Q3/Q4 Priorities
Hello all, Greg here again! It continues to amaze me at how quickly time flies! It seems like only a few weeks ago when I communicated my learnings and insights as I hit the 90-day threshold here at Bonanza. Now that we're approaching mid-June, I wanted to tell you about some of the improvement opportunities that we have scheduled to work on for the second half of the year.
Our core focus areas in our third and fourth quarters are:
- Compliance & Fraud Reduction
- Revenue & Efficiency
- Community
Here's our roadmap:
- Utilize our new Seller Advisory Panel to provide critical insights & guidance on multiple levels of our business and to bring a voice into the development of upcoming strategic planning.
- Develop additional payment methods to give our sellers and buyers more choices.
- Develop advanced dashboards that assist our Loss/Risk Prevention team in providing additional safeguarding methods to protect our marketplace from unsavory sellers and their negative impact on our business reputation.
- Continue to evolve our system to ensure tax compliance for all sellers.
- Celebrate BONANZA's 12th ANNIVERSARY (June 22 - June 29) with contests and prizes! Keep an eye out for next week's blog post with more details.
- You've provided feedback that our current billing schedule can be difficult to work into a budget and may impact seller cash flow. We are working to convert our monthly billing cycle to a point-of-sale arrangement. Our goal is to simplify your final value fees and billing statement and to reduce credit card charges. We'll soon be collecting FVF upon the sale of goods.
- Refresh our Token Rewards Program and update the rewards page. There will be more relevant ways to earn tokens and better selections or prizes to use the tokens you've earned. We are also looking to add a Rewards Program for buyers to encourage them to keep coming back to our marketplace!
- Preparations for a Black Friday and Cyber Monday like never before!
- Launch new Bonanza marketplace branding & marketing initiatives.
- Deploy an address validation service to increase shipment delivery accuracy and improve tax compliance.
- Improve the eBay Importer inventory sync process.
On your mark, get set, go!
Rest assured that we are working on many more great things and have a lot more up our sleeve! We expected 2020 to be a year of establishing our core foundation to build long-term successes. We feel that we are well-positioned to reclaim our position as the best e-commerce marketplace as defined by you - our sellers. We look forward to sharing an update on our first Seller Advisory Panel meeting and our anniversary plans!
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82 responses to Q3/Q4 Priorities
Look forward to seeing the changes. I would add that the best offer process needs to be improved. Once an offer is accepted buyers don’t always feel obliged to pay. Maybe improved that process and buyer communications.
Thank you lubababie, I agree with you. Personally, I find our offer process to be confusing. While this is on my list, please understand why it’s currently not at the top-so much else that must get done first. We will get there! Thank you!
All of this is Great but in all of these blogs I never see anything saying you are working to bring more traffic to Bonanza. Is that gonna happen in the near future? This site is totally unknown and rarely comes up in any search engines.
Other then that like all the changes :)
Thank you Montana_Witchy_Woman for your honest feedback. Driving improved site traffic is one of our core issues that cannot be improved overnight. In the Q3/Q4 list above #9 is specific to beginning to get the “word” out there about us. With a few other things (such as Search Engine Optimization, Affiliates Programs etc.), this is critical to our and your success. But we must be thoughtful in our process and the message we want to deliver as it’s incredibly expensive – we want to be smart with our money to keep your costs as low as possible. Thank you!
I’m glad to see some action. Love the site but something is definitely wrong. Sold about 500 items since 2012. I Started listing on another site 2 years ago and moved over 2000 units. Perhaps we should look at what makes them successful. It may all come down to what they invest in advertising.
Thanks for your feedback, HometownComputers. If you think there may be something wrong in the way your booth is set up, you can drop a note to [email protected] to have a team member check it for you. Take care!
Tv ads would be a great way to spend advertising dollars, etsy, macari, eBay and Amazon does, got to get the bonanza name out there to increase awareness and sales for both buyers and sellers
Thank you Debs_GiftShopVintage, I don’t disagree with you- at all. I would suggest that to get there-and be successful, many other fundamental things must be completed first. We will get there. Thank you!
Work on the refund issues requiring proof of refund. Such a hassle!
Hi volcanick, thanks for your feedback. If a refund is through PayPal we can sometimes see the receipt of the refund. In all other cases, we have only the receipt to confirm it, which is necessary to credit your account with the final value fee.
You can start the refund request with one click from either your billing statement or the order form, attach the receipt and submit. If this process is not working correctly please let me know. [email protected]
I hope there is a plan for advertising somewhere in there. Still haven’t sold anything this year on Bonanza and never see Bonanza links on Google search.
Hi CatPurry! We advertise sellers’ items extensively on Google Shopping. I checked your items and we are buying ads for all but two of your listings (two need a UPC). If you’d like a team member to take a look at your booth you can contact [email protected]. Thanks!
