A big question

[Greatdeals79]

I love that webidz is a cheaper alternative to ebay but my only problem is how much traffic will be driven in to the auctions? Anyone else that have those concerns???:confused:

[shaman]

I'm thinking this is a eBay owned site, used to generate more business for ebay. I went through about 2000 listings and only found 11 bids. :eek: How can a site maintain it's upkeep with NO income! If there is any, where does it come from I see no Ads,
It is a nice clean site and I wish it was real, I would like and alternative to eBay, I can see there are thousands of sellers who feel the same. But, this is spooky to see a site that appears to be this large with almost no traffic. I am new and maybe the site is new and no one has found it yet, if so, it surely needs a publicity campaign.. I remember when eBay started it was almost like this at first, but then something happen and it grew rapidly. GOOD LUCK!:confused:

[myfriendkramer]

It would be nice if they did some advertising (HINT, HINT TO WEBIDZ ADMINISTRATION!!). I have been selling ("TRYING TO SELL" is more accurate!) here for 2 months and have gotten only 2 sales (WELL, ONLY ONE, IF YOU WANT TO COUNT THE BUYERS {"BUYER," there's only been ONE} who ACTUALLY PAID!!) ...That's another thing, what are the consequences here if a buyer doesn't pay?? It doesn't seem like anything. ...Anyway, yeah, ask 100 people on the street to NAME an on-line auction site OTHER THAN EBAY and you'll get back 100 blank stares! oh well, at least it's free (I know, I TOO would rather pay if there were sales)...then why not go to ebay you ask...well, that's another topic altogether!

[Loopy]

I agree. This site has been here longer than two months that I know of. And it is kind of spooky ... who's funding it? Maybe eBay did set it up ... who knows? I know that they own PayPal and VeriSign.

But it's free and once in a while, we get a sale ... sometimes real buyers who make real payments. :D I think it's up to us to do the advertising on our products. You can submit single products to some search engines, like Google, and people do come. Just not a lot if its just one or two sellers using the search engines.

As for eBay ... I agree, that's a different, long subject.

[fireman2]

I do not know how it is paid by I do no this I belong to another site that was free and than that went into advertising now that wentin to charging for different things. The founder is from ebay a big wig. Well they get it set and running pretty good now. And are charging to have a store and selling fees. No they have sold out to yellow pages. The fees got worse so I think this to is started that way.

[BMWBrian]

That is a good question. And I'm not sure why he didn't answer the question himself. Likely he's busy fixing something and just didn't get to it yet.
.
This site is certainly not owned by eBay, but it was inspired by it's faults!
This site is owned and run by a friend of mine, a former co-worker named Jim.
I'm sure a simple whois search would have told you that. Sage-Fox is the mother company, afaik
If this site was run my ebay, you can be sure there would be far fewer typos in their emails and webpages

Jim has always been the kind of guy who takes risks and looks for ways to do things differently. He has more entrepreneurial spirit than probably anyone I know. He has invented other things in the past, and this is simply his next big project.

Unlike ebay, he does not have unlimited resources to promote the site. That appears to be all that's holding this site back. Does ebay have forums like this one? Maybe you guys could help him get the word out at that venue. I would do it myself, but I rarely use any of these auctions myself. I only stumbled in here to change my password for this new feature, since I know I'll never remember the one they gave me. I figured I'd come to Jim's aid and answer that loomiing question for you. Rest assured, he is a real person (Just like Tom over at myspace! J/K)

Brian in WA

[BMWBrian]

Also, you might be interested to know that Jim also has a site called sage-fox.com, where you can buuy and sell software, and more impressively, it seems he now has an image-hosting site (like photobucket) that lets you store unlimited pictures online! http://imagehost.webidz.com/
..as well as other less exciting stuff....

Looks like he's been REAL busy, so it's no wonder he hasn't answered your question!

[fireman2]

I I knew all this stuff. What he has been up too and it all has been good for us. I knew about the picture hosting too. I had some on there so they maybe gone by now. That is why I am still here. He does answere questions he has always answered mine and never gets upset with one. Never says he does not have time. Because he makes the time if he can. Hang in there and see what else he comes up with.

[admin]

This post was made in the “talk to webidz members” section of the forum. To get a reply from WeBidz, it would be best to post in the “talk to webidz admin” section. Currently the forum is just starting, so it is very easy for us to find and respond. But as the forum grows, it will be much harder for us to track down threads that members are looking for a response from WeBidz.

