Time to start our own auction brand!?

anakinleo said:

And get eBay to buy us out for $1billion after 3 years

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A friend's classmate in the same cohort at uni, helped start up a coupon site in Singapore about 2-3 years ago. I can't remember the name though but I'll go ask him later. His initial investment was 50k, that's now $25mil+ after the site got bought out by Groupon. The guy now travels to Singapore every 5 weeks or so to attend board meetings as he is a member on the board. True story.

lilreddevil said:

A friend's classmate in the same cohort at uni, helped start up a coupon site in Singapore about 2-3 years ago. I can't remember the name though but I'll go ask him later. His initial investment was 50k, that's now $25mil+ after the site got bought out by Groupon. The guy now travels to Singapore every 5 weeks or so to attend board meetings as he is a member on the board. True story.

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Well, he might have a job with us if he can replicate that!!!!!

Sounds good Brett happy to help too!

sounds like a good idea, i am in hahaha.

anakinleo said:

Well, he might have a job with us if he can replicate that!!!!!

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ONLY if he can pass our rigorous interview process....

Q1 - So.... do you hate eBay?

Answers yes....

YOU'RE IN!

I'd be more inclined to either have a mini auction site within OCT or a linked or parallel site to it.... I could definitely help out by being on the 'board of governors' and contributing a heap of stock for sale but I'd have to draw the line at making a financial commitment or 'investment' - doesn't sound like an overly commerical venture and if it came down to donations I'd rather help the blind, deaf or those more disadvantged than us cardboard indulgers! heh heh Depends on cost - don't really have any idea how much websites cost to setup and manage. How much would an Australian COMC site cost just for the web setup?

I like the idea of the auction site and would support it

On a lighter note, not sure about being part of B.O.G.
We'd have to also nominate someone to head S.H.I.T (special high intensity training)
For those that don't know their S.H.I.T. can go into B.U.L.L.S.H.I.T (basic understanding lecture list)
Those that don't take S.H.I.T. seriously will be placed in D.E.E.P.S.H.I.T. (departmental employee evaluation program)
But the role above all I want is Boss In General....just call me B.I.G.S.H.I.T!!!!!!!!!!!

Not bad

sounds good to me! count me in

MandC Perth said:

sounds good to me! count me in

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Now there is someone on board who knows how to run HUNDREDS of auctions at once

Interesting idea. Particularly love the idea of someone saying, "I'm on the B.O.G"

Thanks for all the responses chaps. Looks like there is a lot of support for something like this. For those that want a Australian COMC site, as I said I'm all for that as well, but just think there is a lot more to that venture to consider.

ooneil said:

To get a website in this format http://www.ahwooga.com/ costs $2995 USD to set up and $495 pa for support. Does not include hosting services.

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There are many commercial auction scripts out there that can be purchased a LOT cheaper than that and with no annual fees either. Most certainly a custom solution would be best, but with the amount of work that would take it's not worthwhile considering that until we know if the site will be a success. I'm sure the site will run just fine on one of the available scripts available; if it starts outgrowing the current software and the site is generating income then we can look at developing a custom solution.

skip20 said:

I'd be more inclined to either have a mini auction site within OCT or a linked or parallel site to it.... I could definitely help out by being on the 'board of governors' and contributing a heap of stock for sale but I'd have to draw the line at making a financial commitment or 'investment' - doesn't sound like an overly commerical venture and if it came down to donations I'd rather help the blind, deaf or those more disadvantged than us cardboard indulgers! heh heh Depends on cost - don't really have any idea how much websites cost to setup and manage. How much would an Australian COMC site cost just for the web setup?

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The thing about linking it within OCT is that it would just be looked at as "just a part of OCT" and won't have it's own identity; so I'm personally not really fond of that idea.

As for financial commitments.... well, not asking for donations at all. Basically looking for a team of people to "own, run and manage" the site, all these people will be equal owners and all share any costs involved and also share in any revenue as well. If the site starts to become successful then I'm sure we can get something official drawn up to cover the legality of it all.

Setting up an Australian COMC type site would probably be very costly as there likely isn't any commercial software available for a site like that so either I would have to develop something like that myself or we would have to pay someone else to do it; either way is costly, financially or time-wise on my part. That's another reason why setting up an auction based site would be easier as there already is a lot of auction software out there already which would suit the site for startup purposes.

I'm in agreeance though about keeping the site aimed at a niche, rather than everything like ebay/quicksales. Much more chance at success I would say.

So anyway...... seeing as I can now see that the idea has a lot of support, I would like to garner just what type of support it has.. the site would need a few different levels of support; which are you?

Investor/Owner - You would have an equal say in everything that goes on with the site, share any related costs for the site and share any revenue made and be a part of the "BOG" . Also promote the site in anyway that you can and as much as you can.
Site Supporter - List many of your cards on the site and also bid on any cards that interest you to help raise the activity level of the site and show prospective sellers that the site has buyers too. Also promote the site in anyway that you can and as much as you can.
Site Promoter - Promote the site in anyway that you can and as much as you can.

