It was started to let sellers know about other auction sites out there when ebay increased fees in 2005.


And altho several sellers did try other auction sites and report, after 4 years the concensus was that not every site was beneficial to every seller. There is no one site fits all. Some sellers had excellent sales on one but not another. Then a site or product would go cold.

And instead of changing how a item was presented, chose another site.

finegemdesigns wrote (View Post): › Powersellers Unite. If we aren't uniting then what are we all doing here? What is the plan? Is there a plan?

We are uniting to (hopefully) openly discuss selling-related topics and issues. We are NOT uniting to allow a group to make the business decisions that each of us need to make as individuals ~ though it is a very common thing here for people to try to force their opinions on others as far as what other individuals should or shouldn't do and how they should or shouldn't do it.

Well, Allison, when site owners work hard to get items 'out there' to the buyers, and the sellers do everything possible to be counter-productive to that optimization, it really gets frustrating. Especially when the sellers come back and blame the site for their items not getting indexed.

mojavelyn wrote (View Post): › Well, Allison, when site owners work hard to get items 'out there' to the buyers, and the sellers do everything possible to be counter-productive to that optimization, it really gets frustrating. Especially when the sellers come back and blame the site for their items not getting indexed.

Yes, that would be extremely frustrating. I have all the compassion in the world for site owners.

Angelsong777 wrote (View Post): › finegemdesigns wrote (View Post): › Powersellers Unite. If we aren't uniting then what are we all doing here? What is the plan? Is there a plan? We are uniting to (hopefully) openly discuss selling-related topics and issues. We are NOT uniting to allow a group to make the business decisions that each of us need to make as individuals ~ though it is a very common thing here for people to try to force their opinions on others as far as what other individuals should or shouldn't do and how they should or shouldn't do it.

Talk is cheap. Nothing in this world is ever accomplished by just talking.

And frankly would you be opposing this idea if I had promoted Atomic Mall instead of Bonanzle?

mojavelyn -It was started to let sellers know about other auction sites out there when ebay increased fees in 2005.


And altho several sellers did try other auction sites and report, after 4 years the concensus was that not every site was beneficial to every seller. There is no one site fits all. Some sellers had excellent sales on one but not another. Then a site or product would go cold.

And instead of changing how a item was presented, chose another site.

So how would it hurt anyone here to simply add Bonanzle as a venue? Please explain.

finegemdesigns wrote (View Post): › And frankly would you be opposing this idea if I had promoted Atomic Mall instead of Bonanzle?

Yes. Because although I do think it would benefit ALL online sellers to sell on Atomic Mall, I do not think it would be a good idea to try to push the idea on people. Sellers need to make their own decisions based on their own observations and preferences.

And would you still be in favor of this idea if the 'chosen' site was Atomic Mall rather than Bonanzle?

Quote: › So how would it hurt anyone here to simply add Bonanzle as a venue? Please explain.

It wouldn't. Bonanzle already is one of my venues. But I don't see any good reason to try to get all sellers to unite behind Bonanzle or anything like that. Many of us do not view Bonanzle as one of the stronger venues despite it's early rapid growth in listings. So if those of us who hold that opinion were to support your plan, we would essentially be suggesting that other sellers support a site that is NOT the most effective use of their time, energy, inventory, etc. That seems very wrong to me.

Not sure what you are getting at... People join a site because they see it as a bennefit to them.

You asked How/why PSU was started, I told you.

You are posting in the Ebay discussion thread, yet are turning this into a BZ plug. BZ has its own child board here. And this should now be moved there.

If you want to promote BZ promote it in their own boards.

I own an auction site, why would I want to join BZ?

No one from BZ has actually promoted the site, but maybe you should go read what some of your sitemates have had to say.

What would a One Site Fits all Venue Need to succeed?

I see a lot of Bonanzle this and Bonanzle that here but it is going Nowhere fast. Bonanzle does work for some and not others, like ebay used to work for me but not now.

Well, if ebay worked for all ...it would have a better then 40% STR... ebay doesn't work for all. And thats why people gripe because they chrge to list whether the item sells or not. And only 40% of the items sell. That means that 60% of the items listed on ebay do not sell.

mojavelyn wrote (View Post): › The search engines and shopping aggregates are only accepting items with a buynow price. This doesn't mean that auctions are out... it just means that the item has to have a buy now price. Tell me how to make it a viable search for a site to connect to the VAST internet to search for an item. The bandwidth would be enormous. And if it could be done, wouldn't ebay have done it. its just not cost effective for a free or low cost to list site to do this. Ioffer did (last time I was there) have a comparison but it was only included a couple of sites. What the sites have to do is make sure they appear in the search engines. And the sellers are actually responsible for this. Using SE acceptable titles. Using good keywords. using a sites listing durations to the best of max advantage. Finding out what the site's optimization is... and working within that. My site submits to various aggregates, twitter, base and products... what will allow us an API or RSS... and these are triggered on relists and new listings. So when someone uses 1 year listings... and they aren't getting spidered??? Gee wonder why?

We have never sold BIN on ebay, yet back when we had our store most of our buyers came from google and other search engines.

