Power Sellers Unite

elliemay · Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 1259

I am seeing increase in listings at Bidville. However, I'm not seeing much talk about Bidville. I know that people are still upset over the board wars and customer service issues. But it's still a nice little place to list.

I have had a few things come up lately that I needed customer service help. It took a few days for a response but I did get one and every incident was a "real" response to my problem or question. Also, the problem was resolved promptly.

Is it that people are still carrying a grudge from the board fights? Or because of the lack of advertising. I still don't see advertising for the other auction sites. They are all growing by word of mouth and postings here and on other message boards. The same could be true for BV.

Obviously some sellers are using Bidville because I'm seeing new listings. I'm just wondering if anyone will come forward and admit they are using Bidville and maybe give it a little promotion.

I'll even go first! I AM LISTING ON BIDVILLE....now i run quickly and duck! LOL! :mrgreen:

zpz50 · Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 590

Hi elliemay. Being new to these boards maybe I'm making a mistake by admitting it but I do list on Bidville. Have made a few sales there to, and I will be listing more items in the future. I'm going to concentrate on a few sites other than ebay for now being I'm not too happy with the policy changes.

TAILS CARD CELLER · Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 122

Been listing on Bidville since Jan. 01 and will continue to do so until they turn the lights out.

The real key is to get your name out there anywhere and everywhere you can. There are several free ways to promote your goods. The Yahoo Bidville sellers group, google base are a couple.

Don't worry about what happened at Bidville in the past, just look to the future.

Best of luck to all the newbies and the veterans too.

zpz50 · Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 590

Hey tails I know this is off the subject but I see you also have a store at BV. How's that working for you. Am thinking of opening one there after I finish setting up at PH. Any comments or advice. Thanks

TAILS CARD CELLER · Joined: 30 Nov 2005 Posts: 122

The store? I love it. I rarely list auctions anymore.

I have the featured store option for 10$ flat per month.

That includes unlimited listings, unlimited pictures, pictures will show up in gallery, items will auto-relist, set up your own categories and I could go on.

Oh, and the featured store pays no final value fee, only the 10$ per month.

I would advise if you are interested, to start out with a normal store and if the need comes to upgrade.

But again, as I said before, once you get settled in, get your name out there everywhere you can. You can put a free link to your store right here at PSU.

zpz50 · Joined: 17 Feb 2008 Posts: 590

Thanks for the info Tails. Sounds like it's the right way to go. I like the idea of the featured store it has many advantages. Next stop BV stores. :!:

CuFF · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:02 pm Post subject: Re: Bidville Listing Count UP

I have had a few things come up lately that I needed customer service help. It took a few days for a response but I did get one and every incident was a "real" response to my problem or question. Also, the problem was resolved promptly.

That's good to know... Maybe uBid will finally wake up, smell the coffee and stop wasting one of the best alternate sites around. It's not about advertising for me, but the lack of communication and the blatant promotion of their uBid site at BV while BV & its Sellers sit drifting in the sea like a discarded life raft.

BV is very user friendly, and has Seller tools that are unmatched. Why would they not promote it at least on the uBid site as they did when they first took over? They took the banner down at uBid.com about the time they closed the boards. It's never been back since that time. That exposure alone would help put BV on the map, and it would cost them nothing.

It's never been about the Sellers, or the site. It's about the management. I did have a problem with the sugarcoating that used to happen here, and the personal attacks that followed when facts were presented. But, that seems to have gotten better which makes it a lot easier for interested Sellers to evaluate BV as a whole.

I checked uBid.com's seals and they're current. The very least they could do is keep up the basic maintenance. Don't BV Sellers deserve at least that for the fee's they pay?

elliemay · Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 1259

I agree with you Cuff. There are certainly things that could use improvement. No doubt about that at all. I have noticed that there seems to be less "down" times and the site overall has been running smoother for me. But more involvement from management would be nice.

I was just wondering why there's not much mention of BV out there in the midst of all the uproar. I've seen a couple of blips but that's about it.

CuFF · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:04 am Post subject:

I was just wondering why there's not much mention of BV out there in the midst of all the uproar.

Because BV management (uBid) isn't putting forth the effort to capitalize on the 1000's of ebay Sellers that seem to be leaving ebay for good this time.

Also, because uBid was mentioned as one of the sites ebay Sellers are flocking to. They're don't see BVs potential.

mogansportscards · Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 31 Location: Lancaster, Ohio

We still list on Bidville, user id Angela&Josh'sCards. We have been there since 2001 and seen all the ups and downs of the place, but we hold out hope things will pick up again. We love it there in spite of many things that have gone on there. Still MUCH better than Ebay!

