Saturday, January 8, 2011

JCK Show Announces Extended Dates and Enhanced Features


By JCK Staff
Posted on January 7, 2011

As JCK Las Vegas 2011 finds its new home at Mandalay Bay this June, attendees can expect extended show days, new exhibitors, and new product focus areas, JCK Events announced Jan. 6.

The show will feature a redesigned show floor organized by product category to aid buyers in efficiently shopping the JCK show floor. More than 80 percent of the floor will occupy product location “destinations” with the introduction of silver, bridal, fashion jewelry, and pearls.

A growing number of new exhibitors have signed up for this year’s show, including Temple St. Clair, Rio Tinto Diamonds, Lagos, Alex Sepkus, and Breitling (at Swiss Watch at JCK), among others.

In addition, extended dates for LUXURY, Equipment Technology & Supplies, and AGTA will allow additional opportunities for buyers to source key areas of the show floor. LUXURY, typically a three-day event, will expand to seven: May 31–June 6 (May 31–June 2 by invitation only). AGTA will run June 2–7, and Equipment, Technology & Supplies runs June 3–7.

Monday, January 3, 2011

We're Back & We Found Poop In The Sandbox, Again


As far back as I can remember, it has been said in various ways that we shouldn't poop in our sandbox or a sandbox that we frequent. Even an animal will not poop in their bed. You likely know the old saying - you made your bed, now you have to lie in it. The same holds true for sandboxes.

Well, some reading this will say that I am pooping in a sandbox I frequent but that is not the case. What I am going to do in the next several posts is to out some of those who are doing the pooping and point out some of the poop that is just so deep, it can't escape being written about.

We have been gone awhile do to a recent move and health issues so the following will not necessarily be in the proper chronological order, date wise of the event, but I will try to include when it happened in the posts.

Please remember, when your sandbox or one you frequent is being polluted and no one is doing any poop scooping or they scoop in a discriminating way, it is not wrong to warn others to be aware of the poop so they can try not to get any on their shoes. I, for one, can not remain quiet any longer.

And by the way, Bonanza thinks that they can gain buyer trust with logos from PayPal, VeriSign, Truste and etc. Well, until they clean up the riff raff on the site and run the forums consistently without prejudice, trust will be an issue. Logos do not instill trust. A well run site with honest sellers who list items as what they are (not what they are not) is what it takes. The site needs to build trust in the usual way, not off the backs of other websites. Those are some examples of removing the poop.

We Will No Longer Post On The Bonanza Forums


Due to an incident on 11-04-10, we have had enough. Seems that Bonanza wants their members to think that they are able to express themselves but that is clearly not the case.

Here is a post from Bonanza forums written by Mark that states, in part:

"Hey everyone,

Each day one of the first things that we do is browse the forums to get a sense of how the community is doing, what is new, how everyone is, etc. The past couple of days we have seen a couple of posters that stated that they were “afraid to post” or “hesitant to discuss sensitive matters” in the forums for fear of being DMV’d (Disemvoweled, suspended, etc, see definitions below). So that everyone in the community is clear, that is not how we roll. We totally want you to talk, discuss, and have constructive conversations and carry on as you always have. The idea that we do not want you to disagree or the be “only cheery” is not true and not realistic. That being said, we are very intent on having one of the most friendliest and empowering communities online, which we are. Does that mean that you cannot disagree with someone? Not even. Bill and I disagree all the time (mostly about Racquetball rules and the best Nachos in Seattle). But when you do disagree (on Bonanza), you need to disagree constructively and in a professional manner. We want to make sure that we are fostering a community that is welcoming to all, buyers and sellers, because lets face it, there is enough dreariness in this world to go around."

http://www.bonanza.com/forums/4/topics/136442

We got disemvoweled and a forum violation on page four in this thread:

http://www.bonanza.com/forums/9/topics/138465?page=4

If you don't like clicking on links, you can click on the below screenshot to enlarge it to see the missing vowels:

This is what was written before the disemvoweling:

>>Why does the Rush banner show up in my booth? We hope that Rushes are going to become one of the differentiating features of Bonanza — so we don’t want these to be an event that is buried where it won’t be seen. We will be closely monitoring if and how the Rush announcement affects buying behavior, but given how many buyers visit from search and click away after one page, we figure it can’t be a bad thing to give them a second place to glance at if the original item they came to see didn’t meet their buying criteria.

