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Our Review of Bidz.com:
If you are looking for diamonds, gemstones, watches and
similar luxury jewelry at bargain basement prices, look no further than
BidZ.com. They specialize in auctioning thousands of these items 24
hours a day, seven days a week.
Most of the BidZ auctions are
Business to Consumer
(B2C) based, with some transactions being
conducted between businesses (B2B).
In a recent phone call with the BidZ marketing department, we learned that
their sellers are primarily professional corporations, with some individuals
as well.
BidZ requires all of their sellers to have a sales license before
they will grant approval to market goods from their site.
We asked the BidZ staff about their usage and demographic
statistics, and we found that the site currently has 3.5 million registered
users, with 1/2 million 'opt-in' members receiving a monthly
newsletter.
Although their user base consists of a wide variety of individuals, their primary demographic is females living in the
Midwest, whose age ranges from 25 to 50 years old... In other words, a
very hot potential client in the jewelry store biz. Some additional
research of the BidZ website pages revealed that their user base expands
with roughly 1000-1500 new users per day.
If you are selling gems, jewels or other fine luxury gifts
online, you definitely have to check out this auction website. Their 3
minute auctions are one of the top draws to the site, and similar to ebay's
'Buy-It-Now', this feature alone has created many a dedicated repeat visitor
to the site. It's certainly our favorite feature about bidz.
What's a 3 minute auction? Just what is sounds like: a
fast paced auction lasting only three minutes, in which everything from
inexpensive cubic zirconium trinkets to expensive multi carat diamonds and
gold watches are sold 'live'. You have to know what you want, have
nerves of steel, and be able to bid quickly without hesitation. Do
your homework on the type of items you need before you start looking,
because you won't have time to research once you find something you like!
The 3 minute auction is a fantastic revenue driver for
sellers as it creates a huge amount of impulse buying. Plus, it's
great for buyers, as it's an exciting and fun way to snatch up some
incredible deals, without having to wait forever (in auction time, 'forever' equals one week). Of
course, BidZ has other types of auctions as well: They advertise themselves
as the 'Home of the $1 No Reserve Auctions', and they offer 'Extremely
Expensive' auctions and 'No Shipping' auctions. The extremely
expensive category is where you can find top of the line jewelry, watches,
paintings, sculptures and the like, selling for anywhere from several hundred
to several thousand dollars. The free shipping section is
pretty self explanatory: these items are sold by sellers who will pay the
shipping costs. Another
pulse pounding draw to the BidZ site, similar to the three minute auction,
is the 'Live Streaming Auction' section. The link is on their left
hand toolbar, about eight icons down. We are being specific, because
you DON'T want to miss it. Even if you aren't planning on buying
anything right now, you should check out the streaming section at BidZ, just
for fun. It's exciting to watch the high rollers zoom in on
some of the precious finds.
While checking out the site for review, we watched the 'Live
Streaming Auction' section for awhile, and saw a beautiful men's Movado
watch with a 'Buy Now' retail price of $1190 go for $418 USD. This was
a great deal on a truly superb watch! If you use BidZ, make sure you don't
miss this category as a buyer or a seller. We feel that streaming
sales such as these will soon be the standard in the auction biz- Kudos to
BidZ for being ahead of the curve.
If you are in the business of selling jewelry and similar
gifts, this site can be absolute sales nirvana. But BidZ also sells
all the stuff you might expect at other auction sites: books, DVDs,
vacations, collectibles, etc. How do you keep these types of items
from being overlooked? The solution: you might want to list your regular
auction stuff when you are also listing lots of jewelry related items, and then
cross sell the collectibles, antiques and other kitsch to your buyers.
As a buyer at BidZ, you have the best of both worlds: a
shopping paradise if you are in the market for fine gems, jewels and high
ticket items, as well as some great deals on the usual auction fare such as
lunchboxes, posters, movies and more. There is far less of a frenzy or
glut on the regular auction items at this site, so bargains can and will be
found if you have a sharp eye.
In conclusion, BidZ has something to offer for all auction
users, from casual bidders to serious buyers and sellers. Once
considered by some merely an upstart rival to ebay, they have currently
molded their site into a unique form of online commerce; their luxury market
specialization, 3 minute auctions and consistency in playing the bidding
game their way has made them a staple of the auction community, and a great
place to shop and sell. |
