Upgrades to subscribing member programs
Hi everyone. As part of tonight’s release we made a number of enhancements to our subscribing member programs which we're really excited about.
First off, we re-branded the Plus and Premiere programs. The Plus program is now the Bonanza Pro Silver program. The Premiere program is now the Bonanza Pro Gold program. Subscribing members will see the changes most obviously on their profile pages (a new medal adorns your page; replacing the star) or on the newly designed memberships page which confirms your status (if signed in and a subscribing member already). A screenshot of the newly designed page in its signed-out state is below. Overall we greatly simplified the page making the benefits of each program clearer. For more info on each item mouse-over the icon.
Aside from the redesign and rebranding effort, there are a few enhancements to the Bonanza Pro membership programs. Silver and Gold programs are now eligible for a free 30-day trial for those who haven't tried the program before. And, if you pay for a year in advance, you get an additional month for free. Why not give it a go? You can cancel at any time.
Gold Program members (formerly Premiere) will see a handy new feature. You can now create custom product hierarchies for your booth. Simply use the drag-and-drop interface to set the order of your categories and drag any category to the right (effectively indenting it) to make it a sub-category. You can see a screenshot below - just don't forget to update your booth after making your changes. Gold members still receive all of the Silver Program benefits as well.
Silver Program members (formerly Plus) will see the same benefits as before, but we are working on some new ideas to make the Silver Program even better.
And, as you likely noted above, we are introducing a new membership program – the Bonanza Pro Platinum program. Platinum members receive all of the benefits of the Silver and Gold programs of course. Additionally, there are no fees for Platinum members. Sell and item and keep it all! Platinum members also get direct access to a dedicated Sales Consultant who can help them optimize their items and booths. The Platinum program is not eligible for the free trial (as we waive fees), but if you purchase for a year we will give you a month for free.
You can read more about the services for each program on our main membership page. If you want to see all the services, and are already a subscribing member, be sure to sign-out when viewing the page.
We have some fun things in store for all our merchants that are coming soon, but it had been a good while since we did anything to enhance our services for our subscribing members and it was time we did so. I'm glad we're able to offer a free trial so now everyone can try out one of the programs to see if it's right for them. I encourage you to give it a shot!
Thanks everyone! And feedback, as always, is encouraged.
- Alex
<< Back
Recent Posts
Father's Day promo
Jun 3, 2025
An Important Announcement from Our Team
May 13, 2025
Cleaning House: How We're Cracking Down on Fraud to Protect the Bonanza Community
Mar 26, 2025
The Power of Optimized Listing Titles & Keywords
Mar 20, 2025
Spring Cleaning for Summer Sales
Mar 11, 2025
It's TIME! Bonanza's Annual Holiday Sale is coming up!
Nov 13, 2024Most Popular
Share
131 responses to Upgrades to subscribing member programs
But now it costs us more money to get rid of the Amazon review from our listings.
I sure hope that the reviews don’t show up til next month because I paid to have it removed with my last payment (there was no announcement beforehand that I would get less for my payment this month).
Between the old cost of a premiere membership and my final value fees, it is much cheaper for me under the old fee schedule than this “new” schedule.
And how can you say the platinum level gets 5x’s the sales compared to non-members? I don’t get that many and I have had a paid membership (both plus and premiere) which I can not say led to any kind of additional sales. How can Bonanza make that statement and know it if the new platinum level is new and untesteted?
And why does the platinum level say it is “For Power Sellers?” Isn’t that an *bay term? I thought we were trying to be original here.
Oh, and none of the categories I had set up are showing so I guess I have to start over with that.
I am frustrated by the fee hike and I have so much more to say but….
The prices have not changed. Plus (now Silver) was $10 per month. Premiere (now Gold) was $24 per month. I’m happy to take suggestions on a better term than ‘power sellers.’ ; )
Are you saying that the Amazon reviews will not show up under the Gold level?
If so, I am sorry that I misunderstood and mis-stated that.
I do wonder about the exposure levels. As with the other levels, does platinum get better exposure than gold?
Yahoo, i hope I’m youre first to sign up; this is great
With the facebook information – with “Gold” level – will there be a link at the bottom of each listing like now ????
Jules
yet it seems it’ll take a while longer until everything works correctly.
Moving forward, Bonz!
Pretty cool. Becoming more sophisticated !
That’s how it should be
wow, the platinum fee is up there, are the perks worth 50.00 a month to anyone ? You would have to be selling things like hot cakes to warrant paying that kind of fees wouldn’t you ?
it says get 5 X more sales, but how was that tested, is that fact or estimated ?
Over all I think this is good, just wondering about that platinum status and the fee structure being over twice what the gold status is.
Instead of Power Seller, why not call it a Pro Seller
I think it is great, and I am with Barns! This is great and now I know each month what my total fees will be and yes it will save me time and money!!
It would be nice if already paying members got a month for free, too. If I had just waited a month to pay for a year’s membership, I would have gotten it. :-(
And, yes, “Power Seller” designation is just wrong.
