What is Scott Pooler Doing Now? – Part 1 – Bonanzle and BonanzleStore

Posted on June 17, 2009 by Scott Pooler

This is the first in a series I would like to call "What is Scott Doing Now"?

It seems that I have "gone missing", people ask me where have I been, what am I doing? Well, I have been busy and have not had the time required to keep this and many of my other blogs current.

I love my Trading Assistant Journal readers just as much as I hope they appreciate me, and in fact I want to thank the readers who have sent me notes of concern, wishing me well, and asking me to come back. I am still here, I just have been so busy working for clients and on my own projects, that I have not had time to keep up with a lot of the stuff I used to comment on here in the Journal.

So without further adieu, Part 1 - "What is Scott Doing Now"?

BonanzleStore

BonanzleStore Opening Late Summer 2009

In our vast eCommerce world Bonanzle.com has been one of the hottest topics of discussion for over a year now .

As a venue Bonanzle has many advantages for sellers.

Simplicity, Social interaction, seller camaraderie, ease of use, customer service from the founder himself... Bonanzle has a lot to like.

When a new merchant comes to Bonanzle from eBay or elsewhere, they are usually struck with the speed and ease of use of this well laid out platform. From the very first day of operations, this site has been clean and quick both on the front end and on the back end where merchants spend most of their time.

The speed of listing product, either one at a time, or through a bulk upload and then a bulk editor (both included) is a major factor attracting merchants familiar with the multiple page listing processes of eBay. This simplicity and speed are major factors that can improve the bottom line of any seller. The fact that there are no listing fees and only a small final value fee - if an item is sold, is another top pick on the feature list at Bonanzle.com.

Sellers are joining Bonanzle by the thousands, the growth curve of Bonanzle has been phenomenal - some say... even faster than the original eBay.

Yet with all of the great features of Bonanzle, and there are many, it struck me that the one thing that was missing from the merchant experience at Bonanzle was a home base or store. Come to think of it, at eBay the "eBayStores" product has never been a real home base or place to build a business for merchants. I say this, even though I was at one time an eBay stores promoter, designer and owner, because at eBay you had no way to bring your customer back to you. The entire eBay Stores strategy was sold to promote the idea that a merchant could have that "home base" but in reality the home was just a temporary shelter - with high fees.

If you are starting or running an online business selling products, unless you are happy to be anonymous, it is best to build a "location" on the net. A Storefront or a business office so to speak. A Place where your customers, new and old, can find you, and find out more about you and your business. A place where, as a business owner, you can choose to educate the public (your customers) with more information than is included in a standard description of a product for sale.

Now I don't want to say that at Bonanzle there is no "Store". Bonanzle's "store" is called a booth. A Bonanzle Booth is a central location grouping all of your listed products together by category. The booth is great, but since it is dedicated to the Bonanzle tenants of simplicity and clean design (something I do not disagree with), a Bonanzle Booth does not lend itself to merchant branding or education of the public or much of anything more than presenting the merchants products, with 4 images and a very clean description to the outside world. For many merchants, this may be all that they need. For others, something a little more personal may be appropriate.

Late Summer 2009

As a result, my company, iBusinessLogic has created a new way to optimize a Bonanzle merchants business and Internet marketing capabilities with what we call the BonanzleStore.

A "BonanzleStore" (launching late summer 2009) is an outside website, separated from Bonanzle and allowing the merchant to brand themselves with a completely customized eCommerce Web 2.0 Site. This website (A BonanzleStore) will include many features never seen before in eCommerce. Continue reading “What is Scott Pooler Doing Now? – Part 1 – Bonanzle and BonanzleStore” »

Bonanzle Nearly at 50,000 Users – Poll – Service, Selection, Simplicity or Price?

Posted on April 22, 2009 by Scott Pooler

Bonanzle - What do You Like About It?

I logged into my Bonanzle.com account today and proceeded to the My Bonanzle home page. This is the central hub for all Bonanzle users, buyer or seller and serves as a control panel/information resource. Today I noticed one interesting update:

This site currently has 49096 users

This seems like a momentous amount of users and at the rate Bonanzle seems to be gaining each day, the 50,000 user mark should be here very soon. With this in mind, I thought a poll would be an interesting way to gauge the real attraction to Bonanzle.com.

This of course is not a scientific poll as the questions came from my noggin but I think the answers will reveal what it is that has everyone so interested in this (as I said in a previous article) "Bodacious eBay competitor". (Not that we are in any way comparing this to eBay).

