Time to start our own auction brand!?

[anakinleo]

Thanks very much for the encouragement. The main difference is that the site is made of the community itself.

 

[anakinleo]

as I said in PM not sure if everyone read. I got a mate who runs a self started in dec 2010 hosting company who I have talked about this idea in the past but never had time or enough people interested. He can provide a dedicated (free of charge) 1gbit server in europe, the benefit of this is if stuff goes wrong we got good customer support as he is admin of the servers and it cuts down monthly server charges to nothing if that is his investment into this. He also has programming skills which would help ease the load of one programmer/developer. he hardly sleeps too so good support for customers.

Sounds like music to Brett's ears.

 

[ooneil]

Yeah get in contact with Brett - that sounds pretty good

 

[drob50]

ill start the SWOT for you.

Strength
- Hobby Collectors (i.e. as making a site that tailors for hobby collectors).

that is really the only strength we have atm.

Weakness
- Finances to directly compete with big players (this will eventually turn into strength as profits grown)

Opportunities
- This is where most things we want in here.
ie. Unique experience

Threat
- Competing against other auction sites.



as I said in PM not sure if everyone read. I got a mate who runs a self started in dec 2010 hosting company who I have talked about this idea in the past but never had time or enough people interested. He can provide a dedicated (free of charge) 1gbit server in europe, the benefit of this is if stuff goes wrong we got good customer support as he is admin of the servers and it cuts down monthly server charges to nothing if that is his investment into this. He also has programming skills which would help ease the load of one programmer/developer. he hardly sleeps too so good support for customers.

There a LOT more strengths than that mate

Just off the top of my head...

1-Business is accessible by anyone - not restricted to locations
2-knowledge and experience from collectors (buyers)
3-support from collecting community - immediate 'potential' customer base
4-negative responses from eBay users - opens them to new sites
5-low cost setup - time/labour donations from people like Brett, Owen, Alex etc


I could go on and on!

The idea is to list EVERY detail and to analyze the results and focus on the most important things first!!

 

[Cobretti]

There a LOT more strengths than that mate

Just off the top of my head...

1-Business is accessible by anyone - not restricted to locations
2-knowledge and experience from collectors (buyers)
3-support from collecting community - immediate 'potential' customer base
4-negative responses from eBay users - opens them to new sites
5-low cost setup - time/labour donations from people like Brett, Owen, Alex etc


I could go on and on!

The idea is to list EVERY detail and to analyze the results and focus on the most important things first!!

are you talking good reasons to do the project? or organisational strengths? because a strength is something done better and/or differentiates us from competition.

1 3 4 5 i would personally call them opportunities.

 

[lilreddevil]

are you talking good reasons to do the project? or organisational strengths? because a strength is something done better and/or differentiates us from competition.

1 3 4 5 i would personally call them opportunities.

I would say 1 and 4 aren't strengths, 4 is definitely an opportunity which should be capitalised upon immediately. The others I would happily classify as strengths. I think you're thinking more about advantages?

 

[Cobretti]

I would say 1 and 4 aren't strengths, 4 is definitely an opportunity which should be capitalised upon immediately. The others I would happily classify as strengths. I think you're thinking more about advantages?

3 is an opportunity till we do something with it as someone could meet the demand of the community if they launch what they need first.
5 isn't unique to us only. Anyone can setup an auction site at low cost. It is what they do with it that will determine success.

I agree it is a list of advantage why to do this.

 

[drob50]

The point of the exercise is to identify ALL strengths, not just the ones you think make you different from others. For example, number 1 - Business is accessible by anyone. Now this is a clear Strength. In many types of businesses, you are restricted to making your customer base from those who can either contact you or visit you. With a 100% internet based business, there are no restrictions. Just because this is the same as with eBay and other companies, doesn't mean that it isn't a strength of ours. We don't know whether any of these other companies have properly and effectively explored the possible advantages of the strength.

So in this case, after analysing the information/ideas derived from point 1, I can see that there are opportunities in present the site to more people than usual. What I mean is that because we have identified that anyone with a internet connection can access us, it means that we can focus on places that may not get reached by a normal marketing strategy - think if China.... there are Billions on people there, and we know there are cardboard collectors there, but their Government has banned Facebook, You Tube and many others so perhaps you would consider an alternative method of promoting your site in their country.

