TulipTools Internet Business Owners and Online Sellers Community

[quote author=Cuff link=topic=18964.msg74589#msg74589 date=1246982397]
Show me ONE other site that has grown at the same approximate rate that Bonanzle has... You can't and that makes Bonanzle a phenomenon.
[/quote]

phenomenon-
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenomenon
Use in Philosophy
In philosophy, the use of the word phenomenon differs in other uses in that it refers to perceived events. Phenomena may be perceived through a person's senses or mind.

I agree with you that Bonanzle is a phenomena and I never said otherwise. PT Barnum, Harry Houdini, Jerry Springer and David Copperfield combined could not have done a better job at muddling public perception as Bonanzle has and they were/are experts at phenomena.

People want to believe in something so badly that they ignore everything that is real and factual in order to maintain their illusions.

People want to believe in something so badly that they ignore everything that is real and factual in order to maintain their illusions.


You sure don't give people much credit. As I said, why Bonanzle is a phenomenon is unimportant. It is, and that's a fact. You can spend your whole day philosophizing about it and Bonanzle will still be a step ahead of the pack because of it. Some will take that knowledge and become part of a movement away from ebay, and others will fight it every step of the way arguing that one site is better than another. Those people don't understand what's really at stake...

If a viable site with lots of Sellers and a broad selection isn't available as the selection at ebay dwindles there is a real  danger that Buyers will revert back to more traditional ways of shopping. Once they do that you'll play hell getting them back to the net.

Getting behind a site that has real numbers and growth is logical and perhaps our best shot at drawing Buyers away from eBay. No one is asking anyone to only sell at Bonanzle, and no one is asking anyone to stop promoting their favorite site. It would benefit all, however, if you could find another life calling until the Buyers have migrated.  Thank you 

My life calling is a bit more important than selling online which is why I am peeved that I was stupid enough to fall for the garbage spewing out of the mouths of Bonanzle supporters. I admit, I am mainly angry at myself for being conned so easily and at all the time I wasted building and promoting a store on Bonanzle. It was my first attempt at trying to sell outside of eBay and it will likely be my last.

"Come sell here at Bonanzle, we're warm, friendly and very helpful" (looking back I realize that this is a space cadet line if ever there was one)

Sure you are friendly. Until I start to ask about things such as why aren't there many real buyers for a site this size and then I get attacked and my posts are removed. I think more people would speak up about the real Bonanzle but when they see people asking honest questions getting bullied and viciously attacked they become afraid to speak out. NAZI Germany had the same mindset. Just be quiet and don't get noticed or you'll be next on the list.

Speaking of life callings, I think it would really benefit the world if people like yourself did not deceive others into thinking that Bonanzle is something that it is not nor is it likely to ever be so they can focus on the real matters at hand instead of dealing with people who bark at airplanes and think they are accomplishing something.

Quote: have seen members here shred pretenders to eBay's throne and I have a single question for this forum.  Why are you giving such an obvious loser site like Bonanzle a free pass?  Did they slip something in the Kool Aid here too?

I give the owners/site credit for actually having a programmer on staff and having the required technical knowledge to actually provide a site/server that isn't an open door to hackers (unlike 99% of so-called "eBay alternatives"), not using an out of the box $160 eBay clone script (unlike 99% of so-called "eBay alternatives") , not running the site out of his basement (unlike 99% of so-called "eBay alternatives"), having an actual business plan rather than one that is formulated on the fly on chatboards (unlike 99% of so-called "eBay alternatives"), and actually having the marketing/business skills required for any startup to be successful (unlike 99% of so-called "eBay alternatives")

...those positives aside, read on for why you won't see me wearing a Bonanzle cheerleader's costume and proclaiming the site to be the second coming.

Quote:Bonanzle has broken longstanding records

Quote:Take it for what it's worth, but no other site has seen such extraordinary growth.

Quote:Show me ONE other site that has grown at the same approximate rate that Bonanzle has

The listing count growth has been impressive but when you look beyond the limited number of sites PSU includes on its chart those 2.1 million listings don't look quite as impressive in the overall ecommerce arena because there are many marketplaces and individual merchant websites (visit some of the larger media or office supplies merchants' sites for examples) which have far more listings and offer buyers a better selection of goods for category x.  Bonanzle (and its sellers) is competing against  every ecommerce site out there for buyer eyeballs...not just the ones included on OAI forum listing count charts.

marketplace listing counts Wrote:Abebooks 110,000,000
Alibris 100,000,000
GEMM 30,000,000
MusicStack 25,000,000
Discogs 3,000,000+
Buy.com Marketplace -more than Ecrater (moviemars has 230K listings on Buy, importcds 133K, bigrockmedia 71K...now add in the listings from the rest of us who sell on Buy)

80,000 members is impressive for a 1 yr. old site but other sites have experienced far greater growth in their 1st year (Overstock and Etsy for example)

The 80,000 members are also less than what Bargainland's Bidtopia has managed to attract [off topic for a second to take a dig at claims that "AtomicMall is pound for pound the best marketplace"  :twistedevil: Bargainland has completed more than 300,000 transactions on Bidtopia...AtomicMall only had 17,000 during the past year]

Bonanzle's current 80,000 customers is also only a tiny fraction of the size of the customer lists of many individual merchant's websites...and it's only a fraction of the size of the membership list of many failed "ebay killers" of the past (Bidville and BidBay/AuctionDiner/Bidway/AuctionCities/GTwasanASS to name two).

