Power Sellers Unite

RecycleBin · Joined: 15 Jul 2007 Posts: 152

According to AuctionBytes, Bidville is up for sale.

Why, U-Bid would even consider an offer from eBay according to U-Bid's CEO!!!!! :(

jcut92 · Joined: 29 Jul 2007 Posts: 852

Well maybe it being up for sale, is a good thing. I am sure Ebay will not purchase it, but whoever does, may make the site more efficient and more dependable. I have been a member there since the very beginning and the past year, the owners of that site have not been paying too much attention to it. That site would be chump change for ebay and I highly doubt they would invest in it.

Well when it sells things may look up alittle, if it doesn't sell, who knows maybe they will close the doors.

If your familar with bidville, you know they closed down the community and all messages thru their site about a year ago, so someone needs to take over and bring the community back and start paying more attention to the members!

hot pink · Joined: 21 Jan 2006 Posts: 46

[b]Oh man that is a sad thing to hear about bidville selling but the chat room is closed. Now that is stupid in my eyes. Everyone knows if we don't have a place to talk after browsing as well as listing and buying to see what is going on then the very next step is closing the door for good. I haven't been their in ages yet my sweety has fond memories of that place. My heart goes out to every member there when that happens to them.
Although if we think about it where ever we are listing right now we could get them to come over to our site to see what we have to sell so I deeply suggest to all sellers to list to their hearts content. Good luck every one,hot pink aka smurf aka Linda :?

Texas-treasure · Joined: 05 Sep 2006 Posts: 511

If I still listed there, I'd be backing up my listings. BV has sold several times and no one has stuck around long. They'll have to hunt hard for anyone willing to pay for it. That could be the end of it.

CuFF · Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:08 am Post subject: Re: Bidville is for sale!

uBid Poised to Sell Bidville C2C Auction Site

By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
April 30, 2008

Bidville does not fit in with its parent company's strategy, according to uBid.com Holdings CEO Jeffrey Hoffman, who said he is considering various options, including the possibility of selling the Bidville site. The auction site was conspicuously absent from last week's press release outlining uBid's new strategy, so AuctionBytes sat down with Hoffman to learn more about plans for the C2C auction site.

"As a public company, part of what our shareholders want us to do is to find positions where we can be in industry leader, and of course, Bidville is in a market space where there's an 800-pound, 8000-pound, gorilla already in the space. So it's a little more difficult for me to justify spending public funds in a public company continuing to develop a site that I can't claim will ever particularly be a leader."

I guess Mr Hoffman didn't hear about the ebay boycott, and I don't know why he would have to justify anything spent on BV when nothing is ever spent on BV.

Hoffman, who joined uBid late last year, said he has to decide if Bidville fits in with the overall business strategy of uBid, and said he'll be making the decision "in weeks, not months."

"The best solution for everybody, I believe, would be if there is an interested party that's better equipped than we are to operate the business and would be interested in acquiring the business. We want to give that community of buyers and sellers the chance to continue without disruption in their marketplace. If we were able to sell the business to someone that was better fit to run it, I think that would be a win for everybody."

Hoffman said he'd be looking for a sincere interest and expertise in the C2C market and an appetite for investment to grow the business as two primary factors when considering a potential acquirer.

When asked if he would consider eBay, Hoffman said he would. "Obviously it's a growth extension of the business they are already in, and they certainly understand that space."

Asked if he would consider Bidville sellers if they were interested in running the auction site themselves, Hoffman said he would. "If people would be interested in having that discussion, we're certainly here, easy to reach, and would be able to advise people on what we think the commitment would be to continue running the business."

Easy to reach? :lol: :lol: :lol:

Bidville was founded in 1999 primarily as a sport card auction site, and in 2001, it merged with NoBidding.com. In August 2003, Royal Palm Capital Group acquired the site, and uBid acquired Bidville in July 2006.

uBid announced last week it was launching a fixed-price marketplace called uBuy. Hoffman said sellers in the Bidville space that fit the profile for selling in the uBid auction or on the uBuy fixed-price site are "more than welcome any time."

