Bid1st New website

Bid1st · 09-10-06

Hey all

I have completed a website project of mine that has been in the making for about two months,
http://www.bid1st.co.uk

I was wondering if you nice people could be my pannel of judges and give me
your verdict on the site

Thank you

Andrew

OLBG · 09-10-06

Theres lots of little things I could comment on but the big two are

1. why would I use you rather than eBay. You need to have a reason & I need to realise what that is within 5 seconds of arriving

2. you have to get some volume on there - hundreds of thousands of items based on the category range you have. I just dont believe that any time in the next year Im going to be able to search for something specific say "PSP Madden NFL 2006" and find anything. So I wouldnt come back.

t4tom4 · 09-10-06

Well, the first thing to do is to advertise your site on my website:

www.thevirtualunderground.com

Ha - I like the design, but you're going to have to put a lot of effort in to compete with ebay which to be perfectly honest will be very very hard.

There are an awful lot of other auction sites you just will not have heard of, due to the fact eBay rule the online auction genre!

But I do quite like the site - neat and easy to use! (Might make the logos at the top slightly smaller - takes up a little too much space I feel)

Ste · 09-10-06

Not sure how it has taken you 2 months to get going as you are just using the php probid auction software.

But you definitely need to get some content on there and have a gimmick to get the visitors, otherwise you are flogging a dead horse I am afraid – hundreds and hundreds have already tried and failed to make it in this sector and its just not worth the money or time unless you have a good angle to aim at.

JustBuyOnlineLtd · 09-10-06

I concur on the eBay arguments. It's an uphill struggle, on a slippery slope.

You also need to take it out of the frame/URL cloak/whatever it is that obfuscates the entire working of the site. No search engine will be able to make sense of what you have there so you are denying yourself a very good chance of getting at least just a few visitors to your auctions.

But remember; "Be first or be different". You are neither so I wouldn't sell my house just yet to invest in a marketing push.

drivetowin · 09-10-06

If that took you 2 months then I would give it up now - as Ste said it's a standard template - I've seen that layout at least 50 times on other sites - all of which afaik have got absolutely nowhere.

Best advice, bin it, put it down to experience and find something else to target.

It's not to say you can't challenge eBay, but you wont do it with that template, too many have tried and fallen on that road already.

t4tom4 · 09-10-06

Oh... Didn't realise you had used a template. Hmm... Starting a site is hard. Trust me! I did it with my site and it takes a lot! Only in my eyes has it started to become a success. Some may argue my site is not original and some may say it is, but regardless I've put a lot of time and effort into it- way more than 2 months worth! But... it's always good experience to create a site - so don't give up just yet... but don't be too optimistic either

All the best!

Frostie · 09-10-06

First of all, WELCOME. Believe it or not, we are a friendly bunch (cmon guys, wheres the welcomes to new members?).

The site nice, however, you are aiming at a market that is quite simply saturated with 1000's of other people trying to launch an eBay rival. Also, as has already been mentioned, why should I choose your website over eBay?
I guess this question could also be asked of T4Tom4 - why should he advertise on your website? I appreciate it is fantastic and novel way of obtaining a link, but I want visitors for my money too

As for the amount of time it took to develop, well it depends if you are new to php or not. Even with templates, it can still be tricky to get things looking and feeling exactly how you want, and to get to grips with different CMS terminology.

Personally I would think about other areas to go into, and take this as a lesson or a learning curve.

gaj · 09-10-06

Hi bid1st,

I did my final year project on an auction site and implemented an asp.net auction with WAP and SMS functionality. I'll try and get my server online and send you a link if your really interested. However I have to be honest I did aim at a nich market hoping to take only the the final value fee from customers like eBid. (this was 2003)

There is so much to consider when implementing an auction site and if you don't really know whats going on under the bonnit you'll really struggle to take it forward (a successful e-auction business requires properly defined business processes), you need to know how the auction increments, whats happens in the event of a dispute and finally and most importantly are you going to give the buyer the protection that PayPal offers.

You might succeed if you aim at a niche and I would really like to see this - you'll make headlines. Once I realised that I wasn't going anywhere I decided to start small and move up. I even implemented a lucky dip site - but once you lose heart you won't bother so if your gonna do it make sure your 100% commited.

Look at stuff like craigslist and gumtree you'd never think they'd be worth millions.

I wish you all the best, post any questions here and if I can remember what I did I'll let you know.

Gaj

Darren M · 09-10-06

I think you need to target something that eBay won't list, which doesn't leave you with much does it. You could try this niche body parts for people who want to auction their kidneys

A full list of prohibited items can be found here

Anyanka · 09-10-06

Top tip - go for pets