posting to this thread, is cuz I really think ya got a shot at succeeding. And I think it is admirable that you take the time to thoughtfully respond to all who address you.
In conclusion, with Ebay being the "mega deal", any site that intends to advance even to half-stance towards them, will have to offer sellers and buyers something much better than Ebay has and in as many areas as possible. (By the way...any company who realistically pays $30-90 for each and every new buyer, should fire their managers and top advertising specialists. If they find that range to be acceptable or the "norm", then perhaps they deserve to fail.)
Rob
PS: Many folks feel that Ebay has gotten a bit too big for their britches and perhaps the founding duo has forgotten the "early days".
posted on December 5, 2002 02:01:53 AM new
I have a request. Please don't refer to your listing fees as being .12, when in fact they are $1.10 each.
I do NOT intend to purchase ANY enhancements, therefore my cost to list at your site is in fact.....$1.10 per item after the 25 listing promo code is used.
If others wish to purchase ALL those enhancements, then yes....a mere .12 would be their FINAL cost per item.
Don't mean to sound critical, but I know ya don't wanna come across like a politician talking out both sides of his mouth. heh heh
Thanks again for your willingness to explain your site's features and reasoning.
posted on December 6, 2002 12:01:02 AM new
hello Rob,
I think you misunderstood my last post. I was merely responding to your comments. If you read my posts from day one, you will see a pattern, i always try to respond to the poster's questions or statements in a respectful manner, while taking into account that other people will be reading these posts and might be interested in more detailed information.
I come on this board to provide information, While i'm not a PR person, i'm an auctionneer, it's important to me that sellers know they are dealing with someone that is responsible and accountable. I cannot gain trust or credibility by assumptions or underestimating my customer's zeal/intelligence/experience/ability . When sellers come and use my site, they are employing me to do what i say i can do, which is connecting them to their customers. I take this job very seriously.
You would not hire someone to work for you unless you were sure this person is qualified, your posts on dec 3, and 4 seem to question my ability to run this site successfully for sellers. By posing these questions to you, i was pointing out that, i have done my homework, and that we're not just another auction site that won't be around in the next 12 months.
I lay it out clear in the open for every one to see, free auction sites in this era will not make it, customers cost money on both sides for an auction site. If sellers want to make sales they need to buy customers (advertise). If auction sites need to make sales and make sales for their sellers they need to buy these customers (advertise). The way we do that is by chargind listing fees. unless our site charges listing fees and use it to attract both sellers and buyers, the site will not succeed.
Yes, FVF makes sense, but when a site is collecting pennies on every sale, how can a seller realistically expect the site to bring them buyers on a consistent basis? the answer is, they cannot. You can see this example into play at almost any site following this FVF model. full of listings and no buyers. What use is that to the seller and the time they've spent posting these items?
AuctionCounter respects everyone's time and the effort they put forth into their business, this is why we introduced this model. I respect our model doesn't fly with you, just like E*** is not for everyone, Our site is not for every seller. Unless you're a registered member at our site, you cannot see exactly how we've covered all of your bases as a seller. for example:
-if you sell somewhere else and have a Good feedback profile at that site, you can import the feedback page url to AuctionCounter and have it displayed into all your items until you have built up your AC feedback profile, your buyers will know instantly whom they're dealing with.
-When you list your items at our site and you receive multiple bids, at the end of the auction (since a large number of sellers use drop shipping) if you can get more of this same item, you can instantly contact the under bidders that can make you a profit and offer them the same item at their bid price. similar to E***'s " Second chance " only difference is, you don't have to list the item again and wait for listing to close again, you make the sale right away, right now.
-Receive and respond to targeted leads in 16,000 Categories. Let's say you only sell barbie dolls, when you register as a seller, you just choose that category and when someone post an ewanted in the barbie dolls category in ewanted, you will receive it in your email instantly; to respond, go to the site and make an offer to the buyer. There are many ewanted sites online, but none has so many categories, much less targeted leads. everything you can post in auctions, someone could be asking for in ewanted. You will not receive hundreds of Junk leads every day, you will receive only the leads that pertain to your product line. when you're finished posting in your category, you will be able to see wanted ads specifically for your category. Selling will truly be a 24 hour business at AuctionCounter.
...And many more seller features, that you just have to be a member to experience. you can judge this site by other non-members who talk about it here on this board, but you will not know the value of this site until you've seen it for yourself.
you said:
(By the way...any company who realistically pays $30-90 for each and every new buyer, should fire their managers and top advertising specialists. If they find that range to be acceptable or the "norm", then perhaps they deserve to fail.)
ANSWER:
This range is basically what new sites with no brand recognition would pay, sites similar to ours and those trying to convince new users to test them out. This range does not only include marketing but also include the cost of operating and resources that goes into bringing a new customer. We too do not accept these norms, but are aware of them. Going back to what i said before, When you hire AuctionCounter as your selling destination, you are placing your confidence in us and i come here to let you know basically, you won't regret it. You have someone working for you with their eyes on the ball, so you can sleep at night keeping your eyes on yours.
You said:
I have a request. Please don't refer to your listing fees as being .12, when in fact they are $1.10 each.
I do NOT intend to purchase ANY enhancements, therefore my cost to list at your site is in fact.....$1.10 per item after the 25 listing promo code is used.
If others wish to purchase ALL those enhancements, then yes....a mere .12 would be their FINAL cost per item.
Answer:
I'm sorry i cannot honor your reuqest Rob, We are both right technically. You can offer your position on what our site is about, but it's my job to always tell anyone reading this thread the FULL PICTURE about the services we offer and pertaining information. By buying a promo code, a seller would save on picture fees, ( almost every one uses pictures in their listings), and a lot of other useful enhancements. While these FREE enhancements may not be right for you, some sellers might see them as a plus when the volumne of our listings increases. I've never said the basic listing price was 12 cents when you pay outright, anytime my posts have mentioned 12 cents, you can clearly see i'm referring to promotion codes. Promo codes are available to every seller 365 days a year for purchase, for every dollar you spend on our promo codes, we return close to 90% of it to you in free listing enhancements.
In Closing, I come here only to inform auction users about my site, not to offend. I don't feel you offend me and apologize if you feel offended by anything i've said to you directly or indirectly. You're a lot critical, to tell you truthfully i like that, it shows me you're interested, and i'm eager to give you any information you require to make a decision either way . You have no idea how many peoples' ideas you vocalize with your own words. I hope we continue to talk (friendly) and keep your questions coming. I'm always ready to answer. I don't mind criticism, so don't be shy.
posted on December 8, 2002 06:09:05 AM new
Thank you.
Very good post. Answers many questions.
If potential sellers/buyers read this thread, they should have no questions regarding your auction site.(Which is a good thing.) Many folks will not take the time to email about their "I wonder..."s.
heh heh