500,000 beats 80,000 Wrote:    Auctions.Overstock.com has had...more than 500,000 registered users in its first year, according to the company.

http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=16332

Bonanzle's attempt to create a social shopping marketplace where buyers and sellers interact is similar to what iOffer has been trying to do with limited success for the past 4 years with its groups.

When you compare Bonanzle's membership numbers to the membership numbers of the social shopping sites it ultimately will have to compete against for "social shopper" buyer eyeballs (Kaboodle, ThisNext, StyleHive to name a few), it's clear that Bonanzle has a very long way to go before it becomes a destination site for mainstream (defined here as non-sellers) social shoppers...and when you compare the size of Bonanzle's membership to the size of the customer lists at many individual merchant's websites its clear Bonanzle still has a long way to go before it can be considered a major force in the ecommerce world.

Buyer only non-marketplace social shopping sites like Kaboodle have proven they can reach a mass market, but I think the jury's still out on whether buyer/seller social shopping marketplaces will be able to replicate that success.  Does the average buyer really want to interact socially with the merchants they buy from, or do they just want to make a purchase as quickly as possible? 

One other problem that Bonanzle (and other sites that emphasize the social aspects of selling) will face as it grows is attracting larger sellers.  The labor intensive nature, and associated costs/ extra time required, of maintaining a presense on a site that emphasizes the social aspects of selling will deter many/most larger merchants from using the site.  Bonanzle's "social" model might be working now for some smaller sellers but the site will need a ten-fold increase in membership/eyeballs before it becomes a viable option for larger sellers.

Quote:If a viable site with lots of Sellers and a broad selection isn't available as the selection at ebay dwindles there is a real  danger that Buyers will revert back to more traditional ways of shopping.

eBay at its peak never managed to attract more than 25% of online buyers. The majority of online sellers may have used auction sites like eBay in the past, but the majority of online buyers have historically spent most of their dollars at fixed price non-auction sites. I think that going forward, search (which includes both search engines and comparison engines) will be the "viable (virtual) site" that buyers flock to...the importance of marketplaces like eBay or Bonanzle, etc will continue to dwindle in importance for both buyers and sellers.  Search is the "eBay killer/viable contender" that sellers have been screaming for, and you don't need to join a traditional multi-seller marketplace to participate.

Quote:Don't you think the social aspect will become less and less important as Bonanzle grows?

If they can grow their membership to the 500K-1M level I think it will take on less importance but they're going to need to do some heavy spending on traditional advertising rather than relying strictly on viral marketing.  If they deemphasize the social aspect they also run the risk of alienating users who joined because of it, and they'll lose one of the main things that sets them apart from retail website xyz.

Thank you for the tips Bloodhound. I went to the sites you mentioned as I had never heard of most of them. A few of them are specialty sites for handcrafted items, records and books. Most sellers do not fall into those categories. I went to Bbuy.com and and Ooverstock also. Overstock is empty. If they have over 500,000 users, where are they? I think the Overstock site itself might be getting a lot of traffic but there is hardly anything at all listed on their auction section. As a buyer, I would not spend too much time there as the chances of me finding what I need are slim and none. I heard heard of Buy and used them as a buyer but Buy.com seems to have more than their fair share of drop ship sellers. Out of the 8-9 times I went to buy something from the site, 5 times the item was "out of stock" or "on backorder". And a couple of those transactions failed after I had emailed the seller before making the purchase just to make sure that it was available.

Last, I went to Bidtopia.com and they seem to have the same problem as Overstock. I do not know where these membership numbers come from but again, the sellers and items available are scarce. Less than 3500 items for sale. I remember bargainland from eBay and he can put up 30,000 listings by himself.

As I said before, the majority of sellers would be better off to steer clear of wannabee site and sticking with eBay or, if they have the inventory and the desire, opening their own site., So far I have seen nothing that convinces me to use another multiple seller venue.

Quote: a viable site with lots of Sellers and a broad selection..........Getting behind a site that has real numbers and growth is logical and perhaps our best shot at drawing Buyers away from eBay.

Amazon fits the bill on all counts: over 1.5 million active 3P sellers, 88 million active buyers, and as broad a selection of merchandise as eBay.

Bonanzle has 80,000 total buyers and sellers

Some of us recognize a real contender AND a pretender when we see one tolensmiley:

[i]edited to add a link{/i}

Just like eBay, not all Sellers are able to sell at Amazon, nor do they want to.

It basically boils down to who is Bonanzle's target seller. Professional sellers looking to make the big bucks...NO. Hobby sellers looking to clean out closets while socializing,,,,Yes.

It was supposed to be a super easy place to sell for those wanting to have an online garage sale. You know, a place for Mom and Pop to sell their old albums, trinkets and such. Like a large Flea Market.

In that aspect, they had a winning idea. Unfortunately, with all of the sellers demands and requests, it is getting more complicated every day.

If you're a seller focused on making money, having your own store is just the way to go. All these listing sites do is distract buyers.

Like Mechelle says, she's not needing the money. Unfortunately though, I think she thinks that, in time, Bonanzle will be a big payoff. However, selling brand name cosmetics is just not a clever thing to do on a site like Bonanzle.

I think Bonanzle will be the place to go for fleamarket items and such as there really doesn't seem to be many places that want that type of merchandise. As long as they remember that and stop adjusting the site to fit the needs of the dropshippers and other new item sellers.

Not trying to be mean, just being real. I won't knock the whole site, because I think it's on to something. Is that something going to be a place for former powersellers too lazy to create their own stores? No. Fleamarket seller sick of sitting at their stand every weekend? Yes.

It was a lot more fun when it was smaller to. Now, there is so much brand new stuff on there just ruining the experience.