tooltimes
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posted on December 22, 2002 09:07:45 PM new
The object will be to guess the closest to the number of listings on the BV homepage on 02/01/03 . You can go either over or under on the actual amount. If a majority of the BV sellers have to pay the $5 verification for 6 months in January as I suppose then there should be at least some effect on the BV listings number.
The current number is about 891,827 auctions per the BV homepage.
My guess is 800,000 even.
[ edited by tooltimes on Dec 22, 2002 09:09 PM ]
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blairwitch
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posted on December 23, 2002 09:30:31 AM new
887,828 is the current listing number. I say 850,000 listings by your date tooltimes.
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tooltimes
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posted on December 23, 2002 09:42:20 AM new
Come on stavescards, give us your estimate. John too.
As a note: BV deletes most threads that are 60 days old and inactive. There is one thread that has survived in it's entirety titled TEXANS Enter Here with 900+ posts. If you look at the first page of the thread which dates back to the end of July of last year you will see that the majority of the posters no longer have any items listed on the site. They have moved on.
[ edited by tooltimes on Dec 23, 2002 11:06 AM ]
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replaymedia
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posted on December 23, 2002 01:44:12 PM new
I don't normally pay much attention to Bidville, so pardon me if this has been rehashed a dozen times, but...
Is this verification thing seen as good or bad by you guys?
Is it just for sellers or do bidders have to be verified as well?
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tooltimes
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posted on December 23, 2002 02:06:15 PM new
BV started verification supposedly to get the bad sellers from selling and scamming at BV even though no other online auctions used the tactic. It should have been a one-time thing but it appears that it became a major source of income for the site. The verification fees have recently doubled and unless sellers pay a minimum of $5 per month for a membership plan they need verification dues to sell on the site or use the 'live chat' worthless chatroom within the BV message center.
A new buyer may choose to become verified at $2.50 for one month to bid on many items at once without a feedback rating.
The irony is that there have been several ripoff sellers at BV that took-the-money-and-ran and many deadbeat buyers as well.
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smenkveld
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posted on December 23, 2002 11:50:40 PM new
Why would any buyer pay Bidville $2.50 a month to be able to bid on low dollar items? Does Bidville even spend any money to advertise anywhere? I was talking to some friends that buy and sell sportscards and asked them about Bidville and none of them have ever heard of the site before.
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tooltimes
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posted on December 24, 2002 09:07:47 AM new
The only possible reason a bidder would pay the $2.50 verification fee for a single month would be to buy or bid on a lot of items at once with a zero feedback rating. I agree that that would qualify them as a lunatic. One other reason would be the exclusive use of the 'Live Chat' area of the BV message center. ( Whoppee! )
The real reason is that if a troll were to go on a buying spree at BV that BV would get at least $2.50 and they could say that they tried to halt the prannksters with the fee.
The verification fee should have been a one-time only fee and not a recurring fee. Does that imply any trust between BV and it's sellers at all?
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blairwitch
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posted on December 24, 2002 09:54:15 AM new
I dont see any valid reason to join bidville period.
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stonecold613
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posted on January 5, 2003 07:55:26 AM new
Wow,
I hadn't look over at that junk site for some time now. When did they get under the one million listing mark? It appears that the crappy card sellers have driven all of the other items of value sellers totally away.
Congrates bidville, You are the top example of how not to run an auction site.
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tooltimes
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posted on January 5, 2003 11:31:28 AM new
I'm sticking with my 800,000 listings guess ( now adjusted to 1,100,000 with the return of the mega book seller ).
The book seller is an ok guy but almost all of his books are priced far too high. Anyone can email him and get his side of the story as to where his BV listings went for several months.
This Froogle thing is getting played up far too much by BV management ( just like the 10 month old Forbes article ) and all of these desperate BV acts are just before the re-verification letters are to be sent out to the majority of the BV sellers.
BV is the Enron of online auction sites. 
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blairwitch
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posted on January 5, 2003 03:16:18 PM new
Another record has been broken at bidville. The number of nickel and dime cards have swelled to 407,846.
Tooltimes I doubt the numbers will drop with the massive influx on common cards.
Bidville now has a banner at mootropolis. They are desparate to show their members they care. One $10.00 banner ad? 
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tooltimes
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posted on January 5, 2003 05:36:51 PM new
BW, the number of daily featured sellers with premium memberships is way down from six months ago. It may be below 20% now if you exclude all the repeated sellers listed.
BV knows the revenue stream from the memberships is dwindling and that was probably the reason for the doubling of the general fee.BV knows that it is financial trouble and trying everything it can to keep the sellers on site and to get them to buy a monthly membership. The Bush era economy is entering a bad recession and BV has to contend with that fact just like everyone else in cyberspace. You gotta give them an A for Effort though.
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yourdesigns
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posted on January 5, 2003 07:02:48 PM new
Actually, it costs more than $10.00 to have a 468 x 60 banner at Mootropolis. I do believe it's $75 per month, or perhaps even higher.
The seller ads are $10.00 per month.
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kodiheglin
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posted on January 6, 2003 02:22:40 AM new
I thinks it's $125 YD
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tooltimes
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posted on January 6, 2003 07:42:28 AM new
Isn't there a bit of irony that after all the long running uproar over the lack of advertising at BV that BV decides to advertise at the place that the BV Faithful truly hate, Mootropolis.
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reality1
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posted on January 6, 2003 08:00:52 AM new
I hear that !!