Power Seller is taken. Maybe Mega Sellers or Monster Sellers (like monster trucks), or stick with the color code and call them Gold Sellers. Anything would be better. Otherwise I like the changes. I noticed the upgrade promos in the batch editor. That will be very helpful to newbies who might otherwise think that something just doesn’t work. Also I would like to see upfront what the yearly cost would be when I click on “membership” before I choose which one I want.
@Grandmasparty – removing Amazon reviews links is in the Silver plan and therefore is in all other plans. Each plan inherits the features of those beneath it. So, Gold gets Silver and Gold benefits. Platinum gets Silver, Gold, and Platinum benefits.
Platinum gets the same exposure as the others.
@CrystalBlueAttitude and OntopofJunkMountain – thanks for the suggestions. I’ll keep an eye on the suggestions today, work with the team to pick one, and get ‘Power Sellers’ changed! ; )
I’m with birdie
no FVFs at this time …. right now my sales would not justify $50 a month… I would be out way more than I would gain
just how is it suppose to get you 5X’s more sales???
the other 2 membership levels have never helped out sales.. as many of us have posted on the forum to those who have asked… get a membership to support the site but do not expect more sales from them… any of us who have both had and not had memberships have never noticed increase in sales
what are you going to do when a whole bunch of people get that and their sales do not increase.. by any % and then they are going to be very upset
>>>Platinum members also get direct access to a dedicated Sales Consultant who can help them optimize their items and booths<<<<
oh, good grief … there are many here who do that for people all the time…and will always be happy to do so… not that having bonz team do it is bad.. its a good thing and long needed….it shouldn’t be 100% up to members to do it… bonz as a site should have been and should offer that to their members.. all members… when members succeed the site succeeds
what I see here are some who will dish out $50 expecting expert help and a 5X increase in sales… well, as we all know many things determine sales, from what items a person sells to everything else… this just wont happen for everyone and I think giving them these expectations will cause problems
a complete workover of the help section with site dos and don’t and how to do things would benefit everyone .. including those who help others
I pug in many years on ebays answer center and it’s great to have a link to post to back up what you are saying and for the person you are helping to be able to refer to
THAT would help tons
@EuropeanGoodies – we’re having some technical issues due to an upgrade in our software. The team will be jumping on them this morning. We were up pretty late last night fixing all of the issues we were aware of.
We did the change last night to minimize the interruption as much as possible, but there appear to be a few issues still out there.
Thank you so much for your patience.
power sellers or anything like it would imply to the newbie you have to be a top seller to get it .. or imply to people that those who have that status.. well, they will not understand it’s a paid status and not an earned one
Ooooooo I like the Current Events space on the people page! Much better use of space.
@Alilbirdy2 (and others) – thanks for pointing out that the 5x should not be there for the NEW Platinum program. That was a mistake. It should have been messaged there. I removed it from the screenshot above and we’ll get the page properly updated today with other fixes.
I think “custom product hierarchies” should be a STANDARD feature available to all Bonanza Sellers at NO COST – it improves the shopping experience for everyone browsing the site, in turn it will increase sales and generate more revenue for Bonanza’s growth.
I’m with Pugs…my views have doubled recently, no sales – but that will come when I start listing more items. Why have they doubled? Well, I no long subscribe to Premiere Membership.
With the sales being so low, I just can’t warrant going in the hole each month just for the experience of selling online.
Now, isn’t that why a lot of people CAME to Bonanza from the “other” place?
Kim
How about ProSellers?
I love the new Membership concept. There are many months that my fee’s and membership cost exceed $50.00 so it would be worth it.
I am happy for you moms, I really am that you are that successful … but most of us do not have the quantity of items you have and so forth … many do not even have fast selling inventory or even as much quantity as I have and I’m not close to you LOL
yet, they will be lead to believe for $50 a month they will have 5X more sales and wont be paying FVF on them
what will happen when that doesn’t happen and they are in the hole over it
it is mind boggling to ttry to know how bonz would know sales would increase by 5X .. how can they even guess that.. there can not be any studies.. this is the first day
and what will they be doing for them they wont be doing for everyone else that will bring more sales
if there is something they can do then they should sure do it for everyone .. again, when we succeed so does the site
@pugs – the power sellers label doesn’t appear on any other pages than the one in the screenshot above so, after we change it (which we will do based on feedback here) no one will think it’s an earned status. Good point though! ; )
@pugs – the 5x sales has been removed from the platinum area screen shot and will, later today, be removed from the page itself. Per my comment earlier, that shouldn’t be there. Good eye. And thanks to the two or three of you who noticed.
even so, seeing that and also the “small seller” on any page is misleading and I would thing be detrimental to your selling the subscriptions if seen by those considering them
some of the larger sellers may want the lower membership and seeing that think it inappropriate.. and some smaller may wont the top one and think it is not for them due to that wording
aren’t all 3 for everyone ???
@Alex – My fees will go up. Substantially.
I’m a Premiere member who prepaid for the year. In previous years, Premiere was offered at $200 for the year if it was prepaid. I have twice opted for this.
This brought the monthly cost down to $16.67, not $24.
