Briarbid Still Has Not Taken Off Eh?

[rmbittner]

I had a nice pipe on BriarBid; figured I'd give folks here a shot before taking it to eBay. But no one was interested, so I sold it on eBay. I might post another at some point.
I will say that, to me, one very unfortunate consequence of BriarBid is that we are not allowed to post our eBay auction links here. If it isn't on BriarBid, it isn't allowed. I certainly understand the economic rationale for such a rule. But I'm not sure it's actually an effective way to boost BriarBid traffic. I'm guessing that most of us with pipes and tins to auction would still choose eBay because it's so easy to use and you're guaranteed a much wider audience.
Bob

 

[numbersix]

Seems to me Kevin has invested a lot into BriarBid, so I doubt he's giving up on it too quickly; but I hope he can come up with a win-win solution - not sure what that is unfortunately.
The reality is that it's impossible to get audience when compared to ebay. Plus, there's no way I am going to give my cash to an unknown with no ratings. So unless the person selling is a long time member here, I wouldn't buy even if the deal was too good to be true.

I had a nice pipe on BriarBid; figured I'd give folks here a shot before taking it to eBay.

I think this is a good idea - if for no other reason to give our fellow members here first dibs. However, if it were me, I don't think I'd go the bidding route but do a Buy Now and just set my price, which is how it was done in buy/sell forum.

 

[gmwolford]

Perhaps a couple of things that might help are:
1) Not charging the insertion auction fee and the buy out fee if you only want a buy out listing. It costs me $1.50 to list a $10 pipe stand and another 60-ish cents if it sells, not counting the Paypal fee.
2) Give "X" number of insertion fee free auctions per month. I get the first 50 for no listing fee on eBay each month; if I'm selling a low cost pipe or accessory it makes financial sense to list it for free (to a larger audience) than to pay $1-$1.50 to try to sell it.
3) I've not asked a question on there for a while but last time I checked I (and almost all others) had no answers from the site owners/operators. The only question I got answered was one that was a comment on a thread on this forum about something I couldn't do and Kevin chimed in with a helpful reply; it would be nice to ask on briarbid and get timely answers there, too.

 

[admin]

I just want to let you guys know that I've read this thread and will reply in detail later today or tomorrow.
BriarBid.com will definitely remain an ongoing concern. Keep in mind that BriarBid is only 4-months old, and we just got approved for tobacco a few weeks ago. In contrast, PipesMagazine.com is 4-years old.
As to questions not answered, please send the questions again as I have nothing in the queue right now. I have personally answered a ton of support emails, and if I missed a couple, I apologize.
There are plans for more promotion to drive more traffic to BriarBid, but I would like to get more items listed before I throw resources at a "store with empty shelves". There are some new vintage tobacco listings and some pipe listings that you might want to check out. The seller that put them up told me he has over 200 items to list - both tobaccos and pipes. Once he gets them all listed, I'll do some more promotion.
Thanks for the input. I'll have more later.

 

[gmwolford]

Thanks for the reply, Kevin. I'm sure we all are looking forward to hearing more. And FWIW I agree about promoting a store with empty shelves.

 

[sjfine]

Taking risks is challenging.
Taking risks while the world is watching is so much more.

 

[numbersix]

Kevin - you're wise not to give up too quickly. Think of what the naysayers were saying about Amazon many years ago.

The seller that put them up told me he has over 200 items to list - both tobaccos and pipes. Once he gets them all listed, I'll do some more promotion.

An issue that I mentioned before and will emphasize once more is this: whenever I bid on a pipe on ebay, I check the sellers rating. If it's not at least 99.5%, I read the negative reviews very carefully. I also won't buy from a new seller or someone who sells infrequently. And because BB is so new, no one has ranked up any trust points.
There's just no way I am going to hand my money over to anyone but a long time member here. Not sure what the answer is for this issue, but IMO it's an important one.

 

[admin]

I'm glad you brought that up NumberSix.
The seller I'm referring to is Recoil Rob, and he has an excellent rating on eBay.
His auction descriptions include the following -

I have 100% feedback since 1996 on -B-y search for recoilrob, I am a past president of the Hudson Valley Pipe Club and I hope Briar Bid takes off as an alternative.

 

[admin]

I'm on the road today. I have to go visit my dad and take care of some stuff with him, so I won't be able to address this until next week.

 

[docwatson]

I am also a flee bay seller (sporadically) and would like a better venue specifically for just pipes and tobacco. Hopefully the fees will be a bit less than the other site. Easy navigation and listing is a priority which I still have to learn on BB. I am one of those guys that views BB and would certainly like to see it grow.

I look forward to any future progress and know it will take time, but having a dedicated auction/store just for our items is a great way to go IMO.

Have a good weekend Kev, and we look forward to any future progress regarding BriarBid.

:puffpipe:

 

[shaintiques]

I am also am ebay seller and longtime member here same name on there 100% positive with over 500 transactions. I have sold some stuff on briarbid and will be listing some more pipes in the near future. I've got a.couple pre-republic petersons I'm restoring. And a few other nice pipes. I have had a great experience as I've said before and I like how the categories are broken down, it actually takes me less time to list than on ebay.

 

[taerin]

Briarbid sellers should share their Ebay names so people can look up their ratings there and also share what their ratings are on Ebay. I don't really see a problem with listing on Briarbid, if your item doesn't sell there, list it on Ebay.
One thing I would do Kevin, is only charge sellers if an item sells. That would drum up more support for the site since they would have nothing to loose every time by listing.

 

[numbersix]

I am also am ebay seller and longtime member here same name on there 100% positive with over 500 transactions. I have sold some stuff on briarbid and will be listing some more pipes in the near future. I've got a.couple pre-republic petersons I'm restoring. And a few other nice pipes. I have had a great experience as I've said before and I like how the categories are broken down, it actually takes me less time to list than on ebay.

That is reassuring to hear. And I wouldn't hesitate to bid on one of your pipes, or even Recoil Rob.
But I think for BriarBid to be sustainable, a radical change has to take place, otherwise it's going to be business as usual. I hate to say it, but the number of listings have dwindled so much that I hardly bother to check (whereas I peruse ebay almost once per day).

 

[lifeon2]

Honestly this is the only forum as mentioned a few posts up that doesn't allow buying, selling and trading. I think it will take a bit of time and you will have to commit to being competitive with the other site financially and with ease of use from listing to finishing the transaction after all it doesn't really make sense for someone to pay more money and do more work for less reward.

 

[admin]

I have contacted some of you privately and answered some concerns.
We are investing more resouces right now, so I hope to see more of you supporting the site.
@mp31guitar

I check it out about once a week to see if there's any pipes I like. Thing is, there's never more than a few pipes listed. Just doesn't seem worth it.

There's a bunch of new stuff lately. Have you checked it out?
I'm going to be putting some of my own collection in pipes and tobaccos up as well to add to the mix.
From the marketing activities I started working on last week, traffic is up 30% on BriarBid and will continue to increase.
I am allocating more resources to marketing, so I hope to see more of you using the site for buying and selling.

 

[shaintiques]

I'm restoring some pipes right now to put up including 2 WW2 era Peterson's.

 

[troutface]

I am a member of a guitar building forum that had no classified section. They started one and charged folks $10 a year for access. It took about a year, but now it's very active. Be patient, these things don't happen overnight.