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Update 10:30AM: Memberships should now work in Internet Explorer!
Update 8 PM: Yes, we will accept money order for memberships as well. If you'd like to sign up that way, email [email protected] for an address. I had hoped to get Amazon payments setup to accept subscriptions through, but after further research tonight, it is clear that that would be at least a day-long project, and we don't have a day to spend on it right now. So for the time being, Paypal or Money Order will be the two options for subscriptions. Thanks to those that have signed up already! It's been an overwhelming response, and we are thrilled about the technology upgrades it will allow us to make.
Original Post:
Today was a very busy day in Bonanzleland, but as I get ready to go to retreat to my peaceful slumber before the sun rises, I wanted to briefly mention the new link you might notice in the "My Bonanzle" section labeled Member.
This story begins, long, long ago (last week), in a place not too far away (here). We tried to setup donations to the site, but within 15 minutes of donations going online, Google had suspended our Google Checkout merchant account and told us that it would be patently illegal for a company not registered as a "non-profit" to accept donations of any sort. "But," we argued, "it will help us pay for better servers and more things that we want to have!" Still, Google held firm to their rules (which are actually the government's rules, if you want to get technical), so donations were officially out.
But we have heard from many of you that are grandfathered in without FVFs, and from various others, who want to help Bonanzle stay financially solvent so that we can continue to add server power and keep this train headed forward at full tilt.
And that brings us to memberships. There are two types you can choose from: Plus Membership or Premier Membership. Both offer advantages to sellers beyond helping Bonanzle prosper. I'm not going to go over the specifics of those advantages here, because they're already spelled out on the membership page. Suffice to say, if you are interested in helping Bonanzle to continue to grow and provide a place where it's fun to transact, take a look at our membership packages and consider joining.
We have a long list of features we plan to continue to add to both the Plus and Premier membership packages over the coming weeks, so sign up today. The deal is good and getting better.
And remember -- if you don't got the cash to become a member now, don't sweat it. We are purposely setting up our membership benefits so that you can still continue to use Bonanzle and prosper even with just a basic (free) membership.
P.S. More payment options for membership coming soon. Google doesn't allow recurring payments, but we have our eye on a certain other payment gateway that I know Bobbi is going to be pleased to see up on the site.
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bharding
Oct 16, 2008
Be a Member (Re-Updated)
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45 responses to Be a Member (Re-Updated)
Just became a “member” …one of the jerks! HA!
Thanks Bonanzle Boys, I feel better now!
Thanks, tried to do it and it gave me a nasty little message. But it nicely told me that you have been notified, so will get back to it shortly, I guess.
Good idea!
We got a message also, but will try again! Thanks, we are glad to see today’s blog. Go Bonanzle!
I got the same message… uh… yep. I wants me green star :) better get me while I got a few bucks Boyz LOL
great idead count me in
Mary
Ok, error here also. But will try again…I want the “perks” of being one of the “jerks”
Are you saying that Google will no longer accept payments from our booths or are you talking about your Bonanzle account up there in Bonanzle land ???????? After all the crap I’ve been thru to set up Google as a payment option, this will seriously piss me off even more than I already am.
I no longer use PayPal. I am not interested in using any other type of online payment service (other than Google Checkout) Will you accept a monthly check or money order for membership?
No Louisiana, to sign up for the membership….it comes up with an error, not with google pay. I’m sure the “BBz” are already working on it. So hang tight if you want to become a Bonanzle member.
…will try again later today
Thanks onestop. I’m not interested in membership perks. I’m interested in a fair search, that’s about all. I’d rather see a modest listing fee and fvf applied to everyone, grandfathered or not. Possibly if people were made to pay a small listing fee, we wouldn’t see someone importing 4000 listings from fleebay. Just my opinion.
Thanks onestop. I’m not interested in membership perks. I’m interested in a fair search, that’s about all. I’d rather see a modest listing fee and fvf applied to everyone, grandfathered or not. Possibly if people were made to pay a small listing fee, we wouldn’t see someone importing 4000 listings from fleebay. Just my opinion.
Thanks onestop. I’m not interested in membership perks. I’m interested in a fair search, that’s about all. I’d rather see a modest listing fee and fvf applied to everyone, grandfathered or not. Possibly if people were made to pay a small listing fee, we wouldn’t see someone importing 4000 listings from fleebay. Just my opinion.
“as I get ready to go to retreat to my peaceful slumber before the sun rises”
Great to see the enthusiasm to help keep Bonanzle pointed in the right direction. Bill just hit the sack a couple of hours ago so he will take care of this later today.
Sweet dreams! Thanks from another one of the jerks!
