An ex-eBay seller who is also a longtime subscriber to my newsletter wrote asking me about selling on Bonanzle. Specifically they asked “Do people actually use it?” Here’s my response:
Bonanzle is an exciting new site, really the buzz of the e-commerce world right now, though possibly a little too early to look for steady sales. Don’t get me wrong, I do have some, and I know others doing pretty well, but what I think is happening is that while sellers have found this site, buyers are just starting to–in many cases I believe buyers are helping to fill certain selling niches, but have yet to find their way into others. That will come in time.
This isn’t eBay ’97 where if you build it they automatically come–from what I can tell Bonanzle’s most successful sellers do a lot of off-site work to personally drive buyers to the site. The overall benefit to us is that if these buyers like Bonanzle it becomes their place to buy.
I was a pretty early adapter, signing on in July of last year with the reasoning, it’s free (then) and it takes up practically none of my time–I decided to give it to the New Year. Well, here I am still 
Not that the current economy is going to help us, but I expect buyers on Bonanzle to grow throughout 2009 and I honestly expect to see substantial sales in advance of the Holiday season. Do I guarantee it, well no, but I do really think that it will happen.
Final analysis, I’d definitely recommend giving it a try. The learning curve is low, listings are easy to create, fees are very low with free listing fees and very reasonable final value fees, and the other sellers are extremely friendly and helpful. I didn’t get on eBay until 2000 myself, but from what I know the feel of this place may remind you of eBay ’97.
If you have any specific questions about the site, or about getting set up here feel free to let me know. Hope this helped out.
Thanks,Cliff
What do you think? How specifically would you answer the question, “Do people actually use it?” Thanks for reading –
Cliff, I agree entirely with your reasoning. Bonanzle is a blue-sky opportunity for those willing to let it ride and take the long view. I enjoy the ease of listing and of modifying existing listings, the googlebase feed (and a Craigslist feed for you Americans!), and the lack of serious fees.
At this stage, Bonanzle is growing at the pace it should to become a contender.
Hi Cliff, I am also on Bonanzle (collectible books), and it has a number of features I really like that I think sets it apart and will serve to increase its momentum and appeal over time. One thing in particular is that the team behind it is really focused on helping sellers build their businesses and drive traffic to the site — they have no illusions that buyers will simply show up there. The result is that they keep adding tools that help sellers create their own virtual networks – easy setup of uploads to Google product search, an RSS feed for your booth, a link to your twitter account…and most recently adding the option to have Google attributes in all your listings (a keyword search feature that can increase exposure on Google). It’s a pleasure to be associated with a site that has a lot of visual appeal, ease of use, and a team that is forward thinking in terms of using “new” tools to help sellers bring in buyers.
Great summary, Cliff!
I think that the data you can get on Compete.com make it pretty indisputable that people use Bonanzle… certainly more so with every passing month, as word about it continues to spread in the absence of a formal marketing campaign.
While we don’t disclose specific sales figures, off the record I can tell you they’ve grown at about the same speed as traffic, which itself grew has been growing by double digits monthly since the site started. In February, traffic jumped about 30% while items sold jumped about 40% over January.
You’re right that Bonanzle isn’t the sort of site that you can expect to setup a store of 100 items and have 50 sell in a week while you’re off in the Bahamas. But we strive to provide sellers with enough tools that they can be as successful as they want to be. We have numerous sellers currently who sell upwards of 50-100 items per month. The benefit for the work they do to get their items noticed is that they will usually pay less than half the fees they would on eBay.
B
Hey Bill, sorry, I hit the “Approve” button for your comment and put you on the record
Absolutely, I hear from friends and online acquaintances doing well on Bonanzle. Now I know I sell good stuff and I’m pretty sure I know what I’m doing, so my best explanation for any lack of sales for me personally is that the niches are still filling with buyers. There’s every possibility that I never find a strong market for either/or my movie collectibles or magazine back issues at Bonanzle, and at the same time the possibility exists that I find a regular flow of buyers for both or either of my niches as well.
Hopefully my VintageMeld site built by iBusinessLogic can help my existing traffic find me at Bonanzle and thus help fill my niches for not only me, but other sellers as well. I have every confidence that it will.
Thanks again, Bill, and also Dan and R.E. Very glad to have my booth and looking forward to the continuing growth throughout ’09 and beyond.
