Bricktrader launches!

Wow, actually not bad. I know I tried to be scathing when you first announced it (I like being scathing :S), but it's pretty good. Nice job, TyoSolo!

Looks Great.

... very very slick ... well done ... on the negative side, the site is very slow (and no, my internet connection is NOT at fault), and a pop-up explanatory note (in a little box) is needed for certain things when you complete various 'Post New Auction' forms (to help those that are not familiar with auctions, but want to sell / buy).

Is this Site dedicated to those in the UK?

If not, is there a way that we can get the currency to match the location of where you live. Nothing against the pound, but I want to be seeing dollars as most of my selling / trading takes place in North America (CDN / USA).

I will second the person mentioning slowness. To be fair though, it could just be high volume traffic as many people I am sure are looking at the Site as another option.

Just my thoughts, good luck with this project.

Show shipping cost in the listing on the main page. Opening an ad, and then see shipping for £40 or £70 (!!!) isn't very nice.

I like the layout, it's a lot nicer than Ebay.

The site does not scale properly on iPhone browser. It cuts off the banner so that you do not even see the word welcome.

It's slow.

Hi guys. Thank you for the comments. My server has been struggling to keep up today, as the launch has gone a whole lot better than I ever expected. The script is processor intensive so I've I have some issues with CPU throttling. First order of business - dedicated server I think!

I have answered the questions about mobile devices and currency for our friends across the pond/world in the forum here: http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/10829/bricktrader-auction-site-launched.

I will be working on the mobile device problem tomorrow - as I realise that this is an important platform. The adaptive stylesheet doesn't like the homepage for some reason, and I'll admit I hadn't tested it on a mobile device prior to launch (my bad).

I will also look at including the shipping in the listing summary to save a click through! Bear with me! :)

Thanks to Matthew for the announcement.

Most of my input has already been said. Its very slow, I don't know if this is meant to be global or more of a European site but it would be nice to see a currency conversion to user location by the listing price, show shipping. But it looks nice and it would be great to see it when its been running a few months and I can spend hours looking thru Star Wars sets to find some older ones on my wishlist.

I think I'll give it a try, but I must admit I was a little disappointed when I realized that, despite the fact that it's called Bricktrader, it's all auctions. Ah well.

The name brick trader is a tad deceiving as I too thought it was a place to swap parts and sets one for one.

Trader...... Definition:

noun

a person who engages in trade; dealer; merchant

So pretty much anyone who's trading anything for anything including cash for goods! Obviously it's all open to interpretation but then what's in a name! :-)

I don't know about other bricklink sellers, but I welcome a new option. If it takes over, cool. If all it does is push bricklink to innovate, cool.

It's not bad. I don't care much for auctions on parts.

Although the implementation is a bit clunky you could hypothetically use the 'Buy it now only' option to list parts as you would on Bricklink for a fixed price. I think the main issue here is lack of categories for ease of viewing and catalogue for reference. I'm sure that's something that will be considered in future, I'd be glad to hear TyoSolo's view on whether it is intended to be used for parts?

I agree minicoopers. Ive got so much excess CMF lying around (after buying many boxes for certian figs lol) so this gives me a place to hopefully sell them on, without ebays overpricing. Never had much luck on the 'other' site either so Im happy to give it a go

I must honestly say that it looks a bit old fashioned to me (as 90% of all LEGO-related sites do). eBay recently changed a lot and I like the new look and feel a lot. Maybe there are one or two things to learn from there. But apparently there are already people disagree with me, so I guess it's mainly a matter of personal preferences.
Still, what I would like: responsive design, currency adjustment, and more certainty about the shipping (will the product be shipped to my location and if so what is the shipping cost).

@Matthew - No, it isn't intended for parts on an individual basis. As you would expect from an auction site, it is intended for Minifigs, Sets and Lots, much like eBay.

As you say, you could hypothetically use it for individual parts, but the way the checkout works would mean it would cost you a small fortune in PayPal fees.

As a possible user to this new auction site. I would like to know a few things. I would like to know how many users have bought and sold, and if possible what items at what prices. My concern is that as this is a very new site that few people will actually use it, and therefore as a seller items may go for much lower than hoped. I am hoping that the site becomes packed with true collectors and items can be sold for competative proces.

Looks great to me, works fine on my Nexus 7 and have registered smoothly within 2 minutes.

Now going to list some lovely rare stuff...

There's a glitch in the email system. I got an email, addressed to someone else. It was a'You have been outbid' email.

^Thanks Markey. I'll add it to my fix list.

Echo the shipping cost comments. Show it up front.

