Power Sellers Unite

MartinFrank · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 12

Hello Everyone,

After selling for years on e-bay I have finally had it with them. I looked around and did not find what i would consider a great alternative. So, I am taking matters into my own hands and am launching a new site called Offerama (www.offerama.com). Development is underway and we hope to have the site live in the next 60 to 75 days. I would welcome your comments, suggestions or inquiries. You are welcome to e-mail me at info@offerama.com. Hope to hear from you.

Best Regards,
Martin Frank
Founder

GAELICTITCA · Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 1384

MartinFrank wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")Hope to hear from you.

I would say "good luck", but that would be a waste of energy. Your
post strongly resembles umpteen others that have been posted on PSU
over the last 6 years, people full of fire and disdain of Ebay going to build
the better mouse trap.

LOL..... and the vast majority of those sites are shuttered today.

MartinFrank · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 12

GAELICTITCA wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")MartinFrank wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")Hope to hear from you.

I would say "good luck", but that would be a waste of energy. Your
post strongly resembles umpteen others that have been posted on PSU
over the last 6 years, people full of fire and disdain of Ebay going to build
the better mouse trap.

LOL..... and the vast majority of those sites are shuttered today.

I appreciate your comments however, I have been involved in web application development for the past ten years and have sold online for over 12. While I realize it is a huge undertaking, I am quite sure that I have a decent plan to get this off the ground and a viable alternative to traditional "Auction Sites". More information and some real information will be posted on the site in the near future. I say "stay tuned".

GAELICTITCA · Joined: 25 Apr 2005 Posts: 1384

MartinFrank wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")I say "stay tuned".

Definitely not interested and not holding my breath to see what your efforts *eventually* produce.

"Offerama"? Seriously? Oh, well, why not --- so many Ebay wannabes
have had even more inane names

MartinFrank · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 12

GAELICTITCA wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")MartinFrank wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")I say "stay tuned".

Definitely not interested and not holding my breath to see what your efforts *eventually* produce.

"Offerama"? Seriously? Oh, well, why not --- so many Ebay wannabes
have had even more inane names

Hah! Perfect! Yes, play "devils advocate". I hear what you are saying. And that is ok, not asking you to like the idea, just saying what I am doing.

elpereles · Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 1478 Location: Puerto Rico

MartinFrank, you must understand here in PSU some of us read the story every week from 2-5 new users can with the same story that they were sellers, blablabla, and want to start an Alternative site or a penny site or a whatever selling site.

Anyway. Good luck with your site!

MartinFrank · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 12

elpereles wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")MartinFrank, you must understand here in PSU some of us read the story every week from 2-5 new users can with the same story that they were sellers, blablabla, and want to start an Alternative site or a penny site or a whatever selling site.

Anyway. Good luck with your site!

elpereles, Thank You. Yes, I can see that everyone wants to be the next ebay. Unfortunately that will not work and seeing this site itself is 6 years old and started to specifically boycott them shows that not many great alternatives exist. I myself would have been happy to find a good alternate and just move my business. Unfortunately that is not the case.

I think everyone would agree that to compete in this space you have to offer something better than just another auction site. Auctions are done in my view. Buyers are tired of being sniped by others and defrauded by bad sellers. To compete, you cant just go find some auction scripts and throw them up on a domain and expect it to succeed. You have to offer something better. This is what I intend to achieve with Offerama.

It took me quite some time to come up with the concepts and functionality of Offerama and I can sincerely say that I feel that I have achieved this. Otherwise, I would just be throwing away good money. It's not an auction site, it's "The better way to buy and sell online" and it addresses many of the short comings that exist in this space currently. I have a team of programmers building it now and my intention of posting here is to bring awareness to the site. It is truly a different model and I am very excited to be able to bring Offerama to all of us that are frustrated by the treatment from ebay and the lack of viable alternatives.

elpereles · Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 1478 Location: Puerto Rico

One recommendation. Please don't make the mistake from some site owners if you have fees you can't let the promotion only to the sellers and Google Product Search.

MartinFrank · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 12

elpereles wrote (View Post): › docWrite("quote")
One recommendation. Please don't make the mistake from some site owners if you have fees you can't let the promotion only to the sellers and Google Product Search.

Yes. I appreciate the input and the point is well taken. We have just updated our site and there is now more information for anyone that is interested.

Our marketing plan is to target buyers. With buyers, sellers will come. While our budget is not huge by any means, proper marketing is key to a sites success and we plan to reinvest a good portion of our revenue stream back into marketing for the next three to five years.

MartinFrank · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 12

More information is now available at www.offerama.com. We value any feedback so feel free to e-mail us: info@offerama.com or post it here.

Thanks!

MartinFrank · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 12

A sign up for beta users is now available. You only need to provide an email address and we'll send you a link once we are ready to begin the beta. Target date is currently 12/01/11 - we will not spam you, send junk emails or crap about special deals, etc.... We will only send information about the beta as it warrants and we only want people that will be serious beta testers and provide us feedback - visit our informational pages currently available at www.offerama.com.

Thanks,
Martin Frank
Founder
Offerama, Inc.

MartinFrank · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 12

Every day we make a bit more progress. Today we have posted some logo ideas on our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Offerama/210267275697153

Please take a moment and let us know which design you like best.

Thanks,
Martin Frank
Founder
Offerama, Inc.

caljackscollectibles · Joined: 08 Feb 2011 Posts: 251 Location: California

Sent you a pm. You have an attractive site. Best of luck to you. :)

MartinFrank · Joined: 17 Oct 2011 Posts: 12

I am pleased to announce that we are making good progress with Offerama. We have delayed our Beta Launch by about a month because we are in the process of adding additional functionality to the site. Part of this is the ability to create a business account and have multiple users under this account. This will allow a business to create their own users and tightly control what that user is allowed to see and do.

As an example, a Business can assign the role of listing items to one user while allowing another user to only ship items. Additionally we are adding the ability to track costs of your items so that you can get a better idea of your profitability.

I am truly excited in our progress and hope to be able to share more with you soon. Please take a moment to sign up for a beta launch so that you can be one of the first to experience all the features and benefits of Offerama.

Best Regards,
Martin Frank
Founder

caljackscollectibles · Joined: 08 Feb 2011 Posts: 251 Location: California

Thanks for the update MartinFrank. Sounds good.