I was able to sign up as a member just now…seems to be working :)
I love Bonanzle, as reflected in many posts on (and outside of) Bonanzle, but folks, with sales totaling only $10.49 (less PayPal/Google fees) on Bonanzle since I joined 2+ months ago, there is no way that I can afford to become a member and pay the $100+ annual fee. That’s great for you power sellers, but the reason I left “FeeBay” (and the reason that I didn’t join other listing fee-based/membership fee- based sites i.e., OLA) is that as a very small-time seller, it was not worth my time (and it takes quite a bit of it to monitor your booth, be available to answer questions, etc.) to sell my things on those sites. I would love to help support Bonanzle monetarily (and would highly consider buying stock in it, if available in the future), but right now, I simply cannot afford it.
I can only afford a plain green star right now, but it is there, I am a MEMBER jerk!! I hope this helps relieve the financials a bit, I can’t move again!!Having owned my own shop for a couple of years, I can relate to the 7/24 grind…I will look for stock when it becomes available. Best success!
Woohooo!! I’ve got the perk to be a “jerk”. Now I wonder, will I see my own star? And if so, when? Don’t see it right now…..
Yep, the sign-up thing for paypal is working now! (Wow, Bill can’t have gotten much sleep!)…can’t afford the primo membership, but got the next best thing :)
I, too, am now a “jerk.” heh.
I see my “star” on my User profile page. Wonder if we get one next to our name right next to when you see that you’re logged in on top of your booth ??
um…this is the message I get when I click on the “membership page” link….
“The page you were looking for doesn’t exist.
You may have mistyped the address or the page may have moved.”
Whazzup?
Ok – I am a jerk – and I want my star to prove it LOL
Looked hi and lo for a WA mailing address, to mail Harding and The Gang a brown paper sack full of cash, winning lottery tickets, and McDonald’s Gift Cetrificates…found nothing but an email addy. Sigh… :-)
Funkarelics: click on the “member” in the first paragraph. That will take you right to the sign up page
Patsyshort – I’m with you, I want my star too…right next to my name….. I wanna wear it proud :)
After paying I got an error page:
“The page you were looking for doesn’t exist.
You may have mistyped the address or the page may have moved.”
But the membership itself went through and works.
Well leeflang, thats whats important :)
As soon as I can sign up I am going to! GOT to slow hubby down…he spending faster than I am selling right now! :(
Well renagade, send him over my way……> lol
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Bill, does it start with an M and end with a Y? lol Yeah !!!!
Ha-stuck this comment on the wrong blog thread. It is bedtime! Something Bill and Mark are probably thinking no longer exists!
Signed my CabinFever store up. I got the same “no such page” when I tried to come back to Bonanzle also, but the membership went through.
If I do well with sales, I will sign up my Emporium. Hey ho!
@bargains814-4u: Like I said, if you can’t afford being a member, I wouldn’t sweat it. Even though we now having several thousand dollars in sales each day, I still doubt that many of these enthusiastic sellers are in this for the financial reward.
In my eyes, a Bonanzle membership right now is probably at least as much a goodwill gesture toward the continued development of Bonanzle as it is a way to help you profit.
Between the BAC and memberships, I can’t tell you how honored we are that there are so many good hearted people who care about helping us to grow.
That said, I know that traditionally, sellers come to marketplaces to make money, and from that standpoint, it would be hard for you to justify joining at this time. Still, we appreciate all you do to help promote us elsewhere, that is a key to what has helped us grow so much so fast.
Thank you all!!
Bill
Hi,
I’ve never been called a jerk before. Ugh! Anyway!
I joined the membership because I support Bonanzle and I want buyers to have access to our booths so we can sell.
I have completed the info at Google Analytics.
However, I am not, I’ll say again I am not a technical person. I don’t have a clue how to add script to my booth pages. The membership page is not active.
I have also sent a request to Bonanzle help page.
I know the Bonanzle staff are working hard but… My next step is???
Marcia
Bill: Do you have any idea how much work I put into promoting this place? And now you want to charge me $100-$200 for perks I deserve for free given how much of my time, money, and energy I have put into helping YOUR site grow? ARE YOU SERIOUS! Do you have any idea how many people are pissed off right now? Do you realize you have pissed off the same people that have spent just as much time and energy promoting this site as I have? Are you really that self destructive?
@circuitparty:
Here’s the problem — we can’t take donations, and if we continue to give away everything on the site for free, then we go broke, or we take other jobs and this site becomes the next half-rate free site.
