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Bidtopia Philosophy
Bidtopia Philosophy
Solution
FEES – Lower fees mean lower costs for your buyers
Bidtopia offers an affordable approach to billing that is simple and easy to use. Bidtopia has one single flat rate fee of 4.75% of final sales price for all sales completed. There is also a 25 cent fee for items that fail to sell. The FTS (fail to sell fee) prevents the Bidtopia exchange from being clogged up with unwanted or overpriced merchandise, and helps to insure a vibrant marketplace.
MEMBERSHIP – There is no such thing as a level playing field
Buyers and Sellers each have unique and specialized needs. Each behaves differently, acts differently and should expect to be treated differently. Accordingly, Bidtopia has two types of account, BUYER and SELLER, with a different approval process for each. Unlike most other sites, an unsupervised minor with a false name and free e-mail account is not instantly approved to start bidding or selling on the Bidtopia platform. BUYERS must prove they have the ability to carry out an online transaction as well as submit legitimate and verifiable identification credentials. SELLERS have to complete an application process, conduct a personal phone interview, and show previous e-tail or auction experience.
Best Practices – Helping your business, not restricting it
Bidtopia realizes that our job is to help sellers grow, and we will not sacrifice sellers’ success to further our own. We allow links to other websites, private stores, and even links to sellers’ auctions on competing sites. Java is allowed in our listings, as are graphics, links, and live customer service messaging. Bidtopia supports an open platform that allows sellers to run their business their way. Helping sellers become successful helps Bidtopia become successful.
BILLING – Bidtopia does not get paid until sellers get paid
Most online auction companies bill sellers the moment the auction ends, regardless of whether the seller ever collects any money from the buyer. How successful would a Realtor be if they were to demand commission the day they walked through a house with a potential buyer? Most professionals understand that fees are due at the time of sale, when the buyer completes the transaction and the seller collects payment. This simple, professional courtesy has been lost in most online marketplaces. Bidtopia does not charge any sales fee until sellers actually—you guessed it—complete a sale.
FEEDBACK – Every feedback counts
Unique feedback is a wonderful system for smaller peer-to-peer users, but it is less applicable to the larger volume businesses now found on the auction exchange. This is why McDonald’s says “99 Billion Served†and not “1 Million Unique First Time Customers Served.†Unique feedback fails to capture the most important standard business practices, the value of repeat customers. 1,000 positive comments from a single, long-time million-dollar customer should not be wiped out by a single negative feedback from a new user buying a $1 pack of chewing gum.
Bidtopia also understands that while buyers often forget to leave a positive feedback, rarely do they forget to leave a negative. Bidtopia buyers must agree to allow our system to leave a ‘default’ positive comment for the seller after 30 days. In this fashion, a feedback is left for every sale on our exchange.
TRANSACTION SCORE – Buyers have one job, to pay on time
Bidtopia has a two-tier feedback system that is different for buyers and sellers. Bidtopia believes that buyers are different than sellers, and that a “one size fits all†mentality does not best serve the needs of our customers. Buyers have one important job—to pay for their item within the time limit agreed. Every time a seller reports back to Bidtopia that a bidder has paid for an item, the Transaction Score of the buyer account will receive a +1, resulting in an increase by 1 point. This is not a unique score, therefore, you may score 2 “transaction points†if you pay for two items from the same seller. If a seller reports back to Bidtopia that a bidder failed to pay in the allotted checkout time, the bidder account will receive a -1, resulting in a reduction of 1 point to their Transaction Score. If a seller neither reports the item as paid or not paid after a 30 day time period, Bidtopia auctions will assume the transaction was successful, and the bidder account will receive a +1 Transaction Score. Any bidder account with a Transaction Score of less than 90%, with 5 or more negative transactions, will be suspended from Bidtopia.
Transactional scores have some very significant benefits; the first is that buyers no longer have to fear retaliation because every transaction they make, and pay for, will result in positive scoring, regardless of what type of feedback they leave for the seller. Moreover, if a buyer receives a negative score because they forgot to pay for an item, sellers have the ability to reverse the negative and change it into a positive. Most sellers will do this if there is a legitimate explanation, or for a modest restock fee.
SHILL BIDDING – Automatically blocked by transactional score
While Bidtopia employs all the traditional measures used to detect and stop shill bidding; our system uses transaction scores to make this practice unfeasible. A typical shill bidding account will often end up winning their own item with no intention of actually paying (sellers do not like paying fees on items that never sell). While most auction sites allow sellers and shill accounts to perpetually never pay, Bidtopia suspends non-paying bidders once their payment rate falls bellow 90%. This means that a shill account would quickly be suspended for non-payment, and since Bidtopia has a record of the shills real name and financial information, Bidtopia is able to block the account holder from returning with a second ID.
Article Details
Article ID:
13
Created On:
20 Apr 2008 12:39 AM
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