So what is it? What do you like about Bonanzle, what do you dislike?

(Pencil in your answers if I have not provided enough options in the poll, or simply comment below....

Bonanzle Action Club Controversy – Evil Empire or Just Grass Roots Social Marketing

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Scott Pooler

There is a controversy brewing and this time it is not really about eBay - or is it?

It seems that Debbie Levitt CEO of ASWAS, an eBay Stores designer and consulting company based in Boston, MA and a personal friend, has come out very strongly against the grass roots marketing efforts of Bonanzle.com. A Prominent blogger and also a friend, Henrietta of the Red Ink Diary has responded quite directly to Debbie's take on the Bonanzle Action Club.

Henrietta has been a friend to Bonanzle.com since the beginning, I don't think she is a member of the BAC, but could be. It is a pretty small club of only 50 people when weighed against the 30,000 members of Bonanzle. Yet the effects of its political style grass roots effort to get out the word about the site seem to have gained some attention in eBay circles (where Debbie Levitt is a big swimmer).

The Article on the Red Ink Diary is available for all to read in its entirety here Red Ink Diary. I have included a short quote below to give you the idea of where Henrietta stands. (Note: Links to the articles Debbie Levitt wrote in the ASWAS blog are included, just as they appeared in the Red Ink Diary.) I don't know if I would have been quite as direct as Henrietta was in her post, but she expressed her point without leaving any doubt.

From the RedInkDiary Continue reading “Bonanzle Action Club Controversy – Evil Empire or Just Grass Roots Social Marketing” »

Bonanzle Press release – This is how sites go viral, this is how fortunes are made.

Posted on February 2, 2009 by Scott Pooler

Bonanzle Wins “Excellence in Technology” Award as

Best eBay Alternative of 2008

February 2, 2009, Kirkland, WA - In what writers called “a runaway,” Bonanzle.com was
recently named the top eBay Alternative of 2008 by readers of SmallBusinessComputing,
a Jupiter Media company.

Over a six week period from November through the beginning of January, readers were asked to choose between Bonanzle and other eBay alternatives, including Etsy, eCrater and Wigix. Bonanzle was declared the winner on January 28th.
“This award validates our commitment to providing users with a marketplace that goes
beyond the buzzwords often used to describe it: more social, simpler, and more fun. We
worked for almost two years to build Bonanzle before we launched it. The payoff has
been an experience so simple yet rich that it has turned many of our users into Bonanzle
promoters.

These users have helped to drive our traffic up more than 50% every month since we launched – their efforts are really starting to add up, even as we’re still almost completely unknown to the national media,” says Bonanzle CEO Bill Harding.

Walt Kolenda, a professional auctioneer and regular contributor to The Examiner, says of
Bonanzle, “People in the community are so impressed and appreciative of the opportunity
here that they fill the forum with tips and suggestions about how to get the site and
individual stores juiced in the search engines… the users have become evangelists for the
site, and there is no amount of advertising money in the world that can replace that.

This is how sites go viral, this is how fortunes are made.” SmallBusinessComputing's editors also praised Bonanzle, adding, “This startup combines an easy listing process with cutting-edge features such as on-the-fly image cropping and live chat and an avid seller community. The founders are scaling up to meet increasing
traffic, and we can only hope it continues to thrive.”

Auction vs Fixed Price – eBay vs Bonanzle – Test Flawed

Posted on January 30, 2009 by Scott Pooler

Read the comments on my last post to see where this posts germination began...

SUPERBOWL Traffic Test - eBay vs Bonanzle Completed - Who Won?

Auction vs Fixed Price - Flawed.... Hmmmmmm

eBay - Claims and is touted as the traffic "firehose" of eCommerce.
eBay - to get traffic, one must list auctions - Just ask eBay about that.
eBay - fixed price listings get traffic but from where? Inside of eBay or from outside. (more on this difference later)
eBay - fixed price 30 day - still not as effective as a fixed price (till it sells) listings found elsewhere for outside search indexing.

Bonanzle - received more hits on a specific fixed price listing within the same time period as compared to a nearly identical eBay auction listing.

Consider this... the last small point is a real quandary for some, why?

Because the time period was less than a normal eBay 5 day auction. Sure, auctions are not normally indexed in that short of a time frame, but people still use them. 5 Day and 7 Day auctions do get traffic, they just get it from inside eBay and eBay charges a great deal for access to that traffic.

