We all love to touch and feel the product before we buy, we check the looks, quality etc.etc..
Now the online auctions do not give any of the above. I am just writing the difference between counter sale and online sale.
Counter Sale<b/>
1) You have to visit many shops to know who is reasonable.
2) You end up spending bit money on initial research.
3) You will know the shop keeper to interact with, incase something goes wrong.
4) Normally we choose the counter which is near to our place, so easy to access.
5) The shop keeper is happy to see you again when you go to buy the next one.
6) Product in - Money out.
Online<b/>
1) Best price, since you can find out who is most reasonable.
2) Saves time, since you don’t have to visit the place.
3) Sellers give best price since they also see the competitor’s price.
4) You should know about the product very well, at least you must see it in neighbor or friend’s house. Never buy online assuming it will be good. Some times big brands have bad products.
5) With the Indian seller attitude it is difficult to get back the money or replacement of product. You will see many sellers on Bazee with lot of Negative feed back. They think consumer buys the product only once in their 100 years of life, they do not really bother about satisfying the consumer.
6) Money out - Product in.
As Bazee Buyer: I use Bazee to do my Initial research along with reviews on Mouthshut, then I go to nearest showroom to see the product physically. Surprisingly!!! I found most of the showrooms give better price than Bazee sellers. I bought a Refrigerator, Washing Machine, Microwave & Creative 4.1 Computer speakers after I became Bazee user. Initially my intention was to order on Bazee, being ’ebay’ user I thought Bazee will be better than showrooms. Finally Bazee is a Catalogue for me.
As Bazee Seller: I am not really interested in making money on Bazee. But one day I thought let me be a good seller on Bazee, since I rarely see good sellers. One fine day I clicked ’sell’ button there appears a screen saying you have to be verified before you put up auction. For this they asked a landline number which I don’t have, the second option was immediate verification through credit card, I took the second option. I loaded a laptop for auction, which was sold for expected price, winning bidder never contacted me back neither his phone works. He is the winning bidder for 8 more laptops before me. Bazee has already black listed this fellow, but expects me to send the laptop and upgrade the shipment details.
Recently Bazee has disabled me as seller for some silly reason that I don’t have a landline. Why should I maintain a landline which is of no use once I took Reliance mobile? I wrote 3 letters to Bazee requesting I can provide proof of residence by some other means than landline number. But still Bazee wants me to use 40’s technology (landline) to become their selling member.
Conclusion: I found Bazee is hot in selling some plastic / cheap electronic items; there are no real long run intention sellers. These plastic sellers are trying to make money from innocents by selling Rs: 50/- product for 3 to 5 times more. Standard Home appliances are expensive by 1 to 3 thousand. I suggest Bazee to find out standard set of good sellers (it can be stores also; many stores do not know this concept). Invest some money on identifying some good sellers, buyers will automatically buildup when there are reliable sellers. Connectivity has to be improved a lot. It is necessary to be online 24/7 being auction site.
Finally I support Bazee for marketing online auction concept. It is difficult to market this in country like India. It is necessary to build up confidence between seller & buyer. Bazee must establish well before the hype goes down.
Regards
Badari