And of course, any buyer, whether logged in or not, can hide the Rush notification with a single click.<<

If Bonz is going to leave that banner in our booth and take no consideration that we work hard to bring buyers to OUR booth (our time and effort with no help from Bonz to bring them to our booth) then we will NOT be renewing our premiere membership.

Bonz has no right to put that banner in our booth to take our customers out of our booth. We don't want our visitors/buyers seeing that banner in our booth! We can NOT hide that banner from our visitors/buyers by clicking anything.

We don't want that banner in our booth and nothing is going to change our opinion.

To keep taking away our control of our booths and business is wrong on every level.

Bummin' more and more about the so-called upgrades of the site because they are not considering what is best for the sellers but seem to be only concerned about bells, whistles and taking more choices away from the sellers.

I am sorry - I thought the Rush could be a great opportunity for Bonz and the sellers but if the above statement is the case, that means Rushs will only be good for some sellers at the expense of the rest of us sellers.

Here is a screen shot of the post to prove the above is what was written. Please click on the graphic to enlarge it:

After we got the violation email we sent this to support:

Just thought I'd say how childish that was to violate me and DMV me for my opinion on Bonz destroying our businesses with their bells and whistles.

It's ok, I won't post in your stupid forums no more but you can bet my blog will be busy being filled with posts this weekend when I have more time...

And just for the record, I won't DMV Bonz management but don't be surprised if I call out any spin you may post.

I am angry that you are taking our businesses out from under us and you should have expected some of us would speak out.... But of course, you probably did and kept that nasty violation button hot and ready.

Have a great night!
---

Then Mark waits 3 days to respond with:

Mark, Nov 07 23:21 (PST):

Really sorry for any trouble in the forums. We really enjoy having you in the community and sincerely appreciate your support in the forums. We hope that you reconsider your position and that we see you participating soon.

Regards,
Mark
The Bonanza Team
---

Who the heck is he kidding? Why would anyone post just to have him or other Bonz management humiliate them in the forums?

This wasn't the first time they slapped me/us around in the forums but you can bet your bottom dollar that it won't happen again.

Those forums are a joke.
The rules they use are a bigger joke.
Their rule enforcement is not consistent and causes further issues. (If you aren't a favorite with management, you best look out!)

Just simply stated, the post that Mark made that states we shouldn't be hesitant to post in the forums is a bold faced lie! We know all too well - how they "roll," as Mark put it.

Some forum members have not only been told that "Bonanza may not be right for them" (basically a suggestion to leave the site) due to issues they have had in the forums and others have been threatened in private emails. We can promise you, you can not speak freely there.

Things have gotten even worse than ever before since Bonanza got the money from the investors. It seems that any member is now expendable. We are not needed.

If you use Bonanza forums, be aware that you may find trouble lurking for you.

For those that don't know, what we write on our blogs can also get us into trouble with Bonanza management. If they happen to read anything negative about them or the site, sometimes they respond in a manner that is not so kind. Yes friends, Hitler and his cohorts may have been reincarnated so please be careful.

Unprofessional, Irresponsible Post By Bonanza Management In Their "Roundtable Questions"


Management of a venue with forums should lead by example. Whatever the site rules are, management should be the first to follow those rules. Horseplay and/or "testing" (whatever they want to call it) should not be done where potential buyers may see it when they visit the site. The first impression is what buyers remember and when something questionable or unprofessional is seen, buyers will notice. Many will run fast and furious from a site that appears less than business-like.

