[Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
[Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hello Sessioneers,
I'm Paul Marshall from bodojo.com, the bodhran site, but don't hold that against me!
I'm proud to announce the imminent opening of the Online Irish Music Exchange www.TradAuction.com.
Trad auction is set up specifically to allow trad musicians to sell, exchange and accept offers on new & used Trad instruments, CDs and all kinds of trad bric-a-brac.
The Site hosts TradStores where anyone can sell their wares, particularly useful for bands wanting to sell CDs or craftspersons / dealers selling their wares. A 5-item store is free with every account
Items sold for under £10 are 100% commission-free for store owners and registration as a user before 1 March brings an automatic 25% discount on any closing fees for as long as your account remains valid.
Using the voucher code ' thesession ' when listing an auction means that you pay no fees whatsoever for items sold before 30th March.
There are a whole stack of other benefits, wanted ads, keyword email alerts and more. It's slick professional software and it's in French German and Dutch as well as English. We have support in all those languages.
I apologise for posting yet again about an auction site, I posted recently about bodhran auctions on bodojo, but the software was not up to the game. This is the upgrade and drums are now included in tradauction of course.
The site is very new, so there isn't much activity yet, but we will be advertising it from April. I hope that an early alert will allow thesession members to get the early-bird registration deals.
Thank you for your patience with an announcement posting, hopefully it will be to everyone's benefit.
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Just registered the only flaw was my state/province was not included in the drop down box which was "West Midlands" so i had to use the nearest one which was Warwickshire. Hope that doesn't effect future deliveries.
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Having just registered I attempted to become a 'verified seller'. None of the supposed links are operable and the page designer doesn't seem to know his/her right from left.
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
The site looks interesting, however, I think your fees may be a bit out of line - at least for those of us in the US.
I am planning on selling a banjo soon. It is worth around $1500 US. Here's a comparison of the fees if it sold for $1500:
eBay (US):
$.15 insertion fee (if I started the bidding at $1, which I always do on eBay, but wouldn't do on TradAuction)
$2.19 base closing fee (8.75% of the initial $25)
$34.12 middle closing fee (3.5% of the remainder up to $1000)
$7.50 final closing fee (1.5% of the remainder above $1000)
___________
$43.96 eBay Total
TradAuction:
£.10 Listing fee
£1.00 Reserve Price
£41.51 End of Auction fee (5.5% of £754.69)
___________
£42.61 TradAuction Total = $84.72 US
Those calculations were done with £1=$1.988 conversion rate.
So much of the issue at stake here is the current weakness of the USD, and the UK eBay fees are slightly higher (and have the same issues with currency conversion, so if I were selling in the UK, the fees would be similar to TradAuction).
But considering that eBay brings me thousands of views on every auction, I don't think I could justify using TradAuction for that purpose, since the cost would be basically double for me! And my goal would be to sell to someone in the US anyway.
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
I've just realized what the problem is. The whole set-up is geared to a 1024 x 768 screen resolution, though there's no warning of this, and the designer hasn't taken into account that many visitors to the site will have their browsers set to 800 x 600.
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hey guys,
Thank you for your feedback, it is very valuable.
I am trying to make a serious attempt at providing a useful and worthwhile service to our community; as such it is in my best interests to give everyone as much of what you want as possible. Fees can be adjusted, technical issues also Feedback gets that done so cheers.
Pete, I do think that the US/EU currency will be an issue certainly affecting those who seek to buy or sell anything on the web, we do not set out to alienate of course, but we live in a certain part of the world and have local bills to pay. Sometimes it works for us and sometimes against, thanks for understanding.
Closing fees aside, the listing fees on TA are so low as to be negligeable, the option exists therefore to list in both sites and set a realistic reserve or buy it now. We will never have the traffic of ebay but we wish to offer a more targeted service from within a community. I expect a few bumps and I know it will be impossible to keep everyone happy all the time
I'll be revisiting the fees issue with my partners, expect a change.
Maccruiskeen, again thanks for your technical feedback. I shall look more at this and I shall place a best-viewed resolution notice in the footer. I am aware of the difference between right and left, usually.
If you want to email me I can help with better terms for a bulk sale.
