Soulbid Re-Launched

[Dazz]

Greetings Soulers

I would like to announce the re-launch of the online Rare Soul Auction, Soulbid

Direct your web browser to www.soulbid.co.uk

It may be a good idea to Register early if you want a favourite Alias or Username

that you use on Soul-Source, Ebay etc

Registration at Soulbid is free of charge and is required to Sell or Bid on records.

All new Registrations will receive 5 free insertions to evaluate Soulbid's system

Soulbid works in an identical fashion to the other big online Auction we all know.

If you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact me

If you are a registered Soul-Source user and would like a free banner (limited offer)

get in contact

I look forward to welcoming you as a Soulbid customer

All the Best and Keep Soulin'

Dazz

[pikeys dog]

Can you make it like a real auction - with all starting bids at £1 (or maybe £5).

The problem with it last time was people starting auctions with unrealistic opening bids.

The real idea of an auction is that it reaches it's natural price not the sellers perceived price.

[Pete S]

Can you make it like a real auction - with all starting bids at £1 (or maybe £5).

The problem with it last time was people starting auctions with unrealistic opening bids.

The real idea of an auction is that it reaches it's natural price not the sellers perceived price.

Too late by the looks of it

[Dazz]

Give us a chance mate it's got to start somewhere and gain a bit of confidence in the marketplace

If people want to start their auctions at £1 I'm sure that will come in time, as I've only just launched it

at the moment it's a bit of a chicken and egg situation. If people support it I'm sure that Sellers will have

more confidence in starting their auctions at £1.

[pikeys dog]

Fair enough - sellers may be reticent about listing items when there are no bidders on board, but listing things at current set sale prices as the opening bid isn't gonna win you any bidders either.

eg

The Fuzz - i'm so glad - opening bid £10.

I set sale it at £8, and would start it at £3 on ebay.

How can you compete with eBay if you aren't willing to compete?

[Dazz]

Pikeys, Well how about as I've given you 5 free goes , you put 5 records on at £1, £5 whatever and see how it goes

As I have merely created the venue to hopefully give a bit of a soulful alternative to Ebay I have no jurisdiction

as to what price people start their record auction at.. Believe me I really hope that Soulbid gets the support that

gives Sellers confidence to post records at a £1 and still acheive somewhere near market value, it would make my task

of selling my personal record collection a lot easier, however as I have only officially launched this morning, I wasn't

feeling quite that brave just yet.

As for the Fuzz, aren't you splitting hairs a bit (pardon the pun)

[pikeys dog]

I'll tell you what, if you give me 50 free listings I'll list 50 records for less than a fiver each starting bid.

I'll start £10 records at £3 - £15 records at £4 - £20+ records at £5.

That way you might get a bit of interest - I'm willing to put up as it were.

[Mace]

Dazz, I think Joe has a fair point to be honest.

I think if you were to give every new seller in the month of September 50 free listings provided they were listed at no more than say 30% of the market / book value then you could generate a lot of interest from potential buyers who are hoping to grab a bargain.

Get 20 sellers+ on board and suddenly you have 1000 new items.

At the moment it does read as one massive set sale with no sign of any bidders, so has no real major appeal as far as most buyers or sellers are concerned.

Continue the offer the following month (October) for new sellers, but reduce the amount of free listings to say 40, then 30 in November, 20 in December, 10 in January, then down to 5 free listings from then on.

Not splitting hairs or trying to be over critical either pal, should imagine it would be a difficult thing to get going whatever you do, but you sometimes gotta dangle a big carrot to get people on board

Edited August 21, 2011 by Mace

[pikeys dog]

Exactly the point I was trying to make Mace.

Thanks for the confirmation about my way of thinking - I was beginning to wonder if I'd suffered a minor stroke and was talking twaddle because of it.

[Godzilla]

I'd really like to be positive about an alternative to eBay, but a few factors seem to be inescapable:

eBay is a household name and undoubtedly the formost resource for both delalers and collectors

Despite this and the potentially huge number of viewers for an auction, many soul records fail to hit their supposed book price or market value

Soul collectors generally appear to be particularly driven by the principle of buying for rock bottom prices and selling for as close to book as possible

Given above it's difficult to see how anyone can make a viable alternative without a crazy amount of finacial capital behind them.

Edited August 21, 2011 by Godzilla

[Mace]

I'd really like to be positive about an alternative to eBay, but a few factors seem to be inescapable:

eBay is a household name and undoubtedly the formost resource for both delalers and collectors

Despite this and the potentially huge number of viewers for an auction, many soul records fail to hit their supposed book price or market value

Soul collectors generally appear to be particularly driven by the principle of buying for rock bottom prices and selling for as close to book as possible

Given above it's difficult to see how anyone can make a viable alternative without a crazy amount of finacial capital behind them.

I doubt that Dazz is trying to develop an alternative to ebay as a whole, but I think there may be a place for an auction site just for the soul community as such.

However, sellers have got to realise that they may end up selling £20 records for £10 and the like, but god knows we've all got plenty of records we'd like to move on even if only to cover the outlay, or even at a small loss in same cases.

There are more and more £5 bargain boxes appearing at niters etc now, with plenty of £10 to £20 records in them.

This could be a great way to sell such items, and by starting in such a way could certainly create enough interest to keep bidders and watchers returning, and hopefully the rarer and more indemand pieces will then start to fetch more realistic bids.

This could well build the site and give it far more appeal to buyers and sellers. Which is obviously what Dazz wants to do in the long run.