Bonanza's rules regarding the use of the roundtable question area states, in part:

Bonanza's Roundtable is a place you can get general questions about items answered from the community. Any user can ask a question, and any user can post an answer. Keep in mind when answering that accuracy counts; the community votes for the best answer. If your response gets the most votes, Bonanza's system remembers you as an excellent reference for a particular category of items. As a trusted resource, your response will get priority over others when a similar question arises.

The rest of the info about roundtable questions can be found at:
http://www.bonanza.com/site_help/general/roundtable?layout=&title=What+are+%27Roundtable+Questions%3F%27

Bonanza also states in their forum rules, in part, the following which believe is to somewhat govern the whole site:

Other conduct unbecoming a good community member: expressing polictical or religious viewpoints, asking for donations, using foul language, engaging in threads of adult nature (drugs, drinking, etc.), threatening to talk to lawyers or file lawsuits, stalking, booth chat hijacking, starting topics about topics that have been reclassified, unnecessarily assuming the worst in others or Bonanza, spam.

The forum guidelines can be found here:
http://www.bonanza.com/site_help/general/forum_rules?layout=&title=What+are+the+forum+rules+and+guidelines%3F

Bonanza's own, Mark Dorsey posted a roundtable question on December 22, 2010, that should not have ever been posted. It was fairly early in the evening and remaining up to read for several hours, during prime shopping time. This should not have been posted at all - Not by Bonanza members - Not by management - Not by anyone!

We figured that the post and subsequent posts would not last long because someone with some sense was bound to see what was going and complain so we took the following screenshots so we had proof of what was said. Click the below graphics below to enlarge them.


There you have it. Bonanza management talking about drinking as if it was to be expected of Bonanza members and visitors through the holiday season. What was he thinking?

Here are some of the responses to Mark's roundtable question - click on the graphics to enlarge them:






Mark sent an apology and an explanation to at least one person for his irresponsible post to the roundtable. Mark said:

"The roundtable had been stagnant for over a week and I was trying to think of something to post just to test to make sure it was working properly."

While we don't believe that excuse, we have to give him credit for admitting that he made an error in judgment and aplogizing.
---

And if that wasn't enough, 2 days later, someone brought up the above mentioned roundtable question in their own roundtable question. Click the graphics below to enlarge them.


The above new post to the roundtable didn't last too awfully long but it should not have happened and was caused by the unprofessional behavior in the original post.

Forum Guideline Implementation Inconsistencies Create Issues Amongst Bonanza Users


There has not been a time that we can remember that one of the threads which originated from us has ever been allowed to stay in the forums. For whatever reason, they have been sent to drama and deleted shortly after, just simply deleted and now with the new Bonanza management toy, threads that we have started have ended up in purgatory. Bonanza purgatory is where a thread does not get deleted or moved to drama but it is set in limbo where only those that have bookmarked it can find it again. You can still post to it if you can find it but it does not show up on the people page of the forums.

Well, one time we confronted Mark at Bonanza support and here is what he said as to why one thread went to purgatory:

I can understand how you may think that you are being targeted, as I know there have been a couple of posts from you that were taken off of the front page rotation. Let me explain why, that will help so that in the future you can continue to post such topics but word them differently so they do not wind up the same fate.

Using your title as a first example:

"Threatening OBO Message -Is it necessary & in sellers/sites best interest?"

It is a very strongly worded title that may invoke drama, which we try to steer clear of. Instead, try wording it something like this:

"I think we should word the OBO message differently, what do you think?

The second title is more inviting of constructive feedback and is less likely to be cast off of the home page.

If you have a quick look at the description of the OP, you will also see words that are inviting of drama:

"so Bay-like"

"so what!"

"why the threatening message?"

"nasty message."

Your posts are very strong and opinionated. They serve only to fire people up and invite dramatic responses. We are not unreasonable and have always responded to constructive feedback from all. But it needs to be constructive and not delivered so strongly so that it delivers the wrong message to us and also invites dramatic posts from others.