[ edited by reality1 on Jan 6, 2003 08:01 AM ]
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blairwitch
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posted on January 6, 2003 08:12:31 AM new
Makes you wonder!
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yellowbud
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posted on January 6, 2003 05:08:40 PM new
Actually, I find it ironic that Bidville decided to advertise at a site where so many are trying so desperately, and obsessively to ruin the site.
The straws are getting shorter...but keep grasping.
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tooltimes
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posted on January 6, 2003 05:32:41 PM new
Actually, I find it ironic that Bidville decided to advertise at a site where so many are trying so desperately, and obsessively to ruin the site.
Isn't that what I just said in my post yellowbud?
What you seem to be inferring with your post is that the BV management is a bunch of dummies for advertising in the den of evil.
With that said, welcome to the anti-BV club!
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reality1
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posted on January 6, 2003 07:11:35 PM new
Something has to give real soon. Between BV’s verification scam, enticing the members with OLD news from Forbes, giving some people special treatment and now advertising on a site that the Clique hates. Something is going to hit the fan bigtime. And soon
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yellowbud
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posted on January 6, 2003 08:31:32 PM new
You get "dummies" from "ironic"? haha! Nice try, but you underestimate the intelligence of the readers.
However, I do understand that when all else fails, the twisting of words can be a great "last ditch effort". ( I just love Blairwitch's little winkies.)
Reality1, you should read more message boards. I don't believe I've seen anyone from Bidville complaining about the banner at Mootropolis.
As for me, I love it!
And some of you are doing an excellant job of drawing attention to it. That makes it all the sweeter.
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tooltimes
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posted on January 6, 2003 08:36:08 PM new
I'm really getting the feeling that Froogle will be a major disappointment to almost everyone. Ebay is too entrenched and easy to use. To have Froogle web searchers go all over the net only to find that they have to register at each and every little site to bid will quickly grow old. Most will probanly just say forget it. They may register at Yahoo Auctions or AOL's new auction site but not the small sites.
Then BV will be back to Square One once again.
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blairwitch
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posted on January 7, 2003 09:45:22 AM new
Tooltimes, the only people who seem to care about froogle is bidville sellers. eBay and yahoo could care less about them. 90% of auction buyers go direct to ebay.
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tooltimes
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posted on January 9, 2003 09:15:11 AM new
Today's set of six featured sellers offers a fairly accurate snapshot of the current BV sellers situation.
None of the six sellers has sprung for a monthly membership. One of the six sellers has over 48,000 sportscards listed, one of the sellers over 3,400 sportscards listed ( both of these sellers joined BV in 02/01 ) , one featured seller joined in 04/01 and yet has only 6 pos feedbacks and a ( 4 ) rating , one seller has almost 1,000 sportscards and joined in 06/01, one seller has 3 pos feedbacks and a ( 1 ) rating even though he joined in 11/01, and the last sellers sells sportscards and has been on site since 01/01.
All joined in 2001 and none pays for a membership. None of the sellers appear to use photos and employ only very brief and generic descriptions ( there is one seller with 450+ auctions in the adult area that I could not check out ).
Only one seller appears to actually be selling his sportscards on a regular basis and is appears to be using his listings as his internet store. I can see no reason for this sellers to pay $5 every six months other than the fact that they are too lazy to move the listings elsewhere. A membership has little allure for these pictureless warehousers.
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blairwitch
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posted on January 9, 2003 09:35:25 AM new
Check out the new set of stats tooltimes. The other items besides the storefront and sport cards are going down. A week from today the membership fee is due.
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tooltimes
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posted on January 9, 2003 12:03:34 PM new
There was a thread recently on BV about a BV about a seller that accidently lost verification early or a something similar situation. The thread may have now been deleted by BV but when the matter was straightened out by BVCS they responded that they would never delete someones auctions because their verification ran out and would send at least two emails warning the seller that the verification was due. I believe a two week warning was mentioned in the BVCS email to the seller. That two week time has passed and the one week mark is today. I wonder if BV has sent out any warning emails yet? They may be afraid to do that as they may get a lot of sellers pulling their listings when they receive the email.
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blairwitch
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posted on January 9, 2003 12:18:20 PM new
Here is the info from the site:
What happens to my current auctions if I decide not to get verified?
Any auctions you posted before the verification requirement will be removed from Bidville. If your verification status expires, any current auctions will continue until their ending date. However, these auctions will not automatically relist even if they are scheduled to do so.
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reality1
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posted on January 9, 2003 01:22:34 PM new
From what I seen from the very beginning of BV is that they have no SET tos for the site. Nomatter what they currently have written in their terms of service they in reality1 (pun) run the site on a day by day play it by ear method. I also read that thread that tooltimes mentioned and I’m sure by now it has been deleted or bumped so far down the list by some of the over zealous cheerleaders that it would be almost impossible to find.
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tooltimes
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posted on January 9, 2003 01:35:59 PM new
BV management now cleverly deletes all threads that inactive for 60 days. If an auction is allow to it's end without relisting after verification is not renewed then 30 days maximum would be the only grace period.
The BV management is very whimsical at best.
From the movie The Treasure of the Sierra Madre : ( BV style )
Tos? Tos! We don't got to show you no stinking Tos!
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kodiheglin
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posted on January 9, 2003 02:27:12 PM new
I received 2 or 3 emails from BVCS before my verification ran out in December. What bummed me out was that I could not donate my credits to another user to use or something. Just an empty gain by BV from my money.
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