Boocoo.com, a new competitor to eBay in the online auction business is making waves and creating a stir in the marketplace social networks with it's recent beta launch. Craigslist users too, will recognize a similarity, yet boocoo offers a safety factor that Craigslist lacks.
So many start-ups have endeavored to this aspiration, and while some have carved out a niche of their own, they've fallen far short of the mark as far as becoming a serious auction alternative to eBay. It's early, boocoo is only in a "soft launch" phase with partners, guests and special invites being able to take part in the activity until the full public launch on June 21st takes place.
Boocoo has extended guest invitations to readers of this column. There is a special username and password at the bottom of this page, which you may use to get in on the fun right away. All fees are waived until the public launch.
Why can boocoo succeed when so many other's haven't been able to?
There are several core tenets that boocoo subscribes to that makes success likely.
- There is a solid plan for keeping the auction process pure, and in the forefront of the site. Boocoo knows auctions are not dead, but the over-use of reserves, scam auctions, and the lumping together of auction and fixed price items are poor practices.
- Not happy with ONLY taking the "build it and they'll come" approach, George Willard Sr. a many year newspaper veteran knows that this approach only works if people know about you. No short effort has been made here!
- By the time the public launch rolls out, the boocoo brand will be exposed to millions of newspaper readers throughout the U.S. Mr. Willard has built a completely unique machine that meshes an old school, tried and true media with Internet technology.
- By way of hundreds of partnerships with National newspapers and even some TV stations, boocoo.com will go live with exposure that was impossible for so many other start-up auction companies. Indeed, even eBay itself never had this kind of power behind it initially.
- If there's one place that people who dig auctions still go to often for information, is the U.S. newspaper. Does not every major paper have an auctions section?
- Since the boocoo business model shares revenue with the papers onboard, Mr. Willard has forgone the enormous advertising expense which would normally come with such a huge campaign, thus enabling boocoo to steer startup capital to other important places like site development and customer support.
Who's involved:
While the newspaper partnership is the engine that drives boocoo, there is a huge effort made to get other pillars of support in place for the public launch. Let's look at a few of the team members:
George Willard Sr. Chairman and CEO
George founded Ranger Data Technologies in 1999 after a career in the newspaper industry that began in 1967. He started as a pressman and served on the executive board of the union local in Detroit. In 1976, George joined the management team of a suburban weekly newspaper chain, then moved to the Macomb Daily and advanced through a variety of positions from production manager to publisher. In 1992, George started the Mirror Newspapers, a weekly chain in southeast Oakland County. He credits the Mirror’s success to its robust classified section, and sold the chain in 1998.
Tony Marsella: President and Chief Operating Officer
Tony joined Ranger Data Technologies in January 2008 after implementing its software at Morris Communications, a media company where he was vice president of classified advertising. He held the same position for the Newspaper Association of America.
Tony got into the newspapers after an 11-year run in real estate in which he ascended from salesperson to corporate vice president. Before that, he served in the Army and saw combat in Vietnam. Tony writes numerous articles about the newspaper industry and often gives presentations at corporate events.
George Willard Jr. Senior Vice President of Operations
Following four years in the Marines, George worked as a financial planner before joining the Mirror Newspapers – founded by his father – in 1994 as an advertising representative. After the company’s sale, George was promoted to publisher of both the Mirror and Specialty Communications. In November 2002, George became advertising director for the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press. Five years later, George rejoined his father at Ranger Data Technologies.
George holds a bachelors degree in business administration and a master's degree in organizational management and teaches several marketing and management classes at Rochester College in Michigan. He has a son and daughter.
Grace Shields: Marketing and Customer Service Director
Grace knows the art of the sales phone call. For many years, Grace worked selling personal ad services to newspapers for MicroVoice Applications in Minneapolis and Advanced Telecom Services in Wayne, Penn. Then she sold adult education packages for Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee for another three years before joining Ranger Data Technologies in July 2006.
Grace graduated from Beloit College in Wisconsin with a degree in English Literature. She and husband Peter have six adult children. Grace is an avid reader and enjoys water aerobics. She works from Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
Kip Knight: Consultant. Former vice-president of marketing for eBay North America, the global online shopping site. Mr. Knight's previous titles at eBay, which he joined in 2002, included regional vice-president and head of international marketing and category management.
Mr. Knight, began his career at Burke Marketing Research in Cincinnati, has worked in more than 80 countries over the past 25 years. He spent ten years in brand management at Procter & Gamble, where he worked on Ivory Soap and launched new food and beverage brands such as Olestra. He has held various management and marketing positions in PepsiCo's international restaurant division, was head of marketing for KFC International, and was chief marketing officer for Taco Bell in southern California.