Hope this helps you understand the process. Just in case, here are some links to our guidelines that will also assist:

http://www.bonanzle.com/site_help/general/topic_tags?layout=&title=What+are+the+forum+topic+tags%3F

http://www.bonanzle.com/site_help/general/forum_rules?layout=&title=What+are+the+forum+rules+and+guidelines%3F

http://www.bonanzle.com/site_help/general/disemvowel?layout=&title=What+does+it+mean+to+become+%22disemvoweled%3F%22
---
Funny how as adults, we are being told what to write and how to express it. After all, we are not smart enough to get our message across without censorship and or coaching.

We don't know when it happened or why but the thread eventually was completely removed:
http://www.bonanza.com/forums/1/topics/127219?page=1

Oh, and here is another thread that we started only to have it land in purgatory without an explanation:

http://www.bonanza.com/forums/1/topics/124288?page=1

When questioned, all Mark said was:

"The post is still live and can be seen by all. Thank you for your support of our community and for the helpful information you are providing.

Regards,
Mark
The Bonanzle Team"

That was so untrue! It was only able to be seen by those who saved the link.

And one time, I got a message from Mark, can't find it right now but I know I have it somewhere, where he stated that the message I was trying to convey in a post I had made is one similar to posts that they have seen posted by others that led to discord, or something like that, so he removed a post that I had made. (The post I had written was not causing any issues but because someone at some other time had posted a "similar" post that caused a stink, mine had to go!)

---

Then when you look at the forum guidelines, they state in part:

•Other conduct unbecoming a good community member: expressing polictical or religious viewpoints, asking for donations, using foul language, engaging in threads of adult nature (drugs, drinking, etc.), threatening to talk to lawyers or file lawsuits, stalking, booth chat hijacking, starting topics about topics that have been reclassified, unnecessarily assuming the worst in others or Bonanza, spam.

http://www.bonanza.com/site_help/general/forum_rules?layout=&title=What+are+the+forum+rules+and+guidelines%3F

There have been posts on this blog where we have talked about how Bonanza management have favorite members on the site and that those members are treated differently than others. That's not saying anything bad about these particular members because management is making the choice to treat those members better than others.

Anyway, with all that I have said above, I can not for the life of me understand why this post is still on the forums! It was started in drama but threads get obliterated there also. So what gives?

Here is the thread: http://www.bonanza.com/forums/10/topics/146141

The thread is bringing up a topic that has been reclassified which is against forum policies;

And the thread is talking about religion which is agaist forum policies.

Besides that, people have been a bit snippy in that thread and yet it remains.

Why the favortism? Who knows but it is clearly obvious on Bonanza, no one can ever convince me otherwise.

What else is funny about this, since this drama thread has started, the prayer request threads have popped up quite a bit and no one is doing anything to enforce the forum policies. Funny how that works!

What I don't get is Bonanza is a selling venue. These kinds of threads offering support or whatever can be done on any of tons of sites that are available on the internet for that sole purpose. There are private emails, Bonz emails (Bmail,) there is a chatbox in each sellers booth and there are QT's. So why does this kind of thing show up in a selling venues forums?

Some say get rid of Christmas, Easter and etc if they enforce the religious policy. That would be silly because while many people associate those holidays with religion, many others do not. In all honesty, those titles are so commercial that the true name of the holidays and meanings of them have been lost for the most part.

But back to the message of this post, it does matter who you are on Bonanza when it comes to posting in the forums.

Bonanza.com Blatantly Diverts Traffic Away From Sellers Booths


Without any consideration for sellers feelings, Bonanza placed a huge banner on their booth to the sites new Bonanza Rush's, effectively creating a diversion to potential buyers who may visit a particular sellers booth.

At first, the banner in each individual booth was as big as the banner on the home page. Click the graphic to enlarge the screenshot:

Many sellers complained on the Bonanza blog and in one instance, where we asked to have the banner removed from our booth, we were told they would look into. Once again, to enlarge the screenshots below, click on each of them.


Then a short while later, Bonanza founder, Bill Harding wrote the following post:

When I saw what Bill wrote, which was completely contrary to the message Alex wrote on the blog, I was miffed.

