What onlineauction.com Members Have to Say

I thought it would be fun and interesting to see what some of the members really think about being onlineauction.com sellers and buyers. And to see exactly what they were willing to put into print. So I asked the following questions:
What brought you to OLA?

What keeps you here?

And an overall, How is Going for you?
I haven’t received as many replies as one would hope. But I am posting the ones that I did receive. These are exact quotes from the thread. There is no editing. These are reposted with permission of the authors:

Jewelzodonnell (Founding Member, joined October 15, 2007)writes:

“I was looking for a new home last fall when the “other place” started going crazy. After being burned by them too many times, I just got fed up, and so I did a search for “auction houses” and “online auctions”. OLA came up on the first page. So after checking it out for awhile, I signed up, and started listing.

I closed my store at the “other place” in January/February, and have not looked back since.

What keeps me here? Well, truth be told, we are a family. We all try to help each other out the best way we can. If anyone has questions or concerns, people go out of their way to help. It is a nice, friendly atmosphere and the enthusiasm is unbelievable.

Look what happened with the Rummage Sale. ndallen brought up the subject, I thought it was a great idea. And of course yourself and others really banded together to make it work. It was awesome, the drive and energy just kept building.

How is it going for me? Well, it is a bit slow right now, but I have to admit, since I live in Canada I think that may be a bit of a deterrent for some. I also sell some items that have a unique collector base, such as my NASA miniature replicas. I just have to try to find my collectors again lol. I firmly believe that given time, and the economy a chance to build up again, things are going to get better.”

Kryseemac (Founding Member, joined August 6, 2006) writes:

“At OLA I can sell a single charm or a pack of 100. I can now offer several thousand items…many types of tiny findings too for the miniaturist and doll makers. All for only $8 a month. I love it here.”

Davendeb1178 (Basic Member, joined February 7, 2008) writes:
What brought us to OLA?

Dave & I had been selling on Ebay for over 3 years, doing quite well then all the new changes started over there. It just got too expensive for us to continue selling on a regular basis over there. We did alot of research on several different sights & found OLA to be the best one for our needs.

What keeps us here?

The potential of being on the ground floor of something very special. Ola allows us as sellers to run our business the way it should be run without alot of interference, silly restrictions & demands. But one of the most important reasons we will stay is all the wonderful people here on OLA. There are so many that have become just like family to us. They really care about us & that is very important. Also the staff is the tops. It is very important when you are running an online business that as a seller you have a way to get in contact with the company if there is a problem, and at OLA we are able to do this and they are very helpful & friendly.

Overall how is it going for you?

Considering how the economy is right now, it could be worse. It is slow, but we have high hopes that it will pick up soon. We are very excited about the new changes coming later this summer. We had good success with the Rummage Sale and have sold a couple things since then. We have picked up several more watchers too. We would rather stay here on OLA & stick it out to help make this sight grow.

Beverlyj (Founding Member, joined March 5, 2006) writes:

James and I came to OLA in March of 2006 after researching many auction venue alternatives. For many years Ebay was the place to be as it was and still is a household name. With the ever rising cost of conducting business at Ebay we knew we had to find a more cost effective auction site.

We chose to become Founding Members because the perks were to hard to resist. Upon joining OLA we began listing and found that the process took less steps than listing on Ebay. We also have several payment methods to choose from that are less costly than PayPal which Ebay demands that PayPal be the only payment source other than checks or money orders.

Are we making a profit? Yes with OLA only taking $96 a year out of our pocket it would be very hard not to make a profit from sales at OLA.

Will we continue to conduct auctions at OLA? Yes for as long as our health allows.

Kittenstreasurechest (Basic Member, joined February 12, 2008) writes:

I was looking for a venue that I could afford to use, easy to list on, and with growth potential. I explored several other sites before I chose OLA, and since then have never looked back.

OLA has true potential to become the best online auction site around. I love the fact that Onlineauction.com has a CEO and founder that had years of online buying and selling experience before founding OLA. He is a life time collector and understands what auctions are supposed to be about! He has created “The Real Online Auction Site” and is committed to making OLA succesful while keeping it affordable and fun.

