Question
With all the chaos and uproar over Item Specifics in BOOKS, and the recent announcement of adjustments to be made in the near term there has been much discussion on the Bookseller's Discussion Board.
One of the threads posted was It's happening July 6! - an apparent reference to the launching of AB Bookman's auction site.
Starting July 6th- List Your Books For Free during our Beta Test
Buy - Sell - List Wants - Quote
ALL FREE DURING BETA TESTING
There is also an article on the "new" AB Bookman at bookthink.com: AB Bookman Redux - A New Kid in Old Clothes
Should be some interesting times in the future as eBay sorts out how they intend to cram IS down seller's throats, how the booksellers on eBay respond and what opportunities open up for alternate book sites as the result of Michael Dearing's metrics.
Answer
Beta Test Announcement http://www.abbookman.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=388
This post was on alt.marketing.online.ebay:
http://groups.google.com/groups?dq=&...gevr%404ax.com
Subject: Antiquarian Bookman auction site: Beta Test Start July 6
This is the only article in this thread
View: Original Format
Newsgroups: alt.marketing.online.ebay, rec.collecting.books
Date: 2004-07-01 20:01:01 PST
The Beta Test of the AB Bookman/Collectors Book Market ecommerce site
is set to begin at Noon, Tuesday, July 6th.
During the upcoming Beta test, there will be no fees charged for any
reason, but ALL for sale items will be REAL listings and all
transactions and bids must be honored. There will be more details
about the Beta test rules and procedures posted on the site next
Tuesday when we launch.
Based on the feedback and suggestions we have received, there have
been some subtle but significant changes to the site since the
beginning of the Alpha Test. Some of these changes required rewriting
significant parts of the code, which in turn required a whole new
round of testing and retesting and this has taken longer than we
anticipated. I think it will be worth the wait. Most of these changes
are designed to enhance and/or simplify the functionality of the site
as you requested. The Search, Browse, and My Auctions pages have been
totally updated, the Categories are new, and the layout and design of
many of the other pages have been improved among other changes.
Final editing of the content on the ecommerce site is in progress and
although there are still a few new features that are not fully
functional at this time, we should have the site ready by Tuesday. The
site will still be a work in progress, however, and the Beta testers
will find more bugs and offer more suggestions, so please be patient
as we put the site through the grinder and find where any problems are
hiding.
Feel free to visit the current Alpha test site and try it out as we
finish our work this weekend, but remember that any membership
information, Auctions, Mart listings, or other posts to the site will
be removed prior to the launch of the Beta. If you have any questions
or problems, we will be here to help.
We want you to feel you have a voice in how the site develops, so we
are always interested in your comments and suggestions. Not every
request can be immediately honored, but every one will be noted. As
the site evolves, some future changes may result from the smallest
suggestions that provide the key to integrating the larger feature
modifications, so don't hesitate to tell us what you think about
anything on the site. If you know other book sellers or book buyers
who might be interested in our site, send them a note and let them
know we are ready to start the Beta.
Have a fun Fourth,
Pete
I hope this book auction site is successful.
Blanche
Answer
It will be interesting to see if it can draw the buyers needed to be a successful site.
But, there was one thing that seems to contradict their stated goal of "professionalism"....they are encouraging the sellers to spam their (the sellers) former customers. They have a whole page on how to send out blind emails to all one's former customers and contacts that are in one's address book...they don't suggest you send this email only to those previous customers who have already opted in to one's email list, instead they say the initial email ISN'T spam but the seller should give the recipient the ability to "opt out". IMO, no matter how you want to justify it, sending unsolicited emails to prior buyers of my books is SPAM...if I didn't "opt in" to you sending me commercial emails, then you are spamming me!
Answer
I'd like to see a sub selling category of other books, as opposed to the Antique market. I think it's limiting...and could be broadened.
Answer
The niche auction market is really the only way EBAY can be challenged.
Answer
I'd be willing to list on more than one niche site to get the best buyers and best sites. Books here, glass there, toys there, etc would be just fine and dandy
Answer
I would list EVERYWHERE if there were only the tools to do it. I love my auction management software (shooting star) for ebay, but there's nothing that will work for all the different sites. I've gotten so used to having my software prompt me as to what to do next, that I'm afraid of going back to doing it all manually on the various other sites.
Answer
I think auctionsage supports bidville. If a site has a one page listing page, any shouldn't be too hard to learn.
Mel-