The reasoning for these ridiculous banners in our booth is not as stated but we believe it is because they are not going to advertise the rushes BUT they are going to suck off sellers efforts at promoting their booth to draw buyers into their booths. Rather than advertising outside of Facebook, Twitter and emails (which go to a great number of people that are already Bonz members and know about the Rushs,) they are forcing sellers to do the work for them indirectly.

Bill's post was a page before I got disemvoweled on the same thread:

http://www.bonanza.com/forums/9/topics/138465?page=3

At some point, Bonanza did finally reduce the size of the leaching banner but it is still in every sellers booth, just waiting for one of the buyers that that seller worked so hard to draw in to click on that thing and be pulled away from that sellers listings.

Seems to me that Bonanza is forgetting that many sellers left eBay because they were being told how to run their businesses and their choices of how or what was going on with their stores and/or listings were being taken away.

Just how long does Bonanza think they can continue on this course of - do what we want / to hell with the sellers and their thoughts and feelings - before they start leaving Bonz for places that value and respect them?

PayPal Gets Free Advertising On Bonanza Sellers Listings


Crazy at it may seem, sellers at Bonanza were forced to give up prime real estate on their product listings without an ounce of choice in the matter.

Bonanza decided on their own without any consideration to how their sellers may feel about adding a badge on their listings to simply add a badge but even worse, there is a link to learn more about using Paypal on Bonanza.

Here is what it looks like. You can click the graphic to enlarge the screenshot we took:

Here is the link to the learn more part of the PayPal banner - http://www.bonanza.com/site_help/offers/pp_buyer_protection?layout=false&title=Paypal+Buyer+Protection

In the infomation provided at the above link, Bonanza is USING PayPal's buyer protection in an attempt to instill buyer trust BUT they are diverting trust from all Bonanza sellers, especially those who do not accept PayPal with the following statement:

Purchases made with PayPal as the payment method. Purchases made through Google Checkout or with a money order or other payment method won't be covered.

Nothing like using the sellers listings to promote PayPal for free and then throw a large majority of sellers (some who have paid Bonanza memberships) under the bus.

If Bonanza was truly interested in buyer trust, they would market the Bonanza name broadly - TV, radio, newspaper, magazines and etc so that buyers know that it is not interested in being a fly by night site.

Instead, they are running on the coat tails of PayPal's buyer protection program.

Why doesn't Bonanza do the same thing with Google Checkout? They too have a buyer protection program. Why make one payment service sound so much better over the other when they both provid excellent buyer protection? It can be found here: http://checkout.google.com/support/?hl=en

It makes us think that they are getting some kind of kickback for advertising PayPal. We can't think of any reason Bonanza would give up such a highly visible space on sellers listings and risk angering sellers doing so without something inticing them to do so.

Here is what Bonanza sellers had to say about the PayPal badge:

http://www.bonanza.com/forums/1/topics/140746

http://www.bonanza.com/forums/1/topics/140753

At some point along the way, Bonanza made that huge badge an option and sellers were eventually able to turn the thing off.

Use Caution Buying Jewelry On Bonanza.com


We feel a bit bad about not posting this sooner, especially since the Christmas shopping season is over but we hope it will still help those who buy or intend to buy jewelry on Bonanza.com.

As we wrote in a September 2010 post - http://thereevesreport.blogspot.com/2010/09/everything-that-glitters-gold-is-it.html - there are issues on Bonanza with sellers misrepresenting their jewelry products as being gold when they are gold plate or other lesser valued jewelry.

We reported to Bonanza management about a seller. They must have gotten ahold of the seller and said something because the listing titles were changed a bit but for the worse. Seems the titles were shortened up to look even more like the items are really karated gold.

So, we reported the situation and demanded something be done, pointed out the issues and etc.

We got this note back from support:

Mark, Sep 23 10:49 (PDT):

We have addressed this. Additionally, this seller has 100% feedback and has always shown a willingness to do the right thing. So while we can understand your concerns, we would encourage you to let Bonanza handle the situation as we have always done.