Namcy4 (Basic Member, joined March 6, 2008) writes:

I’m a total amateur, and just sell sometimes. So far, I have not gotten a sale on ola….but i think that is because other buyers haven’t found it yet….When we had the rummage sale, I was totally amazed at the wonderful bargains…I think the “stores” which have predictable merchandise and advertise will prosper first…I think as an “occasional seller” it will be hard to find my stuff, until more buyers come.
The rummage sale was a bit like a small town, with sellers selling to each other….but sooner or later, buyers will discover the great bargains here…which are sustainable because of the low overhead. I’m hoping it’s like that baseball movie “build it and they will come”…..(sorry….memory fails, no idea re the name of the move…)….

RoyalTreasures (Founding Member, joined February 10, 2008) writes:

I came to OLA mainly because ebay, which I felt was my auction home, turned against the small sellers. I felt if I hung around there that I would have to close my business down within 6 months. I was already struggling with ebay and drowning in their and Paypal’s fees. I wasn’t making minimum wage when I totaled the hours I was putting in after all the fees I was paying.

I stay here at OLA for several reasons.
1) OLA actually has a future for the small time seller and for the buyer that wants to find that special item that they no longer get at ebay because again they have run off the small seller and opened its doors to big corporations that don’t sell the antique anniversary clock that is just like the one I used to see at my grandmothers when I was a kid.

2) The atmosphere is so much different here. This is a REAL community made up of office staff, sellers, and buyers. I have a problem and I can send an email and get a real response, not something canned saying that they are reviewing my situation, then never hear about it again. I can call if my issue is urgent. Or I can put a question on the boards and have at least a dozen people try to help me through it. Not to mention the sincere concern that we have for one another.

Over all it is going great. I get at least 2 or 3 new buyers a week some with established feed back and some without and some have returned to buy from me again. OLA is growing and so is my business and I like that we are growing together! Thats why I became a founding member.

Honeymooner (Basic Member, joined February 8, 2008) writes:

I joined eBay in January of 1998. It’s a 50/50 split for me as buyer/seller. I’m a true believer in starting low and letting buyers bid an item up. After two items in a row sold for my low opening bid (end result = I paid the buyer to take the item off my hands!), I began looking for a selling alternative. My buying activity has shrunk dramatically as well… Even though I understand WHY there’s a $7.95 shipping charge on a single sports card, I’m simply not willing to pay it!

OLA offers a sense of community that defies description, and couldn’t be purchased at any price. Support is outstanding from OLA employees and the OLA community at large (buyers and sellers). It’s nice to feel “wanted” again.

Things are BAD right now across the board. This is an excellent time for the OLA evolution to take place. By the time the economy bottoms out and starts to turn, OLA will be the premiere auction experience site on the web.
Now for me:
Callmemomo (Founding Member, joined February 11, 2008) writes:

 
I stay here for several reasons. One being that I am having success here; which of course is anyone’s first priority. Another reason is the great people on OLA. Not just the customer service, which is absolutely the BEST on the internet. They are real live people who are concerned with the needs and wants of their users. But the other members are another reason I stay!! The other members on this site are so helpful and caring for each other, it’s almost hard to even imagine let alone live it. I have so much fun on the chats here whereas I basically never chatted over “there”. But it’s more than that. The help that is available through these people is absolutely incredible. It’s like one big family lending a hand to all the members of the family. No one seems to have that competitive attitude that says “hey buddy, you are on your own”. You will not find that here.
I also stay because I sell stuff, but I also have been finding stuff I want without having to pay an arm and a leg for the items because of fees. Don’t think buyers pay fees elsewhere? You need to rethink that one. Where do you think sellers get the money to pay those fees at those other places? Through their pricing and shipping costs in their listings. There’s no need for that at onlineauction.com, so the buyer makes out really well.
I think in the above, I’ve also covered how it is going for me. It is going quite well, and I am having the time of my life. If you haven’t been to onlineauction.com yet, please check it out. It costs nothing to look at it. And while there, check my OLA House at http://www.onlineauction.com/store/callmemomo.
Come back again and look for more updates on what’s happening at OLA!!! And thanks for visiting!!

I was on eBay since 1999. I wasn’t a big seller or even a big user in any sense. I had just started selling in earnest last fall. However, I had no sooner started to get my name out there when they announced all the new changes coming up. I immediately started looking elsewhere. I was having a hard enough time keeping up with their fees without them increasing the FVF’s. I researched and researched and ended out listing at a couple of other places before finding onlineauction.com. I did not have much success. No looks at one place and only a buy from a scammer at another place. No customer service at either place and no forums at one of them. I am not going to elaborate on what these sites were; that is not the purpose of this post. So, I researched again and landed here at OLA.