Why the limited use of the CPF auction site?

I am interested to know what the general attitude is related to the CPF auction, versus the BST Lights, ect. I find that If I am not on the forum every second of every day - like some of you apparently are, I miss out on the unique and specialized items.

Why not auction? the seller would certainly benefit from additional profit, and the buyer would have a better chance of winning an item.

Does it go against the nature of the CPF? Is it percieved as an unsafe place that is outside the walls of the CPF?

I Would like to hear your thoughts.

Couldn't tell you. I've tried it twice with ZERO results. Even offering up 50% of the price going to CPF. Dunno. Tough to change, maybe.

I still think it just needs time to pick up and get going. Need some big push. Maybe get some sponsorships going (Temporarily) and offer an Arc AAA to anybody that sells anything on CPFA for $100 or more. I donno--something to that effect.

Maybe getting the CPF dealers to sell some products would increase traffic. I'm sure some sort of deal could be worked out. There have been a lot of "weekend sales" lately, how about some weekend auctions?

I dont know about others,,,
But personally, I find auctions to be a PITA.

Both buying and selling.
You have to wait araound, worry about pricing, etc.

The b/s/t is more to the point.

I did find it odd, I went there last night,, and there was TWO items,,, thats IT!

I've been waiting for the auctions with non-secure images in them to "fall off". They have now. But unfortunately, I got busy with a few other things that took priority. But here's the scoop...

There are a few other features that have not been activated yet as they take time to set up... and I haven't had that kind of time. I should this week... perhaps I will even be able to get started on them tonight. One is the "AboutMe" pages. These will allow each of you to set up a kind of profile that members will be able to see when they click on your name. This will be a place where dealers (Randy... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ) can put all of their website information, pictures, email address etc and where the regular members can put whatever they want. The other thing that I'm going to turn on is banners. I'm still not sure how I'm going to work this yet but I think I'll just start off with putting up the banners that we currently have here on CPF... so in essence, those dealers will have their banners on both sites... double exposure... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

There are still some issues with the software that I'm trying to work out. As I mentioned in the CPFA Bugs thread, I found a discussion board for this software and I'm trying to get some help... but it's slow in coming... and some are just flat out in denial that this software is very, very poorly designed. I even made the comment that I wasn't expecting anything above and beyond... I would settle for "as advertised"... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon6.gif ... No one responded to that post... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

those "sponsorship" ideas above seem quite interesting IMHO. or once Don is back from Maui or tvodrd or ... ya know /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif .D ... those auctions might attract the bugs.
bernhard

I'm with jtice. I don't do auctions. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif Just want to buy an item and have it over.

Rich

Oh God, I am about to put my foot in it. There is another post, here in the CAFE, asking if people are stupid. I must be! Please, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings here. I was probably one of those that thought a CPF Auction would be a good thing. I know a lot of hard work has been put into the CPF Auction site.

I think that what we are seeing is; members are voting with their wallets. If all things are equal, Ebay fees versus CPF Auction fees, Ebay wins everytime. Ebay has so many more people bidding on items, the seller will almost always come out ahead there. Yes, I know the CPF benefits from the CPF Aution site, but it's pretty obvious to me, that members aren't willing to give up the higher bids on Ebay. Even if there were no fees involved with the CPF Auction site, a seller would probably come out ahead on Ebay.

There, I said it. Please, someone asked, and I said what I think is happening. I could be wrong. Don't think I am though. Right now I am thinking it would be best to delete this and keep my mouth shut. I'm going to post it anyway. Please be kind!
oldgrandpajack

Grandpa... no, I wouldn't even be unkind or turn away your very valuable input. Actually, I agree with all that you said about Ebay and CPFA. I'm not trying to compete with Ebay though. Everyone is wanting to make comparisons when only a stupid person ( /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif ) would think there is one. CPFA was set up for the members of CPF. Many members use the B/S/T forums... and I do mean MANY! So CPFA is another option. It offers an opportunity for perhaps a higher selling price... (or a lower purchase price)... that someone may not get in the B/S/T forum. With the option of reserve prices, it's possible that a seller won't lose money on his "sale". What keeps people using the B/S/T Forums instead of Ebay? If we want to make comparisons, then that should be included as well. As you can see, it's a ridiculous comparison... and so is Ebay to CPFA.

