Power Sellers Unite

hotandvintage · Joined: 09 Feb 2008 Posts: 1705

Anyone know what is happening with this, why it is on hold and if it will be used in the near future with more sites added?

Or is there something specific stopping it?

hotandvintage · Joined: 09 Feb 2008 Posts: 1705

I have tried all sorts with the google base but it has no way to switch it to meta search or spider, rather than using cache, which it is using. Even looked at the possibility of the paid for version but can't see where that is different other than it cuts the adds shown on the page

I looked at some of the comparison sites you mentioned but most only scan the first couple of pages and the options are limited, as you have to migrate to a new search engine to search a new country, or they can't separate who they will sell to.

And I found an old meta tag search that runs on javascript. But they have not touched it since 2000. Most of the active X on it sets off alerts and although it searches the sites listed it will only open each auction site in a new window.

Any of the search scripts out there are expensive and you need a massive database to make it work, especially if people actually want this boycott to lead someplace other than back to ebay.

The problem is that most of the companies that have the technology and the space to do this the way it should be done have seen this all before and think it will end with the large percentage heading back to ebay, tail between their legs. Looking on other forums I agree with them as unlike here, their looking for resolution with ebay and by reading some of the posts are afraid of the change.

The sad thing is if any of these alternative auctions want a chance this is the biggest stumbling block they will have to deal with.

I know what I was wondering as most auctions have the same options, and especially since most of them are built round the same scripts. How hard would it be for the alternative auctions to draw in the search from other auctions.

I know most of them will probably say no way but if one of them does, then that is the one that has the traffic.
So I don't know I think if I was the owner of an auction, I would at least look into it before some third party site came along and takes away the option.

purple_reading_giraffe · Joined: 04 Feb 2008 Posts: 5485 Location: Indiana, USA

BidFind is the place that searches the many alternative sites using capability built into most of the action software. There is info on this I sorta understand by reading their how do I get added page.

What I can't find out, and they have not answered the question - or even acknowledged I asked it - is what sites are currently participating.

I would tout them everywhere I go and even use my $50 in Google Ads on their behalf if I knew I could search most or all of the larger sites at once using their site. I wonder if they're lying low hoping eBay won't notice them; or if they're on autopilot.

IMO the best way the alternatives can draw in the business is through a central search. That would best duplicate the IT experience. I suspect that many buyers would discover a "fit" with a few sites and visit them first once they've found them, occasionally returning to the metasearch for other items not available on their favorites. I doubt buyers would register on a multitude of sites.

Google Base looked like my hope for the future until I found some real problems yesterday. There are lists at the top for narrowing ones search, but the tags they rely on are in no way uniform from seller to seller. So, in my test search for velvet skirt, choosing tag "skirt" narrowed it from 3000+ items to 2. Looking at the sellers' tags, most did not have any clothing-type tag, and those that did were: skirt, skirts, pants (on a skirt), bottoms, pajamas (on a dressy skirt), woman, women, woman's, women's, cute; tags were associated with Category or Department or other things, so there was no way to use them to narrow a search. Brand names were similarly disorganized: Klein Calvin; Calvin Klein; Klein, Calvin; Calvin Klein for...; etc.

This may improve as more people use Base, and consensus begins to be reached - that is, if users can see tags already created by others in some useable fashion. There were over 777,000 items in base.google-products when I went to look yesterday, and there were the exact same number in goolgle.com/products, so they are the same items. Only the layout is different. I much preferred Base's layout if the tag limiting worked.

However, all this Google still leaves no way to search in real time, or even close to real time, or to search auctions rather than fixed price. Only BidFind or MOAAS something like that seems a real answer.

ebayers-revolt! · Joined: 18 Feb 2008 Posts: 8

Hotandvintage, I just got word, new thread on this here: http://www.powersellersunite.com/viewtopic.php?t=17303 Whether it's to be a neo-MOAAS with PSU support or something we'll have to build on our own I don't know yet but if there are enough of us we can do it. Like MOAAS did, it will specifically exclude eBay -- a search of all auction sites besides eBay. My understanding is a massive database woudn't be needed if sites standardized their tags (inclusion contingent on this) and a mashup was used instead of a portal. Well, lots to learn but we can do it.

CC