posted on February 23, 2001 08:32:35 AM new
I'm been using Bidville now for over a month and I don't really see an increase in traffic. I also haven't seen one ad on the internet or mention is articles.
How are people going to find Bidville? If I didn't read this message board I wouldn't even know BidVille existed. Bidville needs to be aggressive in attracting new buyers.
posted on February 23, 2001 05:11:04 PM new
Daredevil2010
I really am not trying to be sarcastic, but let me see if I have this right.
I have a site and let you list your auctions for free, also turn somersaults to upgrade the site and provide Cs and try to satisfy everybody's wishes.
And you wish to know what else I am going to do to bring people here who will send you money in the mail. Correct?
Edited to add: BTW I have seena couple of ads for BIDVILLE, right here on AW.
[ edited by jimhhow on Feb 23, 2001 05:12 PM ]
posted on February 24, 2001 07:14:33 AM new
Unfortunately, it seems that many people, including those who operate the free auction sites, don't realize that it takes bidders to make a successful auction site. It doesn't matter how many users or listings a site has, if no one is bidding. I've often wondered how much of the Bidville hype we see on this board is actually "advertising" directed at sellers. I've been watching Bidville, and haven't seen anything to crow about, except for those who sell trading cards. My best site, since moving my free listings off Yahoo!, has been Lycos. I'm moving more stuff there than I ever did on Yahoo!.
always pickersangel everywhere http://homepage.netspaceonline.com/~twobar/pickers.htm
posted on February 24, 2001 08:35:27 AM new
pickersangel
I list my items at Bidville, so by virture of that, I guess I automatically become a cheerleader. That's fine, I think it should be that way. Let me ask you though. For the success that you have had on other sites you mentioned, Do you think the auction site did all of the work to bring the bidders, or did you work at it? Because anyone who says that they do nothuing to bring buyers to their auctions and wait for the auction site to do it all, should seriously consider another business/hobby, IMO.
It might be OK to start with auctions that way and get your feet wet. But if people are going to ask where the bidders are on any site that is free to list? I am going to ask what are you doing to bring them.
Anyone that is having any success on any free site is not doing so by accident or waiting for the auction site to advertise for bidders. I am sure of that. Why, because these are the ways that succesful people become successful, they do not wait for someone else to get the job done. They FIND a way, or CREATE a way. But they don't wait around for someone else to do it for them.
I am not trying to criticize anyone here with my response to the original post. We need to find and share strategies that work. If you have found something or created something that works to bring people into the tent, please share it with others. What is good for bringing traffic to the auctions in general, will be good for the individuals also.
posted on February 24, 2001 08:44:05 AM new
If any company wants to be successful they have to let the buyers know they're there. That's pretty basic. It doesn't matter if they're free or even giving away stuff: THEY HAVE TO HAVE CUSTOMERS.
If Bidville want to charge: that's fine. But they better have a good customer base or people will leave faster than they lost Yahoo!.
posted on February 24, 2001 04:08:01 PM new
Jimhhow,
Just wondering about your affiliations to bidville? You have been blowing their horn for quite sometime here.
You seem to give us a feeling that bidville is doing us charity to let us list our auctions. Though I do appreciate their efforts toward providing a lot of seller support (mostly technical).
I strongly believe that Bidville is investing all this time/money/effort in CSRs etc. such that it can screw us over as yawhoo did.... Build a good buyer-seller base and then ask them to pay. I can already see indications toward this strategy from your TOC and the way they talk about the fee schedules etc. From my opinion, nobody does it for free and charity in this business. They have their own selfish motives and we have our own.
I do understand that the Anti-trust execs in Phily are working on quantifying the brand equity generated by the members of a network (hub - as in auctions)... and the ownership of that brand equity. I wont be surprised to see some kind of fed control measures on such kinds of activities.
posted on February 24, 2001 05:27:55 PM new
I really hate to see Jimhhow get picked on alone so let me jump in as another BidVille cheerleader. I've listed over 90 items since the last week of January. At this point, I've only sold a few items. However, I also realize it will take some time for the site to become more widely recognized by auctiongoers.
