Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hello, We have just launched our business...the very competitive and highly saturated market of online auctioning. We have spent about 2 years developing the site and believe we have a quality product.We would really appreciate having our website reviewed and getting some pointers from the online community. http://www.yardsalesurfer.com
Thank you
Melissa Griffore,
CEO Yardsale SurferTM


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Melissa Griffore
CEO, Yardsale SurferTM
Yardsale Surfer

Here`s the link as a link:  Yard Sale Surfer - home

Hi Melissa :-)
I`m not quite sure what the blank field box is in the middle there? The site doesn`t much explain itself at all, and I`m not a fan of the pop-up extra windows to explain it.

I`d rather see this type of site designed so it goes % of window, rather than a little scrunched-up box at the far left of my screen. Then, have a basic explanation of what you offer, how it works, and why someone should investigate further, right there as content on the page.

Are you a new auction site? If so, what`s your take on the competitive situation and how do you intend to offer something better?

The "Check Out How" it works button doesn`t work.  The "Learn How" button does.

You do have a USP that makes your auction site attractive, but I could not determine from the home page that you were yet another auction site, and your USP was even harder to determine.


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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

Hello Craig,
Thank You for taking a look at our site. You would think it would occur to us to put the word `search` next to our search box...but I guess after staring at the landing page for over a year it just escaped us. So thank you for pointing that one out!
As far as our market positioning and explanation about what we have to offer this can be found on our `welcome` page. We have designed the landing page as it is because we do not want to bombard people with `stuff` they might not be interested in. From the landing page, people can choose to go to our welcome page or browse page or simply type in what they are looking for. We understand that our format is a `little different` and you have made some important suggestions. We need to make the navigation of our site a little more obvious. I will pass this info on to our programmer.

As far as the marketing positioning...straight out of the business plan here it goes:

Despite the large amount of growth and diversification in the online shopping industry we believe that our target market is still under served. Most large companies, including eBay, have strayed away from focusing on developing quality communities and are concentrating simply on selling goods in mass quantities. Yardsale Surfer will focus on person-to-person sales and small-business-to-person sales of unique, used or individual items rather than selling common goods in mass quantities.
And as a brief summary...
Our target market is those that buy and sell unique goods including collectors, hobbiests and special interest groups. Our business model is designed for small businesses and individuals.
Thank you again,
Melissa Griffore,
CEO, Yardsale Surfer


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Melissa Griffore
CEO, Yardsale SurferTM
Yardsale Surfer

Hello Steve,
Thank you for letting us know about the bug that you found. This does not occur on my computer, nor my programmer`s nor my web designer`s so can you please tell me what browser you use, what version of Windows you have or if you have a MAC or not..and any other information you might know of that can help us find the bug. Did you read our welcome page? I was under the impression that We clearly defined our USP there. This is rather an important question because new users really should be directed to our welcome page and if both you and Craig did not feel compelled to go there we have to somehow make changes so people do.
Thank you for looking at our site. If you can fill me in on some more details I can pass the info on and have some changes made.
Melissa Griffore,
CEO, Yardsale Surfer


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Melissa Griffore
CEO, Yardsale SurferTM
Yardsale Surfer

Looks like the Welcome page is getting overlooked because there`s no immediately clear way to get to it. :-D

As for the market, have you looked at OnlineAuction.com? This was put together by an eBay power-seller who got fed up with the nonsense going on over at eBay. They have some bugs and issues as well, but it`s your main competitor, from what you`ve said. :-) Always helps to know what the other guy`s doing, right?

I get the first page, but when I click on "next", all I get is: "How to buy an item" at the top and a blank page.

I am using Windows Vista (YUK - temporary, I guarantee) and Mozilla Firefox.

ON your USP:
I should NOT have to hunt for it.  If I were a casual browser who reached your site by accident or referral, I would probably not have gone past the home page because there is nothing there that seemed any different than eBay.

Again, I find myself drawn into the criticism of someone`s business model, but I think that you are missing a big opportunity here by focusing on a small niche of buyers and sellers who are probably already well served by eBay.

First, your name: "Yard Sale Surfer" is misleading.  My first thought was, great, yet another place to list or look for a yard sale.  Digging deeper I find that your site has absolutely nothing to do with yard sales, but is yet another auction site.  I only dug deeper because you asked for site critique, otherwise, I would have been gone.  This is when I finally found your USP which I think is brilliant.   I`ve never seen anything like it on the net.  I think that you should protect it, run with it and not limit your scope to a tiny niche of baseball card swappers.

Just my opinion.



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Steve Mann
Internet Videographer
MannMade Digital Video
My Email

Thank You Steve once again for your comments. I will definitely discuss th issue we might have with Windows Vista...as none of us have the misfortune to be working with it;)
And thanks for your comments on our USP I will discuss it with our team and consider making some changes to have it more `out there` for people.
Do you think..and Craig if you are reading this too...that the site would be better off without the landing page entirely?
Melissa Griffore,
CEO, Yardsale Surfer


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Melissa Griffore
CEO, Yardsale SurferTM
Yardsale Surfer

I wasn`t gonna comment on the business model either, but since Steve pioneered it, I have to agree. I too, thought "yard sale" and imagined one thing. I was disappointed that the actual site had nothing at all to do with anything I`d visualized.

If I`d been a general Web explorer, I would`ve clicked away from the site. But since it`s a critique, I stuck with it and looked at other things that would attract or repel me.

Yes, I think the landing page is currently doing nothing for you at all. I don`t usually like to have that negative a commentary, but with a basic question I guess it`s okay. Only, though, if you take this objectively as an observation in context with an overall strategic analysis.

Before you go changing anything, how about this: "What exactly are you trying to do?"

That goes directly to the USP. You`ve said some vague things about an "under served market," which explains nothing. Viewing your site immediately brings to mind eBay and Online Auction. So far, we`ve heard nothing about how this site is diferent from them.

Both Steve and I disagree that eBay is "under serving" anybody. They also are a multi-billion-dollar company, doing quite well at serving people looking for yard sale and flea-market deals.

What was your intent, when starting this site, and what exactly do you perceive as the way "other big sites under serve" what market?

Gosh I can`t believe it has been over a month since I posted here! I have been busy running in all sorts of directions as I`m sure you both understand. Sorry for taking so long to get back to you both and thank you for the time you took to review our site. We have made changes thanks to your suggestion..or put them on our to do list. Otherwise Steve I might have finally gotten to the bottom of the problem of the demo pop-up not appearing. It happened to me all of a sudden ..I reinstalled my flash player and it fixed the problem. Otherwise about our USP, it is not something I really want to openly discuss at this time. We have done our research and have drawn our conclusions..and heck if we are wrong- so be it! On the other hand I do appreciate your opinions and they I will definitely consider them.
Thanks again!
Melissa Griffore,
CEO, Yardsale Surfer



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Melissa Griffore
CEO, Yardsale SurferTM
Yardsale Surfer