Upmine3, I have added West Midlands now. The software is English, I expected it to be accurate
I greatly appreciate your feedback everyone, please keep it coming and let me know how it can be better for you.
I am going to install a public forum on the site right now for people to feed back. It is better than tying up this thread. Give me 20 mins.
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hey Paul,
There is something to be said for being able to sell to a niche market for sure!
But my point was really that you shouldn't expect much business from the US, at least in higher end instruments. It will still be a useful thing for people to sell CDs and such.
I buy and sell a lot of instruments, so I'll keep my eye on it. And one of these days, the USD won't be so durn weak anymore!
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hi Pete,
I completely understand, I work in the US occasionally and hate getting paid in dollars because it translates so poorly going back east, I also manufacture and sell into the US and my goods are now just too darned expensive to be competitive. I expect there to be less of a US attraction for now.
People here who are is familiar with me/my sites will know that I'm mostly about information & content and building community around that. In the bodhran world and in all walks of trad I see lots of small instrument makers, craftspersons, and yeah, bands who maybe don't get the exposure or shopfront that their work deserves nor achieve the potential reward for their craft and dedication.
This is partially why stuff below £10 is free, I hope bands jump at it as another outlet for their music, same for string guys and rosin vendors etc etc all you need is a paypal account and an email address. We forego lots of fees but have no less work or overhead with a 9.99 sale than we do for a sale at 999.
It's all about swings and roundabouts and finding a balance that meets everyone's needs, particularly small-time operations who can use the extra exposure.
We are more than willing to work with 'power' sellers on rates and fees, grace periods and whatever is reasonable. This isn't about making lots of money, it's about creating a focused marketplace with multiple vendors of all scales and their myriad products. A Trad sweetie shop with second hand gob-stoppers
BTW the Tradauction forum is now installed if anyone's cares to leave further comments or critique.
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
"The site is very new, so there isn't much activity yet, but we will be advertising it from April. I hope that an early alert will allow thesession members to get the early-bird registration deals."
This was posted yesterday - todays 1st March - that's one great 'early alert' !!!
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hey WH,
Good point, I spent so much time creating the site that I'm coming somewhat late to letting people know about it.
I'm happy to extend the offer for thesession.org members through to the after-St-Paddy's-day-hangover.
If you register on or before 17th March please email me after you have confirmed registration to tell me you are a session member and I will upgrade your account status to Preferred Seller. This gives 25% off closing fees for the life of your registration. email me on admin [at] tradauction.com.
In addition, the coupon code ' bodojo ' entered when listing guarantees no fees are paid for sales made before 31st March.
We want to work to the benefit of everyone here and beyond, to make TradAuction a useful resource and responsive not just to the needs of the site but of the community from which it comes.
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hey Pete, all
Just to let you know that after your feedback yesterday, we have reduced all End Of Auction Fees by 1% per tier.
This is a 20% reduction on our fees for the more expensive items which should make European items more accessible to global purchasers.
The other point that I omitted to mention yesterday is that the auction currency is set by the Vendor. There is nothing whatsoever to stop a US vendor listing in USD or an australian listing in ozbucks and selling to a local purchaser.
The site is not exclusively European. We do intend to add Spanish, but just don't have a Spanish Speaking support partner yet. I'd love to offer the site in Irish also but the translation from scratch is a massive job of several thousand lines of code.
We are formulating a makers' special deal to enable artisans and craftspersons to develop their online presence with a minimum fees / maximum exposure objective.
Hopefully we can continue to tweak and massage the site to more closely match both vendors' and buyers' needs. Step one is to let us know how we can make it better for you!
[Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
[Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hello Sessioneers,
I'm Paul Marshall from bodojo.com, the bodhran site, but don't hold that against me!
I'm proud to announce the imminent opening of the Online Irish Music Exchange www.TradAuction.com.
Trad auction is set up specifically to allow trad musicians to sell, exchange and accept offers on new & used Trad instruments, CDs and all kinds of trad bric-a-brac.
The Site hosts TradStores where anyone can sell their wares, particularly useful for bands wanting to sell CDs or craftspersons / dealers selling their wares. A 5-item store is free with every account
Items sold for under £10 are 100% commission-free for store owners and registration as a user before 1 March brings an automatic 25% discount on any closing fees for as long as your account remains valid.
