Question
I can't help wonder what it to take to actually make a new auction site work.
Frankly Ican't see, and wouldn't shop at a general site. There's just too much crap to deal with, even if ebay didn't have the general market sown up.
But what about a niche auction site?
Can they survive?
Or are most auction sellers and buyers simply too tied to ebay for any niche site to actually become as big as the niche could market handle.
Answer
Niche auction site that's been around for years:
www.justbeads.com
Answer
Kenlee I keep thinking that I don't know what SYI did wrong.
To me they did everything right, and they still went nowhere.
If they didn't make it, I just don't see how anybody else can.
Answer
Doofy:
Sheila and I always debated back and forth about SYI on MooTalk.com. I told her and the SYI crew that if they would only work on the look and feel, they would get a lot more people. Face it, SYI had good coding, but it looked terrible. It had a very unfriendly look and feel, and certainly not one appealing to buyers.
The entire 3 years (or was it 4?) they never changed the look, the logo, nothing. Only small technical things.
To me, that was ONE of the reasons it died. IMHO.
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I agree that SYI just had an unfriendly look. I've looked at Overstock and Wagglepop, and to me Wagglepop had a better "feel."
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I never could understand it when some folks say a site does not have a friendly look because it is kept plain and user friendly. I never saw a problem with the way SYI looked. It was neat and professional in m y opinion unlike a lot of gaudy sites with there flash intros and pop ups on every other page.
They say beauty is in the eye of the beholder and apparently Sheila was happy with the looks of her site. It's a bit to late to test the theory that changing the look would have brought in more users but maybe one of you can explain why you feel it would have. Me I'm color blind and I need a lot of space between lines because these poor old eyes have seen better days. I still believe in the KISS approach to doing things.
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Romahawk, who can be color blind. LOL! Just kidding!
Take a look at top commerce sites and you will see what I mean.
There is nothing wrong with being simple and easy to use, but that doesn't mean you can make the site more pleasant looking and have a decent logo.
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Originally Posted by YourDesigns
Romahawk, who can be color blind. LOL! Just kidding!
Take a look at top commerce sites and you will see what I mean.
There is nothing wrong with being simple and easy to use, but that doesn't mean you can make the site more pleasant looking and have a decent logo.
SYI was a nice site but
I agree that the site and graphics needed updating.
Answer
It takes money, money, money (as Donald Trump would say)
No site will ever ever compete with ebay unless it has endless deep pockets for massive national advertising campaigns, promotional giveaways and something unique to offer.
SYI did not advertise its site. Neither did Golds. Sellers knew about these sites via boards such as here, but most buyers don't do the boards (heck, a major portion of sellers don't either) so the old adage comes to light:
People can't buy it if they don't know you got it. So how are these buyers going to come to these sites if they don't know they exist?
And unless Wagglepop or Lunarbid or any other site plans on spending a few hundred million to attract buyers (sellers are as easy as pie to get) they will all finally fade out as did Golds and now SYI.
Right now I would say Google is about the only company deep enough to make an attempt at it, but I don't think its in their plans.
Jill
Answer
cracked version of auction software - free
lycos.uk free hosting account - free
total cost - free