niche-bid ??
 

Maybe I missed something but... recently I had an e-mail from a guy representing a new rc model auction site - niche-bid.co.uk

http://www.niche-bid.co.uk/index.php/home

It seems I got this e-mail because: "This email is coming to you as a registered BMFA club." ?!?

Anybody else been contacted or got any more info on what this set up is all about?

Received same email, I fly planes as well and BMFA is the British Model Flying Association. I spoke to someone at Niche Bid and he said it was probably a marketing mistake. With regards to the site, it all looks good to me. The idea is to be cheaper than ebay and more reliable than classified ads sites. Worth a look I reckon.

I got one from the SHRCCC address. Cant see it catching on myself.

We got one to the Caldicot club address too...call me suspicious/paranoid but I'm not holding my breath!!!

Cheaper than ebay...as in just cheaper fee's? Not gonna save you a lot on a few percent is it?

We know the value of rc stuff...what is it they say about "if something appears to good to be true"

But...with all that said, if it gets going and is just a quicker way to find rc stuff at the "right" prices then good luck to it! You never know.

Im assuming all you guys didnt sign up for "niche-bids" marketing emails (otherwise you would know what the heck it is!) so thats a bit out of order. Especially for whoever gave them your details in the first place - i.e. BRCA database?

Without putting to fine a point on it - you are receiving spam; and if you were so inclined to examine it - it might violate the Data Protection Act if you didnt sign up to it in the first place. (thats illegal!)

Sorry - but I hate when companies pass on details when they shouldnt.
I shall climb down off my soapbox now...

I'm more aircraft than cars but assuming the BRCA has a similar set up to the BMFA then all the club contact details are on their website, so all a company would have to do is look them up as they're in the public domain, no data protection issues or anything.
Considering a couple of other BMFA clubs got it I would assume it was a bulk email to all of us.

forgive me for thinking you are behind the niche bid site youthprojects, but as you only registered the other day when this thread was created and your only 2 posts are in this thread promoting it.....coincidence?

As we have a perfectly good free system on oople with feedback then I think I will be giving it a miss.

Yes I do know the person that's behind the site and they have my full support. I think anybody that is entrepreneurial enough to try something that will clearly make them money if it works but also make it better and cheaper to buy proper model items should be supported.

Er... developing another eBay? FAIL. :thumbdown:

So this site has been running since November 2011 and ony has as far as I can find 5 items for auction, 2 from the administrator. It says its run and moderated by modellers. Are you Youthprojects one of the moderators.
If it takes off then great as it will be cheaper than ebay but at the moment there is not enough information available for it.
Under terms and conditions you want to have control over peoples accounts but later go on to say
Limitation of Liability
We cannot guarantee continuous or secure access to our sites, services or tools, and operation of our sites, services or tools may be interfered with by numerous factors outside of our control. Accordingly, to the extent legally permitted, we exclude all implied warranties, terms and conditions. We are not liable for any loss of money, goodwill or reputation, or any special, indirect or consequential damages arising, directly or indirectly, out of your use of or your inability to use our sites, services and tools

Sorry to say but as you would have control of my accounts and not quarantee their safety there is no way I would sign up

Hi Bodgit, I am the site administrator and have been made aware of this thread. Most people have been extremely supportive of this to fill a potential gap in our market and I'm sorry to see that you don't have the same enthusiasm. I do, however, feel that I need to correct you on a couple of facts:

• The site went live 2 and a half weeks ago, as the email this thread started about would have mentioned. The domain name was set up in November and the site took 4 months to build.
• The auctions you can see are current auctions, there are 4 expired auctions currently showing under "latest auctions" which doesn't seem to be working, we are aware of this and are working to resolve it. This time last week there were 11 auctions. As with any business, you have to start slow and build up. Believe it or not eBay had only 11 auctions on there once!
• If you look closely at the terms and conditions you will see that it clearly states that this is "directly or indirectly, out of your use of or your inability to use our sites". This is the same as other auction sites have because we don't collect the money, the buyer pays the seller directly. Our only responsibility financially to you is for the collection of our fees.
• We do not have control over people's accounts, our control is over the listings. I'm sure you can appreciate that if you do not know what you are searching for on sites like eBay, there are lots of "toys" to search through before finding what you want. Our aim is to filter out those items at point of listing so that our potential buyers are just searching relevant items.
• Cardnim - this is NOT another eBay. Please see paragraph above about how we moderate our listings.

I hope this clarifies matters, I appreciate this won't be for everybody but it would be nice to think that we modellers would support each other rather than trying to trip them up at the first hurdle.

While I dont want to trip up and bash anyone for trying something new, in this case I think a bit of tough love is what Im personally trying to get across.

As someone who buys and sells alot on eBay (and oOple!) I think Im qualified in saying whether this nichebid is something I would use.

Unfortunately, I do think it is just another eBay - the fact that you have filtered out "the toys" is irrelevant. I am not going to want to buy everything on your site, so Im still left to filter out those that I dont - and lets face it, eBay's search engine is awesome.

But heres the real crunch of why I dont think nichebid will ever work - for an auction site to work, you need users. Lots and lots of users. eBay has literally MILLIONS.
You're right, eBay, Gumtree and even our beloved oOple started with 11 people at one point - but they had a USP. I dont see nichebid as having any.

And dont go emailling spam out to people to gain users - what you gain in a couple of extra auctions listed, you loose ten times over in bad reputation... eg. this thread and the feeling people have towards nichebid now!

Sorry, but as the Dragons might say in the den... Im out :thumbdown:
and you should get out fast too!

Cardnim - thank you for your reply, it's good to see other people's opinions on it. I hope we can prove this business a success still.

Fair enough mate, Im glad you took my comments in the manner they were intended.

Really and truly, best of luck mate. I hope Im proved wrong.