Cliff
Are people using Bonanzle? YES! But like Bill and you (Cliff) said it is not eBay 97 and you can not just list and sit back and wait for the sales.
Bonanzle is what I call a Hybrid site. I compare having a booth there to having a store in a mall. You have to still put forth effort to get the buyers to come into YOUR booth.
It is the fastest growing Marketplace on the web and sales ARE being made. For the seller who is willing to put forth the effort, Bonanzle is a dream come true.
I do enjoy reading a reasoned piece of writing and it is such a rare pleasure. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Great piece, Cliff. Yes! Bonanzle is a viable marketplace and growing daily. My sales are not huge-yet-but I have more and more from people that have just signed up which means the buyers are here! The momentum is still building and those of us out there promoting our booths will be able to have a healthy business. Lots of thanks to Bill for giving us the tools we need to become and stay successful.
Cliff,
You are a dynamo my friend… What a wealth of information and knowledge!
Bonanzle is creating a long term opportunity for those who take advantage of it. Just as you have and as many others will, spending a little time and effort now will pay off.
I have taken a keen interest in the Bonanzle.com site because of the long term possibilities, which at this point are no longer just possibilities, they are probabilities.
With your site http://vintagemeld.com working as a Bonanzle Webstore and with all of the great content you are able to place within your own stand alone ecommerce website related to the niche you target, combined with the back and forth linking availability with Bonanzle…. The time spent now building Vintage Meld or any other Bonanzle Webstore site will pay off for years and years to come.
eBay has nothing to compare for the small merchant, Amazon will not allow the merchant to build a brand in this way, Etsy has no opportunity like it. No where else can you combine inventories you maintain on eBay and on Bonanzle and present them in such a fashion to the public. The VintageMeld even has an Amazon store within its pages. We are proud to have helped you to create a hub of opportunity within the Meld! You have stocked it not only with products but with valuable content, content that will bring free organic traffic from across the globe into your VintageMeld shopping experience for weeks and months and years to come.
Soon, we will be announcing a new version of your ground breaking and unique http://Bonanzle-Webstore.com. We hope to take what you and I have learned together and what you have shown can be done with content based ecommerce marketing and make the product more affordable, easier to use, and thus available to many more wise merchants like yourself.
Bonanzle is a building block, it is a starting point which will allow anyone with the real desire to launch a long term viable ecommerce business to do so with low cost and a quick learning curve. http://bonanzle-webstore.com hopes to help those merchants like yourself to leverage that start into an independent channel website which will generate its own traffic and not be subject to the whims of a huge entity like eBay.
I have seen no other venue which will allow this kind of opportunity to exist. Bonanzle wants its merchants to succeed, not just for the final value fees, but because the founders enjoy making these opportunities available to small merchants. I applaud the idea and the ideal…
Thanks to Bill Harding and Mark Dorsey (Founders of Bonanzle) and to all who have helped them to make Bonanzle – da Buzz of the Internet!
Hi Scott,
Thank you, sir, always great to catch a compliment from you. In the unlikely event you’re not familiar with Scott Pooler of iBusinessLogic, please see the earlier post I did about him here.
I need not say anymore, except that I have been keeping an eye on the http://bonanzle-webstore.com site and I’m intrigued–my best guess is that Scott has teamed up with Bonanzle to create yet another exciting way of making the web more sociable. No inside info here, just totally winging that guess, but hoping that I’m right and excited to see the end product!
Back to the topic at hand, in case you missed it, I put together a post about Bonanzle aimed strictly at buyers over on the site Scott created for me, the VintageMeld, called Why You Should Buy From Me On Bonanzle. It’s the other side of the coin of the original post here.
Thanks,Cliff
Cliff,
Can you give me an updated review of your use of Bonanzle?
Thanks
Hi J.R.,
Actually, I just pulled my few remaining listings from the site this past week and am trying to decide if I’m going to continue in any capacity.
My presence on the site has been low for several months now, honestly it came down to where I put my work following my sales (in my case, eBay). I lacked the patience to carve out my own niche on Bonanzle and decided in the end that effort would be better placed towards building my own cart around my existing site which is several years old and has a pre-existing following.
I still recommend Bonanzle as a great venue to try for those looking to spread their wings from eBay, especially if you’re looking for a venue and not your own selling platform.
Cliff