Buzzmart Blog

The Social Marketplace Phenomena

2011-10-19T05:36:00.000-07:00

I am going to explain in this short article why there has been this shift towards a more social experience the last 2 years or so when it comes to selling and buying online. However, I am going to write this piece based on my own personal experience as both a buyer and seller with many years in the eCommerce business. Now, I might be completely absurd with my analysis here so take everything I write with a grain of salt, I don't mind, really.

So, I use to sell online quite a lot on 'eBay' (I am sure most of you know who I am referring to) back in 2003 up to 2009. I use to love selling my stuff on there as much as I enjoyed buying stuff on there. However, with the rise of social networks, such as Facebook, which was becoming huge at the time I had started selling on eBay, I realized that eBay needed to incorporate some of these social networking elements to make the buying and selling experience online more fun and interactive. Furthermore, with the rise of viral videos and companies such as YouTube and Vimeo which have seen great success, I felt like it was time the online marketplace saw some major shifts from its traditional closed community model to a more interactive, social and media rich way of conducting commerce.

This begs the question then, 'why would I want to sell online' on a marketplace that has all these features. In simple terms, more sales, more leads, more trust and a better user experience for both buyers and sellers. Utilizing social networks and rich media to promote yourself as a seller will without a doubt allow buyers to find out more about sellers by visiting their Facebook pages, or adding them as friends and allowing them to know better who the person is they are buying from. This in turn adds a whole new level of trust that current marketplaces do not have. Furthermore, this extra layer of trust also means you can see which of your friends of even friends of friends have bought from the same seller by sharing and liking products and promoting commerce activity via your favorite social networks. In return sellers also see increased sale leads as they build more trust for themselves through social networking communities and by adding a touch of rich media to their product also gives the seller more exposure on the web through viral media channels which have grown in popularity and traffic over the years.

Why sell on Buzzmart

2011-10-07T02:33:00.001-07:00

Ever wonder where to buy and sell online?

Buzzmart aims in providing a free, innovative and dynamic social marketplace platform that offers a people-centric approach to buying and selling online.

Why Buzzmart?

No fees: Buzzmart allows users to list their items on the website free of charge without any fees, commissions or memberships.

Videos: Videos are an important medium when it comes to promoting your listings and pitching them to prospective buyers. Buzzmart allows sellers to use videos to accommodate their listings easily and effectively.

Transparent communication: Interaction with sellers/buyers has never been easier. Buzzmart users can send personal messages (PM), comment on listings, comment on profile pages, talk in the live chat or in the forums area. We believe communication is key to a safe yet fun marketplace.

eBay import tool: Import all your live eBay listings directly into the Buzzmart with just a few simple clicks. Learn more here

Social tools: Buzzmart offers a variety of social tools such as Twitter integration and the "Network".

and so much more!

...but enough from us, we will let you have a go at it yourself.

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How to be a good seller

2011-10-07T02:32:00.001-07:00

How to become a good seller

Having great products is not enough; below are a few essential tips on how to become a good seller.

1. Providing information about your listings: Detailed and clear explanations of your listings on sale including shipping and return policy is key in becoming a good seller and attracting potential buyers. Moreover it will reduce the time needed to answer questions regarding your listings.
2. Multimedia: Attaching images is a great way to help showcase the products you are promoting. Additionally Buzzmart is among the few marketplaces that allow its users to attach videos to their listings. Learn more here
3. Answer Questions: Buzzmart helps buyers contact sellers using various tools such as commenting on the listings, private messages and live chat. By answering questions and providing additional information when needed builds trust and increases your chances of making a sale.
4. Know your buyer:Beware of suspicious payments, always double-check the shipping address and avoid posting items to alternative addresses other than the ones posted on Buzzmart. Always keep a copy of the shipping paperwork and protect your shipped items by providing insurance and a tracking number. Lastly try to encourage your buyers to use online methods to pay for their purchases. Buzzmart supports Paypal, Moneybookers and GoogleCheckout.

Need help? Visit our FAQ

Not a Buzzmart member? Sign up

Seller Help

2011-02-28T00:22:00.000-08:00

Learn more about our features through our help section:

Shipping help : Here!

Listing your products: Here!

Adding multimedia: Here!

Relisting items: Here!

Need more help? Learn more or contact us

New design available

2011-01-27T23:52:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

Sneak peak of our new design

What do you think ?

Regards

Network - Microblogging for ecommerce

2011-01-26T03:15:00.001-08:00

The network

The network is a new micro-blogging feature integrated within our social marketplace used to promote or request products and services from other users. This feature is added to enhance Buzzmart’s social experience and brings buyers and sellers closer together.

