Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Bleu Moon Press

One couple’s adventures in online entrepreneurship

Archive for the ‘Bonanzle’ Category

Bleu Moon’s Attic

Posted by Bleu Moon Press On April - 8 - 2009
Bleu Moon's Attic

Bleu Moon's Attic on Bonanzle

About Us:
Bleu Moon’s Attic is a couple with a life long passion for treasure hunting. We have a commitment to bring you those rare treasures you can’t find just everywhere. Whether it be a new item such as a handbag, evening bag, handmade piece of jewelry, or a rare collectible or a fine antique, you stand a good chance of finding it on Bleu Moon’s Attic.

We know what it’s like to live in a rural part of the country and not have access to the big name retailers, specialty boutiques or large antique shops. Luckily the online shopping experience has changed all of that and we are committed to finding those unique items and bringing them directly to you, where ever you may live.

Who are we?
We are Sally & Doug Williams, a married couple that turned our hobby of being aficionados of flea markets, garage sales, antique malls, auctions and swap meets into a mid-life career change after our children were grown and gone.

For the first 7 years we concentrated our selling on flea markets and antique malls. We both worked in the antique mall management field during those years as well.

2007 saw Doug’s retirement and the shift of our focus to online sales exclusively.

More about Doug:
Doug has many years of experience in the field of small business ownership and jumped into web design back in the mid 1990’s. He is the one that makes everything “pretty”.

He designs all templates himself and takes all photos himself. You will never find stock photos on Bleu Moon’s Attic sites.

He is the nuts & bolts guy that does the bulk of the work behind the scenes as well. He maintains our stock so that there is still room for us in the house and so that things can be readily found for shipping once they sell.

More about Sally:
Sally is a lifelong nerd that just has to read up on any and everything that catches her fancy. She does most of the research on the ‘treasures’ and writes all the descriptions. She loves the net, social networking sites and various forums she frequents. Since she still works full time as a floral designer and also does wedding floral consulting/design, she doesn’t get to spend as much time here as she would like.

Our commitment to you:
We have combined our knowledge and expertise to bring many treasures to online buyers. We sell both old and new merchandise. You can be assured that all new merchandise offered for sale will be clearly labeled as such. All merchandise is thoroughly checked over and researched before being placed for sale. All descriptions are accurate to the best of our ability and any defects or damage will be clearly described and pictures shown.

Most items such as purses, handbags, evening bags and clothing will be new with tags condition and will be noted as such in the description.

Used items such as pottery, glassware and books will be well described and will have multiple photos to give you the best idea possible as to overall condition. Please do not hesitate to email us with questions on any of our merchandise. We will answer all questions ASAP.

We hope you will remember us for that ‘once in a blue moon’ item.

Customer Satisfaction:
Bleu Moon’s Attic wants to know that from beginning to end you have found shopping with us fun, professional, and enjoyable. Most of all we want to make sure you are happy with your purchase.

If for any reason we have not done our part to your satisfaction, please contact us. Return Policy: Bleu Moon’s Attic wants to be sure that you are satisfied with your purchase. If you are not please contact us within 3 days to arrange a return or exchange. Returns must be insured.

Visit Bleu Moon’s Attic

Bonanzle? What the heck is a Bonanzle?

Posted by Bleu Moon Press On April - 6 - 2009
What The Heck is Bonanzle?

What The Heck is Bonanzle?

In recent years, the online selling field has virtually exploded with start-up ventures.  Some years ago, if you wanted to sell online your choices were fairly limited.  There were the giants, eBay and Amazon and a handful of niche markets for specialty sellers like antiques, but other than that, you were on your own.

Now, things are different and it seems every month brings another round of Davids ready to take on Goliath.  The reasons for this are myriad, but the major one is the disenfranchisement of the small seller by eBay in recent years.

As an online seller, I have tried many of the various platforms with limited to no success.  Bleu Moon’s Attic found Bonanzle in early December of 2008 and decided to give it a whirl, as we were ready to give up on eBay. 

Bonanzle’s goal is to be the simplest marketplace online, with an upbeat community that makes buying and selling online fun again.  ~ Bill Harding, Founder Bonanzle~

Bonanzle was started by a pair of entrepernuers from the Pacific Northwest, Bill Harding and Mark Dorsey.  The project reportedly began in February of 2008, went into live beta mode in June 2008 and went into full swing in September 2008.

From these beginnings, they are currently at 45,000 members and over 1.5 million items listed.

Their ‘tagline’ is “everything but the ordinary” and we have certainly found that to be true!

Right away we noticed some major differences from some of the other so-called ‘eBay alternative’ sites we had tried and visited. 

For one, this is a very straight forward, fixed price only venue.  There are no listing fees, even 4 pictures are included for free, and the final value fees are structured in a readily understood formula.  All sellers list their items in ‘booths’.  An item remains listed until it either sells or is removed by the seller. 

Sellers may take payment in pretty much any manner they chose to allow.  Cash for local pick-up, which does not incur any final value fees for the seller!  Money order, PayPal, Google Checkout, Revolution Money Exchange and more.  The options are as varied as the sellers themselves.

Each seller’s booth has a ‘chat’ window.  This basically combines the features of social networking via an interface similar to an instant messenger system with an online selling venue.  It shows you if the seller is online at this time or not.  Often you will find messages from sellers posted in their chat window, even if they aren’t there.  Many times it will tell you about specials they have, such as a coupon code to enter for a discount at checkout!  You can leave a message there for the seller if you have a question, or you can send them a message via Bonanzles internal email system, often referred to by members as Bmail, or you can send them a ‘quick-text’ message if they have that option enabled.

As you may be realizing about now, Bonanzle is all about ease of open communication between the buyer and seller.  You can negotiate prices in real time and much, much more.

Of course, no modern online market place would be complete without a community forum and Bonanzle is no exception.  The forums are populated with a lively and vibrant community of sellers & buyers and there is always something going on.

Another unique feature of Bonanzle is the ability to schedule and hold a Bonanza once a month.   A Bonanza is basically a 1 to 3 hour virtual ‘garage sale’ with the seller putting some or all of their items on Sale at a discount they determine.  A robot shows up and music plays, community members show up and a good ol’  yard party is on.  A new community venture is ‘block Bonanza’s’ with groups of sellers scheduling concurrent Bonanzas and supporting each other.

Whether you are a buyer, a seller or a bit of both, I encourage you to stop in and check out Bonanzle.  You’ll be glad you did, just check out what some of the press is saying.

Small Business Computing says:

The runaway winner in the eBay Alternative category is Bonanzle. This startup combines an easy listing process with cutting-edge features such as on-the-fly image cropping and live chat and an avid seller community. The founders are scaling up to meet increasing traffic, and we can only hope it continues to thrive.  02/2009

and from WebPro News:

While I have seen a lot of sites mentioned as possible alternatives to eBay. I have not seen any mentioned nearly as often as I have seen Bonanzle mentioned. 01/2009

So head over and check out what all the racket is about.  And please!  See what we have on special in the attic and leave a note on the wall for me!