- 10,000 Users
Bonanzle is an online market where buyers and sellers get together to exchange merchandise in stress free friendly atmosphere.
Today, as I write this article, Bonanzle reached a milestone.
10,000 users have registered to buy and sell on Bonanzle. Yes, I agree, this is not a significant number when compared with the registered user of sites like eBay, Amazon.com or even Etsy. Yet, the speed in which this milestone has been reached is a significant development.
Bonanzle is barely 6 months young, oh what an interesting six months.
Bonanzle has introduced itself to sellers in a very positive way. The upgrades and improvements to the site are too numerous to list. And it is almost a task to try and keep up with the changes and improvements to the site as developer and founder Bill Harding releases them.
New Categories
One of the most significant recent developments has been the inclusion of the entire eBay category structure for listings on Bonanzle. Including the standard eBay categories an then possibly refining and improving all of those categories will only serve top make both search and new seller transfer easier than ever before. In checking the category structure yesterday on the site while crafting some listings, I found the process of finding the correct category even easier than it is on eBay. This is a major new seller and buyer feature in Bonanzles favor when compared to other eBay competitors, in my opinion.
Google Base
Another significant advantage to selling on Bonanzle i the very easy to set up and pain free automation of exporting inventory listing to Google Base product search. I set this feature up on Bonanzle in less than 5 minutes several weeks ago and it has run flawlessly ever since. From the day that I set up the Google feed on Bonanzle and saw it reporting data to Google, I have noticed a significant increase in views of my items listed on Bonanzle.
Cleaning up
I spent nearly 3 hours on Bonanzle yesterday working to set up my Bonanzle booth. Actually I should be honest and say that I was working to clean up the listings I had imported to Bonanzle from my eBay store. You may asking, why would I need to clean up eBay imported listings? Well, it seem that as an eBay seller for the last 11 years, I have developed a eBay listing template that includes much more shipping and payment information and rules than are needed in the outside world. My listings on eBay contain a great deal of disclaimers and protectionist boilerplate legal information (displayed in tabs in my template). Since Bonanzle is all about clean, simple and easy to understand listings, I decided I should remove all of the eBay centric content.
Bulk Editing
Luckily, on Bonanzle with the bulk editing tool, the task was a breeze. This is a point that can not be overlooked, the bulk editing tool makes it very easy to manage the entire inventory of products I have on Bonanzle. I have worked with advanced tools designed to handle inventory on multiple platforms in my career, I can say that while this bulk editing tool on Bonanzle does not have all of the features of higher cost tools and software, it does make editing multiple listings a very intuitive and straightforward process.
So, today, when Bonanzle has reached 10,000 users, I suggest that anyone who is interested in looking at another venue for selling online, a venue with tools and the steady growth in both products listed and hits received, which will bring in buyers an sellers alike, take a good look at Bonanzle!
You will of course get a pile of comments from other happy Bonanzle customers but I wanted to compliment you on the way you have documented your explorations of the site and all it has to offer. It really means something when someone who has years of experience in the world of e-commerce validates what those of us who are not as expert feel at a gut instinct level.
It has been fascinating to read all your Bonanzle posts from your first “Ho hum, oh well, another alternative venue, but one with promise” post on to today.
For those who do not know Bill Harding, founder of Bonanzle… Drop on over to the official Bonanzle blog and check out his recent post commemorating the 10,000 user milestone.
http://www.bonanzle.com/blogs/Enjoying_the_Road_to_10_000
It it he claims no triumph and indulges in no fits of self adulation. Bill simply thanks the users of the site, the members of the community and everyone involved with helping to create the ecommerce success story of 2008 that is Bonanzle.
Cheers Bill – And congratulations to you!
Scott,
Well I’d be more than happy to take the credit, if I deserved it.
The fact is that it’s one thing to put together all the right features to make a site easy and fun to use. I can do that, but so can a disciplined and well-trained monkey.
Since the start, Bonanzle’s growth has been a grass roots effort, and we have our users and the other people I mention on the blog to thank for that (including you). Those are the people who have written Bonanzle’s success story so far.
I’m just grateful to be aboard this train as it lumbers past 10,000 users on its way to 100,000 and beyond. I used to watch the Seahawks, but with the season they’re having, it’s very good to have a winning team like Bonanzle to root for.
Bill