Using the voucher code ' thesession ' when listing an auction means that you pay no fees whatsoever for items sold before 30th March.
There are a whole stack of other benefits, wanted ads, keyword email alerts and more. It's slick professional software and it's in French German and Dutch as well as English. We have support in all those languages.
I apologise for posting yet again about an auction site, I posted recently about bodhran auctions on bodojo, but the software was not up to the game. This is the upgrade and drums are now included in tradauction of course.
The site is very new, so there isn't much activity yet, but we will be advertising it from April. I hope that an early alert will allow thesession members to get the early-bird registration deals.
Thank you for your patience with an announcement posting, hopefully it will be to everyone's benefit.
Regards & thanks
Paul
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by powerhaus
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Is this it?
http://www.site.tradauction.com/index.php
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Yes. It is wrapped in a Joomla installation (site) for presentation and to offer additional planned functionality.
Thanks for confirming
Paul
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by powerhaus
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Thanks, Paul,
This may well be the answer to my problem as I'm just about to clear out several hundred CDs.
However, I registered an hour or so ago and I'm still waiting for my confirmation email.
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by Floss the Tethers
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hi MacCruiskeen,
Can you drop me a quick email - admin at tradauction.com.
Thanks
Paul
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by powerhaus
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
No need, Paul,
The confirmation message has just arrived.
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by Floss the Tethers
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Just registered the only flaw was my state/province was not included in the drop down box which was "West Midlands" so i had to use the nearest one which was Warwickshire. Hope that doesn't effect future deliveries.
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by upmine3
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Having just registered I attempted to become a 'verified seller'. None of the supposed links are operable and the page designer doesn't seem to know his/her right from left.
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by Floss the Tethers
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
The site looks interesting, however, I think your fees may be a bit out of line - at least for those of us in the US.
I am planning on selling a banjo soon. It is worth around $1500 US. Here's a comparison of the fees if it sold for $1500:
eBay (US):
$.15 insertion fee (if I started the bidding at $1, which I always do on eBay, but wouldn't do on TradAuction)
$2.19 base closing fee (8.75% of the initial $25)
$34.12 middle closing fee (3.5% of the remainder up to $1000)
$7.50 final closing fee (1.5% of the remainder above $1000)
___________
$43.96 eBay Total
TradAuction:
£.10 Listing fee
£1.00 Reserve Price
£41.51 End of Auction fee (5.5% of £754.69)
___________
£42.61 TradAuction Total = $84.72 US
Those calculations were done with £1=$1.988 conversion rate.
So much of the issue at stake here is the current weakness of the USD, and the UK eBay fees are slightly higher (and have the same issues with currency conversion, so if I were selling in the UK, the fees would be similar to TradAuction).
But considering that eBay brings me thousands of views on every auction, I don't think I could justify using TradAuction for that purpose, since the cost would be basically double for me! And my goal would be to sell to someone in the US anyway.
Pete
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by Reverend
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
I've just realized what the problem is. The whole set-up is geared to a 1024 x 768 screen resolution, though there's no warning of this, and the designer hasn't taken into account that many visitors to the site will have their browsers set to 800 x 600.
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by Floss the Tethers
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hey guys,
Thank you for your feedback, it is very valuable.
I am trying to make a serious attempt at providing a useful and worthwhile service to our community; as such it is in my best interests to give everyone as much of what you want as possible. Fees can be adjusted, technical issues also Feedback gets that done so cheers.
Pete, I do think that the US/EU currency will be an issue certainly affecting those who seek to buy or sell anything on the web, we do not set out to alienate of course, but we live in a certain part of the world and have local bills to pay. Sometimes it works for us and sometimes against, thanks for understanding.
Closing fees aside, the listing fees on TA are so low as to be negligeable, the option exists therefore to list in both sites and set a realistic reserve or buy it now. We will never have the traffic of ebay but we wish to offer a more targeted service from within a community. I expect a few bumps and I know it will be impossible to keep everyone happy all the time
I'll be revisiting the fees issue with my partners, expect a change.
Maccruiskeen, again thanks for your technical feedback. I shall look more at this and I shall place a best-viewed resolution notice in the footer. I am aware of the difference between right and left, usually.