The network is essentially the place where users can instantly interact with each other about their products or services, see the most up to date activity of other Buzzmart members, such as new purchases, newly listed products, feedbacks and more, all in real time! Your personal “Buzzes” are also shown in a tab on your profile page called “My Buzz”.

Networks:

Buzzmart categorizes networks by countries, continents and worldwide. Users are automatically joined into the worldwide network. You can always leave and join different networks at any given point if you wish to see only buzzes from specific countries or continents.

Your activities, buzz updates, product requests or promotions are shown in the networks you are part of. So if you request a product and your selected networks is for example United States and Mexico, only users that are part of those networks, the Worldwide or North America network will see the product request. Be sure to join and post in your preferred network.

Countries by continent:

South America: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay
North America: United States, Canada, Mexico
Asia: China, Japan, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates
Oceania: Australia, New Zealand
Europe: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Russia, Turkey, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

Network Types:

1. Buzz network:

This is the main landing page of the network where you can see all the network activity as well as post a new “buzz” in real time for other Buzzmart members to see. You have the option to filter buzzes by network, activity type (bids, new comments and more) and by author.

What is shown in the Buzz network?

1) Bids on listings

2) New listings

3) Recent purchases

4) New comments on listings

5) Buzz updates

6) Feedback given/received

7) Listing requests

8) Listing promotions

By default all your activity is shown to everybody. You can always modify and adjust your settings (preferences page) in order to show to other users what you want them to see. Saw a buzz you liked? You can always reply to the buzz with your thoughts and interact!

2. Request a listing network:

This network activity type is mainly used for product or service requests. Buyers can ask for products or services they are looking for. Sellers can reply to those product or service requests and attach their Buzzmart listings to their replies. You can always filter product requests by location. Want something to buy or looking for prospective sellers? This network activity type is the one for you!

3. Promote your listings:

This is the place where sellers show off their goods! Promote your Buzzmart listings or your listings from other marketplaces such as eBay or eBid.

Just click on the Buzzmart logo and your active listings will pop-up in a modal box, simply select the listings you want to promote and you are all set.

Not selling on Buzzmart? No problem, just copy the URL from another marketplace such as eBay or eBid and place it into the URL field provided. We will fetch your listing title and display it in the network.

The Buzz button

Each listing now has a special Buzz button! This button allows you to Buzz (share) the product/service in one of your networks of choice. Just click it and the listing will be Buzzed in the network.

http://www.buzzmart.com

General FAQ

Q: How do I edit what I show to the network?
A: You can edit your activity that is shown on the network by editing your preferences

Q: How often can I post in the network?
A: You can only post once every 30 seconds

Q: From which marketplaces I can post links from?
A: You can promote your products from eBay, eBid, eCrater, Bonanzle and etsy.

Q: My marketplace is not in the list.
A: Contact support@buzzmart.com and we will get into it asap!

Q: I found a bug!
A: Networks are currently in beta stage. If you find a bug contact support@buzzmart.com and we will fix it asap!

Q: How often I can buzz a product?
A: You are only allowed to Buzz a product once a day.

Santa is here!

2010-12-06T05:23:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

Santa's little coders have been at it again. We have some new updates for you.

Check them out at here

Any questions feel free to ask!

Buzzmart - your free social marketplace

Regards
Buzzmart team.

Visit Buzzmart here
http://www.buzzmart.com
Follow us on Twitter here
http://www.twitter.com/buzzmartdotcom

Development Update 1/12/2010

2010-11-30T22:52:00.000-08:00

Dear all,
This post is to update you on the development process of the site.
Buzzmart development is going smooth and making good progress. In the works are slight modifications to design and small additions to existing functionality.

Moreover a new video function is almost finalized and the Buzzmart team is sure that it will make an immediate impact on the site.

Stay in touch for more information

Regards
Buzzmart team.

Visit Buzzmart here
http://www.buzzmart.com
Follow us on Twitter here
http://www.twitter.com/buzzmartdotcom

Why is Buzzmart unique ?

2010-11-25T07:51:00.001-08:00

Dear all,

Buzzmart is your free social marketplace that gives you the ability to buy and sell products online without any fees, commissions, memberships or banner ads.

No fees, no commissions, no memberships!

Being free is not the only factor that makes Buzzmart unique.