Not a big fan of the Tax charges!
Thank you for your thoughts tmac47! We didn’t write the legislation, but we are bound to follow it, and many other laws. Ensuring that we are first and foremost a compliant and trusted marketplace, is imperative to our future success. With our partner TaxCloud, we are trying to make a painful process easier. Please let us know how we can continue to improve. Thank you!
This is great ! I look forward to these important improvements… I’m glad you will be improving the Ebay Importer process, but can you also improve the data import and export tool as well… the few times I have tried to import updates to non-Ebay products, I’ve ended up with duplicate listings, and then sorting that out was a pain in the butt… we need a reliable way to download all of our data so that we can make updates such as prices, quantities, and so on, and then upload the updates back to the system without it creating duplicates or other data issues… Thanks !
HI!
Great comments! There is a way to keep the duplicate listings from happening already in place. Please email us at support and we will be glad to help you with how to resolve the duplicate listing issue
A very belated Welcome Aboard! It’s good to have you as our new VP!
Congrats to the new Seller Advisory Panel members. I’m sure they, along with our new Happiness Manager Shelly, will continue to keep Bonanza the awesome seller-centric marketplace it is and make it even better.
I’m loving the changes and the new ideas thus far and am excited to see what’s ahead for Bonanza and be a part of it’s growth.
Thank you Good_Karma_Resale! Your message is very much appreciated! I’m a dog fan as well, but that might qualify as a wooly mammoth! We’re glad you’re here with us! Thank you!
Happy Anniversary BONANZA!!!. I love the idea of improving on the token rewards, I’m looking forward to seeing what is in store
Hi Brian! Thanks for your support and I am looking forward to working with you on the Seller Advisory Panel!
Thanks for the update, Greg. It’s good to see you’re getting a handle on things, and have improvements planned.
I agree about the offer process. Although I don’t use ‘best offer’, I do get offers that I have to adjust and add shipping costs to. I’m in Canada, and that’s just how it works for some things. Trouble is, I can’t just accept the offer, because it doesn’t include any shipping.
Thank you BookbinEtc, I do think the ability to make an offer is an important feature to have – but we have to make the tools and processes easier to understand. This will be addressed. Thank you!
Much of this sounds great but can we opt to pay fvf monthly instead at point of sale. I prefer to have a one-time charge instead of several small charges throughout a month…
Thanks
Hi Cynthia! The charge will happen automatically with the order being paid so you will not have to make any small payments throughout the month. Looking forward to working with you on the Seller Advisory Panel!
Thank you for keeping us updated on all the exciting new changes coming up for Bonanza!
We’re happy to! Thanks Howin_Hounds! I love your basset pic, we had a basset and she was so fun. They are really great dogs.
I have been listing items lower here than any of my other sites- but no sales. Just not enough traffic. The images also just not as attractive as other sites. Word of mouth will spread if the images look better and sales improve.
Hello Cinnamonsugar thank you for you thoughts and insights! Can you please send some additional specifics on the image improvements that you recommend we make? It would be greatly appreciated if you could to the top of the page and select “help” / then “submit an idea” and we’ll take it from there! Thank you!
Have you improved making listings easier? Takes so long to list and not able to list on a cell phone. I even bought a lap top but that didnt help. I’m lucky to make 1 sale a month. It’s really sad. Yes I contacted support for help.
Thank you Stephydelpy, this is a really good question, thank you for asking! There are really two distinct elements here that I’m challenging our team to improve. #1: I’ve asked Sarah and Shelly to come up with metrics that demonstrate the seller experience. # of “clicks per item” (to set up) is one such metric. I’m looking to understand how we are making your work time more efficient (with a few other metrics). Creating an improved customer experience starts well before a trouble ticket is generated. #2 Optimizing our marketplace for a vastly improved user experience – independent of the device that is being used to access Bonanza for buying or selling. I’ve challenged our design engineering team to establish a multi-year roadmap that gets us to a fully “responsive” site. Keep up these great questions coming! Thank you!
Hi Greg -
Glad to see that you are considering a buyer rewards program. It should keep buyers returning to Bonanza. I first submitted that idea years ago. Glad to see that someone is running with it. Finally! Good luck with the priorities and hope to see them soon…
Hi DaveMinNJ! Thanks for submitting the idea, we’ve been wanting to get this going for some time and are excited to see it go live soon.
Greg,
Excited for the changes. I am quite worried about your fraud and compliance goal however. This, much like Amazon has done, is a way for large corporations to stifle small business. My team and I know better than most what items are not legitimate. I have been selling for close to 15 yrs and have been with Bonanza for much of that time. I am hoping that you will make allowances for time-tested, record-proven sellers like myself instead of blindly ‘gating’ me from selling a DVD. Additionally, not caving to large corporation demands claiming they are the only ones allowed to sell their product. See Speck phone cases, Monster cable, etc. And for the love, would you get synced up with Art of Books!? Do you realize the revenue you’re missing there? Especially now that Fillz has closed you have hundreds of sellers on that platform that would sign up tomorrow…if only that integration was made…if only….