Thanks,
Mark
The Bonanza Team
---

The buyer that contacted me about the seller in question also got a less than helpful response from support that was shared with us. It states (we took the buyers name out):

Hello,
I did check out her listings, her past practices, and sales. I also did some research on the gold-layering process, and she appears to be following the letter of the law when describing her jewelry. I know that you didn't get what you thought you were buying, but I don't believe that the seller was intentionally deceptive about the items. However, I'm glad to hear that everything worked out for you with the refund.

Tom
The Bonanza Team
---

Okay, so we have allowed Bonanza to handle the situation but guess what? They haven't done a thing about the situation. The seller is still listing gold plated (so-called layered gold according to the seller) as if it is karated gold and on top of that, making comments about other sellers not being honest when they say their karated gold is solid karated gold.

Bonanza management is allowing sellers to list improperly and against the FTC rules, guidelines and laws that all jewelry sellers must follow. They know it, we have sent them the FTC information. There is no excuse for this to be happening except for the fact that Bonanza makes money each time there is a sale. I am sure that they are counting on buyers of this cheap jewelry will not notice in time to get their money back thus, Bonanza gets their cut even if the buyer got ripped off.

Before buying jewelry on Bonanza:
Know the product you intend to buy.
If you don't know the product well, research it with Google search.
Ask tons of questions.
Try to buy from sellers you know.
Make your purchase with a credit card so you have solid recourse if you get taken.

Here are some screenshots of the deception - click them to enlarge them so they are easier to read.

The insult to other gold jewelry sellers.


Untrue titles stating the items are karated gold.






Clearly deceptive listings!






This seller requires buyers of items that are not as described to return the item back to them on the buyers dime. I suppose to divert returns but a buyer should never have to pay postage to return an item that was sold deceptively.

Now remember, these are just examples of some of the deceptive listings by this seller. They have many more listings than are reported here.

Allowing this seller to list like this is unbelievable. Not only is it deceptive to buyers but it is unfair to sellers of true karated gold. After all, their prices can never be as low as those offered by this seller so this seller will likely get the sale before an ethical seller who lists their products properly.
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The other night, 12-30-10, we were snooping around Bonanza and saw someone Tweet (a paid tweeting service on the site) for a seller who had an 18K gold ring for sale. For whatever reason, we clicked on the link to open the listing only to find it was not 18K but it was 18K gold plated! So, this paid Tweeting service is spreading the deceptive listing all over Twitter BUT they don't even realize they are doing anything wrong.

To make matters worse, this same item turned up on a handpicked list that was on Bonanza's home page. We took a screenshot with the mouseover pop up showing how the ring was listed as 18K. Click the below screenshot to enlarge it.

The seller of this item must know very little about jewelry as an 18K gold ring would not be listed as "fashion jewelry" by a reputable jeweler.
---

The sad part is, most sellers know that many buyers see a title, a picture they like and then make a purchase. Many do not completely read the listing so this kind of marketing is very effective.

Until this changes, please use caution purchasing jewelry on Bonanza.

With all of that said, you can find all of what the FTC says about jewelry and the proper way to mark and market it here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/guides/jewel-gd.shtm

The FTC also offers the following info about buying gold jewelry here:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/products/pro02.shtm

Not So Nice Hand Picked List On Bonanza's Home Page


The other night 12-31-10, I was snooping around and went to Bonanza's home page. I rarely, if ever, go there so imagine my surprise when I saw the following handpicked list inhabiting this prime real estate.

It is called, Find Your Woody Here.

Please click the below graphic to enlarge it.

It all seems innocent enough until you see the note about what the item in the right, lower corner says when you mouse over it. At first it appears to simply say My Woody with a picture but when you mouse over it, it says - My Woody Got Me A Lei. If you decide to click on the image instead of simply mouse over it and get the large version of the picture in the listing.

I don't know about you but I don't think that item should be on the home page of any selling venue that considers themselves to be family friendly. What must buyers think when they see that? Sure, some will think it is funny but many will not.

