Over the next few weeks and months LiveHaggle Auction will begin to populate the internet. What are the origins of LiveHaggle? Well, you can blame it on my Synagogue. In synagogue we kids would always try to sneak out and hang out in the hallways and play games just to escape the services . With one exception, the part where they auctioned off the service honors. You see, there are certain parts of the services on the high holy days that are honorable traditions to partake in but in limited supply. So as not to favor one member over another they would get auctioned off to the highest bidder (AKA Rich Guys). But nonetheless we always enjoyed this part the most. The auctioning process was a group social event were everyone laughed and chuckled, they ribbed the auction loser, and watched the action unfold from the lectern. The rabbi’s assistant would boom. “Going Once!” “Going Twice!” “Sold!” That is my memory of an auction. I have seen car auction on the speed channel and cattle auctions on youtube and they all have the same social feel to it. Win or lose they are always fun. Online auction for the most part are not fun. They are boring. You bid and then you wait to get an email that you were outbid. that’s the extent of it. If you are lucky you don’t get sniped at the end by some computer script that snaps the auction out from under you. LiveHaggle is like a real auction. you can partake in it even if the items price is out of your league. you can laugh and guffaw with others you can ask questions of the seller. share it on Facebook and participate with friends. and because you can embed it anywhere, it great for so many applications. Remember that motorcycle Jay Leno had signed by all these celebrities and auctioned off for charity? At the end, he auctioned it off at eBay. I phenomenal auction ended as a social dud. Imagine if he could have embedded that charity auction in his own web sit. now THAT is social shopping. At the end I thing the synagogue method is the future and probably the rich guy will still win. But liveHaggle is going to put the fun into online auctions.
Over the next few weeks and months LiveHaggle Auction will begin to populate the internet. What are the origins of LiveHaggle? Well, you can blame it on my Synagogue . In synagogue we kids would always try to sneak out and hang out in the hallways and play games just to escape the services . With one exception, the part where they auctioned off the service honors. You see, there are certain parts of the services on the high holy days that are honorable traditions to partake in but in limited supply. So as not to favor one member over another they would get auctioned off to the highest bidder (AKA Rich Guys). But nonetheless we always enjoyed this part the most. The auctioning process was a group social event were everyone laughed and chuckled, they ribbed the auction loser, and watched the action unfold from the lectern. The rabbi’s assistant would boom. “Going Once!” “Going Twice!” “Sold!” That is my memory of an auction. I have seen car auction on the speed channel and cattle auctions on youtube and they all have the same social feel to it. Win or lose they are always fun. Online auction for the most part are not fun. They are boring. You bid and then you wait to get an email that you were outbid. that’s the extent of it. If you are lucky you don’t get sniped at the end by some computer script that snaps the auction out from under you. LiveHaggle is like a real auction. you can partake in it even if the items price is out of your league. you can laugh and guffaw with others you can ask questions of the seller. share it on Facebook and participate with friends. and because you can embed it anywhere, it great for so many applications. Remember that motorcycle Jay Leno had signed by all these celebrities and auctioned off for charity? At the end, he auctioned it off at eBay. I phenomenal auction ended as a social dud. Imagine if he could have embedded that charity auction in his own web sit. now THAT is social shopping. At the end I thing the synagogue method is the future and probably the rich guy will still win. But liveHaggle is going to put the fun into online auctions.
It seems quite clear that the intersection of the Social web and eCommerce is approaching quickly. Yet is seems decidedly clear that that eCommerce 1.0 has no clear knowledge of this. I recently met with a CEO of one of the leading and some would consider more “hip” eCommerce sites out there. At one point in our meeting I brought the topic of Social Commerce and how StuffBuff was enabling users to purchase the things that they see on the sites that they discover them on. So if I were to say, be reading about a rare stamp, I would want to be able to buy that right there and then with out having to start googling around for the item. To me it seems like a natural extension of that. He vehemently disagreed. “Why would I want to shop where I read my stuff or socialize?”
That kind of thinking has me perplexed.