Other benefits

Videos: Videos are an important medium when it comes to promoting your listings and pitching them to prospective buyers. Buzzmart allows sellers to use videos to accommodate their listings easily and effectively. Information about adding videos to your listings can be found here

No banners: Buzzmart has no banner advertisments in the site.

Student trade: Students now have their own category to trade within. Just activate your university email and you are good to go. More information on how to access University trade can be found here Your university not in our database ? click here

Auto-bidding: Do you have your eyes set on a product but cant be there during the last minutes of the auction ? Not a problem, our auto-bidding system can do that for you. More information here

Profiles: Each user has its own unique profile that can be fully customized. Write a short description about yourself, create your own gallery, add your personal pages (Facebook, Twitter, skype etc) and reply to your profile comments. Everything is done easily, smoothly and effectively.

Friends and live chat: Add other Buzzmart users to your friend list and interact with them with our live chat system.

Interact with sellers and buyers: Interaction with sellers/buyers is never made so easy. Buzzmart users can send personal messages (PM), comment on listings, comment on profile pages, talk on live chat or in the forums. Buzzmart never stops here more functions will be added soon.

Widgets: Feeling bored? Add your favorite widgets to your profile and play games, watch videos or listen to live radio easily and effectively.

Friendly community: Have a question? Post in the forums and our staff and/or other Buzzmart users will assist you anyway possible.

Continuous improvements: Our evil scientists are always thinking of new ways to make your experience even better and far more fun.

Smooth Design and easy to follow functionality: Our users do not need to be computer experts to buy or sell products

and the list goes on ...

Not enough ? Feel free to drop us suggestions and feedback.

Visit Buzzmart here
http://www.buzzmart.com
Follow us on Twitter here
http://www.twitter.com/buzzmartdotcom

Announcement - Board meeting 22/11/2010

2010-11-23T06:33:00.000-08:00

Buzzmart has received many suggestions and feedback over the last couple of months. A number of them have been taken into consideration, discussed and implemented over the development period. Among them were the concerns and doubts about seller fees (Buzzmart credits).

It’s in our interest to make Buzzmart a social marketplace that will satisfy the needs and requirement of buyers and sellers alike, so we have taken a complete change of direction in order to achieve that:

1) Selling is free: No fees, no credits. Just sign-up and start selling.
2) No banner advertising: All advertising banners have been removed from the site.

We are now proud to say: Buzzmart - Your (free) social marketplace

Regards
Buzzmart management team

Visit Buzzmart here
http://www.buzzmart.com
Follow us on Twitter here
http://www.twitter.com/buzzmartdotcom

Board meeting 22/11/2010

2010-11-22T02:07:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

A board meeting was held today 22/11/2010 at 10pm GMT+2.
Among the issues discussed were:

1) Seller fees
2) Banner advertising
3) Future additions to functionality.

Many interesting ideas were discussed and important decisions were made. Official press release coming soon

Regards
Buzzmart team

Upcoming features

2010-11-19T03:38:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

Our evil scientists are creating a sinister plan to make your experience even better and far more fun.

Whats going on in the labs:

1) Auto-bidding: Want to win an auction but cant be there during the last hours? Don't worry we have something coming up to do that for you!

2) University Trade: Activate your University/College email and sell your products to other students worldwide

When:
Soon, very soon!

Visit Buzzmart here
http://www.buzzmart.com
Follow us on Twitter here
http://www.twitter.com/buzzmartdotcom

Adding videos to your listings

2010-11-19T03:29:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

Videos are a vital part in promoting and pitching your products to prospective buyers. Buzzmart allows its sellers to implement videos into their listings so why not use them?.

Need information ? Click here

Listing with user uploaded video here
Listing with embedded video here

Visit Buzzmart here
http://www.buzzmart.com
Follow us on Twitter here
http://www.twitter.com/buzzmartdotcom

Buzzmart Updates

2010-11-19T03:23:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

Buzzmart never stops providing to its users new features and capabilities in order to enhance their buying and selling activity.

Over the last couple of weeks we have added several new functions such as Facebook connect, Google maps and new seller template.

Check all the updates:

Updates 1.0 here
Updates 2.0 here

Visit Buzzmart here
http://www.buzzmart.com
Follow us on Twitter here
http://www.twitter.com/buzzmartdotcom

Buzzmart Official Blog

2010-11-19T01:37:00.000-08:00

Dear all,

Welcome to the official Buzzmart blog. Here we will post news, updates, inside information and upcoming features!

So stay tuned and enjoy!

Regards
Buzzmart team

Visit Buzzmart Click!
http://www.buzzmart.com
Invite your friends and share the word!