Still waiting for info about number of users, or being able to see how many people are going to/have used the auction site. Also it would be nice to know what previous auctions have actually sold for. As a seller you need to know this stuff, as to build confidence in the auction site. If no-one is using the site, or even it appears that no-one is using the site sellers will not use it. There have been many online auction sites that have folded very quickly because there hasn't been enough people using the site. Please take my comments seriously and don't take any offence, I actually want to see this site work. I would like to be a seller of the more rare and collectable sites and this auction house

After searching for a few sets, I was getting no results. I clicked the "All Auctions" tab and, lo and behold, there are only 10 items for sale on the whole website ...and it's more than halfway through the welcome promotion ...and a lot of them didn't even have any bidders. I found it hard to believe at first, but there's no mention of extra pages; there really are just 10 things. Wow, what a huge flop. The "Featured Auctions" list has 7 of them; they must feel pretty silly about paying extra to be on a list of 7 instead of a list of 10.

Not many things for sale.

The site itself looks nice but there isn't much happening there. I'm more of a buyer than a seller, so I have no use of it so far...

Also will the price ever be able to be presented in USD rather than GBP?

Kartula - We are on Day 4. Most of the auctions are running for 7 or 14 days - so not much to tell you on the sales front.

We currently have 118 auctions live, and 253 registered users, On Monday this was 75 and 200. Hope this gives you some confidence.

Huey1 - That page has a bug which I am in the process of getting fixed. Please click on the advanced search tab - that will give you all auctions, with pagination.

Be-Burger - USD instead of GBP, No. USD as well as GBP, Yes.

Hi TyoSolo

A few other things to consider,

If an item has a few bids does that still mean that people can still buy it now?

bidders names are accessible by all, feel you would be better off having a degree of anonymity to it.

Lastly, will there be a section to see how past auctions have faired?

You might also want to consider a counter that displays the number of users logged on at any one time.

Hi Kartula

Yes, it does. I don't believe Buy Now should be removed just because there are bids. It also eliminates the need to "snipe", which is one of the things that irritates a lot of people about certain larger auctions sites.

The seller can make this anonymous if they wish by enabling "Private Bids" - but that is up to the seller.

There won't be a section to see how previous bids have fared, as each auction lot is individual, and the price of those lots should have no bearing on future auctions, as each will have different characteristics.

That said, I will have access to this information (for a limited time) so could potentially do some blog features on "what's hot" etc.

I have no plans for counters of any kind, as they don't improve the functionality of the site. I'd rather plough my (currently limited) resources into areas that are of more use to the general user-base - such as multi-currency selling.

Can I direct you to this thread if you have any more questions or feedback, as this article has pretty much been buried: http://www.bricksetforum.com/discussion/10829/bricktrader-auction-site-launched

Regards

Haven't signed up to the forum, sorry. One thing I am gettign very concerned about is that you are not building up seller confidence that they are to get a fair price. How can a seller check that he is getting to the widest audience possible and gets the best price? I feel that not preparing to address this issue means that this site will. (and I have seen many similar do just that). My impression of this site at the moment is that it might be good to find the odd minifigure for say a couple of quid, but bigger more rares sets are still going to be sold elsewhere because of the wider marketplace and therefore better end price. I would also add that this site at the moment is extremely good at the moment for buyers. A brand new auction with only a few users, you could easily find yourself a bargain. I hope you find my points critical and not offensive.

Kartula - I don't find it offensive at all. Whilst ever it is constructive, all feedback is welcome, and yours has certainly been constructive.

It's not that I'm not prepared to do things. I'm prepared to do anything to make the site succeed, as I've invested quite a lot of time and money in the site so far, and plan on investing more. I do, however, have to prioritize what I do and when, as at the moment, it is just me (and a rather strung out developer), so my first priorities are those that will attract and keep a wider audience (currency/shipping rates), and fixing the obvious bugs.

One thing you might want to change is that if you put a bid on something then increase the amount that you are willing to spend, it enters it as an additional bid, almost as if you were bidding against yourself. Lastly is there anywhere on the web site that tells you of the bidding increments?

No. The bidding increment in £1

Sorry but I think you have missed the point.

I put a bid in for an item, £3.00, and as it was the first bid for the auction, I was winning with a bid of 1.50. I noticed that the reserve was not met and therefore decided to increase my bid to £5.00. I was now winning the auction for 2.50 even though the two bids were both of my own. I actually did this a third time and again the bid went up to 3.50.

I also think you need to think about your increments. Seller are definately not going to something on this site when the increments are ever only £1. For example if an item was on for £200 and there was a further 5 bids, then at worse, the price has gone up £205. Whereas on a better known auction house the if it was £200 and a further 5 bids occured then at worse the price has gone up to £225. This equates to almost gaining an extra 10% just by using a different web site.

Also small items such as figures, you are not going to get competative bidding. Many figures are worth only a few quid. Therefore only a few bids can be made before the figure becomes grossly overpriced.

I am sorry to say especially in a public place, that this auction site still has many flaws and I dont think it competes. Yes it is really nice and easy to use. But I do think you might be better selling your site to the likes of ebay. ebay are always seeking for ways to improve their service and I think using your site for Lego would be a great additon.

On it own I dont think it has the strength to be a real success. Sorry to be blunt but that is my thoughts, perhaps i will be proved wrong.

Think I have been proven correct. Only a handful of auctions. Needs a reboot, already! One that supports the sellers not just the buyers.