Bidville.com- New Competition for Ebay ?

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Posted By: Adam J. Baxter

I actually saw an ad for this site while watching the Red Sox game tonight. It's an auction website that looks like Ebay's long lost twin. It utilizes the same format and similar features as Ebay, but doesn't appear to be an Ebay company. For example, instead of Buy-It-Now it has a similar feature called "Take It" and it has NO LISTING FEES. Not much in the way of Pre-war material on there yet, except for an N172 Dell Darling. Seems better then other sites that have tried to compete with Ebay. Could this be a future outlet for collector's?

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Posted By: Adam J. Baxter

Bidville was founded in 2000 by Dr. Ed Orlando as an online auction alternative to eBay. The company provides unique user features, such as Watch List, Image Gallery, and fixed price listing options. In 2001, Bidville merged with NoBidding.com, one of the first online fixed price marketplaces.

In August 2003, Bidville was acquired by Royal Palm Capital Group. Bidville, Inc. has been a fully reporting public company since December, 2003. Additional information, including current financial data, is available in current Securities and Exchange Commission filings under the symbol BVLE. The company is headquartered in Clearwater, Florida U.S.A.





I just registered and I like what I've seen so far.I would say that this site is as good as Ebay.

Best,
Adam

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Posted By: Gary B.

amazing how in the beginning there were plenty of auction sites, then ebay blew them all out of the water. of course there are plenty of others still out there, but most people like me don't bother with the small potatoes operations. i'll check this one out though - ebay could use some competition - big, sprawling monopoloy that it is...

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Posted By: Judge Dred

That N172 of Darling looks nice but it's a bit pricey:


http://www.bidville.com/listings/details/index_asp.asp?itemnum=9708482

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Posted By: Jason

I'd like an alternative to Ebay as well. The no listing fee is probably a must to get people to bother with the site, but if a board of vintage collectors like ourselves got interested maybe a few vintage dealers will take a shot on it.

I'd just like a site that better protects against fraud and the crap that goes on Ebay all the time.

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Posted By: Crit Van Tuyl

Jason,

NAXCOM does exactly that. They have an escrow like feature built into every transaction. There are no listing fees, free shipping days and other promotions to spice things up. A number of high dollar cards that failed repeatedly to sell on eBay have sold on NAXCOM with the sellers having guaranteed sales instead of bogus bids.

NAXCOM was founded and is run by collectors. NAXCOM's promoting card shows also shows their experience and involvement in this industry. Their customer service is incredible with real people answering the phones and live help on the site. Now that is a competitor to eBay.

Crit

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

any relationship to Naxcom? Sounds like a infomercial.....

Unfortunately, ebay has the 'first to market' tag that has been the deathknell for other sites on the internet. Yahoo and Amazon have both taken on ebay and lost. There's just no other place to get the critical mass of ebay. Maybe niche auction sites will continue to pop up but for auctioning single items of vintage cards, there's little competition out there. The Sloates, Verkmans and others enjoy their sites, but I think it's difficult for the others to compete. What are the finances of a Bidville, Naxcom, Collectionmonster, etc.....? I can't believe that they can support free listing for long. They have to be bleeding cash while ebay's making $1.20 per share of stock out there.

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Posted By: Crit Van Tuyl

Good points, Tom.

I know way more than I would like to admit about Collectionmonster.com. I will state that they have laid off their workers and while the site appears to be up, it has very little traffic.

NAXCOM is very well financed. The free shipping promotion comes from a long line of successful websites like Amazon that used it when they started out. In order to facilitate new users to try their service they use this sort of promotion. Free listings is offset by their having a small transaction fee, less than eBay I might add.

As for my relationship with NAXCOM I support companies that I believe help the hobby. I like the guys at NAXCOM and have in the past worked for them on a daily basis. Before that I supported them and now I am a consultant and work for many companies in the industry. I own several hobby sites myself.

As you pointed out eBay does own the auction model. NAXCOM's backers felt that an alternative to eBay and auction sites in general was needed and they commissioned studies to find just what was needed. What they came up with was the need for better customer service, built in protections for both buyers and sellers and a bid/ask concept similar to the stock market. That alternative to eBay is NAXCOM.

You may or may not be aware, but NAXCOM lost one of their own this year to a tragety. He was a great guy and one of the guys that worked for FREE because he believed in the viability of the concept. A bunch of the NAXCOM guys went without pay. That sort of passion and commitment is rare these days and I for one am proud that I know them. Now things are much easier for them and the ball is rolling along nicely.

For me, better customer service, built in protections and they can talk cards with you as they promote the hobby means they get my business. An old saying jumped into my head..."to thine own be true". These guys are hobbyists and as such, one of us. I will support them anyway I can.

Crit