Mr. Knight holds a B.S. degree from LSU and an M.B.A. from the University of Cincinnati.
Jim Davis: Consultant. Jim Davis is an entrepreneur, innovative marketer and internet pioneer with a proven track record building consumer digital businesses. He has an extensive track record developing digital brands, leveraging technology to grow new business and navigating the rapid changes in commerce, media and technology. Currently, Mr. Davis is strategically advising several early stage companies in Southern California.
Your's truly: Consultant. I have almost 30 years of hands-on experience in the auction business, from brick and mortar to online entities. I am humbled that I was asked to be part of the boocoo team, and while I'm honored and excited about that, it's not the fact that they picked ME that I'm impressed with. It's fact that they respect the auction industry enough to know that having an experienced auctioneer on the team is critical to the success of an Internet auction company.
Believe it or not, most of the startup online auction companies, even eBay itself, has no licensed, experienced auctioneers partaking in daily operations! (At least that was true at the time of my podcast interview with Usher Lieberman, former Corporate Communications Manager for eBay)
The importance of local yokels:
Another unique facet to the boocoo experience is the community aspect of selling to your neighborhood. Because of the way the partnership with newspapers works, there are unlimited chances to stregnthen the "buy local" movement that just aren't found on other large sites, excepting of course Craigslist. However, with the registration process of boocoo, you eliminate much of the risk factor that can come with Craigslist.
Nothing happens without sellers: While of course buyers need to make purchases to support an online auction site, boocoo knows that it's the sellers that pay the bills and recognizes a bond needs to be formed with them in order for their to be any success. The operators are continually seeking input and want to know:
What will it take to get YOU to try selling on boocoo.com, what will it take to keep you, and what will it take to get you to tell a friend about it?
My take on what will make boocoo.com the best online auction site: some damn good listings, with low starting bids and no reserves!
Please leave your answers, suggestions, concerns and ideas in the comments section, all will be forwarded to Mr. Willard and the boocoo team.
You may go to www.boocoo.com and enter the username auctionwally and the ID boocoorocks to get to a page which has a registration link at the top. From that you may register as you would any other online site. There are no fees for selling until June 21st.
Note to readers:
Almost nothing you see on the boocoo site at this time is carved in stone. We are still very much in beta. So now is the time for you to get your 2 cents in. Let us know what you think are fair fees, policies, features etc.
Disclosure statement: As an auctioneer, publisher, promoter, and author of online articles you may assume that I've been compensated for anything I publish.
Comments
Walt, how about expanding on how Boocoo will improve on Craigslist. Many of the people who comment on eBay are negative about it, but most people I have heard comment on Craigslist seem to be positive about it. If Boocoo can get big enough fast enough they should be able to overtake eBay, but Craigslist may be a different story. One approach might be to leave Craigslist alone and focus on the auction business that eBay has downplayed.Can I assume that the site will have towo way feedback?
How about an appraisal function built - in , perhaps for a small fee. Use services like Hammertap and Worthpoint, who have big data bases, and resell the results to your sellers.It might result in better listings, and keep sellers for making big mistakes in pricing their offerings.
I really like your idea about the appraisal function on boocoo.com.
I've been both buyer and seller on eBay since the very beginning, and had fun with it, but in my opinion, if Boocoo does things even HALF WAY right the sellers will leave eBay in droves - and the buyers will follow. Most sellers I know are very disenchanted with eBay; the high fees, and the policy of extreme bias in favor of the buyer. Buyers are also frustrated with the complicated buying experience. Actually, eBay is JUST NOT MUCH FUN for anyone anymore. Go Boocoo!
Great post.
Perhaps I can just add to this that the best way to guard against being ripped off by online sales or auctions of any kind, Craigslist and eBay included—and whether seller or buyer—is to use a *bona fide* online escrow company. Especially for pricier items like antiques, jewelry and autos. Although it does add some cost, it takes the uncertainty out of the transaction, and that’s a small price to pay for peace of mind.
For my money, the best bona fide online escrow (and there seems to be ten fraudulent escrow sites for every bona fide one) is probably Escrow.com. In fact, it’s the only one that eBay recommends, and is the only online escrow company that is licensed to provide escrow services all across the United States.
Take care,
Ulf Wolf
Hey Walt,
This sounds like an exciting new site coming up. However, as economy suffers, so does the antiques market, and as a dealer, I know that eBay had a hand in ruining some of the values that could be realized. I am reluctant to put good quality items on a no reserve auction. I know we have chatted about this before, and I have sat on some of the items I want a higher dollar for. I am lucky that I am in a position to do that, however, not everyone can. What are your suggestions for this dilemma? I would love to hear more of your thoughts on this.
