Bonanzle Raises $1 Million to Help It Grow
By: Ina Steiner (Thu Apr 29 2010 029:10:16)

Big news in ecommerce today comes from Bonanzle in Seattle, Washington: “Bonanzle announced this Thursday that it closed a $1 million round of investment, led by Seattle angel investor, and Voyager Capital Venture Partner, Geoff Entress, and with participation from Voyager Capital, Matrix Partners, Ignition Partners, Founders Co-op, Curious Office and other prominent Seattle angel investors. As part of the financing, Entress has joined the Company’s board of directors.”

Read the rest of the story here.

Quick summary and thoughts on eBay’s Summer release (aka the 10.2 release)

Yesterday (April 27, 2010), eBay announced the set of changes that will roll out this Summer (July 27, 2010) – this is their second set this year and they are already talking about a third set coming in the Fall. I would classify this release as very incremental – nothing earth shattering here, but as a package there are some good improvements that have a (hopefully) minor impact on sellers and a large positive impact on buyers.

Read the complete article here:
Quick summary and thoughts on eBay’s Summer release (aka the 10.2 release)

Ok, a basic store is 15.95 and according to ebay’s hype, fixed price listings with basic store are .20 each. I could get a lower fixed price fee if I have a premium store. Since some of my (free auctions – NOT) didn’t sell, I though I’d list some fixed price items. Well, the two – check it – 2 items I was going to list were going to cost me 1.20 each to list. One has a selling price of 9.99 and one has a selling price of 39.99. $2.40 total. Old system – 2 store listings for less than .50. Yep, eBay is helping me out again! Wow! My fees this month are more than last month and I deleted 200 of my 325 listings. Yep, eBay is helping me out again! Wow! Thanks, John D. – you the man.

**NOTE** I figured out the problem – when you ‘relist as fixed price’ the template AUTOMATICALLY checks the box next to Gallery PLUS picture pack for $1.00. It also automatically check the box next to Gallery picture pack (free). If you just glance at the screen as you scroll down, you see the free one checked in the middle of the screen, but not necessarily the one on the left of the screen for 1.00. Just how many of those will they collect before everyone catches it? That is sorry people.

The following is from an article from Last year: (Amazon Growing Faster than Online Sector: Greater variety, lower costs give Amazon an edge over eBay, say analysts. by Auctiva.com staff writer – Apr 28, 2009), but this is the exact problem still plaguing eBay.

The number of users who frequent Amazon has also increased, while eBay struggles to keep users. In March, Amazon had 61 million visitors, up from 50 million last year. In the same month, eBay had 70 million visitors—10 million fewer than a year ago.

Why does the market appear to favor Amazon over eBay?

“eBay’s marketplace business is in turmoil and traffic is down, due in part to a constantly changing shopping experience,” Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes editor and co-founder, says in reports. “The question for sellers is whether it’s worth the effort to figure out eBay’s constant changes, or invest their time and resources elsewhere.”

Read the entire article here.