I'm doing my part by letting my customers know about the site in all my emails concerning my eBay transactions with them. I even had 1 customer take me up on my offer of free shipping for eBay customers if they buy something from me at BidVille. I'm getting hits, so people are looking. Slowly, but that's OK.
As far as Bidville is investing all this time/money/effort in CSRs etc. such that it can screw us over as yawhoo did...., the only problem the majority of people (myself included) had with Yahoo charging fees was the lack of a buyer base to support those fees. Now if BidVille does the same thing before the buyer base is sufficient for sellers to make regular sales, then I'll jump ship there as well. (Yoo hoo, BidVille, are you paying attention???)
But I think most sellers are willing to pay for results and I certainly will in future if sales will support the fees.
posted on February 24, 2001 06:20:01 PM new
ajaju,
Thank you for asking so nicely. I don't see your post as any kind of picking on me, just a straight question. OK.
>>>>"Just wondering about your affiliations to bidville? You have been blowing their horn for quite sometime here."<<<<<
I am currently listing approximately 86 auctions on BIDVILLE. THAT is my affiliation with BIDVILLE.
I like the site for ease of navigation and find their CS very forthcoming and helpful.
After Yahoo announced it's listing fees I began to think I was going to be out of my auctions hobby. I tried a few other sites and did not like the feel of most. When I tried Bidville, I felt very comfortable using the site and listing auctions. I started a campaign to tell everyone I could about the site and ended up with a lot of referrals, which was also good for the funny money, but I am not accepting the cash, as I refuse to give PAYPAL the infomation they want about my credit card or the bank access they want.
>>>>"You seem to give us a feeling that bidville is doing us charity to let us list our auctions"<<<<
No, I don't believe that anyone would do that for charity, and I can understand trepidation after the way Yahoo not only screwed it's sellers, but then turned around and tried to place the blame on the sellers also. However, I am from a strong sales background, 25 years new and used automobiles.........(Jim ducks quickly to avoid the thrown objects)
I know from that background that the best person to bring buyers to you is you and your current buyers. My boss, the owner of the dealership gave me an office, unlimited telephone access, advertising, Financial resources and any other physical item needed to make sales. But the customers, well, anyone in sales can tell you, if you don't go after them, someone else will. and they will get them instead.
I don't care what site you place your auctions on right now. If you don't make the effort to bring customers, they will follow the people that do. It would be wonderful if BIDVILLE, or some other site could spend Millions to advertize for more customers and bring them to the site, while still keeping it free from listing fees. But that would be charity.
I don't think that I am bashing anyone, I hope not anyway. I am only trying to point out that you should be your biggest booster.
When I listed on Yahoo, there was NO better site to list. Now, I will tell you and anyone else that cares to listen, BIDVILLE is the best auction site in the world. WHY? Because I list lots of great stuff there, and a lot of great people list a lot of fantastic stuff there. That is why it is the best. And wherever you list should be the best too. If you don't feel that way, then get out of there, you aren't doing yourself or the site any favors.
I would say more, but I would probably get too self promotional for AW CG's.
You know yourself best, who better to promote you?
posted on February 25, 2001 05:53:51 AM new
BidVille is just starting out. You can't compare it to YaWho in any sense. They latest advertising was for sellers. They didn't realize that YaWho was going to self-destruct and send them the sellers they were going to need to get started. But they are continuing with their game plan.
I never saw Yahoo advertise for buyers. We the sellers brought them. I sold stuff on eBay and then would direct my satisfied customers to my shelf at YaWho. These people had no idea YaWho even had an auction site or if they were aware of it didn't realize how it was growing. I listed my auctions on every email I sent to family, friend and foe.
And my extrememly happy customers in turn told their friends where they found their wonderful crafties, etc.
It is no wonder that the sellers felt to betrayed by YaWho when we are well aware of the fact that we BUILT that site - not them. They did absolutely NOTHING including not providing customer service in any sense of the word. But now they want money and the credit.
BidVille has never made it any secret that at some point in time they will have to charge. They have said they will try to keep it free as long as possible and when and if they charge it will be minimal and fair to all parties. They also made a guarantee with the sellers who are working to build this site (yes, BidVille is very much aware of who is bringing the buyers and doing the hard work) that if you sign up by a certain date you can list for free forever. It's your share of the pie (so to speak) for putting the time and effort into their site.