I know this is a Tangent, but it is a perfect example of why you should analyze even the most basic parts of the business, not just the obvious differences, because there can be a way to CREATE a point of difference where there isn't one.


And BTW, the reason I suggest the SWOT should be done by multiple people is proven by you guys (Bainy, Cobretti)! The same sentence can be interpreted in different ways and each person may see different objectives/possibilities as a result of it. In my list I said that having the support of the collecting community IS a strength because I know we have the option to use the collecting community for things like testing/suggestions on functionality etc - That, as a matter of fact, is a strength. Whereas Cobretti interpreted it as potential to have them actually making purchases. 100% correct both ways!So that is why we talk it out and discuss all the details.

I talk too much!

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Ok guys...... with respect to what we are going to include on the site such as cards, books, stamps, coins etc...... well, this is one big thing we have to decide on and really put some good thought into...... I think at least to start off we need to have some sort of community support for each section; we don't want a lot of the sections of the site to end up looking dead like most other auction sites; with cards I know we will have the support of at least the OCT community, but with other stuff like books, coins etc we won't initially have that support unless we can reach out to the respective communities and drum up some support from them somehow.

Adam....... I'd be happy to help with the SWOT analysis, I will send you a PM with my email.

Can we have a better way to list cards on our website then eBay!

I just hate trying to find specific things i.e

Gold Patch Panini Totally Certified Basketball Cards - If I don't type in the right thing in the search bar then I might never find what i'm looking for but if I don't narrow it down ill be searching forever.

This is for (Certified Gold)

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_nkw=certified gold&_sacat=0&_sop=1&LH_PrefLoc=2&_odkw=certified gold patch&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

This is for (Certified Gold Patch)

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_nkw=certified gold patch&_sacat=0&_sop=1&LH_PrefLoc=2&_dmpt=AU_FineJewellery&_odkw=certified gold&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

This is for (Certified Gold Patch Basketball)

http://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?_nkw=certified gold patch basketball&_sacat=0&_sop=1&LH_PrefLoc=2&_dmpt=AU_FineJewellery&_odkw=certified gold patch&_osacat=0&_trksid=p3286.c0.m270.l1313

Hahaha....... well if you go into the BBall category FIRST and THEN do the search you wouldn't get stuff like gold rings coming up

first of all, great idea guys and good luck to you all!! i dont have the time or money to help, but i will definately sign up to an account on the first day!!!

i know a few online stores using their whole advertising budget on google alone(where you get a first page search entry) might be expensive, but worth looking into

Also, when you get online, hitting the media circuit with emails (current affairs shows, morning news,radio shows, online news eg ninemsn.com etc etc)

im sure if you use the angle "ebay sucks, so were doing something about" someone will love to make big corp. look bad.

be pretty cool if you made it on a current affair or on ninemsn. alot of site hits with that.

Thanks man and great idea too!

 

[A_Iverson_I]

Current list:

Owner/Investor
--
A_Iverson_I
ooneil
anakinleo
skip20
AyiosYiorgos
Mattya123456
MandC Perth
lilreddevil
goldcoastcards
drob50
cobretti
bojob
karlsta26

Site Supporter
--
theflyinggerco
mischap123
jonnov0007

Apologies if I missed anyone.

 

[Cobretti]

The point of the exercise is to identify ALL strengths, not just the ones you think make you different from others. For example, number 1 - Business is accessible by anyone. Now this is a clear Strength. In many types of businesses, you are restricted to making your customer base from those who can either contact you or visit you. With a 100% internet based business, there are no restrictions. Just because this is the same as with eBay and other companies, doesn't mean that it isn't a strength of ours. We don't know whether any of these other companies have properly and effectively explored the possible advantages of the strength.

So in this case, after analysing the information/ideas derived from point 1, I can see that there are opportunities in present the site to more people than usual. What I mean is that because we have identified that anyone with a internet connection can access us, it means that we can focus on places that may not get reached by a normal marketing strategy - think if China.... there are Billions on people there, and we know there are cardboard collectors there, but their Government has banned Facebook, You Tube and many others so perhaps you would consider an alternative method of promoting your site in their country.

