posted on May 17, 2001 07:06:30 AM
(L) Hi anyone here from Bidville.com and what is your sucess rate if so? I sign up with them and it seems to be a great site but not quite as active as Ebay. I like the price! Free listings
I don't sell there but to stay on topic, I have seen an increase in both listings and bids lately. For the totally off topic part...it's great to see a Wyle E. Coyote fan
posted on May 17, 2001 07:15:24 AM
Yes I love wyliecoyote! We have a dalmatian and his name is Wylie. He is kinda dumb like Wylie Coyote! not really he just plays dumb LOL
posted on May 17, 2001 07:48:19 AM
I really like BidVille's site. It's very, very discouraging that their is few visitors and even fewer sales!
BidVille allows 99 automatic resubmits. Geez, if you're resubmitting that many times without a sale there's a problem!
Of the three sales I've made during the past three months, two have paid and one was a deadbeat bidder! I have great hope for BidVille but so far it's been a waste of my time!
posted on May 17, 2001 08:02:04 AM
Bidville Seller here! Or at least trying to be. The site is great, but for me things are slow there.
I currently have 32 items listed, 5 (three were me I think) total page views - BUT, I have sold three things so far, and one of my currently listed items has a bid! (Whoo Hoo)
Gonna hang in there I think, as I like the site and the price, and I am a generally optimistic guy.
posted on May 17, 2001 08:06:18 AM
ethelmarie >
I really like BidVille's site. It's very, very discouraging that their is few visitors and even fewer sales!
Agreed. Except that it would be nice to have a "search" box on each page of listings, which would save some server work since folks wouldn't have to click back to the homepage or click the search tab to do a search.
BidVille allows 99 automatic resubmits. Geez, if you're resubmitting that many times without a sale there's a problem!
Yes, except that for the overwhelming majority of listings, it may take 99 resubmits to get a handful of pageviews. That's the distressing part about Bidville.
Of the three sales I've made during the past three months, two have paid and one was a deadbeat bidder! I have great hope for BidVille but so far it's been a waste of my time!
You've got me beat. I've made ZERO sales since listing there almost from Day One.
posted on May 17, 2001 08:41:05 AM
Not a seller there, but have purchased 15 books in the last week. Would buy more, but too many books are in the wrong categories. Horror Novels has over 100 pages, but almost all of the books are Romance Novels. It's the same in several other of the book categories. I think some of the sellers would have more buyers if they got Bidville to clean up the categories. If the people who are in the wrong category have 99 relists, they'll never be cleaned up on their own.
posted on May 17, 2001 11:15:00 AM
I guess you could call me a seller from BidVille. I only have a few items running right now (re-lists from the first run). So far on the first run I sold one item and this time I have a bid on one item with another added to someone's Watch list and have at least one page view on all of my auctions. Yes, it is slow to non-existent but I can't bring myself to list on a site that's cramming new rules down my throat every time I turn around.
This time of year, unless you're selling items that avid collectors are looking for, things are slow all over. I'd much rather have my slow on a free site than be paying listing fees to watch the items close with barely any bids.
I'm hoping to get some more listings up there in the near future.
posted on May 17, 2001 02:15:58 PM
I sell on BidVille! I have had 35 sales there since the end of January. All of those paid. I had one deadbeat, in addition to the 35. It is slow, but it can't really be compared to ebay, can it? How many years has ebay been online? BidVille has been on for approximately 5 months. The listings are growing every day, not by leaps and bounds but it is steady.
I listed a few items on Yahoo and paid with funny money, and got no bids. Listed 3 items on Ebay and 2 sold but only with one bid and that was low. All in all, I am sticking with BidVille, it has it's own niche! Free is good!
posted on May 17, 2001 09:13:50 PM
Bidville seller and buyer here! Been there since the end of Jan. Sales have been steady with a few highs and lows. Not anticipating high volume sales yet, but I will be there when it happens, and it will!
About a third of my sales come from previous customers from some 'other' auction sites who got an invite from me, and they buy from others as well on the site. I find it very friendly, easy to use and inviting for buyers.
Have found some wonderful bargains for personal use and christmas gifts, never too early to shop is my motto.
posted on May 18, 2001 07:54:45 AM
dragonfyree: are you buying books on BV for yourself or for resale? I guess it doesn't make any difference, but I wondered. I lost interest in listing there when they first came up, but since my recent attempts to sell on Yahoo have come to naught, I might give it another try. For a while I single-handedly supplied the "Vegetarian cookbook" category. ; - )
posted on May 18, 2001 08:15:39 AM
I went back and looked...hmmm, the whole site looks fancier now. Still a sea of no-bids under Open auctions, but if most go for 1 bid, that doesn't faze me all that much. I looked at Completed auctions and saw more sales. A lot of low-price items but some in the range I normally like to get.
