Auctiva Corrects Trojan Problem
After receiving a report on Twitter, I was able to confirm that Google and FireFox have cleared Auctiva.com of the threat warnings they have been reporting.
This is great news. Auctiva offers a good product and service, they just need to work on their communication a little better.
Is eBay Becoming The Newest Big Box Electronics Site?
Announced Changes Tell The Story
As I try to digest the changes to the eBay platform announced yesterday, I can’t help but notice that it truly appears to me that eBay wants to cash in on the Consumer Electronics wave. To do this eBay has inked “sweetheart deals” with such sites as Buy.com to give these huge consumer electronic sellers an unprecedented unfair advantage. These deals allow the huge sellers to list tens of thousands of items on the eBay site with no listing fees and reduced Final Value Fees (FVF).
In yesterdays announcment eBay states
” In extremely competitive e-commerce categories such as Consumer Electronics, Cameras and Computers, we’re decreasing final value fees. This means we’re giving you an even bigger incentive to list these types of items on eBay.”
In addition, eBay is also offering
a special rate of only 5 cents through the end of the year for Buy It Now™ fixed price listings in the Media categories (Books, Video Games, Music and DVDs/Movies) using pre-filled item information.
These special incentives certainly are placing those high volume sellers in these categories at a significant advantage, just in time for the busiest selling season of the year. It is very apparent to me that with the emphasis eBay is placing on these very high demand and visibilty categories, that they (eBay) wants to become the largest online source for consumer electronics. While this is great if you sell in these categories, it is terrible news for those sellers that sell in other categories like clothing or shoes or any other category not benefiting from the reduced fees.
Auction Format Listings Remain The Same
As the announcement states, there will be no reduction in fees for those selling in the Auction Format. This tells me that eBay is still moving towards a Fixed Price site. Though Lorrie Norrington says in the announcement that “Auctions will always have a place on eBay” I can not help but remember the immortal words she spoke at the PESA/ECMTA conference in New Orleans earlier this year. “You won’t recognize eBay in a year”.
The Same Old eBay-NOT
n my mind eBay already does not resemble what it was when I started selling on the site 11+ years ago. I realize that ecommerce has changed, technology has changed, and the online buyer has changed. To stay competitive, eBay had to make changes to stay competitive. My concern is what marketplace they want to be competitive in. Cetainly it appears that it is not the marketplace that they started out in, and that is OK if that is where they want to go.
In my opinion they should let their customers, who after all are the SELLERS decide what direction they should be heading to.
Silly me, I forgot, according to Pierre Omidyar we business owners don’t know what is in our own best interests.
Auction Floor Announces Full Integration With OnlineAuction.com
eBay Appears to Continue to Move Away From Auctions
As eBay continues on what many consider to the be a move away from auctions both in the online and live format, many live auctioneers were left looking for a venue to integrate into their auctions so they could include online bidders. eBay announced in April that it would discontinue it’s live auctions.
Since 2006 eBay has been putting emphasis on fixed price selling and making changes to the site that seem to disadvantage auction sellers. According to eBay, buyers are looking for quicker transactions.
Auction Floor and Onlineauction Take On The Task
AuctionFloor.com issued the following press release today:
NEW YORK, N.Y. August 11th, 2008 — Auction Floor, Inc. (Other OTC:AFLO.PK - News) (Frankfurt:ZUI.F - News), a leading web-based technology provider to the auction industry, today announced that has entered into a services agreement with OnlineAuction.com, a fast-growing online auction site operating on the Internet. The Company, through its Auction Manager system, will enable a growing number of auctioneers and online sellers to rapidly upload their item listings for viewing on the OnlineAuction.com website, while powering OnlineAuction.com with the technology to introduce live auction bidding across its platform for online sellers and traditional auctioneers.
OnlineAuction.com (www.onlineauction.com) has over 16 million items listed, making it one of the world’s largest marketplaces for online auctions. “In the aftermath of the decision by eBay to withdraw from the live auction market segment (www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9919800-7.html) OnlineAuction.com is positioned to offer a terrific alternative at lower cost for both online sellers and traditional auctioneers” said OnlineAuction.com CEO Chris Fain.
“The opportunity for Auction Floor to integrate its trading platform with OnlineAuction.com, will enable our network of sellers to reach an active and growing audience of buyers. OnlineAuction.com has a highly experienced team in auction e-commerce, web marketing and a well timed value proposition for buyers and sellers.” noted Lou Sagar, CEO of Auction Floor
The Company’s AuctionManager, a proprietary auction management software solution, enables auction houses, consignors, and sellers to centralize their management for auction events from a single platform. The Company is marketing its network and product offering through multi-channel promotions, including print and web-based advertising. Please visit the Company’s website at www.auctionfloor.com.
May 3rd ebay & Beyond Basics to Business Program To Feature OLA.com Rummage Sale
Many ecommerce merchants are constantly looking for new maketplaces to sell their products or services. One such site is Onlineauction.com, and over 275 (could be over 300 by now) of the sellers on the site have banded together to promote the relatively young auction venue. These sellers know that they, along with the sites owners MUST work together to draw buyers to the site. OLA has begun doing their part by launching TV ads on several cable channels including Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Fox, The Speed Channel, The SciFi Channel, and VH1 that will run April 25th thru May 7th with a potential audience of 40,000,000 viewers.
The sellers for their part have begun a grassroots movement to promote the side thru what they are calling the Rummage Sale, running from May 1st thru May 7th. All items in the Rummage Sale will be in true auction format with starting prices no higher than $0.99. Those participating agree to list at least 10 items in a category that was created specifically for this event called what else??? Rummage Sale. All items in the sale must have some value according to one organizer whose user name is Callmemomo. No JUNK will be allowed. Sellers are promoting the event through emails, blogs, posters, ads in local newspapers and nearly any other way they can think of.
Chris Fain, CEO of Onlineauction.com said “Listing fees and final value fees are not necessary. All the money we need to run this site can be made by the monthly membership fees for sellers of just a flat $8.00 per month and the Verified Buyers fees which are just $4.00 per month. (Basic buyers can buy with no fee wtih some limitations) in an interview on this radio program. This concept is a good one in my mind. Why should sellers carry all the burden?
In any event, tune into our weekly live internet radio program ebay & Beyond: Basics to Business Saturday May 3rd from 10 AM to Noon ET to hear all about the items available and possibly from some of the sellers.
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