New auction site, need help!

**#31**

Sittingon20G wrote (View Post): › Well, someone comes here asking for idea etc and all they seem to get are it's a bad idea, or buy an existing site.

There have been very few actual ideas and helpers. More condescending we've tried or are doing it so don't waste your time. Hey, I can tell English isn't your native language.....wow, thanks for the light at the end of the tunnel.

I don't think the OP was trying to get a bunch of people with existing sites or cheerleaders to talk them out of everything.

Everyone is so superior, so tell them to go ask an advertising agency cause heaven forbid they should get any actual help here.

I've seen more support for spammers with a total copy-cat site that looks nasty, than for this OP willing to shell out 2 million. How many sit there and ridicule the OP and try to squash their advertising? Are you the same ones that whine and cry cause your site doesn't advertise enough? How many times have I read us complaining that a site has sellers but no buyers? Buyers don't sit on their computers every day like we do. In fact, if I hadn't started selling, I would barely have been on my computer at all this summer.

Advising someone to not advertise on TV, but rather on Adwords is sad. I'm much more of a buyer than seller, and I don't waste time looking at those. I figure those pull up all of the time and aren't really the most relevant results. Even eBay buyers don't sit on their computers.

We all say we're looking for some type of alternative that we can all goto, but are you really? It seems more like you've started your own sites and lets make sure no one gets the better of you. C'mon!

No, don't consider the input from those other posters with their own agenda. You can tell which ones have their own agenda for sure!

"Everyone is so superior, so tell them to go ask an advertising agency cause heaven forbid they should get any actual help here."

So superior? Advertising agencies exist for a reason. Successful businesses employ advertising agencies for a reason.

If sellers actually knew how to make a venue successful, then the few thousand who have supported this venue or that venue over the years would have made one successful already.

A good bit of advice that has served me well through the years: Do not take advice from people who are not successful in the field you're asking about.

This is not a vendor forum. It's a sellers' forum. We are not peers. If giving a potential vendor advice to seek professional input and guidance is condescending or superior, then I'm condescending and superior.

Ain't my $2M on the line.

**#32**

LurkeyLou wrote (View Post): ›
A good bit of advice that has served me well through the years: Do not take advice from people who are not successful in the field you're asking about.

This is not a vendor forum. It's a sellers' forum. We are not peers. If giving a potential vendor advice to seek professional input and guidance is condescending or superior, then I'm condescending and superior.

Ain't my $2M on the line.

Actually, I meant those that were advising the OP not to waste time or money.

I agree, the OP should not take advice from those here that don't have a successful site. I think they were mostly interested in sellers not site owners.

Well, I hope they still try. They could have a pretty good site for that much money. Yeah, I want to see what they'd come up with for sure. I'm a seller, and a new site that does a lot of advertising would be great for me.

**#33**

knappschiles wrote (View Post): › See, there are so many experts out there with killer sites

Look who's talking. You just got here from eBay THIS summer and were looking for a new home for your items up til just recently. Like you know so much about how an alt site should work.

Excellent response. Thank you for trying to set this person straight. Smile

**#34**

Oh. Gotcha'. I understand. Though I gotta' say I agree w/ a lot of the points being made and have stated many of the same things myself over the years. There are already so many sites and new sites announcing weekly. This continues to fragment the limited number of sellers willing to support the ATEs (alternatives to ebay), watering down our efforts.

The OP should be interested in vendor opinions. I have to question the judgment, and by extension their business judgment, of asking questions of sellers. Doesn't give me confidence that spending even $2M on advertising would be well planned or executed.

A couple of sites have secured significant funding, BidVille and BidChaser come to mind right away. The sites and funds were mismanaged. Sellers invested untold thousands of hours of time in both sites. Wasted. Time and money totally wasted.

Most members of PSU prolly want venues to stop popping up so efforts can be concentrated.

**#35**

sciencefare wrote (View Post): ›

knappschiles wrote (View Post): › See, there are so many experts out there with killer sites

Look who's talking. You just got here from eBay THIS summer and were looking for a new home for your items up til just recently. Like you know so much about how an alt site should work.

Excellent response. Thank you for trying to set this person straight. Smile

There you go again adding absolutely nothing to the thread but your banners.

BTW, never said I did know anything about how to start an auction site, and at least I don't pretend to either.