When ebay and google had a spat some time ago, and google cut off ebay from search, our sales dived like a bomb

So if ebay can get auction into search why can't the alternatives?

finegemdesigns wrote (View Post): › hotandvintage wrote (View Post): › Problem with your idea is that your choice of alternative site, is showing how little you are thinking about everyone else. Bonanzle is only for BIN sellers and has no auction format. So you just cut out a large amount of your fellow sellers through your first choice. And others have stated, why create another ebay? Ebay is changing into something else so the site that could offer all to everyone would be the new ebay. How long would it take them to start asking more when they were the only place in town. You really think ebay had this many rules to start off with. Also I still think the answer is in search, but I do not think google will be the answer, the alternatives have to make it so that if you search one you search all if they want a chance to survive. For those of you selecting the BIN only alternatives, if that is where ebay is going, then how long do you think they will last, when they not only have to fight off Amazon and their sellers but also the new ebayzon sellers? You think Bonanzle is turning into another eBay? lol Have you even been there? The point is with no competition eBay can do whatever they want and get away with it. With even only one real competitor they would have to think twice before making stupid moves. As it stands now they can do whatever they want with no repercussions. Yes it's true Bonanzle doesn't offer a pure auction format and that is a downside. But no website is perfect and of the top competitors Bonanzle has the best storefronts, layout, ease of use and community in my opinion. What is the name of THIS website? What is it's purpose? Powersellers Unite. If we aren't uniting then what are we all doing here? What is the plan? Is there a plan?

Ebay is turning into another BIN site, shutting down its auctions. They do not say that but they are making it impossible for auctions to operate. So with that in mind ebay is becoming like Bonanzle.

We sell our goods auction style, you are saying that we should change to sell them the Bonanzle way?
Maybe you should stop selling on Bonanzle as they do not offer auctions. They are also set on the dollar, and the market being the way it is, what would I do if the dollar rises or falls, change every listing that I am forced to sell BIN?

Another user on here will not use Ebid as they do not sell in all counties yet. I will not use their favourite site as it only uses the dollar. Another site we will not use, as we only sell UK and it will not allow me remove the US sales box that is permanently ticked
Every seller is getting a different result at each of the sites, and if a site offers what I need I will try and use it, but I am not likely to try and use a site because it suits the way you sell, just like every other seller on here.

But when you are choosing your new preferred site, as Bonanzle does not do what a lot of us want, with your thinking in mind, then choose the one that suits all other sellers, and not what is best for what you sell, and the way you sell. This is what you are asking every one to do, but not thinking about what is right for them when you chose where to sell.

The alternatives do. I have a thread on my boards... of how buyers found and bought a particular item. Most have 1st page google placement, rarelty further back then 4th page.

I have a page devoted to the past 24 hours of site hits that came from outside sources... email links, SE links, RSS feed links... and this page also includes the search terms used.
www.alsoshop.com/searchterms.php

Google base and products require BIN price formating.

A general google search is actually open to all, auctions, webstores, anyone. It helps when doing a generic search on google, if the seller uses some keywords in their descriptions and their titles are google compliant. Google does have rules about how the listings should be presented. And if your listings do not follow those guidelines... your item won't get placed or properly placed.

mojavelyn wrote (View Post): › Not sure what you are getting at... People join a site because they see it as a bennefit to them. You asked How/why PSU was started, I told you. You are posting in the Ebay discussion thread, yet are turning this into a BZ plug. BZ has its own child board here. And this should now be moved there. If you want to promote BZ promote it in their own boards. I own an auction site, why would I want to join BZ? No one from BZ has actually promoted the site, but maybe you should go read what some of your sitemates have had to say.

You are missing the point entirely. This isn't about Bonanzle it's about eBay so it's in the correct forum. I'm not attached to Bonanzle. The big picture is that the situation of many tiny selling sites is too fragmented to have any real effect on eBay. If Atomic Mall is the one that's fine with me as long as ONE site is picked that EVERYONE plugs and uses. I picked Bonanzle simply because they are a frontrunner with better chances to win than AM. Is anyone here disputing this?

What's the point of complaining about eBay? What a huge waste of time this is. The only way they will ever change is if they are forced to.

finegemdesigns wrote (View Post): › I picked Bonanzle simply because they are a frontrunner with better chances to win than AM. Is anyone here disputing this?

Yes. LOL

Seriously, if I thought Bonanzle was really a better site than Atomic Mall, there would be a Bonanzle banner in my signature. Sellers will never agree unanimously on a single site to support. Never ever. And all too often, the reason why some sites have larger listing counts than others are because sellers go there thinking that they're supporting the 'frontrunner', and they're listing there primarily for that reason. It's not a good way to go.

Quote: › I hope I never see any of you fatalists complaining about eBay because you are part of the problem not the solution.

I won't be complaining about eBay. I quit selling there in '08.

But your solution isn't really anything more than recreating the problem.

I'm much more inclined to believe that the solution to eBay would be for millions of sellers to create their own websites. That way NO site could ever again exert the control that eBay once had.

As for your use of Bonanzle as your choice of an alternate site, I have a real problem with it. For my items, their fees are higher than eBay.

Quote: › If Atomic Mall is the one that's fine with me as long as ONE site is picked that EVERYONE plugs and uses.

And why must we all agree to list on only one site? Many of us don't wish to do auctions ever again, while others prefer that format.

Does that mean that half of us end up disappointed in your world? Or do we now support two sites?

Quote: › I picked Bonanzle simply because they are a frontrunner with better chances to win than AM. Is anyone here disputing this?

A better chance to win what?

You are going by number of items listed, and Bonanzle has a major flaw in their counts. When they started the site, they provided no way for sellers to note that they had more than one of any given item, so sellers created duplicate listings for each additional item.

I wonder what BZ's real item count would be.

You are once again, comparing apples to orange here. BZ is a social networking site, similar to Facebook, while AM is closer to a traditional shopping mall. To say that one format will work while the other won't is simply your opinion.

Here's an idea for you. Let's all go with Vendio. A relatively new startup, offering FREE stores to everyone. Can't beat the price.