Thank you for the interjection Brian. You just won’t leave my spelling alone will you…:D I get in such a rush at times, that I do not bother to proof read. Evidently it shows on those 15+ hour days.

We have heard this rumor in the past on other forums, and through email correspondence. WeBidz is definitely not owned by eBay, and never will be. I handle most of the customer service myself, as I only have four other people working for me, and they usually deal more on the technical side of the businesses … So replies to questions sometimes gets delayed if I am not getting any help.

The majority of the funding comes from advertising placed on the site. Through Google ads and paid sponsors located in the left nav column of the main site. Although we have free stores, we also have some of the bigger store packages that have fees involved. We also have some enhanced features that have fees involved, and we plan on implementing final sale fees in the near future. So there is revenue generated through the site as well. We will never have basic listing fees, and final sale fees will always stay within reason. So it will always be feasible for seller to be able to list without any fees, and then only incur small fees when items sell.

We do advertise the WeBidz site. Our budget is definitely still limited, but is continually growing as the site and traffic grows. Those that have been with us for any period of time can attest to the improvements and growth the site has experienced thus far. Hang in there for a while and you will be able to see these improvements also, as we do not plan on ever stopping.

Take Care,
James

[jdillane]

It would be nice if they did some advertising (HINT, HINT TO WEBIDZ ADMINISTRATION!!). I have been selling ("TRYING TO SELL" is more accurate!) here for 2 months and have gotten only 2 sales (WELL, ONLY ONE, IF YOU WANT TO COUNT THE BUYERS {"BUYER," there's only been ONE} who ACTUALLY PAID!!) ...That's another thing, what are the consequences here if a buyer doesn't pay?? It doesn't seem like anything. ...Anyway, yeah, ask 100 people on the street to NAME an on-line auction site OTHER THAN EBAY and you'll get back 100 blank stares! oh well, at least it's free (I know, I TOO would rather pay if there were sales)...then why not go to ebay you ask...well, that's another topic altogether!

I emailed Webidz admin to suggest they sell "free listings" on ebay. They could put them in any categories they wish to promote. They would be real auctions (or buy it now) but the advertising value would be tremendous. I have looked but have not been able to find a prohibition per ebay rules. As I understand it, ebay prohibits promotion of a sellers website through their stores. A loophole that will close quickly but Webidz says they considered and rejected the approach for legal and moral grounds. Strikes me as odd as it seems both legal and ethical!

[Mojavelyn]

James, (Brian you can call him Jim, but I know too many and don't want to get him confused!) Ok, James.. back to you!!! I think you re doing a great job here!!! Like the new boards, maybe I'll get my new one soon too.

Now that you have done all this work.. I'm supposing that you will want me to get busy listing my items???

[fireman2]

If you do not help get the word out to all your friends and thier friends. It will not get out. You got to help out to help get this out there. I put mine on google so it is now all over cyber space. I put it on my web site. and other sites too.

[DataCowboy]

I think you re doing a great job here!!!

Now that you have done all this work.. I'm supposing that you will want me to get busy listing my items???

:) I don't know about you all, but I just a guy who has too much stuff - and not a lot of resources! I hate working yard and garage sales, and the idea of getting stared at all day long at a flea market is just....brrr! I was just trolling around a little bit, and came across this site - No listing fees? Professional-looking setup? Ground floor opportunity? Works for me! I noticed what you all did - the lack of ads and views, but like I have seen it quoted here before, Ebay started small too.

Anyway, I love the look and feel of the site - James, you are doing an outstanding job. Glad to be here, and yes, I have some more stuff I gotta list!

My name is DataCowboy, check out my stuff!

[baghag]

I thought I was the only one who dislikes e bay. Their fees were getting out of hand.

Also, I have heard of so many people who get kicked off for reasons that e bay will not tell them. I do not know if this is true or not. I have never sold anything on e bay because of the bad reputation it has. It is unfortunate, though, that it seems to me that e bay is the biggest and baddest. Kudos to everyone going against the flow.

I wish everyone, including myself, good luck.

:D

[jdillane]

Well, no action on any of my listings but they are high dollar coins. While progress is painfully slow, I note that the number of listings continues to grow. I think that is essential to eventually drive traffic. I applaud the webidz alternative and will continue to list items here.

The least we can do is help out with word of mouth!! And, perhaps we sellers should try buying too!! I bought a couple coins here in 2005 (yeah the site's got over 2yrs under its belt) but havent won anything recently.

Hopefully the holidays will spark activity by way of bidz!