posted on January 1, 2003 11:32:13 AM new
There is one BV seller with 28,000 cards ( cardz4 )and I think he is responsible for the shifts in the BV listing numbers. He must list as a hobby relisting my BV inventory once a month.
posted on January 1, 2003 02:56:27 PM new
Put the Magic Cards in large lots on ebay. The electronic version of the cards are going to greatly diminish the value of the pasteboard cards as most people have internet access these days and would rather play people from all over the world than just the local players.
There are some BV threads that say that for sportscard sellers at BV the $10/yr price is worth the cost to warehouse the cards and use the site as a quasi-store. These sellers very rarely buy a monthly premium menership ( $5 or $10 monthly ). As the percentage of card sellers rise the amount of BV sellers buying a membership decreases. BV makes it's money on those memberships and the $10/yr fees.
It would be very easily to visualize BV closing up shop in six months from now. The listings number will drop on 1/16 but many BV sellers will be secretly rejoicing thinking that less competition will be good for them. That may be true to a degree but the loss of $10/yr paying sellers and sellers shifting from a premium membership to non premium membership will hit BV in the wallet fairly hard. BV was barely making any money anyways.
Two factors help BV. Half.com has booted all the sportscards from their site and there is no other viable alternative site to go to for the sellers. For a quasi-store the $10/yr "fee" is still a relative bargain if the seller can get his customers to go there and buy from his inventory.
posted on January 1, 2003 04:44:55 PM new
Tooltimes the long term numbers dont look good for bidville. The other item listings have been dropping on average 1,000 items weekly. The drop is quickly eroded by sport card sellers bulk loading their commons. While this gives the impression bidville is growing, its basically the same sellers adding to their inventory. The first sign of distress at bidville was the unannounced increase of the membership fee from $5.00 to $10.00. IF a nice chunk of sellers leave this month, they will have no choice but raise the fee again. We shall see.
posted on January 1, 2003 07:20:56 PM new
BV could raise the fee to $5 for 3 or 4 months instead of 6 months. BV could also offer a lower monthly premium membersip level, something like $2.50 per month with a 6 month minimum or $15 for 6 months and those reduced memberships could get perks too. There may be a danger that too many sellers may want to trade in expensive premium memberships for the cheapo version.