It was a Traffic test, not an external traffic test. Any traffic that is interested in my listings no matter where they are listed, is good traffic. So to point out Auction vs Fixed price as being unfair to eBay is like saying setting up a blanket in a flea market on a Saturday afternoon vs selling in a downtown mall, is unfair to the mall.

If I had listed the tickets on eBay as a fixed price 30 day listing vs the Bonanzle fixed price listing I could have guaranteed Bonanzle a win based on my eBay fixed price 30day traffic track record on other items. The only real measure in this short of a time period was to use an eBay auction. Bonanzle does not offer auction listings.

The last traffic test we did on the TAJ was between two auction venues - eBay vs OLA and eBay won that one hands down.

While most eBay auctions are not indexed by Google, they do get hits from within eBay. In fact, most eBay fans agree with eBays claims that within eBay, a "firehose of traffic" is sent to its internal listings (i.e. Auctions). So why the gripe? eBay produces traffic all on its own and it seems they have no real use for, nor do they seem to particularly care if they receive any search engine derived traffic.

eBay wants everyone to use the eBay search box, not the Google search box.

"Everybody" has not exactly listened to eBay on this directive.

Regarding Auction vs Fixed Price - Most websites are not fully indexed within 5 days, not even a small eCommerce website. So, how did the fixed price listing outperform the auction listing on a site that has a "firehose of traffic".

This "firehose" is why everyone says eBay is the best place to sell and why eBay can charge so much in fees. Yet, a fixed price listing on a little site like Bonanzle, listed for the same (actually 4 days) received twice as many visitors as the eBay Auction listing.

Most people wanting to sell a similar SuperBowl Ticket package, in a speedy way would first think of eBay. My client first thought of eBay, I first thought of eBay and then of course - we listed the package on eBay. I did not expect to see more hits on the Bonanzle listing. I do not think eBay and Bonanzle compete neck and neck on any playing field, not monetarily and not for traffic.

The test was a sort of a lark, an attention getter, an idea to see what would happen. I never expected the "test" to be a United Laboratories experiment with blind control groups and extensive data analysis - who do you people think I am - AuctionBytes?

What I was hoping to point out, more than anything else, is that eBay is not the only place to find traffic.

Google is a pretty darn good traffic generator... with the right keyword selection, and with the right search optimization.

eBay is not optimized for Google search, neither auctions, fixed price, or stores listings. Maybe at one time, but in my experience no longer.

eBay depends upon, promotes, and lives on the laurels of the history of people going directly to eBay to search for products. I believe the number of those people is declining. The preponderance of traffic graphs, earnings reports, and seller anecdotes seems to agree with my assumptions.

Bonanzle just happens to be a site that is optimized to take advantage of Google search algorithms, it is clean and fast and quick to index.

Sellers on Bonanzle can conceivably build a business online that can rival any eBay based concern.

Remember here - I said "conceivably" and by that I mean that a lot "right" has to happen, but it can happen. For my money, Bonanzle or your own search optimized and advertised website are the safest bets outside of eBay for quality traffic generation.

Do your own tests, blind or open, with the listings set up with proper keyword optimization. If Bonanzle shows you additional traffic over time, that traffic can only build because the listings are on the site until sold, the Google Base works, the site is indexed quickly and often and it is just darn simple to move inventory over to Bonanzle to see how it works for your products.

If it does not work for you, the test costs you nothing.
If it works a little, then you are a little better off.
If the site, that has grown faster than any other in eCommerce venue in history, continues on this path...

One Million Listings in 4 Months!

...then, will you will kick yourself for not having tried it sooner?

SUPERBOWL Traffic Test – eBay vs Bonanzle Completed – Who Won?

Posted on January 28, 2009 by Scott Pooler

I am so sorry, the Superbowl package is no longer available!

The listings were removed from eBay and Bonanzle this morning at 9AM EST.

SuperBowl Traffic Test

As anyone who has done consignment listings of such short lived merchandise knows, this is a hectic way to make a living! In actuality I am glad it is over, now I can simply enjoy the big game.

Results?

Oh, Yes - Results...

The results of our very un-scientific traffic test with all the variables mentioned and discussed in the previous articles comments section...

Indicate one clear and overwhelming winner.

But first, lets talk about some of the comments...

My buddy John Lawson AKA ColderIce seems to think the mention of the traffic test in this blog will skew the results enough to make them useless. I simply do not understand that line of thinking because both links were provided here with equal access. As such they have an equal chance to draw traffic from this source and in even though in effect both listings results were elevated from this article, I would assume they would be elevated equally. This is what I do, it is my business, I promote the idea that by blogging about what it is you sell or offer the public, will in turn increase the chances of selling that thing or service. Therefore I will not apologize for doing what comes naturally -

I sell, therefore I blog!