As we regularly blog and write, we’ve been overwhelmed by the tremendous amount of support the community has given us. Our aim is to pay back the community’s efforts by listening to the features they want, keeping things simple, and providing them with the best product possible for buying and selling unique items in a social environment. I think we’ve done a good job at achieving that goal so far, and it’s been a mutually beneficial relationship between us and those who support us.
But besides the above facts, I think what confuses me most about your comments is that there is no part of not being a member that impedes upon your ability to do business on Bonanzle in any way.
I have repeatedly emphasized that membership is entirely voluntary, and you’ll continue to have access to more features on Bonanzle — for free — than you would at many other sites who make you pay.
That said, any Bonanzle user knows that we are always evaluating the effectiveness of our policies and features, and so it’s always possible that we may revise what it means to be a member in subtle ways in the future. But the basic premise that folks can choose to monetarily support Bonanzle is one that I feel confident is a reasonable and practical one for us to implement in the interests of keeping our business moving forward.
@MainStreet: Your membership has indeed been activated (check the fancy profile star! woot!). The short answer about how to setup Google Analytics is to go to the Sell page → Advanced Options and enter your Google Analytics tracking code (then save). The tracking code will then be automatically added to your booth and all items thereafter.
The long answer is that one my main projects for tomorrow is going to be adding help topics about how to work all these newfangled doohickeys. Sorry the instructions aren’t up already, had to spend most of today on fast-making measures.
Bill
Mainstreet – you don’t have to put the script in anything. Go into your “edit booth” then into “Advanced Option” and then drop your code from your GA into the google slot.
oops, guess I was writing my short version of the Analytics the same time as Bill. lol
And Circuitparty – I have just posted a little “rant” on the discussion “Is it true…..” You might want to read that instead of posting RANT over here.
I think this board should stay for Member updates, tech support and so on. Rants should be in “Is it true….” since that discussion seems to more gear into feelings.
No offense please, just would like to keep the boards a little tidier for easier reading on whats important to everyone.
“I think this board should stay for Member updates,”
So us mere mortals who aren’t ‘members’ are not to post here, onestop? Can we at least come here and read the blog if we promise not to sully it by commenting?
No sorry Louisiana, that is not what I meant. And I’m not sure about the comment “mere mortals”.
I did not write in for members only. I said “Members updates” which means updates. And I said that “Rants” should be really posted somewhere else. It’s just too hard to weed through updates and rants.
And like I had noted, no offense please, I would just like to keep the boards tiedier for easier reading on whats important to everyone.
There is just a place for everything. And this blog is listed as Member (re-updates). Which still anyone can come in and see whats new.
I’m not so sure I understand the fuss. It seems to me that membership is totally optional. I shop at several retail stores and purchase a membership card at the ones I like.
It gives me special bonuses and perks, but people without a membership can walk into the store and take advantage of what the store has to offer w/o the membership. This is a similar idea and great way for Bonanzle to keen up on a little of the huge server costs to keep these guys and site going strong.
Those who want it can get it and those who don’t can choose otherwise. It is a choice. This option is way better than something like applying site-wide fees or mandatory payments/fees that will affect every single member, because only those that want to pay for it will.
Guy and Girls, onestops recommendation to check out the ’Is it true…." ’ thread may really be worth your time. Please give it a shot.
Personally as a basically single mom struggling to supplement my meager SSI, I can’t afford anything beyond a final value fee if I do sell something. That is also one of the reasons I don’t deal with Ebay (I know bad word) very often because I can’t afford listing fees on something that doesn’t sell. I also think everyone should have a fair shot at being seen on the front page as someone else suggested above. I live hand to foot and can’t afford any extra expenses. I am nowhere near any kind of powerseller of anything. I don’t think me or any other small time sellers should be denied any so called “perks” because we can’t buy a membership. I can’t afford life insurance my own website let alone paying another site a membership fee. :(
Consider this: those of us that can afford to pay a membership fee are ultimately helping everyone on Bonanzle, as The Bonanzle Boyz make more and more improvements to the site.
Budget-wise, ours is very very tight. I was able to pay the 10 bucks this month; next month I may not be able to. But I see the potential Bonanzle has; it may very well be The One that finally gives serious competition to that other site. And for that potential, I’m more than willing to help whenever & however I can, as Bonanzle may end up being the site that finally gets us away from there. And saves us literally thousands in the long run…
Texas, you are not really denied any perks. Only thing we really get is GA and one can do without it….I use it cause I keep tracks of my other sites on it and it helps to have it all together.
But the free or paid membership has the same perks. And just like Bill stated in his new blog (you might want to head over there and check it out)
-—>(I’ll just repeat that, Bill:)
ALL BOOTHS ARE SUBMITTED TO GOOGLE!
Hope this helps to make everyone feel happy bonanzlers again :)
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