Our new Auction site................

[Mike Turber]

Well the cat is basically out of the bag now. We are working on a new auction site. Spark is making the software work and I am working on the graphics. Hopefully it will be up within the week but we have to test it first.

It will be VERY heavily promoted here on BladeForums and in the magazines. Ads will begin running in a month or so.

You can see from the pic above which catagories we will have.

What I would like to know is this...
If you currently buy from on-line auctions, which features do you find useful and which do you not like?
What about any auction site, would you change if you could?
What support would you like to see from the promoter of the site?

In other words... What can we do for you?


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Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
www.wowinc.com

 

[bald1]

Mike,

I use several auction sites but since we're talking about all items from a common source perhaps you can take a few queies from OnSALE. They e-mail all bid confirmations, warehouse shipment prep status, UPS tracking number, and even report when UPS has advised them the item was delivered. It gives me a warm fuzzy all the way around, especially the tracking info.

-=[Bob]=-

 

[Phillip]

Mike something I would like to see is that the auctions are truely auctions. What I mean by that is that on PVK so many times there are "auctions" where the bidding starts at a price near retail or a general wholesale price. This IMO is not an auction but selling the item. I am not saying that a seller should lose money, but offering a knife commonly sold for $99 at auction for $98.99 is not an auction.

 

[Roadrunner]

Finally, an auction where I won't have to search for the good stuff; knives! I have never bought anything from an online auction simply because I haven't found anything worth buying, I have looked. Hopefully this will change that. I don't really have any suggestions for you other than please don't run any misleading ads.

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Just because I talk to myself doesn't mean I'm crazy. What's wrong with getting a second opinion?

 

[Dannyc]

Been joining auction sites for a while now. I believe email confirmation is important, particularly if you were outbid or something. I think this is one of the downfalls of Ebay, as their email confirmations take a long time to reach the person involved.

Other than that, I think it'll be great if BFC comes out with an auction site of their own.

I, for one, will be looking forward to that day.

Good luck, guys!

Dan

 

[tschlosser]

I'm addicted to the on-line auctions. I've bought and sold a bunch of stuff, mostly Guns & Knives. The features I find most useful follow.

E-mail confirmation of your bid, as well as if you are outbid, and the end of the auction.

Autobid system, where you bid the maximum you want to and the system places your bid just above other sellers and then raises your bid whenever someone else bids until your limit is reached.

A feature to manage your bids/auctions. Meaning a link to click on where you sign-in and all auctions that you are a current bidder on or are the seller on are listed.

That's all I can come up with for now, but I'll keep pondering it. Great idea BTW.



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-Tim-

 

[tschlosser]

Will Firearms be allowed? Rich over at TFL might be interested. Not that I would be into that or anything.

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-Tim-

 

[Bob Irons]

I find a search feature invaluable, especially if there are more items than can be displayed on a couple of pages.

Also, eBay has a feature called My eBay where you can view all the items you bid on. This is a great help to me.

I look forward to seeing BladeForums Auctions in action!

[This message has been edited by Bob Irons (edited 19 July 1999).]

 

[poor_bill]

I would utilize a lot of the same SEARCH functionality ebay has:
- By text in title and/or description
- By seller or buyer
- View other auctions by seller
- etc.

Additionally, they have an excellent seller/buyer rating system.

Very much looking forward to this auction site!!

 

[Codeman]

Two things come to mind:

1. Search capability (full text ideal)
2. Escrow services so that new sellors & buyers can feel comfortable placing orders.

Thanks for asking!

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Knowledge without understanding is knowledge wasted.
Understanding without knowledge is a rare gift - but not an impossibility.
For the impossible is always possible through faith. - Bathroom graffiti, gas station, Grey, TN, Dec, 1988

 

[Mike Turber]

We will not be the one making the sales so we would not have access to tracking numbers and/or any shipment status.

The auction will act as most auctions do in that we will be a thrid party. We can not tell a dealer what price to set his reserve at. My advice here is simply do not bid on items which are not a good deal. The seller will get the hint pretty quick if he keeps his reserves to high.

We will have email confirmations and outbid emails. I am not sure about the autobid system as I have also heard some complaints about it. I will look into it.

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Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
www.wowinc.com

 

[Gollnick]

Online auctions aren't real auctions because there's a time limit. At a real auction, you go until there's only one bidder standing. I haven't quite figured out how to do this online and still make it practical, but it would be better. I'm tired of getting up at 2:30am to watch an auction I really want close to make sure nobody jumps in at the last minute.

Chuck

 

[Dannyc]

Chuck, your post reminded me of what I saw over at tradehall.com ... Some of the auctions there have their ending date set at year 2000!

By that time, nobody will be left standing.. lol..

Dan

 

[Big Z]

What i would like to see and i think Yahoo auctions have this,is when you are out bid in the final minute or seconds,which happens a lot,that the auction is slightly extended a few minutes so you have a chance to place another bid,thus making it a true auction.Nothing is worse than to place a bid and watch it for 3 days and then to get sniped in the closing seconds

and not be able to bid again.

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[Jeff Clark]

The time limit on the online auctions force people to make decissions. They can't go back and forth with $1.00 outbids every couple days for weeks on end. It is optimal for the seller to get the deal forced to a conclusion with a deadline. The automatic limit bidding system at ebay means that you could put in your maximum limit on the first day that you see the item and not worry about snipers. They either will or won't go over your maximum bid, what do you care when they do it?

On the other hand if you want to try and keep the bidding levels down you don't bid at all till the last 20 seconds. Call me a sniper, but that's usually how I do it. Then I punch in my limit and either get my target or not, all within one minute.

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"Defense against knife attack:
Option 1. If you have a gun shoot him."

 

[donovan]

I like the autobid feature too, Mike. Helps to keep me in my limits.

Jack

 

[Corduroy]

Just my little "voice in the wilderness" but...

Any chance of changing "Custom Knives" to "Handmade Knives?" A custom knife, to me, is one in which the buyer specifies details before the knife is made - that, by nature, can't be auctioned. I know what we all mean when we say "custom," but I feel it's time to get it right and say "handmade." Might the revolution start here?

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-Drew Gleason
Little Bear Knives

 

[Southernblood]

Mike, I use the auction site everyday as a seller. The one thing that bugs the hell out me is people who bid & run up the price of a knife and then never come through with the payment. I know this will happen, but what I would like to see is a Buyer Feedback Area where sellers could look to see if there high bidders are NO SHOWS or straight up guys(and Gals)It sucks when you pay auction & commission fees only to never see the knife sold. Granted , you can file a report to the auction house & then have them credit you back ,etc. But somehow there needs to be a way to keep these guys from doing it t other sellers too. A little embarressment goes a long way!!!!
Thanks & keep us posted....

 

[Mike Turber]

Good point Jeff,

I will look into that. I know we have the seller feedback option as we have played with it in testing. You should see the comments we made just playing around

We will have to delete them before you guys head in

Also the fake product names Spark comes up with are quite funny. Like having an Auction is South Park

Anyway.....

It would be easy for me to switch out the name "Custom" for "Handmade" so I will do that as well.

Dealers....
I ahve a duplicate of this thread in the Dealers only forum which addresses seller issues so please go in there and add your comments which may not appropriet in here.

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Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
www.wowinc.com

 

[ryk]

would it be possible to look at auctions(either in one catagory or all) that are ending within the next day or so? I kinda find that feature usefull.