What bugs me is that I NEVER hear about Bidville anywhere but here. I don't know how they ought to advertise, but they should come up with something!!
posted on May 18, 2001 08:34:51 AM
Keziak: dragonfyree: are you buying books on BV for yourself or for resale?
I'm buying books to read. I never buy books through auctions for resale, can't judge the quality. Would love to buy more on Bidville, but can't wade through pages and pages of stuff I have no interest in.
Not Dragonfyree anywhere but here,.
[ edited by Dragonfyree on May 18, 2001 08:35 AM ]
posted on May 18, 2001 09:54:19 PM
Hi everyone! I also list on Bidville auctions and yes it is slow. I have been there about 3 months and have sold 8 items.
One way to get more sales if the auctions won't advertise is advertise ourselves. Just put a signiture on the end of your email that you send out to everyone. You might be surprised.
patriddle
posted on May 18, 2001 10:30:35 PM
You've got a good point about URLs and such being added to messages. They definately do draw traffic.
I have a few more listings running at BidVille right now and just a while ago had the chance to run through a few of the categories looking for stuff to bid on. Unfortunatley, what I found is that it's practically impossible! There are too many duplicate categories for things I'm interested in. By the time I get finished checking out a couple of them I don't have time to check out the rest. Kind of hard for someone to do a little impulse buying when they can't find what something that might strike their fancy because it's strewn over several different categories that are basically the same.
Oh well, just my vent for the day. At least most of the stuff I want to list does have an appropriate category--with any luck at all some folks might find them.
posted on May 20, 2001 08:19:00 PM
I say, chaps, are you having problems with Bidlessville??
No bids?
No page views?
No nothing????????
We ought to form a club!! Or perhaps we should all be institutionalized!
To me, it's pure torture! I log on every day to view..............NOTHING!!!
It's quieter than a graveyard at midnight!!
I think that anyone really selling on BV is selling stuff cheap, because from what I've seen, all the quality stuff just sits!!
Sometimes I feel like the Maytag repairman!
LONELY!!!!!!! It's so quiet there that you could hear a flea scratch itself!
What to do???? That is the $64,000 question!!! Whether it's better to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to.............. Egads, how did Shakespeare get in here???@#$#$%^&*()*@
Where was I, oh yes, at Bidlessville!!
They really need to advertise!!!
What good is a huge store full of merchandise and no one knows it exists??
I realize that the owners are decent people and they are trying, BUT...............!
Did you ever have a party and no one came???
Dimview, I'll try to find some stock market books in our extensive inventory to help you fill in the deadtime. What kind of postcards are you looking for??? Got thousands of those too!! I clicked on "email notification" so I will get any answer you leave.
posted on May 21, 2001 06:10:49 AM
I have had things up for sale thereand nothing of mone seems to sell. While the site is good and the people on the boards are friendly I just haven't had a bid. I have had bids on Epier. Granted not as much as I would like to see but I can't help that. So That has been my experience but you may have a lot more luck than I did.
posted on May 21, 2001 10:25:37 AM
When I first started with Bidville my sales were OK. March I did very good. But this month my views are fair my sales are down. But I have been watching the other sites they are all down this is normal when the weather get's nice people are not inside as much. It is hard to track the bidding at bidville alot of the people use the take it price with me. The site is set up very well and basic listings are free the picture hosting is free. The owners have said they have a advertising plan in the works. The chat board is the best on the net. So rather then pay to list and pay to relist I will build up my inventor on bidville that way when people come in from the cold and kick on the computer around September I will be set and ready. I will have things sell between now and September I had two auctions close with bids yesterday and I have two closing today with bids. So I will stick it out with Bidville I wish everone everywhere luck on their auctions anyplace they sell.
[ edited by telwil on May 21, 2001 10:27 AM ]
posted on May 22, 2001 01:35:28 PM
I list at Bidville and have been having excellant success. I have completed more than 209 auctions. (feedback as of today- not counting ones that didn't leave it). It has been slower this past month as was on other sites this time of year when I sold there. I go to the post office almost every day with packages. I had 4 auctions end today succesfully and 17 that I am awaiting payment on that were won over the past 2 weeks. I have only had one dead beat bidder and I relisted the item and sold it so wasn't out anything. I currently have almost 700 things up for auction and have been here since 2 weeks after yahoo started charging fees. I tried a few other sites when I changed to see wich was easiest to use and had more hits. At epier I had VERY little. I am still listing there and was SHOCKED when one day last week I was notified I had sold somthing there. I find that site a bit hard to navigate. Bidville is easy to navigate and is being upgraded often. I LOVE the community although I have only recently started posting there.
posted on May 22, 2001 01:39:33 PM
I was just looking some people up that said they listed at Bidville but weren't having any luck and it seems that most of you aren't even listing there anymore. A few hadn't had feedback in over 30 days. Some of the others had a few listings.