I'm sure if the site becomes successful we can "give back" a little to the site supporters/promoters that helped build the site, in the future by giving them a lifetime reduction on final % fees or no % fees on their auctions (or however we decide to charge one day).

So anyway..... if you guys could let me know what kind of support level you would be interested in we can get this ball rolling!

Im all for this idea but as someone that has experience working with startup and small businesses here is my 2 cents on a few things.

Investor/Owners - while the idea of everyone having an equal says sounds great in practice it usually leads to poor decision making. Its the old adage - too many chiefs, not enough Indians. IMO there would need to be one figurehead to run it. You cant be calling investor meetings everytime there is a decision to be made. Its too time consuming and nothing gets done.

Auction Software - I think we are better off to spend a little more upfront to get a better functioning website. I think of something like www.sportlots.com. They are a cheaper alternative to using COMC, Becketts Marketplace or ebay but none of us use the site because its stuck in 1995 and has poor functionality. If you start with a site that is cumbersome and looks crap people wont use it.

Other Business Costs - You need to factor these kinds of things in. If your going to have investors put in money there should really be some sort of legal agreement in place. Also the site should have some sort of company/partnership/trust structure to protect the investors. If someone comes along and decides to sue for some reason then you as an investor want some asset protection. Does not cost heaps to set up these things up but its another expense.

Advertising - In theory this could be a great revenue source for the website. Lets not discount it.

I would be happy to be involved as an investor. Lets start looking at some costs and get this idea moving.

Hi Neil - some great points you make.

Investor/Owners - while the idea of everyone having an equal says sounds great in practice it usually leads to poor decision making. Its the old adage - too many chiefs, not enough Indians. IMO there would need to be one figurehead to run it. You cant be calling investor meetings everytime there is a decision to be made. Its too time consuming and nothing gets done.

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Ok I will agree with you there, but I was just trying to give everyone a fair say in things that go on with the site as everyone would have an equal share in it, I wouldn't want anyone to feel 'left out in the cold' as if they weren't a part of how the site is run. I'm very open to discussing this point on how best to go about this.

Auction Software - I think we are better off to spend a little more upfront to get a better functioning website. I think of something like www.sportlots.com. They are a cheaper alternative to using COMC, Becketts Marketplace or ebay but none of us use the site because its stuck in 1995 and has poor functionality. If you start with a site that is cumbersome and looks crap people wont use it.

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I do agree with you and I didn't mean I want the site to look like "crap"; just that starting off there isn't much point investing something like 50k (nor do I think we could gather that amount of money) to make the site look awesome when we don't even know if it will be a success. In no way would I want it to look like Sportlots lol

Other Business Costs - You need to factor these kinds of things in. If your going to have investors put in money there should really be some sort of legal agreement in place. Also the site should have some sort of company/partnership/trust structure to protect the investors. If someone comes along and decides to sue for some reason then you as an investor want some asset protection. Does not cost heaps to set up these things up but its another expense.

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I'm all for this, but just thought it could be put off until we decide to start charging a % on auctions and earning revenue from the site. I'm not sure how many people would want to get this involved before-hand otherwise!?

Advertising - In theory this could be a great revenue source for the website. Lets not discount it.

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For sure, this is another area of good income. Well noted.

Hey Brett I would probably only be able to Be a Site Supporter. As much as I love the idea I just don't think I would have the money to put into starting the site.

bojob said:

Hey Brett I would probably only be able to Be a Site Supporter. As much as I love the idea I just don't think I would have the money to put into starting the site.

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All good man...... whatever you can do is great!

As a seller I would be more than happy to pay a final value fee from day one as a site has to make some money just to survive. If it works it should at least pay for itself very quickly and then maybe even make some $$$.

I am also happy to help in other ways too.

I think the way to move forward is to form a planning committee, most probably 3-5 people max in such instance, otherwise there will be too many divergent views. All members in this planning committee must be potential investors as well. The agenda of the planning committee is to come up with a business plan. Not neccessary an elaborate one but must at least come up with basic points such mission, objectives, finances, marketing, technology, etc. A 2-page business plan at this point of time would suffice and would act as a "prospectus" for other investors who may be interested also. What do you think guys?

I am definitely interested to be an investor and count me in. Cheers Alex

Some really great ideas here Brett.

I'd be interested in being a site supporter.

Just wondering how niche of a market we'd be looking at; just NBA cards or sports cards generally or trading cards in general?

Do any of the computer tech people on here know anything about storesonline? I own a couple of these platforms already and their spiel says they are capable of hosting auctions. I have only used them to sell at fixed prices. www.comfortcontrol.com.au

Cheers Glenn