I am happy that a very nice looking site that is being worked on constantly to suit the needs of the sellers, etc is available. I will happily list my items as my buyers now know where I am. I emailed them. I am not trying to get rich selling my product, I just want a venue to reach people outside the rural area in which I live. I don't have the time to keep a web page actively selling so I am thrilled with BidVille.
It will be on the searches soon, I don't have to do any work other than list my items, my regular customers know where I have gone and I have had several new customers since I started listing. They in turn will refer their friends to my auctions. I would be very happy to pay a final value fee or one time listing fee for these services.
Daddy always said you get what you pay for. eBay proves that - you pay, you sell for big bucks. YaWho is a joke. And I am getting way more than I pay for on BidVille so I will shut my mouth and be happy for the sales I make. FYI - that has been twice what I have done in one month on YaWho!!!!!!
posted on February 25, 2001 07:55:28 AM newjimhhow wrote:
"I list my items at Bidville, so by virture of that, I guess I automatically become a cheerleader. That's fine, I think it should be that way. Let me ask you though. For the success that you have had on other sites you mentioned, Do you think the auction site did all of the work to bring the bidders, or did you work at it? "
My point is that Bidville seems to get a disproportionate amount of thread space here on AW, with most of it devoted to how many listings they have. Unfortunately, the number of listings on a site do not determine how "successful" either that site or its sellers are, at least in my mind. I list my items to sell them, and I have no interest in listing on a site with a bazillion listings and no bids. When I chose to remove the portion of my inventory listed on Yahoo! to another site, I researched the other free sites to see which ones seemed to have the most potential in my categories. Bidville didn't seem to be so then, and still doesn't. Lycos has proved to be a good choice for me, and one reason that I haven't been tooting their horn all over the boards is that it wouldn't provide half the benefit to my business that letting my bidders know where to find me and my stuff has. That's where I put my effort.
As far as "what have I done"??? (Not sure why this became a personal issue, but since you asked....) All my EOA's and other email communications with my buyers include links and User ID information for the auction sites on which we list, as does our home page, which is linked in all our listings. No need to promote Ebay and Yahoo!--they realized early on that they need buyers to support their sellers, and have done their part in bringing them in.
posted on February 25, 2001 08:58:35 AM new
I have 209 Auctions running at Bidville. I've sold 40-50 items with about 5 deadbeats. I have over 2,000 FB's and unique Buyers at eBay. I send in my notification message a spiel promoting Bidville. But I haven't seen any coming over. My Buyers are within Bidville and my Bidders are starting to dwindle. I'm sure we Sellers are all doing our part. Now the Ball is in Bidville's court. As with Golds and other small Sites trying to make it in this business, if the Owners depend on the Members and Member to Member buying, they are doomed.
I even see Bidbay starting to advertise, as small as it is (local), it's still a positive endeavor to gain a new base of Buyers/Sellers. As with them too, most of the buying is done within its members. I haven't sold an item in two months at Bidbay or Dutchbid.
Whereas at eBay, I have never seen a buyer of mine in a Chat Room. The smaller Sites, that's where they are and that isn't going to get it. Bidville I'm afraid is going go by the wayside depending on Member to Member transactions. By Member I mean the exclusive Sellers, as all have to be a member to conduct business obviously.
Overall I'm very pleased with Bidville. But now it's their turn to make the Site go and get advertising exposure. And true, they can't charge listing fees until they can guarantee a Buyers Base.
posted on February 25, 2001 12:46:37 PM new
Bidville is starting to advertize I have seen there ad banner right here on top of auction watch.
Remember No matter how much advertizeing any auction site does there best Advertizeing will be free there sellers should be advertizeing in there email sigs, on there web sites even adding bidville banners to free banner exchanges you sign up for drive trafic to your sales.
I mean yes bidville is the site your selling on it is free to list and sell right now but they are your sales advertize and drive the trafic to your bid ville listing is at the least 50% or more your responabilty even if you sell on ebay this is true.