Just the term "woody" is bad enough since it means something sexual to some.

And to think that Bonanza management is responsible for picking the lists that hit the home page just blows me away! What were they thinking?! Don't they know that something like that on the home page may reflect badly on all sellers of the site?!Where was their common sense in choosing this HPL?

Bonanza Touts A Review That May Be Unintentionally Deceptive


On Bonanza's blog, they wrote and article dated Dec. 3, 2010 about a review they received by 'The Budget Fashionista'. You can see the blog post at http://www.bonanza.com/blog/main/Bags_Bonanza_Reviewed

While the author may have had good intentions, they obviously did not know about all of the fake bags that were reported to Bonanza management by members of The Purse Forum. They also must not have known about the mess with a Bonanza seller selling the same person to about 9 or 10 different buyers from The Purse Forum just a couple of weeks before the review was written.

Here is a link to a thread in The Purse Forum about the issue - http://forum.purseblog.com/ebay-forum/warning-bonanza-glitch-641492.html

If you are going to buy bags on Bonanza, know the product you are considering and if you are unsure, run the listing info past the members at The Purse Forum to see what their take is on the item, don't just make the purchase and find out later that you have been taken.

Yes, there are fakes on all sites but not all sites are as green at detecting them.

Since Bonanza upset the owners and members of The Purse Forum, it is even more difficult now for them to know which bags are fake as they counted on TPF to tell them which items were fake and needed to be removed.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Sales Up Across The Board For Ecommerce Businesses Except For Bonanza


All over the internet there are reports quoted by Comscore.com stating that online holiday sales rose 13% through December 26, reaching $30.81 billion.

Click the below link to read a complete AuctionBytes report on the topic:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/cab/abn/y10/m12/i30/s04

All you have to do is Google for the information and thousands of reports say that this holdiay season was quite the success.

So why on Bonanza.com are there few sellers stating that sales were good or better than last year?

Here are some links on the topic from Bonanza forums:

http://www.bonanza.com/forums/4/topics/144497

http://www.bonanza.com/forums/1/topics/143797

We think that Bonanza changing their name at the end of September 2010 played a role in the lack of sales but more than that, the lack of advertising is probably the culprit.

Bonanza did absolutely no advertising but on Facebook, Twitter and their site newsletter BUT that advertising was far too late to help get the site name out there to help anyone this holiday shopping season.

Here is just one of the links from the Bonanza forum that show how their sellers felt about the late or lack of advertising:

http://www.bonanza.com/forums/1/topics/142810

Here is the late Bonanza newsletter which was emailed out 12-06-2010. By this time, most buyers had gotten much of their shopping done.

http://bonanza.cmail5.com/T/ViewEmail/r/A1A6ACEB85FF1638/57ED3B42B82DBC56D9767B6002735221

Also on December 06, 2010 - Bonanza was bragging on their site blog that they were mentioned in Lucky magazine. Well, since the mention was written in a way to draw more sellers to Bonanza, we question what there really was to brag about since what Bonanza needs is a stream of buyers, not sellers. This is not to mention that the magazine did not hit newsstands until AFTER the holiday shopping season.

Here's the link: http://www.bonanza.com/blog/main/Bonanza_in_Lucky_Magazine

What's really a sad note is that at least one top seller on Bonanza has been a seller of a Tweeting service to promote sellers booths instead of sellers with a physical product for sale (see the below graphic.) That says a lot about the lack of sales on the site!

Unless Bonanza gets serious about helping their sellers draw buyers to the site, it's hard to believe that things will be getting any better for sellers. From what Bonanza has said up to this point, paid advertising of any real value is not in their near future plans. Until Bonanza is a name that is recognized by shoppers, we believe that sales will continue to be dismal for most sellers.

It's not just the lack of holiday sales, all year long sellers scream about the lack of sales on Bonanza. Sellers can only do so much to draw buyers in - it is time for Bonanza to step up to the plate.