2BOYSandTOYS · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 10095 Location: Kansas

For EllieMay - never feel you can't discuss a site that you are selling on!!! I applaud your success and sales and hope that many others find that - either on BV or on any site!

I've got an account there, and did list for a bit, but did not want to spend $$ for a store. I might revisit this year if I get some more time. I agree with CuFF - it's a very easy-to-use site and has marvelous tools! I just get 'leary' when CS seems distant.

It does sound as if you got fast responses to me! Granted - we all want answers or issues resolved 'now' - but the response time you got is perfectly good in my mind!

Best of sales to all/any who are listing on BV! Love to hear about success!! :D :D

CuFF · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:22 am Post subject:

mogansportscards wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")We still list on Bidville, user id Angela&Josh'sCards. We have been there since 2001 and seen all the ups and downs of the place, but we hold out hope things will pick up again. We love it there in spite of many things that have gone on there. Still MUCH better than Ebay!

I joined BV May 11, 2001. I didn't come over the minute Yahoo started charging listing fee's, but when the Buyers left Yahoo six months, or so, later I made BV my auctions home. I loved BV the site, still do.

Unfortunately, rather than striving to promote BV as a viable alternative to ebay, everyone who's ever owned it has used it for their own gain. Ed Orlando did nothing to help BV once he decided to sell it, or even before that really. Then, when he did sell it, he stayed on to help Parker destroy it. They were pumping up the Store numbers, changing Seller cash to BV credits (non-refundable, of course), and engaging in stock manipulation on the boards.

When uBid bought it I thought they'd seen its potential, but it turns out they only wanted it for a few of its security features (how ironic, since they neglect BV in this area), its memberlist, as well as a place to promote uBid. Basically, they siphoned it off, then they left it. Their uBid banner has been removed from BV. Like I said, BV is on auto-pilot (most of the time).

I just have to ask Morgan... why aren't you advertising BV in your sig line with your other Seller sites?

mogansportscards · Joined: 29 Jan 2008 Posts: 31 Location: Lancaster, Ohio

So Cuff, see you have been with BV since the good ol' "Always free, never fees" days. It's a shame that such a nice site gets so little attention from the owners. It is so user friendly that with enough advertising it could potentially be huge. As for why we don't have Bidville in our sig, we don't have an actual store there. Only listings. With as hit and miss as it has been there since Ubid took over, we don't want to put the money into it. Maybe if they start putting some effort into the site again, we will get a store. For now, we would rather advertise our stores on Ecrater and BluJay.

CuFF · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 12:34 pm Post subject:

Okay, thanks for that, Morgan. I was just curious.

I never buy into the always free jargon. I can't comprehend
how a site could ever grow without fee's of some kind. I don't care for listing fee's, especially when the traffic doesn't warrant it, but fully accept fair FVF's and enhancement fee's.

Remember the Premiere Plans BV offered under Ed's first reign? They were great, weren't they? The packages brought in money to BV and really didn't cost them anything more than the bandwidth used for the enhancements they were used to buy. Back then, my BV sales were as good as they had been on Yahoo before the Buyers left.

The very least that uBid could do is to mass email BV users and offer enhancement credits to members who bring in ebays displaced Sellers. How hard would it be to do that?

On the BVs About Us page it states...

Bidville is wholly owned and operated by uBid.com. Bidville acts as uBid's consumer to consumer marketplace alternative to eBay. The company provides unique user features, such as Watch List, Image Gallery, and fixed price listing options.
uBid.com operates one of the largest online auction sites in the United States, located at www.ubid.com offering new, close-out, overstock and refurbished merchandise to both consumers and businesses through a trusted auction style and fixed price format.
uBid.com's online marketplace provides merchants with an efficient and economical channel for maximizing revenue on their surplus merchandise.
uBid.com has registered over 5 million customers and sold over $1 billion dollars in merchandise since it started in 1997. The company currently attracts over 2.0 million unique visitors a month to its website, www.ubid.com
Founded in 1997, uBid.com re-entered the public markets in 2005. The company's stock is traded on the NASD OTC Bulletin Board under the symbol, UBHI.OB

http://www.bidville.com/help/topics/index.asp?index=1

The first two lines are about BV. The rest is about uBid. There are six live links to uBid in that little blurb. The main point is, however, they're promoting BV as an alternative to ebay, but they are doing nothing that will make that statement true.

Justjoansetc · Joined: 22 Nov 2005 Posts: 275

Sales have been going up and up for me at Bidville.

UBid no longer shows their logo on the Bidville site as they did in the begining.

The featured store is the way to go. I use the 3 months plan and gives me a bit more of a break.

I do plug my items a lot, and getting a lot of action of late on both store and auctions.

So as far as listing going up, not sure, but sales are sure happening.

What ever happened in the past is in the past,so I concentrate on the future, and not dragging up old stuff.