Hoffman also talked about why uBid is launching uBuy and a new "software as a service" ASP channel called uSaaS. The full interview can be heard on Ecommerce Industry SoundBytes on the AuctionBytes website (http://podcast.auctionbytes.com).

postman · Joined: 09 May 2007 Posts: 244

Interested in hearing who you might think would purchase the Bidville site.. I believe it's a diamond in the rough and just needs some loving care to get it going..All uBid ever did for BV was to run it into the ground with no intentions of ever trying to promote it.. Maybe Microsoft could invest a few bucks out of its billions to show ubid how a auction site should be run... Looking for a new home to start selling my postcards...any suggestions... :cry:

elgato · Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 16923 Location: Texas

Bidville does not fit in with its parent company's strategy, according to uBid.com Holdings CEO Jeffrey Hoffman, who said he is considering various options, including the possibility of selling the Bidville site. The auction site was conspicuously absent from last week's press release outlining uBid's new strategy, so AuctionBytes sat down with Hoffman to learn more about plans for the C2C auction site.

"As a public company, part of what our shareholders want us to do is to find positions where we can be in industry leader, and of course, Bidville is in a market space where there's an 800-pound, 8000-pound, gorilla already in the space. So it's a little more difficult for me to justify spending public funds in a public company continuing to develop a site that I can't claim will ever particularly be a leader."

more.. link to news article

viewit · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 252

They never cared, nor did they ever want it, a charade.

CuFF · Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:49 am Post subject: Re: Bidville is for sale!

So true! Ubid never spent money or developed anything at BV. In fact, they did everything within their power to draw traffic to ubid from BV. I hope BV is sold to someone who actually wants to see it succeed. So far, everyone who's owned it did nothing but hold it back for personal gain. BV has a great platform and excellent features which have so far been wasted by abusive owners.

postman · Joined: 09 May 2007 Posts: 244

Time to BOYCOTT uBid :evil:

newmember · Joined: 24 Mar 2008 Posts: 245

It might be best for the site, as long as they don't sell the site to someone like EBay....

elliemay · Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Posts: 1255

Does anyone remember this announcement on the BV message boards?

Posted 7/28/2006 4:04:41 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Valued Members,

As many of you may already know, the Bidville.com website was purchased by uBid.com Holdings, Inc. on July 27th. We are thrilled that Bidville has the opportunity to benefit from the experience and resources that uBid has to offer.

It is our collective goal to expand and improve Bidville as quickly as possible. Our plan is to maintain Bidville as a separate entity from the uBid.com website. We will systematically improve Bidville’s technology, website, marketing efforts and Customer Service. Bidville will remain a place for consumer to consumer and small business auctions and storefronts.

It is important to us that the transition of ownership and management occurs as smoothly as possible without interrupting the daily operation of the website. We will do our best to communicate with the membership as much as possible. Your continued (and improved) success is vital to our success.

We welcome Bidville to the uBid family. Thanks for continuing to grow with us.

Robert Tomlinson
CEO, Ubid.com Holdings, Inc.

Ed Orlando, MD
Founder, Bidville.com

Why did they buy BV in the first place??? Clearly they did nothing that was promised in this message. They didn't even try. It makes no sense at all. But then, what does these days? LOL!

viewit · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 252

Seems they bought it for a song and the email-addy list. They won and seller musta had a nice taxwriteoff.
To bad the addy list was alot of nothings :P

viewit · Joined: 26 Jun 2005 Posts: 252

most of companies play musical chairs with so-called management, changes and straw hunting.

PatchDog · Joined: 28 Feb 2007 Posts: 3726

I wouldnt buy Bidville with an eye on keeping the same format.

Whoever does buy it should turn it back into a niche card auction site and send the rest of the sellers to a sell everything site.

If I were eBid for example, I would buy it, announce the sports card only format, create a Mr Grabber for members who do not sell sports cards and offer the non card members a special deal to move their listings to eBid.

That should leave you with a sports card niche site of about 750,000 listings and if only half of the non sports card sellers decide to move to eBid, you would increase your listing count by a couple hundred thousand and your member count by a few thousand also.

What's that all worth in dollars and cents? Dont know exactly.

What did uBid pay for Bidville? Half a million? Think they'd be willing to unload it for a quarter of a million? I dont see any real value in the site other than it's members and listings which are as tangible as air when you get to the bottom line.

All we need are 25 Members to chip in 10,000 dollars each to have a share of the site. I'll buy a share. Anyone else?