Subject:
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"Exclusivity" at DTRH?
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.market.auction
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Date:
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Wed, 17 Feb 1999 17:58:43 GMT
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Viewed:
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592 times
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/rant on
Since this will be about a site that hosts auctions I guess it fits in best
here.
Well, I received a rather unwelcome surprise this morning. Some may have
noticed Gene and I discussing the auction hosting service provided by DTRH.com
- where he currently has his very cool Brickyard auction site.
My only reservations about the place was that they seemed to be a little new
at this and they didn't seem very polished. Those reservations still hold,
especially after an exchange with the person I assume runs the place.
Other than that, though, the setup is pretty cool. They're using the
EveryAuction script - totally free, web interface, yada, yada, yada. Very
cool script you can find at this address: http://www.everysoft.com/
I'm rambling, though. Here's the crux of my problem. I inquired as to the
details of getting my own auctions hosted there. It isn't the perfect system,
but it is good and it would save me a lot of time and effort and it would be
very cheap, only $5.00 per month.
Here's a snippet of the e-mail I got back. I don't feel bad quoting this
because the person references what I assume he feels should be publically
available information:
"Thanks for your interest, but actually, setting up another Lego auction
would be a potential problem under my agreement with current customers. I
only host "specialty" auctions (as opposed to
sell-everything-and-anything-auctions). One of the 'perks' that I give my
customers is exclusiveness to their topic - I don't host more than one
auction-per-topic, unless the auction owners agree to having "competing"
auctions. I'll shortly have something like an "auction mall" page set up,
listing all auctions at DTRH, and will be publicizing them as much as
possible - it benefits the auction owner if they're the only one selling a
particular type of item at this site.
Yes, I realize that I myself am potentially "losing business" by doing it
this way, but I think it's the best way for the auction owners themselves.
If Brickyard's owner was to agree to you having a Lego auction with me,
then I wouldn't have a problem, but my decision would have to be based on
his approval."
Now don't get me wrong. I understand where he is coming from, especially
given the insane amount of online auctioning of other collectible toys. Who
knows, maybe it actually does make sense when applied to something like Beanie
Babies or GI Joe or whatever other kind of junk people collect.
But given the HUGE amount of cooperation and help everyone in our community
seems to be willing to give each other when it comes to buying and selling it
just came as a shock. Heck, I've linked to other Lego auctions in my e-mails
and on my site, as I know other people have. If it weren't for all the help
Bill Katz gave me when I tried the auctionbot out I would have never gotten
that auction off the ground.
I don't know where exactly I'm going with this, it was just like a splash of
cold water in the face. Maybe a splash of what most other "collectible toy
communities" are like in the real world, who knows.
Not trying to say, though, that DTRH isn't within its rights to have this kind
of policy, nor am I trying to say that Gene would be bad if he really wanted
his Brickyard to have some kind of exclusivity on that site.
Given that DTRH is only making $5/mo for this, though, I think it's kinda
silly to be shooing away people who want to pay for the service. And since
most of the visitors to the site(s) would be coming because of posts here or
on RTL, I think the whole idea that having two competing sites listed on their
main page would be bad is incorrect. As a Lego buyer I couldn't care less
about going to some main "mall" page on DTRH - I'll be looking for notices in
the places where I expect to see them - on Lugnet and RTL.
/rant off
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Message has 2 Replies:
 | | Re: "Exclusivity" at DTRH?
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| Mike, When I started The Brickyard on DTRH one of the things that drew me to it *was* the exclusivity rule. I felt that the rule would give me some breathing space to experiment and nurture The Brickyard into an innovative and effective site. It was (...) (26 years ago, 17-Feb-99, to lugnet.market.auction)
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