Auctionopia.com - Carrying Out Auctions Over IM

Auctionopia is a brand-new auction website that aims to bring something new to the table. Basically, IM (instant messenger) is employed as the primary method of communication to buy and sell products.

Buyer and seller have the possibility to negotiate the price with each other – IE, haggle. And it is all done live. An auction works along the following lines: the item is posted, and when a bid is placed the 'time left' instantly becomes a countdown amounting to 2 minutes. Each subsequent bid that is placed during that 2 minute countdown resets the timer, and the 2 minute-period is renewed.

The site is free to use. That is, the site is free for buyers and also for those who intend to list an item. Still, paid enhancements for increasing the visibility of an item are accounted for. These include “featured product”, “bold”, “border” and “highlight” options.

The programmers told me that their primary demographic is 18-24, but hopefully it will eventually extend past that range. Their reasoning makes sense: college demographic is far more familiar with IM, and they hope to seize that market, make inroads there and eventually move further on. Personally, I feel the basic premise is interesting and I also appreciate all the measures they are taking to avoid spamming and scamming. Let’s see how the site evolves from now on, and if it catches up or not.

Below is a snippet of the StartupLucky.com interview with Tom Popomaronis, the CEO of Auctionopia.com:




Check the Full Interview at StartupLucky.com

“Auctionopia is a negotiating website! We’re not your typical auction site. We’ve taken the technology you use every day and combined it to make your experience more unique than what you’re used to. How does this sound? Instead of waiting 7 days for an auction to end, how about talking directly to the seller over instant messenger and sealing the deal in five minutes.





For your convenience, we’ve taken away some annoying things we don’t like about your typical auction site. Say goodbye to listing fees. That’s right, you can list anything on Auctionopia for free without any strings attached (of course, if you want to “enhance” your listing to maximize the exposure of your item, we do give you that option!). I mean, really…who wants to pay for simply listing an item? We don’t, so neither should you.





We’ve also added something new, which we like to call a “zero tolerance policy”. Ahhhh, the infamous auction website scams. See, what bothers us is that those scammers are still out there, and they have little to no consequences for their actions. But, scammers beware! Your kind is not welcome here! If a scammer is caught on our website, they will be permanently banned and red flagged. Our goal is to tighten the community of secure auctioning. You’re welcome!”

It is a novel way of taking part of online auctions, as a higher level of interactivity is ensured by basing everything on instant messaging.

How can the site advertise itself in order to move past the 18-24 demographic that it is aimed to initially?