It always amazes me to see obvious drop shipping, fake account creating auction site owners competing with their own auction site users for sales... All to make their site look busy or look popular. You can claim what you want about making you site more appealing or making your site feel alive or whatever but lets face it, your lying and your more or less telling your users that its not about them its all about you, you, you. That is why I apparently am the first site to claim that I am not and will not compete with my users for sales... I don't care how that site appears since its brand new (you don't buy a brand new car and it looks used)... At least the products on it are from my users... I would love to be able to afford a private investigator to find out how many auction sites compete with their users... I am willing to bet even your near and dear auction sites do every single day and that most users would be shocked at the number of auctions that is owned by the site owner... So here is my personal promise

I will never compete with my users for sales..

I posted this in the scams section because I feel this is one of the dirtiest scams of all

Your Friend
Ronnie Whisler

just curious... where did you get this information?

This is very common practice among auction site owners.. Its easy to notice especially when new sites are announced and they already have tons of stuff and users.. But you can also rest assured that if you can't figure out how an auction site makes money because they are free or the prices are soooo low that its ridiculous.. Then this is what they are doing to create income..

For BidTurf I decided that the best approach was free but there needed to be a solid business plan in order to grow and compliment my users efforts. I need to be able to add features, upgrade when necessary and supply effective advertising.. Those things cost money.. So what would be the best approach then? Well I always felt that I had no right to ask for money from users for their products (final sale fee) or that I had no right asking for a listing fee (if i didn't have sellers then I have no site) So how then??

Well I noticed on many other auction sites that are either completely free or only ask a fee when sold. There is very little room if any for the seller to compete with another seller... What kind of market is that????? That is no market at all....

So there you have it... Between paid advertising and competitive extra fees there is a solid business plan for growth without the need to sell my own items and compete with my users..

I know most of you are thinking "You idiot you just gave away your business plan" LOL Actually no I didn't I gave it away when I opened the site. I just wanted you all to know why it makes sense and BidTurf is the only site to recognize it so far. We have many many great ideas now and I'm sure many more to come so just think about it. Besides you can't forget the name BidTurf especially once you see the logo... Try it I dare ya..... And no one can steal that.

We haven't officially done the Press Release Nationwide as of yet since I am making sure every little thing is perfect... I will do so most likely by the end of this week... And oh boy do we have an advertising strategy and I'm not giving that away....

Sincerely,
Your Friend
Ronnie Whisler

Ronnie,

I read your posts in this thread and just had to respond... I am very glad you have a business plan you feel comfortable with and I wish you the best for a successful future.

My opinion is that you are taking the wrong approach by claiming competitor sites are trying to dupe their members, and there is no chance for sellers to make it with them. Also, that you are the only business to have a solid business plan that will work. I feel like I am reading a political ad campaign...

Site owners should be building alliances with each other, not smearing each other or making enemies. Discuss the positive aspects of your business, what improvements are being made to the site, traffic levels over periods of time, what you are doing to market the site, etc. Not why you think everyone else is not going to make it, or how they are scammers (unless you are speaking the truth, to warn members of a specific site). I think you will get much better reaction from the PSU crowd this way.

This is just my two cents, I am in no way trying downplay your site or your business plan.

Take care,

James

The reason I posted this thread is the same reason your responded to it... I did it as an FYI really... Because I wasn't sure how many sellers actually realize this... And I also guess that creating an alliance would be a good thing but not the way you created an "alliance" with your many sites. If you want to create an alliance why don't you start by making the same honest claim that BidfTurf does. That you or any sites in your "network" will never and currently do not compete with your sellers. I didn't notice any references true or false in your reply regarding this. Thats an alliance worth having.. Simply because it would be the right thing to do for our users...

I am sorry if I offended anyone here.. That certainly wasn't my intention.. I was just posting what I considered an FYI and have simply been responding to posts since...

Sincerely,
Your Friend
Ronnie Whisler

I've seen some site like this. Absolutely new...just launched, established in 2004, be one of the first sellers to list and then you check the site. Either they have mainly listings from the E or they have listings from numerous well established sellers?!?!? I know others have seen the same sites.


At this point, there really isn't any room for any kind of competition between sites or sellers if they are trying to make a break from Ebay. Competition comes when the foundation has been built...or in this case re-built. Solid ground to work with and build from.

Alliances are necessary to succeed! ( Thanks James....just the word I was looking for!!)

So...not only do you start your thread with a negative smear campaign,

Quote: › You can claim what you want about making you site more appealing or making your site feel alive or whatever but lets face it, your lying and your more or less telling your users that its not about them its all about you, you, you.

But then you insult the PSU community by declaring we wouldn't know any better...

Quote: › Because I wasn't sure how many sellers actually realize this

*ahem* James' totally professional post is correct, if you take the time to listen and take the advice to heart, which I doubt.

I didn't bother to visit your site, nor will I do business with you. I would go back to eBay's lies before I do business with someone who prefers to divide a community and insult the other sites.

sylvia

I'm with you Sylvia.

Wot was the name of his site again?

All this trouble to do something I felt was positive for the auction sellers community and I get nothing but no thanks....

Uhm ok

I don't quite understand it...

I was simply making a claim that BidTurf doesn't do what I know other sites do and it got totally crazy after my second post... Simply because I felt James was politely saying.... "Shut your mouth No one wants to hear the truth" and apparently he is correct

We all complain about how corrupt and how many lies ebay and the like do on a daily basis but apparently it has become too comfortable to live without..

And I am not by any means trying to divide a community or upset other auction site owners.. If anything I'm trying to make us stronger, much more honest and different than the 800 pound lying gorillas.

Sincerely,
Ronnie Whisler

P.S.

Why do you think Overstock still stinks?

Because they are more worried about their own products.

Most auction sites were founded by ex-feebayers. Seems logical that they would have items left over from their activity there. When they list items from their own account I see nothing wrong with that as they "prime the pump".

Now if they claim they will never do that and do it anyway, then that is another thing. Overstock, for example, proclaimed that was their policy and did it anyway. Lying only occurs when you say something which is not true. Perhaps a more careful use of words will calm some feathers here.

Calling someone a scammer, a liar, or a fraud when they are not will not "win friends and influence people". Making generalizations is another way to claim the high road while implying all others are guilty. Not a good way to build a business which depends on good will and cooperation.

Just some thoughts.

Ok then

I will then rethink my evaluations of the other auction sites and their practices.. I apparently jumped the gun and am guilty of generalizing.. I guess I had a hard time with the idea of multiple accounts for the same user which led me to the term "lying"

You are all correct and I should have thought this through before allowing my self righteous behavior to get the best of me...

Thanks for all the feedback and clearly stated point of views which helped change my perspective.

Sincerely,
Ronnie Whisler

Just a thought for what it is worth.

Shouldn't the ball in the center of the logo be an oval like a football? A round ball is for soccer and their field has no yard lines. Which is it?

Would your logo imply that there is a contest between the buyers and the sellers with the inevitable winners and losers. I thought a purchase from an auction site is a WIN WIN situation, good for BOTH buyer and seller.

OUCH!! Nice jab... Guess I deserved that LOL

Actually the logo is not supposed to represent football or soccer. Simply put it was the easiest way to use the name BidTurf to represent buyers and sellers on their own "turf" and the game that is played between the two... buyers trying to find cool products at great deals and sellers trying to sell their items (usually wanting to sell more then the other guy)... So I thought the field with $ signs next to the yard line numbers would represent the money changing hands as well.. Its more a play on words only in a graphical sense