Ballbids.com

[aviBallBids]

I'm getting all excited just thinking about those browned out Pastels...

so let's recap...

Your business model is based on a scam
Your banner ads lie
And your selling the scraps no one else wanted

Wow...where do I sign up?

I'm sorry to go directly against what you've put into writing here, but allow me to elaborate:

The business model itself, if a scam, would have been illegalized at some point after the original website (Swoopo.com) went into business. Unfortunately, the business model is attractive to scammers, so I understand your criticism 100%, but, as I've mentioned, we're in this for the long haul, BallBids.com or not, so we can't afford to tarnish our reputations.

The banner ads, as I've mentioned, are designed to give our visitors an idea of the possibilities, which, in fact, are real possiblities once we are able to develop our user base some more.

And as for the quality of the ball pythons we have up for auction, aside from the Fire Female we're giving away, all of our snakes were hand selected by Mike Wilbanks over at Constrictors Unlimited. We won't be putting up any browned out pastels.

I'd be interested in how they quarantine these animals that they acquire and put up. How long do they hold them to guarantee the health of the animal before it's put up for this auction. Not sure I'd risk adding a "flipped" animal into my collection just to save a few bucks.

The only one, in my estimation, who wins in this, is the owner of the site.

Hi rabernet!

All of our animals are quarantined in a melamine rack system that we put together ourselves to keep costs to a minimum. We've got one sub-adult rack as well as a hatchling rack built, including several thermostats, heat tape, hide boxes, water bowls, etc., to keep the snakes happy and healthy. Once we're done putting together the rest of our material, we should have enough room to house roughly 100 snakes in all. We also feed them rats several times a week, and, seeing as how Constrictors Unlimited handles their business, we've never had a problem when it comes to meal time.

You'll get a chance to see everything we do here once we get our first video up. Please, stay tuned!

you consider quibids and bidcactus competitors?

You go of their millions of dollars in research but fail to realize your target customers are completely different from theirs.

If you have spent that much time in this community you would know that we are a skeptical group because we have been burned, scammed and outright lied to. You shouldn't have given these "possibilities" a price.

That's like the ads for diet pills that say "lose 50lbs a month" and forget to tell you that you can only eat celery and coffee and have to run 10miles a day.

Those "possibilities" are only possible when you know the habits of your bidders. You dont yet.

sent from my EVO

Hi jbean7916!

I wouldn't say that QuiBids and BidCactus are our direct competitors, but they offer an almost identical service. Their marketing seems to work well for them, so it made sense for us to borrow some of their ideas.

At the same time, you mention a great point--our target customers are completely different. This is absolutely true, and if it weren't for Zack's suggestions and involvement (Seeing as how he's been much more involved than I am and for a much longer time), this company would not have been able to take off the way it did.

Also, we expected to be met with a certain level of criticism. We realize that not everyone will come to appreciate what we have to offer, but all we can hope is that most will keep an open mind. And as for the habits of our bidders--you're right, we don't know those habits yet, but there's only one way for us to find out, and that's to give it a try.

from my understanding( and sorry if someone already said this) its no different that ebay execpt you pay per bid? same risk of not winning the bid and same chance on saving a ton of money?

and if the snakes are coming from breeders you would normally buy from anyway i can see the appeal and value in something like this. its not a scam either if they are completely open about how they do buisness. you either accept it and use it or you dont.

Now would i personally do it. Im not sure. I think i would have to have someone i know directly that did this and had a good experience before i would jump on.

Hi tcutting!

Yes, you have the right idea about how our service works. Please, take a moment to see the "How it Works" page on our site, found here: http://www.ballbids.com/page/how-it-works And yes, we only intend to purchase from reputable breeders, as the last thing we need is an unhappy customer with a less-than-investment-quality animal.

allow me to add that whoever the breeder is that is supplying the animal should give some sort of guarantee on it. additionally I don’t think ballbids houses the snakes at all but the animals should go directly from seller to auction winner. Thus eliminating costs for them and ensure the cleanest bill of health possible.

Hi again!

Please, allow me to copy-paste some text from a previous response:

"All of our animals are quarantined in a melamine rack system that we put together ourselves to keep costs to a minimum. We've got one sub-adult rack as well as a hatchling rack built, including several thermostats, heat tape, hide boxes, water bowls, etc., to keep the snakes happy and healthy. Once we're done putting together the rest of our material, we should have enough room to house roughly 100 snakes in all. We also feed them rats several times a week, and, seeing as how Constrictors Unlimited handles their business, we've never had a problem when it comes to meal time.

You'll get a chance to see everything we do here once we get our first video up. Please, stay tuned!"

i personally think i will use this site at one time or another just because i feel they owners are being open and honest and answering questions the right way. i know theres a chance of getting burned but there really isnt much these days that wont burn you, including other penny bid sites. now on the other hand if its legit and i win an awesome snake for 10% of what it retails at, well ill probably be jumping up and down for joy. sometimes these penny bid sites work out like when i tryed to win a laptop and i actually won, that laptop is the one im using to post this comment, so things that seem too good to be true do sometimes work out.

Hi pbjtime8908!

Thank you for keeping an open mind, the effect it has on our reputation is priceless! And congratulations on winning your laptop!

If you bid your STUPID! The owner is Zack Byers who was here and went by zbyers7 and told everyone here and bush league breeders club members that he was a big shot and we were peeons .He is a fraud and has found a way to rip everyone off if you fall for it.So if you bid i guess its true a fool is born every minute

Hi joepythons!

I apologize wholeheartedly for Zack's previous behavior here and on Bush League. None of us are perfect, and it showed very well at that time. Zack was upset about the way he was being cornered--he wasn't prepared for it. He realizes that he shouldn't have let his emotions get to him, and I, for one, don't condone such behavior.

I realize that it will take a long time before those who were involved will allow their perceptions to change, if at all. I can only hope that at least one person will accept my sincere apology.

from what i have heard read through this thread is that the only way you get ripped off is if you keep rebidding on an item? and even then it is only 55 cents at a time if i understand this correctly.

if you lose a bid say you bid 15bucks on a snake you only pay the 55cents or do you pay 15.55 even though you lost?

Hi again!

Let me give you an example scenario:

Say you place 20 bids, at the cost of $0.65 a piece (The average cost of a 100 Bid Package), and won an auction at a final price of $15, the total cost to you would be 15 + 0.65(20) = $28. if you lost the auction, the total cost to you would be $28 minus the final auction price, which is equal to $13.

I hope that makes sense!

Hey Zack or who ever you want to be called i recently started a thread on bush league breeders club and wanted to invite you to comment there also.So here is that link. http://www.reptileradio.net/reptiler...952#post670952

Hi again joepythons!

Thank you for the invite, I'll head over there shortly!

-Avi =)