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What's the deal with this auction and reptile ring

H

Helen Lampinen

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Why is it that this auction seems to suck so bad but when you look at reptile ring there is always somebody bidding? I thought reptile ring was for everybody, but apparently only Mike Wilbanks and a few of his buddies?? Can this auction place be set up a little more prominently? I would personally auction some of my animals at killer prices but I don't think anyone would even notice since nobody visits the auction section. Can auctions be announced at a permanent location at the top of the snake forum? It doesn't seem fair that reptile ring gets all the traffic when there are so many beautiful animals here belonging to smaller breeders who take excellent care of their animals and deserve a good auction site to post their animals with more traffic. Anybody with me?
 
We had a platform that was better suited to auctions, and it was never used. The current version was opened at the request of members as a test - no sense wasting money on a dedicated auction platform if people weren't going to use it. The traffic and usage has been underwhelming.
 
Can it be fixed?

Could some advertising be done elsewhere on the site and can we have dedicated announced auction days, like Saturday at 11:00? We could have a sign up discussion area or something where people promise to auction something good and we get a group of people and their animals together for a specific auction time/date to try and generate more traffic. I pledge my 700 gram calico pewter, starting bid $250 if we can get a bunch of people to pledge their animals too and if we can get some advertising in a more prominent location.
 
Your ideas have some merit...but there's a lot going on right now, and I suspect that development of this idea would have to be tabled for at least a month.
Also, posting available animals and prices in a discussion area is against the rules. I understand that you aren't trying to sell in this thread, but it could still be perceived as a form of advertising. Please keep that in mind as you promote your ideas.
 
Definetly not trying to advertise her for sale!!

Her price is WAY above that! This would be a good will gesture on my part to help every small time breeder on this site. That is a big 3 gene female!!! And super awesome genes to boot. Also, the combination is wise. Cinnamon with calico is a GREAT idea. Anyone who thinks that I am trying to sell this animal at that rediculously low price is not too bright? More like charity and good will!!!
 
You totally missed that point....makes me regret spending the time on the PM I just sent.
 
I honestly don't think auctions will work well here. With the Facebook auctions already so prominent, it'll be difficult to generate the same amount of traffic given Fauna's current (and justifiable) limitations regarding auctions.

It's a good idea that has been tried off an on since I've joined (over a decade now), but it just never took off.
 
No, the Facebook auctions are for anybody with a Facebook account who joins the page. It's been a bit controversial. They took off big time last year, and market prices were driven down by dang near 50% on most ball pythons. Some folks blame the market price drop on the auctions, others on overproduction, the reality is that it's probably a mixture of both.

Other forums have even gone to such lengths as to prohibit any sellers who participate in online auctions from being able to advertise animals on free classifieds sections.

There is some justifiable bitterness as well regarding the auctions. Dan Wolfe retired last year and auctioned off all of his animals. Some of his unique projects (arroyo/rio, quake, black lace, nova, etc.) were still listed as several thousand dollars on his website but sold for a tenth of market value on the auctions. Folks who invested in those projects early (and paid full price) were understandably angry. I don't really hold it against Dan given that he was retiring, but it certainly was bad timing given the controversy surrounding auctions was at its peak while he was doing so.
 
I see

Ok so maybe some hard feelings there. Maybe the cat is out of the bag though and too late to go back at this point. It still seems to me like animals on reptile ring are selling at a somewhat decent price and seems like people in our group here should get a chance without Mark Zuckerburg, ha ha.
 
Just for the sake of opacity (not going for transparency, just letting some light get through), this idea is temporarily being placed on hold because, frankly, we aren't in a position to have a serious discussion about it at this point in time. I have advised Helen (the OP) to develop her thoughts, and work on a game plan for organizing and promoting what she has suggested. It is unlikely that any significant changes to the platform will be undertaken...but promoting an already existing feature seems a fairly reasonable course.
I anticipate being able to start tossing this around in early to mid July. Somebody remind me of I don't revisit this thread (not til after the 4th of July weekend, though :thumbsup: )
 
I am down with trying to promote the Auctions section. There really isn't much usage going on with it, but personally I have obtained some great animals and even sold some great animals via the auction on this site. I was planning on Auctioning some animals this year as soon as my females start to drop.
 
Actually I had hoped this auction section would work out, because one of these days I'm going to want to put my herp library up for sale, and think an auction format would be best for each of the books. But it is what it is, I guess. Sure hate to have to use Ebay........ :ack2:
 
It could still work, what I have been doing is posting an auction, and then posting a classified ad in the correct forum about that auction and putting a link in the ad. More people see the auction section that way, but ultimately up to them to bid.
 
I had totally forgotten about this. I tabled it because of the timing - there were a number of things happening, not the least of which was Rich going away for a month.
Helen - if you're still interested in promoting the auction section & trying to liven it up, please post your ideas.
 
Well, how about this? I will relocate this auction section ABOVE the classifieds and see how that works out. If it doesn't, then I will consider the auction idea as being officially dead and buried.
 
WebSlave said:
Well, how about this? I will relocate this auction section ABOVE the classifieds and see how that works out. If it doesn't, then I will consider the auction idea as being officially dead and buried.
Click to expand...

It's worth a shot
 
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