I know this is a Tangent, but it is a perfect example of why you should analyze even the most basic parts of the business, not just the obvious differences, because there can be a way to CREATE a point of difference where there isn't one.


And BTW, the reason I suggest the SWOT should be done by multiple people is proven by you guys (Bainy, Cobretti)! The same sentence can be interpreted in different ways and each person may see different objectives/possibilities as a result of it. In my list I said that having the support of the collecting community IS a strength because I know we have the option to use the collecting community for things like testing/suggestions on functionality etc - That, as a matter of fact, is a strength. Whereas Cobretti interpreted it as potential to have them actually making purchases. 100% correct both ways!So that is why we talk it out and discuss all the details.

I talk too much!

As I am at work i'll keep it short. My line of thinking is what my lecturer taught me. He wrote the book for the course lol. I use to argue with him about this as I too had a similar view to you. I had to switch my way if thinking (ie. the distinguishable unique, only few do it best etc...) otherwise he wouldn't give me a highmark.

Anyhow, you are right a few people doing it will nail it out.

On another note I had another unit which the Lecturer wrote the book too with some americans and he was against the SWAT as it was outdated lol. I can't remember what he did it but it did pretty much FEEL like a essay version of a SWAT haha.

 

[Cobretti]

Ok guys...... with respect to what we are going to include on the site such as cards, books, stamps, coins etc...... well, this is one big thing we have to decide on and really put some good thought into...... I think at least to start off we need to have some sort of community support for each section; we don't want a lot of the sections of the site to end up looking dead like most other auction sites; with cards I know we will have the support of at least the OCT community, but with other stuff like books, coins etc we won't initially have that support unless we can reach out to the respective communities and drum up some support from them somehow.

Adam....... I'd be happy to help with the SWOT analysis, I will send you a PM with my email.



Hahaha....... well if you go into the BBall category FIRST and THEN do the search you wouldn't get stuff like gold rings coming up



Thanks man and great idea too!

we could just buy some really cheap old Australian coins from a coin store at like 10cents each and just put them up to appear like there is a market, to lure the bigger players.

I call it the "Keeping up Appearances" effect. Yes I use to watch way to many old british comedies haha.

 

[A_Iverson_I]

we could just buy some really cheap old Australian coins from a coin store at like 10cents each and just put them up to appear like there is a market, to lure the bigger players.

I call it the "Keeping up Appearances" effect. Yes I use to watch way to many old british comedies haha.

That's one idea I guess..... though even doing that it will just have the same effect that a lot of the other auction sites already have; a lot of "cheap" listings and no bidders.

Just trying to differentiate ourselves from all the other "failed" auction sites out there so we attract an interested audience who become repeat visitors and hopefully sellers AND buyers.

 

[ooneil]

Its all about attracting buyers. IMO we dont want to be like ebay/quicksales/gumtree. We should look to create our own little niche in what we know best.

 

[bojob]

Agree totally fellas We can still branch out to the other areas after If Adam and I get our marketing strategies right

 

[drob50]

Just a thought... Has anyone checked with the Mods as to whether this would upset the 'kickbacks from eBay' deal they have?
Not sure what to call it, but there was mention that if you use an OCT link to buy then OCT gets a bit of a bonus.

 

[Mattya123456]

Can't see them being too upset with this cause OCT people are still going to be buying some cards off ebay that they have got to have that this site won't have. To start with anyway lol

 

[graham]

I dont really feel comfortable with this being discussed through the site here. if you are serious, take it to email, phone, carrier pigeon and do it. When you start talking about investors and people losing money, I do not want this site involved in that in any way. Please do not continue using the site for this purpose.

Looking at the list of names and all the different ideas already on how this should work, I can't see it working. Shoot me down now, but you need to do this properly and discussion over this forum isn't going to get it done.

FYI the idea is not a new one http://www.ozcardtrader.com.au/market/ - I just have no intention on releasing something half assed to the public (which it currently is)