A Couple Changes, A Couple Stats

I am wondering what this means though for memberships basic and premier. One of the things was to be showcased on front page more. I just upgraded to premier tonight. With the hand picked list on front page going into effect how will the membership perk of exposure on front page more? Or will the hand picked list be an addition to the already featured set up of random items on front page?

The growth is awesome and amazing & that ALL numbers are going up, members, sales, everything. Way to go Bonanzle!!!!

Thanks for all of your hard work guys making this site so wonderful AND all members for working at it too

LOL I can recall being a newbi and just sayin over and over Bon-? thats cool about explaining more I love the hand picked idea and its creator my only thoughts are how does it effect membership as well cuz I thought a paying membership ment more exposure on the front its all good thou and WOW with jan new members time to do more listings I guess after I go welcome the newbis in the forums!!

Hey Kim and MissJonie,

Excellent questions re: membership — thanks for asking! I had meant to address that very topic in the blog, I think I got lost in the excitement over the numbers.

The short answer is that the benefits for being a premiere subscriber (plus subscribers are unaffected) are going up more than down with these recent changes:

1) Within the hand picked lists shown on the home page, the premiere members will get the “featured” (i.e., big) pictures in the list, so long as their pictures are clear and of good quality. So there is still a significant home page advantage to being premiere.
2) But more importantly, premiere members are eligible to be featured in the Category Showcases, which are now far more prominent than they had been, with the revised Buy page. Granted, it can be a bit of work to wrangle up a picture that meets the requirements to be shown in the Category Showcase, but once a seller gets one or two pictures approved for the showcase, they’re golden. Whereas the buyer traffic on the home page tends to be a very diffuse and untargeted sort, the buyers who visit the Category Showcases have already shown an interest in the category. Thus, being featured there is far more targeted (and thus lucrative) than the results one would get from the home page. Not to mention that one’s competition to be shown will be far less in a category than it was on the home page (where all million items from the site are eligible to be shown).

Of course, we will constantly be adding even more features for premiere subscribers, but even without additional features, premiere members will be in an increasingly good position to make sales through this evolution. Yet buyers will be better served too, since hand picked lists are going to make for way more interesting subject material on the home page.

Love the changes to the “Buy” page. As a still relatively new member who wants to move all of my buying and selling to Bonanzle, I spent a whole day Saturday cruising the site, learning. I had been stumped by some of the things on the “Buy” page, but figured out the purpose of each by trying things over and over, seeing what they did and figuring out how to use them. The descriptions make it much clearer now. Thanks for thinking of how newbies use the site, it really does make a difference (especially for those folks that are not selling on the site).

I discovered the lists feature Saturday and created my first – love that feature! Glad you are increasing the number of lists that can be created and that they will be offered on the main page. Now that I have discovered them I find myself going through them often and already finding favorite list creators.

I just became a Premier member last night and asked to be added to the waitlist for BAC. I’m not as concerned about my things being on the front page as I am about the items on the front page giving a fantastic first impression of Bonanzle. I’ve been telling many girlfriends about Bonanzle. A few friends had mentioned they didn’t really like the site. Wanting them to love Bonanzle as I already do, I have pressed them for feedback. They sited the pictures on the home page as one thing that turned them off. They said as online buyers they want the merchandise they first see to be inviting so they want to know and see more. One gave me the example of the way the Etsy home page always seems to have great photos of things on their front page. She said even if she isn’t interested in a one of a kind hand knitted blue cap for her dog, if the picture is great it gets her excited about shopping and helps pull her into the stores so she can find those things she can’t live without! Have you thought about a tagging system so members can rate pictures like we now can rate the items in booths? Then the best-rated photos could start cycling through the main page? Just a thought!

Keep up the great work – do you ever sleep?!

LOVE the new category pages, and right on about that being the place to WOW a buyer and offer them an impressive welcome to Bonanzle. Thanx for all the recent improvements!