Thanks!
@Gene You can assume that the site will have 2 way feedback. In fact the feedback system is very fair and dare I say, clever and quite possibly foolproof. Watch for a very different kind of feedback system.
As far as being big enough, fast enough, that in large part will be up to users, BUT it won't be for lack of effort on Boocoo's part. Already it seems like the co. is everywhere!
Lastly: it's inevitable that comparisons to eBay and Craigslist will be made. I'd hope the dialog remains as positive as possible and that people realize. Some may want to sell on eBay, some on CL, some on boocoo, but we ALL need fresh merchandise if we're going to sell more than once. Why not buy in one venue, and sell in others, vice verse, on and on it goes.
Thanks much and PLEASE keep the comments coming, the one thing boocoo is starving for, is input from experience sellers!
@Kat Barton
I appreciate this Kat and as an auctioneer have seen evidence of what you're saying.
Perhaps right now, auctions may work out better for YOU as a purchaser.
There's always money to be made at an auction, but sometimes its made when you're buying, and sometimes when you're selling.
Best of luck and thanks for the input.
AW
@Sib
That's a very interesting point of view you have Sib, because as I was in a meeting discussing this very thing, GW Sr. acknowledged that both buyer and seller are critical to the site's success, but boocoo's customer, and the one who pays the bills are the SELLERS.
We know this, and will honor it.
Thanks for your comment, I would love more input. Since we are in beta, the biggest commodity we have right now is YOUR feedback, so please, forward or share this article with friends, tell them about the site, and let them know, we WELCOME the advice, comments and concerns of sellers from any venue!
Thanks again Sib, AW
@UlfWolf
Thanks for the insight, safety is a big concern with online auction sites, and although I've not had much experience with it, escrow can be a viable way to go on large purchases.
Thanks again and keep the comments coming.
AW
Hi. I just looked at it briefly. It's not clear to me whether it's an auction site or a new and improved Craigslist. I really find Craigslist to be a pain because people negotiate by email, set up appointments by email, then never show up. But on Boocoo, for example, I saw a really nice furniture set being auctioned in Arkansas, and I live in Florida. There's no point in my even looking at something like that. So again, to my question, what is it? Both eBay and Craigslist need competition; we just need to know which one Boocoo is really competing against. Good luck!
@Kerry,
It's like eBay in the fact that the focus will be on online auctions.
It's like Craigslist in ways that very clear geographical lines will be drawn, but they will not be a barrier.
For example, you may choose to buy something in AZ when you live in Maine and have it shipped, but if you're in AZ you will save a bunch on the shipping if you pick it up. HOWEVER, since you're registered, and on Craigslist, you don't have to be, it's safer.
Also, it's hard to explain here in the short comments section, but the geographic location ability is enhanced by the newspaper partnerships.
Thanks for the questions. They're good ones!
AW
Walt, have only looked at the site for a brief moment. It reminds me of the old days on eBay. (Have been an eBayer since 1999!) Those were truly fun days. Aside from the usual concerns of safety for buyers and sellers, my one gripe about the site is it has PETS as a category. I'm strongly against selling/buying any living thing over the internet. I think an auction site should stay out of the puppy mill business.
I am not looking for a free site... but fees are important and the fees Boocoo wants are not justified for a start-up. It looks like a 20% discount off of eBay fees... but you have a 95% discount off of eBay eyeballs. The numbers do not add up. Fees need to grow with the auction site.
I am not looking for a free site... but fees are important and the fees Boocoo wants are not justified for a start-up. It looks like a 20% discount off of eBay fees... but you have a 95% discount off of eBay eyeballs. The numbers do not add up. Fees need to grow with the auction site.
Why is it so difficult to find out what details about the various levels of membership along with information about why I should be a member?
In he old days, I could list an auction item and not worry too much that bidding by automated software programs would result in a $0.99 cent bid for a $10 item. Times have changed. What suggestions do you have for making sure sellers do not lose money on higher value items like computers?
@Sylvia
Thanks for your questions:
1) As for the memberships, because the site is in beta, there are no fees right now, so membership fees don't apply. I know this is not a long term solution to your question, but by the time it applies, it will be more clear.
As for making sure not to lose money on a PC or any high ticket item, it's impossible to eliminate 100% of the risk when selling at an auction. All you can do is hedge your bets by placing a hot item in an active marketplace with an accurate description, and add whatever extra attention to it possible.
Hope that helps.
AW
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