To Have or Not To Have a Bid Column

[adruml]

Good question. I haven't been around long enough to answer for eBid, (and I wouldn't presume to even if I had), but I personally have done better sales-wise on eBid than anywhere else I've ever listed, (that includes Feepay, many moons ago). OK, I don't sell a lot, but the sales I make are a refreshing change from other venues. It could be the items I offer, but as others are also doing well, IMHO the answer might just be that this site works better for some than others, as I suspect is true of any online venue. I'm not sure whether or not a bid column would help or hurt sales, probably because I haven't done much research in this area and also because it's not something I care about all that much; for what it's worth I tend to take the advice of the veteran members who have built the site and made it work to date. I do wish more U.S. based sellers/buyers knew about eBid, but that's what networking is all about.

Best wishes for many sales to all,

That is a tremendous start to explain eBid to newbies.

[suesjools]

That is a tremendous start to explain eBid to newbies.

Thanks, I think...

Best wishes for many sales to all,

[bykimbo]

How long ago was this?
I never saw any bid columns when I joined up in February 2008

Despite joining in 2004, I've been active here only since 2008 and the bid column experiment happened during my time. So you must have seen it unless you've had an absences from here.

[madelaine]

I've just had a look at closing auctions in knitting patterns on the market leader - with 5m or less to go, less than half the items have a bid. That is just a straw poll but the sell-through rate doesn't look great there - for some reason no-one minds it there.

I can't see a bid column affecting more than a tiny minority of listings.

[bykimbo]

I've just had a look at closing auctions in knitting patterns on the market leader - with 5m or less to go, less than half the items have a bid. That is just a straw poll but the sell-through rate doesn't look great there - for some reason no-one minds it there.

I can't see a bid column affecting more than a tiny minority of listings.

I've just looked at every auction on the first page of knitting patterns here, default sort of shortest time left, and not one of them has a bid. "Less than half" would be fantastic.

[Gothicina]

How long ago was this?
I never saw any bid columns when I joined up in February 2008

Last time was January 2009, not sure how long they lasted for but I think it was until they updated the site.
The complaints about it being removed were on the same thread starting January 2010.

http://www.ebid.net/forums/showthrea...l=1#post906781

[madelaine]

I've just looked at every auction on the first page of knitting patterns here, default sort of shortest time left, and not one of them has a bid. "Less than half" would be fantastic.

Oh, yes, I agree but less than half is hardly likely to change anyone's behavior, is it?

[cornishmaid1961]

Last time was January 2009, not sure how long they lasted for but I think it was until they updated the site.
The complaints about it being removed were on the same thread starting January 2010.

http://www.ebid.net/forums/showthrea...l=1#post906781

I seem to remember they took the column off the main site first, around the time when the 'Gallery' views was brought in, and just left it showing in people's stores for a while and then took it off altogether.

I could never figure out the reasoning behind the statement that was given at the time as we were at the start of the recession and sales were dropping everywhere, not just here, so how a drop in sales could be blamed entirely on showing a bid column is beyond me ?!

I think some have now given up on the auction format altogether because there is no bid column and switched to MaO instead. Rather a shame as I thought maybe one day auctions would actually take off here.

[JanetB]

Last time was January 2009, not sure how long they lasted for but I think it was until they updated the site.
The complaints about it being removed were on the same thread starting January 2010.

http://www.ebid.net/forums/showthrea...l=1#post906781

Amazing.

I don't remember bid columns on this site.

[astral276]

Amazing.

I don't remember bid columns on this site.

Must have been during your alcoholic phase.