WOW I’m speechless…lol I watched the numbers yesterday and was totally astounded. we went from a major milestone of 25,000 members @ 11:21 am EST to 25,766 @ 11:48 pm EST and when I signed in just minutes ago we’re nearly at the 26,000 mark! So proud and happy to be a part of this wild ride. Thanks Bill and Mark you Rock! Haven’t even had a chance to check out the new improvements but I know I’m going to love them. Thanks Kim & Ms Jonie for your great questions right off the bat and Bill for your immediate answers to their concerns – I’m good to go now I can go play

Zig

Thanks Bill…. Wow !

wow as always great job ty

MARY

Thank YOU for everything big and small that you tirelessly work on for us. Your insights as to what is needed never cease to amaize me.

I just love the fact that you give us updates and report on progress. This IS THE place to be.

Marla

Question about the category pictures

Are you going to use a no right click code? I ask because if you are I will retake some pictures and leave my name off, but if not I can’t because my images are stolen all the freaking time. I don’t think anyone on Bonanzle would do that, but people have actually browsed the net and have found my images as a thumb nail and used them. Of course my concern is they will be used on eBay not here, and eBay won’t take them down unless I can prove they are mine.

My images are distinct and stand out on eBay because of my background. I can’t afford anyone with poor feedback ahead of me in auction, because after clicking a listing with my image seeing poor feedback they won’t click on my listing. Not surprising someone of such poor character who steals images typically has poor feedback

Yes, Bonanzle gets better everyday, and I am also proud to be a part of the Bonanzle community!

Thank you!

Thank you so much for the attention to details that make this the best place to be. Your work is truly appreciated.
I love it here!

I can’t find the listings now. Literally I can’t figure out how to get to all the listings by using the category buttons. When I use the buy button and choose a category it takes me to the category page but nothing is there and I can’t find a way to get to the listings.

Eyecatchingbeauty is right. When you click on the health & beauty link, no subcategories show up on the new page. Usually the text is there to drill down into more categories. It isn’t there. Needs Jim Dandy to the rescue.

@tilling and all: Thanks dudes! Yes, Health & Beauty needs some fixin’. I’ll be working on that as soon as I wrap up this morning’s email run.

@jammatun: Exactly. Etsy’s home page is consistently stunning and the reason is that they hand picked items in thematic groups to make it alluring. I am convinced this will be a pretty major breakthrough to leave a good impression on our new users. Even a silly list like Mark’s “Remember the 80’s list” would draw people in far more than the random collection of so-so items we get now

And in regards to an image rating utility, it’s on my list. I want to be done rating the Category Showcase images as soon as possible…

Well, we think the changes are headed in the right direction. We’re just thankful that we HAVE another direction to go in!

Thank you for addressing my concerns Bill. I appreciate it very much (see you just don’t get replies to concerns on other sites like you do here Bonanzle is one of a kind).

I do think it is VERY important that the home page is a spot that makes shoppers want to go further to see more. First impressions tend to stick.

Thanks for all your hard work up there guys!
(I hope you at least sleep a couple hours a day and maybe grab a burger while your doing all of this. From where I stand it looks like you guys eat, sleep and breathe Bonanzle lol)

I cannot say enough good things about the site, the flow of upgrades boggles the mind, I am out there everyday promoting bonanzle, I have an article in our local paper coming out this week, I trolled an art show this weekend handing out info, We are on our way to the top, and I am honored to be in on the climb. Shari

Go to People tab, click on which type of Discussion you want, e.g. General. Once there, the new topic little window should be right there.

Great work, guys! I am also a Premier Member. Is there any way to put that star on our listing page next to the chat box or somewhere equally as prominent?
Thanks for everything.
Alice Sisk, Something Old

The revamped Buy page is great, with one exception, which is ..The subcategories need to be green text in order for buyers to know to click on them. They don’t look “clickable” in the current grey text.

as Valdazar inspires me to say:
Whoo Hoo!
Go Bonanzle!

Keep up the good work Bonanzle boyz! You rock! Oh yes, do you guys ever sleep? Thank you!

Bill, when are you going to start running ads for buyers that are not in a trade journal? How about running ads on the internet like Speigel, Woman Within, and a few others that use banner ads on yahoo, newspapers online, and ect? Sure would bring new buyers except for only sellers no one has heard of bonanzle for shopping, havent seen any ad material yet

I am stunned. I just don’t know what to say. I have 2 premier memberships and these changes sure puts it to a competition. For a small time seller that sucks at lists and photos..Boy am I in trouble…The page sure looks great though. Kudos on your picks.