Bargain_Treasures fantastic question and great points, let me try to address some of them here. First off, at a greater level if we did nothing, I think you would agree that it would be irresponsible of us. Earning not only seller but buyer trust, is critical for us to get our brand name out there. Compliance does not mean “all or nothing.” Every day our Loss & Risk Prevention team is actively monitoring a number of different things from brand infringement, potential EPA violations to safety issues etc. Unfortunately there are enough “bad actors” that our active vigilance is necessary. That said, we are a marketplace for small businesses, it’s our job to spot the right partners and work with them for us to be mutually successful. As for your second point regarding “The Art of Books,” I will need to dig into that to understand. Thank you for bringing it to my attention! Please keep these great insights and questions coming! Thank you!
I am sooooooo happy about the choice to take fees directly from purchases!! Thank you!
Thanks ZipseB! We have heard from many sellers that this system will work better for them. We’re happy that you’re happy!
I really like your format and find your site easy to navigate. Bonanza is a platform I recently discovered. I am especially happy to have my Ebay Listings Sync into Bonanza. This is genius. After listing with Bonanza only one month ago, I just had my first sale! Hoping of course this will pickup in 3rd and 4th quarter.
Thanks, CherryHillYardSale! Congrats on your first sale!
It all looks pretty good. Thanks for your efforts to keep improving the process and web site.
You’re welcome, Steve! And thank you for volunteering for the Seller Advisory Panel to help us comtinue to improve.
Good list. I hope the address validation happens when the customer enters it. Currently when an address comes up as invalid with our shipping tool, we either guess the right one, leave as is (as Amazon requires) or contact the customer and delay the order.
Thank you TCR _Engraving for your question on address validation. Yes, it’s our view also that it will occur at order entry…I also envision it eventually occur at all places where addresses are needed (e.g. seller set up, inventory locations etc.) you can see how this information is critical as well! Thank you!
You stated that “We’ll soon be collecting FVF upon the sale of goods.” Will the fees be deducted automatically from PayPal or do we have to pay them by credit card? Will we be able to apply tokens to the bill? Thanks for all you are doing and look forward to the future of Bonanza.
Hi Starfisher! We’re still working on all the details, but we plan to have the fees deducted automatically so you don’t have the credit card fees. You will still be able to apply tokens to the bill. We’ll be sure to provide more information as soon as we are able to. Thanks for your comment and questions.
Just new to selling on this site and it would be great if one could pull up your booth and instantly see view on items like one can on Ebay.
Hi Kat496! Thanks so much for your feedback. You can see your views on your selling dashboard by clicking into the Booth Stats page. I am also going to look into your suggestion. Thanks!
Sounds good! Will we still be able to use our tokens towards our fvf? Also, we really need some advertising such as on tv, just putting out some ad’s on the web isn’t going to cut it they will just get lost., Mercari has done advertising with just 1 ad on television and has become extremely popular. Thank you for all you are trying to do.
Thank you SparklesJewelry for the good questions! Yes you’ll still be able to use your tokens toward FVF – and some other new things. Stay tuned! Also, our rockstar UX Designer has proposed a really cool redesign of the tokens pages that you’ll really like too! Regarding TV ads…we have some work to do before launching into this space – but I would agree that more marketing is required for us to get to the “next level.” Thank you!
I agree with the post about Bonanza needing to be more known. I know it’s not to happen overnight but keeping my fingers crossed. I left Etsy as I did not like their new policy controlling how we are paid and constantly having to renew. Hoping for more traffic.
Thanks for your comments, Patti-G! We hope you enjoy using Bonanza!
HI am new to Bonanza. I own a tradeshow company where I booked 180 million dollars in gross sales in 40 years.
This social media is a new endeavor for me It is exciting as I delve into a new career. I get to express my creative side and share my designs with the world.
I am proud to be with bonanza and hope to grow Greatbuys1 with you.
Paula Garrett
Thank you Paula and welcome to Bonanza! I hope your good fortune and successes will be continued in our marketplace! Thank you!
Thanks so much, always great to get updates!
You’re welcome, BKeist01! Glad you find these updates helpful, we will continue to keep you posted on our roadmap.
I am concerned about taking fees at point of sale? Will I still be able to exchange my tokens for a credit off of my selling fees?
Hi sellingtime, we don’t have all the details yet, but you will absolutely be able to use your tokens for a credit off of your selling fees. No worries!
Looks like a full plate. I’m in Canada as well. If you get a chance to iron out the cross-border shipping wrinkles when us Canucks list products, that would be great. Reward tokens for Buyers should be an early priority – good thinking. Welcome aboard. Keep up the good work. Cheers!
