posted on April 27, 2001 04:18:27 PM new
This afternoon I stuck a dozen listings on BidVille. That was after putting some yesterday on ePier, 321gone, Bay9 and eBay.
After I did the listing I decided to check out the community area. (Definately nice how they have their chat areas set up.) Anyway, I had read a few posts there and made a hello post. Someone had mentioned the new personal page feature that was up so I thought I'd go put up a blurb since I have no feedback on the site and didn't mention much about that kind of thing in my auction listings.
That took me all of 10 minutes since I just did text--nothing fancy. Well, I went back to check on my auctions, just for curiosity sake, and low and behold, one of my listings had already sold with the Take It feature!
As I said I'm currently listing on 5 sites and much of it is duplicate merchandise. I have those particular items listed on every site. Probably lucky I would say, but it at least is encouraging, especially considering that I have a total of one other bid on all the other sites combined.
posted on April 27, 2001 04:29:27 PM new
Bidville still has a way to go. Yahoo!'s soon to be ex-chairman and c.e.o. said that 900,000 listings was the critical mass for Yahoo!Auctions to be a viable auction site, so its probably true of all these alternative auction sites.
Still, nearly 600,000 listings at Bidville is getting there.
posted on April 28, 2001 07:16:33 PM new
Bidville is a funny situation. They are a mon and pop operation it seems, yet still take time to answer most emails. They had half a million listings drop in their lap when YaWho folded their tent because they agreed to take YaWho Bulk loader listings and convert them to their own format and list them painlessly for the ex YaWho power seller.
The funny part is they have this window of opportunity to grap a real piece of the pie with all these auctions, but so far they haven't done it. They need some venture capital, some advertising and they need to learn from YaWhoze mistakes, and they could soon have a company worth millions that they could sell...to ePay most likely.
What they have now is no buyers so it probably doesn't seem important that there are no user verifications, a crummy listing tree, etc. But these thing will become very important if bidders do ever arrive. In the meantime, they let sellers list upto 30 days with 99 automatic relists, so once you have items there, there is no reason to take them down. It sounds clever, but I suspect it's just an accident. I am getting the idea that the owners lack the vision and/or resources to make Bidville the site we've all been waiting for.
posted on April 28, 2001 08:26:01 PM new
OK. I have 2000 listings and I get a sale every 3rd day, 1/2 of which are deadbeats. This is not the way to give ePay a scare.
posted on April 28, 2001 11:58:33 PM new
Bidville is a young site. But it is growing and improving all the time. The Co-owners Ed & Jen are honest and hard working the customer service is the best. I ran 50 auctions on three other free sites for two months wont name names got 0 bids on one 3 bids on another 5 bids on the third 2 of which were deadbeats. on Bidville in the same two months got 17 bids one was a deadbeat. Some people on Bidville do very well one bid after another. I like the way Bidville is set up it is easy to list and watch my auctions. I enjoy the chat rooms and the people they are the best. No listing fees but I pay for the extras. I will be one of the first to say I would like to see more bidding but things get slow this time of year for everone. I am doing almost as well on Bidville as I did with BooHoo but things have been dropping like everplace else (My ebay sales are way down) but it will pickup. Have a nice buying/selling day.
posted on April 29, 2001 01:03:12 PM new
Bidville has been my "home" site since Yazoo got too big for their britches. No we don't have the number of sellers and buyers eBah has. But most of us realize that Rome wasn't built in a day. Sales?? I've had some. I've also done a lot of buying and all on Bidville. I've even put a few things on other sites including eBah. For the money it cost me to list on Bidville ($0.00) I am much better off on Bidville. Now if I have to sell alot in a hurry to pay the bills, then I would be better off to make me my own web site and pay for my own advertiing so I would know that my bucks I spend are going to profit me only. However, I think I'm smart enough to figure out that is a very costly route to take and will not guarantee me one sale. Reputation needs to be build and they will come. That takes time and we are doing it and what's most important, we are enjoying it thoroughly.
Would love to have you folk come join in the fun.
posted on April 30, 2001 09:13:18 AM new
Well, as far as BidVille having 'no buyers' I can't say I agree with that. So far the remainder of my listings are sitting, attracting a little attention. Hey, a little attention is better than no attention.
However, I'm not only a seller, I'm a buyer, too, and if I can find something on one of the smaller sites that's where I'm going to place my bid. eBay used to be my first stop--now it's my last resort.
I have a hard time bringing myself to auto-relist time after time after time. I like to keep my merchandise changing. If something doesn't sell, may re-list once right away, then hold off on re-listing until later. There's nothing I hate worse than going to an auction site and seeing the same old stuff over and over and over again, LOL. Fresh inventory is what keeps a buyer's interest.
posted on April 30, 2001 10:12:55 AM new
OK, they have SOME buyers. But 2 or 3 sales per week for every 100 items listed is a pathetic waste of time.
The site is easy to use, the customer service is great, the listings are still growing and may reach 900,000 someday, but without aggressive advertising, Bidville will do no better than the other non-advertising sites.
Lycos, MSN, and Excite are web portals and have been stagnant for over 2 years. There are dozens of other general and niche sites that have been around 1 to 3 years that have done no better.
posted on April 30, 2001 12:44:25 PM new
I tried listing at Bidville. I listed many things that always get lots of bids and always sell on ebay (and mostly on Yahoo). I listed them for 3 weeks and didn't get even one page view.
As for buying, I buy a lot of vhs tapes, cds and dvds. This stuff at Bidville is usually way over priced.
But the people over there are nice. I don't know how long being nice will keep Bidville floating though
posted on May 6, 2001 07:52:01 AM new
Hi... I saw some one lists on ePay and had never heard of it. Typed in www.epay.com and nothing happened... then I caught the humor
Keeping the faith for a new e-auction house with a heart & soul,
JunkThis
posted on May 9, 2001 07:23:00 AM new
I had 2 items go off on BidVille lastnight with the buy it now. The bidder had over 45 + feedback, so I am not worried. It is very slow, but there are sales, occasionally. My prices are NOT give away prices. Why do this if I am not going to get a good return on my money? Not a hobby for me or a job, I am just addicted to the computer!
Edited to add a word!
[ edited by deichen on May 9, 2001 07:24 AM ]