Anyway... I have set up the CPF Auction site for you all... because enough interest was expressed that it was difficult to dismiss anymore. It is still not "finished" and there is alot more that can be done. I've asked in several threads for input on what I could do to make it better. No one has really responded with anything very constructive. Posts telling me, "I don't do auctions" are not constructive. Thanks for sharing with us but bottom line is... if you don't "do" auctions, then this doesn't apply to you so please keep your non-productive comments to yourself... thank you.

I think I'm just disappointed in the lack of support for CPF. Don't get me wrong... you all have been very generous with your donations and with the benefit auctions and raffles. It has been more than I could have ever dreamed of. CPFA is an opportunity for all of us to benefit. I can't do it all. If promoting the site is the problem, them help me out. Don't blame me or CPFA if you just post your auction and then do nothing more to promote it and expect it to get attention. If the payment options are not to your liking, then find some other alternatives and send me the info... I'll see if it's possible to get it set up. You all wanted a fully secure site? I gave it to you... took me two weeks and three complete installs and reconfigurations but I did it. I think I've shown that I'm open to suggestions and will do whatever I can. But both CPF and CPFA are yours and you all bear some responsibility to keep it going too. If you want it, you're going to have to work for it. It's pretty selfish of you all to expect me to do all the work and you all just sit back and either rake in the money or whine.

I apologize for the generalizing. I do recognize (and appreciate!) those of you who have been supportive and who have offered assistance and suggestions. It's just that unfortunately, there aren't that many of you... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I looked at the site, and - maybe - if there was a sort of "non auction" method. By this, I mean that you can list an item for sale - continuously at a fixed price. People see - like - buy. Almost like a web cart check out. This might encourage some smaller item builders to just keep things listed there.

This may already be a feature and I have just missed it.

I also did a google search on "auction", and after 4 pages, CPF did not come up. I have no idea what it takes to make the grade with these guys.

I keep thinking that the site needs an online secure credit card payment method (not paypal) which allows easy transactions for both parties. Is there such a thing as a CPFr that works for a Credit card company ?

Maybe we can offer our regular monthly sponsors a free continuous listing of 4- 5 items which are "fixed price" - "instant buy". This is not revenue producing, but might increase traffic.

Just some ideas to kick around.

Harry... the "Buy it now" feature is enabled on CPFA and relisting is free. An item can be relisted up to 10 times. In addition, minimum bids can be set when auctions are set up. CPFA won't show in any search engines yet as it can't be "crawled" by a bot because it is a secure site. I can try to list it with some of the major search engines. I'll see what I can do.

As far as secure credit card payment methods... the entire site itself is secure so perhaps there is a way? I'll see what I can find out on that too.

Thank you for your suggestions!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Ok... here are some alternatives to Paypal... please check them out and give me your opinions.

Paymate

NetPay

Western Union Auction Payments

Anyone know of any others?

Hi Sasha

I have used western union auction payments on ebay. There were no issues, but there are two challenges 1) Both sides of the deal have to subscribe to the service - not a big deal. 2) Every day, WU sends a new banner which embeds in the auction. This is their way to link the deal and the auction together. (ie, a link to an external web site / vendor)

If I correctly understand the T and Cs of the CPFA, that is not allowed - maybe this is a mis interpretation of the guidelines on my part.

Actually you can pay anyone using Western Union`s former Bidpay service, they don`t have to be registered. The seller`s banners/buttons are really just a convenience for the buyer. I have used WU for Ebay lots where no online services were listed. It`s slow (goes out in the mail which can take a week or more to arrive), you have to enter a shed load of information for each transaction (auction details, seller`s address, etc) and expensive - something like 5 bucks on top of a payment of 50. But it`s a whole lot better than international MOs or $$ cash, especially when the nearest bank is a good hour`s walk away since they closed the local branch /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif

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