When you come off the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney you exit at the gift shop! Does anybody say “oh no! I don’t like to mix my Disney experience with my shopping experience?
Sport gear at games, T-shirts at concerts, the Ice Cream Truck at the corner. These are all melding of experiences and sometimes the buying is even part of the experience.
So my friend/competitor CEO is sadly going to be in for a wake up call. It maybe the sound of his customers saying…..Hey how come I can’t sell stuff on My blog? I’m going to StuffBuff.
Since our February launch many you have provided us with awesome feedback and ideas, thank you all. The StuffBuff development team has worked around the clock to bring you new features and greater stability. We thank all of you for your feedback.Here are some of the new and improved features we are releasing this week
Redesigned sign up and login
Many visitors have commented about the slow signup and login pop ups on the site. So we have completely revamped our sign-up and login pages that are faster, clearer, and require less information to sign-up.
Social Login
To make it easier for you to login we have integrated popular social login and connect ID’s. Now you can use Facebook, Twitter, Google, and more to connect to StuffBuff.
Unique usernames
We are now requiring usernames during sign-up. Existing users will be prompted to select a user name the next time they sign up. We will be making use of user names on the site so that you can easily personalize and remember your URLs.
My Profile
This page is your new home base on StuffBuff. With simplified navigation and aggregated information about your account this change makes the site much more usable. It will also inform you of new features, news, and to-do items as they become available.
Google Product Search
All your existing and newly added items going forward will now automatically be listed with Google Product Search and show up in googles search results. You benefit every time someone google’s a product that you have listed for sale on StuffBuff
Shop and User Stores
Two weeks ago we added a “shop” page so user can see the latest items posted for sale on the site.
We are now excited to announce that you also have the ability to crate your own online store, free. This Alpha release allows you to name your store and showcase all your items that are for sale in one place.
Visitors to both areas can buy items directly and go through to our checkout system.
Usability and Bug Fixes - We are committed to responding to your feedback so keep sending it in! No problem is too minor no usability concern to small. We want StuffBuff to be your favorite site and are committed to the features and fixes that You want. If you like us, tell a friend. If you don’t, please tell us and tell us why.
Jason Korkin, CTO StuffBuff Inc.
After a 90 minute terminal delay I sat down on my JFK bound JetBlue flight yesterday sensing more crappy ne
ws was afloat. Moments after closing the cocpit door the loudspeaker came on, “ahhh this is the first officer. ahhhh we have some issues with some paperwork and, ahhhh” suddenly the PA was cutoff.
A moment later the cockpit door opened and out walked a middle-aged gentleman. He picked up the mic and announced,
“Hi folks, I’m Captain Ray. I wanted to let you all know that there was a maintenance issue with the aircraft which has now been taken care of. It will take 20 minutes until we get our paperwork signed off and then we have a 45 minute wait to take off. If it is longer I will tell you right away. There are many people I could blame but that won’t get us anywhere faster. Please take out your cell phones and walk around, if you feel frustrated; please, don’t take it out on the flight attendants ask to speak to me. Oh and the ride to JFK will be very bumpy!”
He didn’t hide in the cockpit. He had the courage to give to us straight.
He got a round of applause.
For the last few weeks we have been getting wonderful feedback from our beta users. It’s refreshing that in an anonymous venue like the web we received zero mean-spirited comments. We did get lots of meaningful critiques accompanied by encouraging compliments.
So on behalf of our company I want to make a pledge:
We will give it to you straight every time. If we screw up, we will own up. If you ask, we will respond. If you want something we will consider it. We will admit our mistakes and not hide behind spokespeople and hyperbole. We will come out from behind our desks and deliver it to you straight. And if we do, you will forgive us and if we are lucky maybe even applaud.
Note to JetBlue: Captain Ray seems to be closing in on mandatory retirement age. Be smart; make him your VP of customer relations, you will be a better company for it.
@katreasures You should check out StuffBuff for Beauti-Control. Fast, real-teim portable auctions http://bit.ly/stuffbuff