I agree we don't need more copied sites, but an actual auction site that advertises would be great.

Sciencefare, you constantly encourage look alike site owners. Is your encouragement solely based on my posts as to post the opposite of me?

**#36**

Sittingon20G wrote (View Post): › an actual auction site that advertises would be great

An auction site that spends 2 million dollars on advertising right off the bat without understanding all of the other far more important elements is likely to be a CLOSED auction site within one year. I prefer an auction site that has earned my trust over the years and that I know is committed to long-term sustainability and effectiveness. I would only consider selling on the OP's site if my WP store could be copied with little effort on my part. Then I could 'ride the initial wave', and would not be shocked, surprised, or overly disappointed if the site was shut down within it's first year when reality sinks in.

Oh, and I quite enjoy and appreciate Sciencefare's contributions to this thread and others on PSU.

**#37**

Of course you do. I think I can count all of your posts that DON'T mention WP on one hand.

It doesn't matter anymore, I think the OP went away anyways. Congrats!

**#38**

Sittingon20G wrote (View Post): › Of course you do. I think I can count all of your posts that DON'T mention WP on one hand.

You have a hand with several hundred fingers??? Laughing

**#39**

I haven't read the entire thread. But if I had millions to invest in an upstart...first thing I'd do....before worrying about advertising, hire competent employees and management. Nothing can sink a boat faster than incompetent management. Then I'd worry about the site and advertising. Like a previous poster said....make it better than what is available. Take the good from what is available and expand on it. Make it unique. Make it interesting. Make it attractive to sellers AND buyers. At the same time it should be profitable enough to keep going. By the time you pay for this, you'll probably have less than half of the 2 mil left. Then compare ad agencies. Get quotes and make sure they are willing to work with you.

Look at all the auction sites you can in the mean time. Learn what not to do and what members will accept in terms of fees, etc.

And above all...stay away from the pre-packaged auction software. They have been done to death with the same general results!!

**#40**

Nothing can sink a boat faster than incompetent management

I think that is what I was trying to say almost from the beginning of this thread.

CS, LL and I were all part of a group of sellers trying to help another site that asked for help from sellers. At first it seemed like a dream come true -- a site we sellers could mold the way we wanted a site to be.

Even tho this site had money backers, the management was all hot air and after over 15 months of frustration after frustration we all just gave up on the site. The site was a custom script and did do some advertizing (at least we saw some video clips of TV ads). But do to mis-management and a script that rarely worked as it should have, most of us rarely made ANY sales.

It's been painfully obvious from the beginning of this thread that the OP doesn't have a clue about running an auction site. If the guy in my example above, who had had years in the auction site biz, and sort of knew what he was doing, couldn't make it work, how is this guy going to be any better ???!!!

LL was right in her first post here when she asked why he was asking advertizing questions here at a sellers board. Most of us do "shoestring" advertizing, if even that. Many of us don't even understand "adwords" let alone a million dollar ad campaign. About the only thing I can tell someone about an ad campaign is to stay away from the agency that made the crummy ads eBay has used the last couple of years.

So is the OP getting advice with an agenda from many of us ?? Not if you look at it from reality and ezperience. I'm not pushing any particular site. My only agenda is to try to get the OP to look at things realistically before he wastes his 2 mil.

Carol

**#41**

Understood.

Does that other site still exist? Just curious.

**#42**

Was it BidChaser? That was before my time, but many parts of the story are all too familiar.

**#43**

Yup BidChaser.

20G,

You should still be able to see threads here about that site. There even was a child forum for it for a while. Not sure if it still exists or not.

As far as I know, they changed their name to QshopsNow, or something like that, close to 2 years ago. That site was sort of functional for a few months tho no one I know ever made any sales there. Then maybe last summer (07) the site finally wouldn't load for anyone any more. I don't know if anything happened after that.

Anyway if you ever see the name Cunha associated with any site, run as fast and as far away as you can. I believe they (2 brothers) have been involved with at least 3 or 4 auction/shop type sites and ALL of them were big busts. Leo can sure talk a good line, but it's all hot air.

Carol

**#44**

Any new successful auctions site will have to be a Team Effort with plenty of input from experienced sellers, not one or two people running it!!!!

It does exist!!!!!!!

**#45**

Hey Jogolie

Your taking a hell of a risk at the age of 90