Thanks for the advice The site was designed by a British web development company and clearly does need a bit of modification before launch.
I wasn't intending on bringing BQB mainstream until later this month, for the very reasons you've elucidated -- the site is incomplete at present and needs some modifications (like to the TOS). I've been working on a modified TOS for awhile now - it'll basically be pretty similar to what's expected on Sedo or Afternic.
Launch won't be until late May, maybe early June, so please take anything on BQB before then as "subject to change" or open to suggested modifications.
2 months should be right about when BQB should be getting interesting (will be doing some heavy advertising over the summer), so you'll be 18 at the perfect time
a) I was disappointed to find out that BuyOut domains are not free. Buyout domains often attract a different type of customer than auctions. My experience is that this type of customer has less free time and often more disposable income. $1/listing is not too bad though.
b) I was confused by the term "Buy Out". I associate this term with a buy out clause (e.g. In Namepros auctions where the seller can compensate the buyer if they want to cancel the sale). I prefer a more common term like "Buy Now", "Fixed Price" or "Buy It Now".
c) I am concerned that there is not enough limitations to the number of auctions that can be started with the $99 joining fee. A large domain owner could saturate the site with their domains and make it difficult for the majority of us to sell in the market as our domains disappear in the mass. 100,000 auctions a week for only $99/year seems too cheap. I have seen this happen before.
d) Maybe the expiry date and registra details should be listed in seperate sections of the domain listing. Every buyer wants to know these details.
In regards to your marketing, buyers attract sellers and bargains attract buyers. I think that you would get better value for money making sure that you provide daily bargains on the site (domains that are valued >$30 with a starting bid of $1) and let word of mouth sell the site. If you treat the losses through this style of marketing as marketing expenses then it shouldn't be too stressful.
a) Because a BuyOut immediately ends a listed item, I want to make sure that it's being used seriously. I'll definitely consider making it free (or cheaper) in the future (at least for select members, as it really costs me nothing to offer the feature). The BuyOut feature is much more prone to abuse than regular auction bidding.
b) eBay has been in a very long patent dispute regarding the use of the "Buy It Now" feature that it's been using. eBay ultimately decided to buy the patent. Hard to say what eBay will (or can) do - they really have no competition in online auctions, but to be safe the "Buy It Now" function BQB uses operates a bit differently and has a very different name.
c) There are no plans to make a "mass upload" function. Each listing has to be created one at a time, hopefully making it incredibly time consuming for a company (or large domainer) to upload thousands of auctions. I want people's items to sell and the best way to encourage that is to make sure people aren't going to waste time listing items they aren't really interested in selling (eg. listing at many multiples of actual value). As you said, any large domainer (or company) could seriously reduce everyone else's odds of making a sale by uploading a very large number of auctions, so I'm trying to make it as hard as possible to do just that. The "Store" option will be there as well for domainers who'd like to get extra exposure for modest costs.
d) A couple other members have also suggested we add Registrar and Expiration Dates to the listings. This is a great idea and will definitely be implemented in the near future. It's valuable information and on cheaper names like 5L.coms, it can even make the difference in some cases between what's worth buying and what's not.
I really like your idea of having a few loss leaders every once in awhile. Definitely something to consider and certainly cheaper than what I was planning.
Really wish it'd let me rep you about now, but it seems I do that too much already
Think it could have something under the categories on the left hand side like more advertiser banners or something, maybe some links to domain buying guides and information or something, just so it looks less empty on the left of the site and balances with the right hand side. Even a pattern or jigsaw puzzle pieces down the left to match the picture under the sign up section on the right. This is just IMO of course, others may feel differently
Also doesn't worry me, but a possible idea may be to change 'no bullshit' to 'no bull' on the slogan, just so it doesn't put of any potential sellers or buyers who may be put of by that, of course only my opinion again
Take care man, good job
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Last edited by raredn.com : 05-02-2008 at 04:35 AM.
The site was designed by a British web development company and clearly does need a bit of modification before launch. 