Edited August 21, 2011 by Mace

[Dave Abbott]

Exactly the point I was trying to make Mace.

Thanks for the confirmation about my way of thinking - I was beginning to wonder if I'd suffered a minor stroke and was talking twaddle because of it.

and how would we notice the difference?? ;-)

I will just add that i agree with Joe and Mace - i am no seller, but I do buy 45s on the odd occaision, and unless you can get these sellers on-board you may as well not bother. I particiapted in the last two (or three?) 'Soulbid' sites as a buyer and after a while did not return becuase there was just one seller, selling run-of-the-mill 45s that you could get anywhere.

You need these sellers - so take a loss-leader....that is my advice, as a business man, for what it's worth, which may not be much (if it is worth something, please send cash to the usual address)

[Dazz]

Thanks for your input guys. It was always going to be a difficult start. On one hand I can see your point about it looking like a set sale list

and perhaps I have overdone it with the corporate branding bit, I was just trying to demonstrate what can be done. As I'm sure you'll

appreciate I didn't want to set it up with loads of stupid names all bidding on themselves. I believe integrity is the key for me as I do have a lot

of records to sell and insist that everything is above board.

Godz, I was on ebay two months after it started and I can tell you that I could look through all of the 45 categories in a couple of hours now

you would struggle in a week. Even ebay had to start somewhere is what I'm trying to say "from little acorns, big acorns grow" as far as the

large amount of capital I'm afraid I certainly havn't got that, in fact I havn't got much more than the code that has taken 10 years to write and

a big pile of records. I do however have a passion for Rare Soul and an ambition to make Soulbid succeed, what would the large amount of

capital be needed for?

I hear you Mace, as you are aware there are two costs involved, the listing fee and the closing fee, are you suggesting that I make the listing fee

free or both? I have to keep an eye on the mechanics of the site so it may be easier for potential Sellers to contact me direct. With that in mind,

Joe - you're on!! Register up and I'll sort your account to enable what you are suggesting. If it helps I have also developed Bulk-List and Access Database

integration technology.

Just get in touch guys I'm open to all offers as I know you are the lifeblood of Soulbid.

[Mace]

Even ebay had to start somewhere is what I'm trying to say "from little acorns, big acorns grow"

Oak trees actually, but get the point.....

[Mace]

I hear you Mace, as you are aware there are two costs involved, the listing fee and the closing fee, are you suggesting that I make the listing fee

free or both?

Well definately listing fees, but as I said, only for the first 50 listing under the conditions stated.

Not sure on your costs for running the site, but if you can manage to offer free closing fees for that initial period even better.

You've got to see the bigger picture in that sellers might be prepared to list stuff and see it sell for less than they would like if it ain't gonna cost them owt.

If there fresh listing attracts bidders, and bid prices increase they should return with more chargeable listings later on.

If not, they have still given your site a bump with the extra listings and hopefully the increased bidding.

As I said, I don't know your associated costs, so don't know how feasible this is.

What I do know is it will be nigh on impossible for you to expect sellers to pay to list items that may not sell for lack of bidders, and even harder to attract more bidders without more stock at starting prices that could result in a potential bargain for the bidder.

That really is the chicken and egg scenario.

Also, it might be worth contacting promoters about offering some sort of free advertising for their events on your site if they incorperate your logo on their flyers......you need to get your site name out to all and sundry, and whilst Soul Source and similar sites is a great starting point, there are hundreds of flyers out there every weekend that could have your logo printed on 'em.

Again, not something that you need to do long term, but will all help to gain initial interest in the site.

Think you need that initial 6 month run up with such offers/freebies etc, and then it might hopefully just kickstart the whole idea to where you want it to be.

Edited August 21, 2011 by Mace

[Dazz]

I think you're right Mace, however, In the past I have made it completely free and still not had a great up take, which confuses me a bit. I'm pretty confident that Soulbid does what it says on the tin, I've spent enough time trying to make sure that it does. I'm hoping this is 3rd time lucky for Soulbid so if I put enough time and effort into gaining peoples confidence I think in time it should work. I'm certainly encouraged that 32 people registered on the 1st day and 165 individual users stopped by at the site, however I may have to register 'Macestershire' or whatever it is myself

I'm well aware that I have got a massive marketing job to do and fully intend to be visiting Nighters and big Soul Nights around the country, I'll definately be at Lifeline this Saturday, I'll be easily recognisable with my lap top under one arm and tin hat under the other

I really don't want to go down the route of having Google ads and corporate pop-ups going on all over the site so I welcome the Soul communities banners and adverts. I have already said that I will take banners FOC from Soul-Source members you can either email or PM me the banner, which should be 468 by 60 pixels in size and I'll put it on for you or use the banner ads link on the site. If you use the link on the site you will need to contact me first so that I can facilitate your account. I love Mace's idea about the reciprocal Logo idea ...... get in touch.

[Mike]

good luck with your relaunch

as this thread has now moved on from actual news, can i ask that all those interested etc get in touch with Dazz via pms

will move shortly to sales/other sites

[Dazz]

Thanks Mike

Where is the best place for me to post in the future? and could you send me the details so that I can have a Banner with your good self

Cheers

Dazz

[Mike]

with major soul sales website news such as your relaunch we sort of play it that initial news and talk is ok in aats forum as always going to be of interest etc

after a day or two, its then better that use sales links forum for anything sales related

and steer any tech sort of talk on the site either to pms or to the site

all a bit loose and depends on the thread, what talks about, site, interest and all that

with amount of soul sales sites etc do have to be that bit careful

drop us a pm ref banners

cheers

mike