So I'm thinking of making my own auction site

[Jonas]

Well I'm thinking of making my own auction site. I know there are softwares out there you can use.

I also know how to completely fix feedback, a bunch of ideas I haven't told anyone. Basically though to implement it, it would take a lot of work to program and it would take me a lot of time or a lot of money to pay someone.

So any ideas on how I can do this?

[ebayaintstupid]

there is no way to succeed at it.

But if you do, first define a complete business plan for how you would gain buyers' trust how you would get huge sellers to back your site, how you would deal with frauds and legal violations, etc. etc. etc.

You need a business plan it has taken EBAY years to develop. It is why GBAY hasn't just come to fruition. They are gradually beta testing each facet before it does. And they may be years away still and have the best software engineers on the planet.

It will take a monster to beat the monster, or a court order based on their monopoly. Other than that, EBAY will not be beaten.

Amazon, done.
Yahoo, done.
UBID, a joke.
Overstock, nothing there.
All the little guys, geesh, one was advertising it had 5000 listings. WOW, Versus millions for EBAY???

No one can do it without a massive infrastructure. Google is building one. They will release it if it gets to critical mass.

[tvaughan08]

well im not going to knock your hustle...good luck and many blessings...I say go for it.

[aspkin]

It would probably be better to target a specific niche.. maybe one that is failing on eBay and try to go from there. That would be the only way I would do it. Good luck.

[Jonas]

I mainly want to do it to show off how great my ideas for things like redoing certain things of ebay are, particularly feedback will be compeltely different as every other auction site pretty much copies ebay's original feedback idea. I'm not expecting to get rich on it, I just don't want it to turn into a pain. I also don't want it to end up where larger companies will just steal my ideas if they're successful.

[jscan]

target a niche for VERO items, nah joke.

as ebayaintstupid said, develop a comprehensive business plan, it'll aid your project more and give you a direct idea on costs, targets, positives, negatives etc.

A business plan can save you alot of time and money in the future.

[mantisinc]

As said, the only real way you would have success is by targetting a niche. Same with search engines, they are now saturated, however there is still room to target niche engines.

Also, eBay has a vast team, with some awesome programming skills. Any bought script that you try to make succeed will be a no go. Take Eweay, they are using phpprobid, which is probably the most advanced auction software out. They have spent a lot on advertising via adwords, however still have no traffic, and VERY VERY low sales figures.

We all want an alternative, and so do tens of thousands of others. But for you to produce a platform that would satisfy the needs of such users, and promotion to reach such users, would just be a mammoth task that you wouldn't be able to achieve on your own without a substantial budget.

[jscan]

we need someone with money and our information.

[ebayhateluv]

Like Ive said Many times... Bill Gates..

[ebayaintstupid]

Well, what will we call it?

BillyBay?
MicroBay?
VistaBay?

Hmmm.

[Jonas]

Originally Posted by mantisinc

As said, the only real way you would have success is by targetting a niche. Same with search engines, they are now saturated, however there is still room to target niche engines.

Also, eBay has a vast team, with some awesome programming skills. Any bought script that you try to make succeed will be a no go. Take Eweay, they are using phpprobid, which is probably the most advanced auction software out. They have spent a lot on advertising via adwords, however still have no traffic, and VERY VERY low sales figures.

If I worked hard on new ideas, would the others just steal them if people like them?

[ebayaintstupid]

have they stolen EBAY ideas?

Even EBAY steals ideas. They are getting sued for their "Pay It Now" button someone else came up with.

Fact is though, on the internet, you are a cowboy (or girl).

There are software patents, etc. that you can file. But do you have those kind of resources? And even if you file them, it can cost millions to enforce them.

Every day there are tons of companies that deal with this. They are all suing each other left and right. But the ones making the money in the long run are typically just the lawyers.

[jscan]

VISTAPAY.COM

lols

[suspended2008]

Jonas, many people can make a better online auction site than you can, this is not a discouragement, but rather a reminder of the the real reality you are facing. What you want to try to do is create a company that takes in active and ex-ebay sellers as partners in the company, there is something called 'co-operative' which the members are shareholders.With tens of millions of sellers who are fed up with ebay and have been looking for a better alternative to ebay, they are an instant company partners and market itself, look no further, since most sellers are also buyers. When you round up a few million ebayers like that, you have a contest against ebay.

[jscan]

2008 has a goodpoint, with a targeted range of investors and possible partners within such project it could almost be viable.

gathering such investors/partners/shareholders is another thing though.

[Thechronicles]

jonas - so are you going to go through with it?

[Jonas]

I probably won't. Mainly I just wanted to put up a site to try out some of my ideas even if it'll mostly be dead.

See ibidfree.com: free auctions, free classifieds it's dead but people use it.

Mainly I had some ideas for improving certain parts of the auction site system and wanted to make a site with them and also not have them end up being stolen and if my site is rarely used I don't want it to be a huge investment.

I'd probably start to work on it if someone knows a way to keep other sites from stealing my ideas.

[GreenBean]

What would the cost be to trademark your ideas? Can you be satisfied that your concepts
are not already somewhere else?

[jscan]

in Australia the prices are stupid. theres like some ridicolous application fee, then if its approved theres another fee, then theres more fee's to retain it every 3 years.

[Thechronicles]

oh, aright
goodluck if you do decide to go through with it.

[Jonas]

Okay another person told me I should make it.

Anyone know how to:

1) Keep other sites from stealing any new improvements for my site?
2) Keep my site from being bullied by lawyers when I don't have the money? I once read on a forum where a small software developer wanted to keep competitors from bullying him with lawyers where even if he wins, the legal costs will wear him out (which is what ebay is trying to do to craigslist right now) and the forum only came up with creating dummy corporations but that just makes you look fishy to a judge or jury.

[2eXclusiive]

trademark or copy right maybe?