Just a Thought presented the point that the exact same html should have been used in both listings... Hmmm, that may be possible in the description area, and in fact the words used to describe the item(s) for sale were exactly the same, but there is no way I can manipulate the eBay system to make it look like Bonanzle or Visa-Versa. I mean, I am good, but not that good. I also use a listing management tool on eBay called AuctionSound and it would be a real pain to remove all of my standard eBay template information for one listing. This standard information appears in all of my eBay listings and as such makes them standard eBay listings. We are comparing standard eBay vs standard Bonanzle, are we not? While a true A/B test run by a Internet advertising consulting firm would never have the same exact content, I guess it could have been done here to prove some point - what?

OK - Now for the Results....

Drum Roll Please

oh, and Congratulations Bonanzle for hitting a milestone this week with One Million Listings

The results are as follows - with both listings being online approximately the same amount of time (within seconds).

eBay = 95 hits to the SuperBowl Beach House Vacation and 4 Ticket Package
Bonanzle = 197 hits to the same package listed on their new and very SEO friendly website!

Roughly twice as much traffic, from various sources went to Bonanzle. Is this a scientific result? No... Does it tell a story about the possibilities on new and exciting venues, yes! Does it mean you should pack up your business and move it to Bonanzle? That is your business decision, I would never recommend anyone leave eBay without first knowing what the new location will do for them. Keep your sales humming, if they are, on eBay... But it never hurts to take a look next door!

By the way - Neither site sold the package - My client pulled the offer and went to the Georgia Mountains to get away from Superbowl craziness...

Traffic Test – NFL SUPERBOWL 2009 Championship 4 Club Level Tickets & 5 Nights in BEACH HOUSE – EBAY or BONANZLE ?

Posted on January 24, 2009 by Scott Pooler

This is Another edition of Will it Sell?

SuperBowl Traffic Test

We have not done a head to head comparison like this in awhile... The idea is simple, basically we list the same exact item on two eCommerce platforms to see which gets the most traffic. Ultimately the test is who or where will the item sell the item first?

Today in the interest of being topical we are using a special listing as our test case.

A 5 - night vacation in Florida including 4 Club Level seats for the 2009 NFL Championship game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida - otherwise known as the SUPERBOWL. This year the teams playing will be the Arizona Cardinals vs the Pittsburg Steelers but the winners of this eBay auction or Bonanzle listing will be playing on the sand in Indian Shores, Florida.

eBay vs. Bonanzle Football Style

Why pick eBay and Bonanzle? Well we have accounts at both venues and the last time we did this test it was eBay vs. OnlineAuction.com - eBay won that one hands down.

First up is Bonanzle - Continue reading “Traffic Test – NFL SUPERBOWL 2009 Championship 4 Club Level Tickets & 5 Nights in BEACH HOUSE – EBAY or BONANZLE ?” »

Small Business on eBay – The Straw That Broke This Cornerstone's Back

Posted on January 3, 2009 by Scott Pooler

Cornerstone Commercial Supply, a name most of my regular readers will remember from articles in the past year is calling it quits on eBay.

Cornerstone is an established small business with over 30 years of quality service dealing with the public. They offer a unique niche product selection which would seemingly be ideal for eBay. Commercial carpet cleaning products, tools, and machines both new and used.

Just as a small bit of background, let it be known that the owners of Cornerstone Commercial Supply are not rich people. They are the father and daughter team of Richard and Connie Carpenter, they both work every day to survive in this difficult economic environment.

Richard Carpenter

Richard Carpenter has been in the Commercial Carpet Cleaning business for over 30 years and as a distributor for over 12 in his present location. He and his daughter Connie are honest, hard working dedicated people who give the customer a fair shake even when it is not necessary.

I consulted with Cornerstone Commercial Supply to bring them onto eBay as a client of iBusinessLogic in 2007, with the very best of intentions, now I feel as though I owe them an apology for what it is I have done.