I would think it would be kinda hard to sell anything there if you aren't listing. If you havn't listed in a month or so... you probably should go check it out again and give it another try.... Maybe listing things you have duplicates of. There have been several changes over the past few months to improve the site. I know finding the catogory I list in was TRICKY up untill about a month or so ago. That has changed now and Crafts is on the front page.
If it's been a while since you have been to Bidville... maybe it's time to give it another try???
posted on May 23, 2001 10:13:23 AM
I have been at Bidville since Jan 17.
started out a bit slow, and then I am not sure why, but I seemd to catch fire. I have had over 200 sales, of my glass, china and pottery collectables. Some of them are still pending, I have run unto about a half dozen deadbeats.
I don't know for sure why my sales took off, (I only list 100 -130 at any one time), and others have not. I am sure thye have done most of the same things I did, email people, etc.
I guess I got a little lucky. There are 5 or six people who are bidding on most everything that I listed cheap, and the activity seemed to draw more activity. I am seeing new names on my auctions every day.
I wish everyone was getting the same response I am, and have even put links to other seller's auction on my about me page in reciprocity. I am not plugging my auctions here as I post under a different name there. But I encourage everyone to keep trying, or at least keep your foot in the door.
posted on May 23, 2001 10:35:58 AM
It seems like a small group of sellers are buying from each other at bidville and they are the success storys. I say small because of the overall amount of sellers at the site most of which have had very small if any turnover with there auctions.
In general bidville is a great site but the odds of selling items depends on the group you hang with (very clique ish?).
And in my opinion for bidville to really succeed these members needs to addess this problem.
[ edited by gmileske on May 23, 2001 10:43 AM ]
posted on May 23, 2001 11:11:33 AM
Clique ish I cant speek for the rest but not clique ish for me. I have sold about 15 items to other bidville sellers "and I think them a sell is a sell" 9 to buyers that have bought from me on the other sites and came with me to Bidville the rest were new buyers I never seen them before and going by their feedback and about me page they only buy and dont sell. So not clique ish for me. We do have one problem people that are not honest using several different IDs But I hope that will be taken care of in the future.
posted on May 23, 2001 11:27:01 AM
I just counted up my individual bidders and there are about 76 of them (that left feedback). Most of the people that win from me buy several things when they do and when they need more scrapbook supplies come back again. Most of my bidders bid on a monthly basis, I do have a few that are weekly but MOST of them seem to be only buyers from what I see in the feedback. I have been tryin to pay attention to that since there has been so much discussion about it.
I do buy at bidville too but not only from certain people. I buy from whoever has what I need. When I find something I like I DO look to see what else they might have that I could use to save on shipping.
posted on May 23, 2001 09:06:07 PM
Doing fab at Bidville! Over 300 feedback and just wish all would leave fb for the sells completed. Probably double that, and no I'm not a card seller. They too are doing very well, I hear.
I'm very pleased with the way management makes changes based on seller/buyer input. You sellers should give it another look see.
posted on May 24, 2001 03:14:59 PM
Hi folks, Bidville seller here...my business is very slowly getting better, currently I have about 55 listings and bids on 13 of them, so I'm quietly optimistic...As a book seller, I too am frustrated with how others list their books in the incorrect catagories...drives me bugs nuts (and pretty much stops me from buying myself) I've lobbied to C.S. about cleaning and tightening the book catagories and adding one for signed first editions, but so far no luck...so I'll just keep on keepin on and hope it eventually gets better.
posted on May 24, 2001 03:22:38 PM
Rob - do you have any more words of wisdom about selling books on Bidville? Do you sell on other sites and notice anything different about BV? What I have in mind is subject matter, pricing, whether or not to use a buy-now option, etc.
I've recently started adding auctions but my time is very tight - I have little left over after managing my ebay work. I plan to continue but haven't had a "bite" so far.
posted on May 25, 2001 05:31:05 PM
Hi keziak...I sell on ebay as well...key word being "sell"...I don't want to knock bidville, it's a great set up, easy to use and maintain, the folks are friendly, it's free listings, BUT...They just haven't been able to attact and keep good buyers. I add a post script to all my e-mails telling folks about it, but that's only been mildly sucessful. I most I've sold a book for is a buck 99 and everything I have listed is less than half of what I would list it on ebay for...Just trying to get folks attention.
I listed one very desirable book for $4.99 to grab some attention, didn't get one view. Auction closed and I listed it on ebay, opening bid, 29.99...897 views later it sold for 89.50. Advice? don't have any, just keeping my foot in the door hoping it will get better soon...