If you want to email me I can help with better terms for a bulk sale.
Upmine3, I have added West Midlands now. The software is English, I expected it to be accurate
I greatly appreciate your feedback everyone, please keep it coming and let me know how it can be better for you.
I am going to install a public forum on the site right now for people to feed back. It is better than tying up this thread. Give me 20 mins.
Thanks
Paul
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by powerhaus
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Maccruiskeen I have submitted a ticket with support about the verify process - thank you
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by powerhaus
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hey Paul,
There is something to be said for being able to sell to a niche market for sure!
But my point was really that you shouldn't expect much business from the US, at least in higher end instruments. It will still be a useful thing for people to sell CDs and such.
I buy and sell a lot of instruments, so I'll keep my eye on it. And one of these days, the USD won't be so durn weak anymore!
# Posted on February 29th 2008 by Reverend
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hi Pete,
I completely understand, I work in the US occasionally and hate getting paid in dollars because it translates so poorly going back east, I also manufacture and sell into the US and my goods are now just too darned expensive to be competitive. I expect there to be less of a US attraction for now.
People here who are is familiar with me/my sites will know that I'm mostly about information & content and building community around that. In the bodhran world and in all walks of trad I see lots of small instrument makers, craftspersons, and yeah, bands who maybe don't get the exposure or shopfront that their work deserves nor achieve the potential reward for their craft and dedication.
This is partially why stuff below £10 is free, I hope bands jump at it as another outlet for their music, same for string guys and rosin vendors etc etc all you need is a paypal account and an email address. We forego lots of fees but have no less work or overhead with a 9.99 sale than we do for a sale at 999.
It's all about swings and roundabouts and finding a balance that meets everyone's needs, particularly small-time operations who can use the extra exposure.
We are more than willing to work with 'power' sellers on rates and fees, grace periods and whatever is reasonable. This isn't about making lots of money, it's about creating a focused marketplace with multiple vendors of all scales and their myriad products. A Trad sweetie shop with second hand gob-stoppers
BTW the Tradauction forum is now installed if anyone's cares to leave further comments or critique.
Cheers
Paul
# Posted on March 1st 2008 by powerhaus
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
"The site is very new, so there isn't much activity yet, but we will be advertising it from April. I hope that an early alert will allow thesession members to get the early-bird registration deals."
This was posted yesterday - todays 1st March - that's one great 'early alert' !!!
# Posted on March 1st 2008 by the wounded hussar
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hey WH,
Good point, I spent so much time creating the site that I'm coming somewhat late to letting people know about it.
I'm happy to extend the offer for thesession.org members through to the after-St-Paddy's-day-hangover.
If you register on or before 17th March please email me after you have confirmed registration to tell me you are a session member and I will upgrade your account status to Preferred Seller. This gives 25% off closing fees for the life of your registration. email me on admin [at] tradauction.com.
In addition, the coupon code ' bodojo ' entered when listing guarantees no fees are paid for sales made before 31st March.
We want to work to the benefit of everyone here and beyond, to make TradAuction a useful resource and responsive not just to the needs of the site but of the community from which it comes.
Again, thanks for the feedback WH.
Paul
# Posted on March 1st 2008 by powerhaus
Re: [Announcement] TradAuction.com - Irish Music Exchange
Hey Pete, all
Just to let you know that after your feedback yesterday, we have reduced all End Of Auction Fees by 1% per tier.
This is a 20% reduction on our fees for the more expensive items which should make European items more accessible to global purchasers.
The other point that I omitted to mention yesterday is that the auction currency is set by the Vendor. There is nothing whatsoever to stop a US vendor listing in USD or an australian listing in ozbucks and selling to a local purchaser.
The site is not exclusively European. We do intend to add Spanish, but just don't have a Spanish Speaking support partner yet. I'd love to offer the site in Irish also but the translation from scratch is a massive job of several thousand lines of code.
We are formulating a makers' special deal to enable artisans and craftspersons to develop their online presence with a minimum fees / maximum exposure objective.
Hopefully we can continue to tweak and massage the site to more closely match both vendors' and buyers' needs. Step one is to let us know how we can make it better for you!
Cheers
Paul
# Posted on March 1st 2008 by powerhaus