It seemed to me to be a perfect match back in the end of 2007. We researched similar product sales on eBay with advanced eBay research tools. This research revealed a steady and growing market for the professional carpet cleaning products, with competition already established and selling on eBay. We had a solid plan and in our view, no other carpet cleaning supplier had approached the niche as we would, with a dedicated and well designed eBay store, a full product line, and very competitive pricing, we felt we had a good chance of growing a nice secondary business on eBay for Cornerstone Commercial Supply. Continue reading “Small Business on eBay – The Straw That Broke This Cornerstone's Back” »

Bonanzle 10,000 User Milestone Reached Today

Posted on November 23, 2008 by Scott Pooler

: 10,000 Users

Bonanzle is an online market where buyers and sellers get together to exchange merchandise in stress free friendly atmosphere.

Today, as I write this article, Bonanzle reached a milestone.

10,000 users have registered to buy and sell on Bonanzle. Yes, I agree, this is not a significant number when compared with the registered user of sites like eBay, Amazon.com or even Etsy. Yet, the speed in which this milestone has been reached is a significant development.

Bonanzle is barely 6 months young, oh what an interesting six months.

Bonanzle has introduced itself to sellers in a very positive way. The upgrades and improvements to the site are too numerous to list. And it is almost a task to try and keep up with the changes and improvements to the site as developer and founder Bill Harding releases them.

New Categories

One of the most significant recent developments has been the inclusion of the entire eBay category structure for listings on Bonanzle. Including the standard eBay categories an then possibly refining and improving all of those categories will only serve top make both search and new seller transfer easier than ever before. In checking the category structure yesterday on the site while crafting some listings, I found the process of finding the correct category even easier than it is on eBay. This is a major new seller and buyer feature in Bonanzles favor when compared to other eBay competitors, in my opinion.

Google Base

Another significant advantage to selling on Bonanzle i the very easy to set up and pain free automation of exporting inventory listing to Google Base product search. I set this feature up on Bonanzle in less than 5 minutes several weeks ago and it has run flawlessly ever since. From the day that I set up the Google feed on Bonanzle and saw it reporting data to Google, I have noticed a significant increase in views of my items listed on Bonanzle.

Cleaning up

I spent nearly 3 hours on Bonanzle yesterday working to set up my Bonanzle booth. Actually I should be honest and say that I was working to clean up the listings I had imported to Bonanzle from my eBay store. You may asking, why would I need to clean up eBay imported listings? Well, it seem that as an eBay seller for the last 11 years, I have developed a eBay listing template that includes much more shipping and payment information and rules than are needed in the outside world. My listings on eBay contain a great deal of disclaimers and protectionist boilerplate legal information (displayed in tabs in my template). Since Bonanzle is all about clean, simple and easy to understand listings, I decided I should remove all of the eBay centric content.

Bulk Editing

Luckily, on Bonanzle with the bulk editing tool, the task was a breeze. This is a point that can not be overlooked, the bulk editing tool makes it very easy to manage the entire inventory of products I have on Bonanzle. I have worked with advanced tools designed to handle inventory on multiple platforms in my career, I can say that while this bulk editing tool on Bonanzle does not have all of the features of higher cost tools and software, it does make editing multiple listings a very intuitive and straightforward process.

So, today, when Bonanzle has reached 10,000 users, I suggest that anyone who is interested in looking at another venue for selling online, a venue with tools and the steady growth in both products listed and hits received, which will bring in buyers an sellers alike, take a good look at Bonanzle!

Can Bonanzle function as a replacement for complicated eCommerce shopping cart solutions?

Bonanzle Sellers Holiday Wishlist – Buyers Buyers Buyers

Posted on November 19, 2008 by Scott Pooler

Bonanzle Booth Owners Want Buyers...

It is no secret that I have been enamored with the Bonanzle website for several months now.

For a list of some of the articles I have written in the last several months look here: TA Journal - Bonanzle.

In those past articles many of the positive features of the site have been covered in depth.

I just plain like Bonanzle.

I am not alone with my adulation... Other sources have pronounced Bonanzle as a very appealing selling platform.

Randy Smythe - My Blog Utopia
eCommerce Guide - Best We've Seen
AuctionBytes - Simplicity Sells
AuctionWally - Walt Kolenda - Started the Bonanzle Brainstorming Show

While I and many others are very enthusiastic about the platform that Bill Harding and Mark Dorsey are building at Bonanzle.com, there are some aspects of the site which could be improved. Bill and Mark have done an amazing job with the site thus far and they are continuing to improve the site on a daily basis but with almost any startup there are some obvious features which can be seen from the outside, which may be missed internally. With Bonanzle the list is unusually short, and getting shorter each day. In fact, by the time you read this article, my list may be non-existent. Bill Harding is a fast developer!