I mean there is a big bunch of sellers and buyer out there it is my guess that some sellers and buyer work inside the media some work in radio Television new papers work for magzines and news letters and have the ability on a limted bases to see this site get a plug or two by just mentioning it.
just how many college students alone out there are sellers going to a college that has a radio station they could plug there online auctions many college or school raidio station have a good reach to local listeners.
how many sellers out there run there own online radio station Where they could make anouncement or advertize bidville or other auction sites in between the music sets I know you people are out there too I use to run a online radio station there is near 30 thousand others out there.
And these online radio station and streaming audio station have million of avid listerns daily.
How many sellers out there have paid for there own domain name and there online host allows them the abilty to make unlimited Subdomain names and redirect URLS that could give there bidville auction its own subdomain and submit this to search engines and spiders.
these are just a few of the ways any Auction site can get million of $$ in free advertizeing from its users.
If you check out posts I have made around the web you will find I am one person in favor of a Auction sellers Co-Op these are Idea just one person can come up with for advertizeing if we could get thousands of seller thinking togeather working there idea togeather we could build aa co-op that would might sell the Auction market bare daily.
posted on February 25, 2001 01:38:11 PM new
pickersangel
It is not personal. You said."As far as "what have I done"??? (Not sure why this became a personal issue, but since you asked....)."
But that is not my words. That supposed qoute has been rearranged and taken out of context.
What I said was,"But if people are going to ask where the bidders are on any site that is free to list? I am going to ask what are you doing to bring them."
I don't see where thatmakes any of this personal to you. If you take it that way, I am sorry, and feel you are mistaken in that.
I have said that I am a Bidville cheerleader, and I think I even started A thread that Rah-Rah-ed the site. But most of my cheerleading is coming in response to criticism and/or bemoaning the situation on the part of others.
I am attempting to rally their faith and point out a constructive path.
Some of the people posting have realized that is what I am doing, and it does not matter what site you are listing on, the same holds true for all, You are in business for yourself. While it would be wondeful for a site to spend all kinds of money advertising for bidders, I am not going to depend on that, and I don't believe that the vast majority of successful sellers will either, that is why they will be successful, as in your case. You are obviously willing to work at it, so you must understand what I am saying. I wish you all the best on Lycos, the site just didn't feel right to me, in fact I am not even sure if I ever successfully registered there. If I remember right, I tried, but neveer got a confirmation or something that they were supposed to send. I suppose that everyone was busy with the Yahoo exodus...LOL
posted on February 25, 2001 03:28:10 PM new
I would like to state that when searching the auction market after YaWho's announcement I was hoping that Lycos would be the site that would take off.
It was in the #1 spot on my list of tries. I went to all the auction sites and registered so I could keep my selling name across the auction scene. I had trouble registering at Lycos - not a good start. It took them almost 2 weeks to get that straightened around. They had told me I could register under another user name in the meantime but that wouldn't work as it said my email was already used.
In the meantime I was trying other sites. BidVille was easy to use, the customer service couldn't be beat and I sold 3 items in the first week that had been listed on YaWho for months. I did not change my prices - either lower or higher.
I couldn't believe the hoops one must jump through to list on Lycos and decided the hassle wasn't worth it. I also had trouble getting and/or staying logged on.
If I cheer for the site I list on, that's advertisement. I don't sit and cut down the other sites - I just want others to know that I am extremely satisfied with where I am listing.
posted on February 25, 2001 03:54:20 PM new
Okay, I have been reading these posts and want to say that we all have choices. If you do not like the traffic at the free sites, then go to Ebay or pay Yahoo! Most of these sites are very new and it will take a cooperative effort by sellers and the site owners to bring business in. None of these sites can do it alone. They need the sellers help in promoting the new sites. If you just want sales but feel it is not your responsibility, then I say you should move to a paid site. Yes, like Jim said, by virtue of having my listings at BidVille, I am a cheerleader for them. So, make up your mind on the choices you have and then put forth some effort (either by paying fees or by promoting).
posted on February 26, 2001 03:41:45 PM new
Okay, was just reading this thread and I am sure everyone realizes that the sellers need to advertise as well.
I recently ran some Dale Earnhardt memorabilia on Ebay and in my auction listing, against EBAY rules btw, I placed the See my other auctions at bidville banner. That week, I got an enormous amount of traffic at bidville, people were curious and clicked and looked.