Thanks for the comment, shoreliner. Please write to [email protected] and tell me more about the cross-border wrinkles. And yes, we are excited to have a buyer reward program coming up.
In regards to improving the eBay importer: Are there any plans to include import from non-US eBay sites?
I’m about to hike up my trousers and spend weeks working on a CSV file to bring my eBay listings to Bonanza (this stuff is like pulling teeth for me) since I can’t import from UK eBay.
However I would rather not do that if the importer will be seeing improvements in that regard, and import from non-US sites is only a month or two away.
Otherwise I’m buzzed to be part of Bonanza!
Hi Fantasy_Zone! Imports from UK eBay is not in the works, but a CSV file, once built, is very simple to use and to manage listings. It works very well. If you run into CSV questions, our support team may be able to help.
This all sounds fantastic but first and foremost you must update this website. I have been here nine years and nothing has changed the Layout and colors as well as graphics do not allow buyers to stay on the site and shop. after you update the website you need to make television commercials which I have been telling Bonanza to do for in the past 7 years but they will never do this. you are never in a million years going to compete with eBay unless you make an effort to improve just website every single day and bring more buyers to the website every single day. I have been a businessman for 30 years and there’s two kinds of people in business the slow and the Dead. Please help us sellers. I pay for a monthly subscription to bring my booth more buyers but I never can break even and actually make a profit here. Thanks????
Hi TheCollectorZZone! Thanks for your comments. We have been working on site updates (wait until you see the new Tokens & Rewards page! Wow!). As far as traffic goes, I checked your booth and was able to get more of your listings into Google Shopping for advertising. Some were missing a description. I hope this helps.
Improve the eBay Importer inventory sync process should be NR.1
Try contacting Inventory systems such as “SellerActive” and “Channeladvisor” to assist them to build an integration with them. As a seller I already reached out to SellerActive but they don’t take Bonanza serious yet. I wish they did, since I have to cancel too many orders and taking inventory out manually per order is too much work during busy days and causes errors.
Hi buybetterbrands! Thanks for the recommendation, we will check them out. If you are having trouble with your sync, please check in with our support team. They can check your settings. Take care!
We’ll soon be collecting FVF upon the sale of goods.
How will this affect being able to use tokens. Sounds like you have to pay ASAP & if the FVF is under $1.00 you will have to waste tokens as the tokens are in $1.00 increments.
Hi The99centhousefund! We still working out the process, but you will be able to use your tokens. Take care!
Just wanted to say congrats to both of you as I can see improvements in Bonanza since I joined. My stuff is starting to show up a little bit more all the time. Keep working and we might be able to give the big boys a run for their money before long.8^D
Thanks puddleduck205!
I did make a mistake on 5 star rating. Didn’t me to hit what was the low number. So at the moment it is 3-half.
Hi Michael! Click on the seller’s feedback page and use the Revise option to change your feedback. Thanks!
Love to see the good ideas in the pipeline, Bonanza is great and really could benefit from more advertising to get the brand out there to bring traffic to the site. The site has been getting better bit by bit. Keep up the great work.
Thanks TurtleCreamBeans! We will!
Today was my first encounter with Bonanza, followed by my first purchase. I was very pleased with the entire experience end to end. I had already planned to check Bonanza the next time I plan to buy something online, when the face of BonanzaGreg showed up on my screen. I was very surprised and pleased to see my former colleague. Congrats Greg! It sounds like you have a solid plan in place for Bonanza. You can count on my repeat business.
Hey there! Great to hear from you and thank you for your wonderful review of our Marketplace! I hope all is well with you and I look forward to catching up!
Nice list! Get several of those going & we should see some improved results. As for the effectiveness of TV advertising – who watches TV anymore??? Too expensive for smaller venues, not as effective. Email newsletters from Bonanza on a regular basis to buyers worth considering, tied to the proposed buyer rewards program. A specialty site I also sell on uses email newsletter marketing and every day they send one out I get a boost in sales (now a couple of years track record). Sales have steadily gone up. As much as I hate receiving those emails as an email user, they work for targeted categories and repeat buyers. Worth considering. Final thought, any consideration to improving Spark Lister? I like working with it, it’s really sped up listing. Has a few areas where it could be improved & streamlined. I stopped using a third party lister because Spark Lister is much more efficient. Would be helpful to users to have better Help documentation on Spark Lister. Thanks for these new initiatives – they increase the chances that results will improve in the year ahead.
Thanks for sharing your insightful comments, ThePostcardDepot! We are looking at Spark Lister and understand that it needs some improvements. We are looking forward to the years ahead as well!
I like the adding rewards to buyers. I think that will help them come back and buy more. Im starting to like the direction Bonanza is heading in again!!
Thanks, toyzfromthedarkside! We are excited about the opportunities we have ahead!
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