Im not sure that it will work for everyone, but it's a shot anyway.
posted on February 26, 2001 03:53:11 PM new
saxkid
Yes, the sellers have do whatever they can to bring the buyers, but you may want to reconsider violating one sites TOS. I do not use Ebay, but understand that they have strict TOS regarding advertising other auctions sites on their site. Just a word to the wise here.
posted on February 27, 2001 02:40:28 AM new
WoW...some interesting posts! I'm just a buyer/seller like most everyone else and not trying to push any site, but I'll honestly tell you what I've experienced...
Like many of us who are frustrated with auction sites that want 10-50% of our profits, while we do 99.99% of the work, I studied at least 6 of the major contenders. I based my decision on: the effort to list, the ease of navigation, the CS, etc. When all was looked over quite intensely, I made BidVille my choice. They are in the process of adding the "All" categories search and do allow 2-pic uploads (if the pics are 50k or over, upload them to someplace like BidBay and use BidBay's code for "other auctions" in your listing), otherwise, BidVille uploads your pics just fine. It allows you to do a FULL EDIT until a bid's been placed! That is XLNT!! OK, so I am "rah-rah-ing" BidVille a bit, BUT it is what I've seen and experienced there.
I've seen BidVille advertise some and it needs to expand a little. It's quite an investment for them, without charging fees. They are wise enough to know this isn't the time, as people are moving around still. We all know it takes time, but it is nonetheless frustrating when sales are LOW. I've sold 6 items out of 33 in just over a week...that's awfully darn good and pretty much as good as Yahoo was for me. Yahoo had all the advertising it needed, but couldn't draw enough actual-bidding viewers...No excuse for Yahoo...certainly not to start listing-fees. They'd never have gone with FVFs, because they'd actually have to start doing a better job of things. Well...enough of them...and I mean ENOUGH!
The latest winning bidder took 2 items and I asked how he found his way to BidVille. He told me an eBay seller said he had some items there on BidVille! This is advertising!! BTW, that recent bidder had won an auction from me at Yahoo...LOL! It takes time though, so find the site that serves you best and do what you can to help get the word out...If more people concentrated listing on one-site that's growing fast like BidVille...word would spread through the NEWS!!! Get it? Free Advertising...
posted on March 3, 2001 06:21:24 PM new
Another Bidville surprise. With over 200 items sold I've only had about 7 or 8 deadbeats. Not perfect but a vast improvement over all the deadbeats I had on Yahoo. The credit card requirement for buyers never worked out.
posted on March 3, 2001 06:55:54 PM new
(lurker post)
I think a lot of people/users are attempting to compare BidVille with other auction sites (i.e. yah-somthing) or whatever. But I will answer the question originally stated in the thread, "Is Bidville advertising".
From what I can tell, as of yet, no. Bidville originally AuxPal, a sub of NoBidding.Com relies more on word of mouth rather than banner plugs. How many of you have heard of, or have tried NoBidding.Com prior to seeing or hearing about Bidville, (probably not many)...
BidVille IMO is doing fine as of thus far, all of the users/sellers/buyers have came to to the site from "word of mouth" i.e. direct email, AW and related sites, usenet, or of the likes.
Imagine if they do mount a major advertising scheme, WOW!
If we compare BidVille to the many other free auctions sites with minimal listings to slightly over exagerated listings (BB), BidVille is doing well thus far.
Besides it is mostly FREE thus far, enjoy the ride while it lasts... and TAKE advantage of it!
posted on March 4, 2001 03:51:37 AM new
They were running a couple of banners here. But I think advertising on AW is a waste of money. Few buyers look at these messages. The ones that do already know about Bidville. Also AW sticks Bidville under "All Online Auctions". If I was Bidville I would find a better place to run banners.
posted on January 5, 2002 07:08:49 AM new
It's painfully obvious that BV is as poor as a dirt farmer. The site may be hanging on by a thread. If so, all the clamour for advertizing may be similar to kids begging their parents for Nike shoes when the parents are barely making rent each month yet do not have the heart to tell their kids that they are poor.