With the new Gold Pro option, if I’m reading it correctly, a prepayment of the year gets you 13 months for the price of 12. That works to $22.16 per month for the prepaid year, and that’s not much of a savings on $24. The “discounted” $22.16 actually works out to be a $71.37 increase over the next 13 months. And that’s hardly what I would call “unchanged.”
If I allow the membership to auto-renew, the cost will go from $200 for 12 months to $288 for 13 months. Although I have been Premiere for 2 years, my sales volume has never been high here. With this increase, I seriously doubt that I can afford to be in this tier anymore.
I do have multiple booths, and never could afford Premiere for more than one of them. What I may consider now is going for Silver in two of them and dropping the Premiere (Gold) altogether. If I do that, I’ll still have an increase of $21.52 over a 12-month period BUT I’ll have some perks in two booths instead of one.
Alex, I’m posting here because I get error messages when trying to post to the forums. I’m a ‘gold’ member now but experience so many glitches I’m nearly ready to drop it.
Today my custom categories are missing from my booth and from the advanced options section. This is a time-consuming task if I have to start over. I still get the ‘offers sent to sellers’ message when logging in even though I’ve cleared the cache and cookies several times. There are numerous small glitches that interfere with my ability to list items and as a buyer the checkout process is still slow and often requires refreshing. Could the Bonanza team put more effort into fixing some of these things soon?
@pugs – those designations only appear on this page and are intended to help guide new prospective members towards which level might be right from them.
For example, while anyone can use each of the programs, I would not recommend the Platinum program for a new merchant who has never sold online before. I would recommend they start with Silver or Gold until they get some experience and see if Platinum is right for them.
seems to me … unless you are a high volume seller you will not benefit from the $50 membership
and those who are high volume sellers .. odds are do not need assistance from sales consultants
wouldn’t the sales consultants be better offered across the board.. or as I stated earlier… should be for all, paid or not
@bogcandle – we are aware there are some issues in posting to the forum, in categories, and likely other areas of the site as well.
We made a major software upgrade last night that was unrelated to the premium changes (it was a technical change and not one intended to impact site features). We made the change, and many fixes, late last night when site traffic was low to reduce the impact. There are some issues that persist today which we are working on.
Thanks for your patience while we work to address the remaining issues. We really appreciate it.
>>>hose designations only appear on this page and are intended to help guide new prospective members towards which level might be right from them.<<<
exactly .. and they are misleading
@Pugs – you are right. Platinum is best for higher volume sellers – that’s why we said ‘power sellers’ there. Though, per earlier, we’ll be changing that name. Maybe ‘high volume sellers’? ; )
okee-dokee. Will log out and check back later today. Thanks.
again, why would high volume sellers need consultants? seems they already must be doing things right
shouldn’t it be those who are not doing well or not selling at all that need the consultations?
you still have the 2X 3X and 5X sales increases on the other 2 memberships
I wonder how you have determined those numbers since most of us that have both had and not had membership have never notices any change in sales one way or the other.. and if anyone does this could also be due to other factors, time of year, they learned how to use SEO and many other factors
how do you come up with that number and how do you know the membership is what did it
and what % of those with membership had those increases since, as I said, most I have talked to have never seen it and mostly just get the membership to support the site
I know what I am doing tonight and it is not going to be straightening out my items into categories, again. This old camel can only haul so many straws and it ain’t many at 76.
oh great.. I dont’ even have a membership and all my categories are GONE
I am currently a plus member. Can I try the Gold membership for 30 days free?
Uh oh. My categories are gone, too…and I’m a plus/silver member.
Boyz must be working on the site.
Will be watching for the answer to your question, princess.
@all – we are working on the issue with the categories. They should be visible on your booth pages soon. I would not re-create them as we should have a fix in a little bit.
first 30 days are free for silver and gold only. I think I might sign up all my stores for the gold and see if I get 5x times as many sales. Can drop them before the next month and won’t have to pay if you dont get sales. I hope that is correct? Is that correct Alex?
@all – custom categories should be viewable in an hour or less (estimate). We just deployed a number of fixes to forums as well.
good to know alex… thanks
when you get caught up could you please answer my questions from above and gingers too ? thanks
Hi
I really like the new membership page layout. Super easy to see what benefits/features are included at each level so one can make a determination about what fits their business model best.
No matter what level seller, everyone can always use another set of eyes and new ideas to better their business model..
Judy/blue
I also find the layout to be crisp, clean and easily navigated.
Also glad to hear today’s bugs are being worked out
Phaedra
sure extra eyes are good.. but anyone selling well enough that the $50 membership can justify no FVF … well, they just rarely will ask for extra eyes.. even if they are not doing everything “perfect” its’ working for them and I would think feel they do not need extra eyes
and, cases vary and many things are not set in stone nor works for every seller.. if you are a high level seller, it is working for you so why would anyone ask for consultation.. I can not see that happening much.. I’m sure most feel they are doing it all right
it is those who are not high level sellers that need the help
so what… yep, we can all improve.. but the high level sellers are not the ones in the need of the most imporvement
I was under the wrong impression I guess.. I thought the 2 new team members were there to help those that needed it the most… not to be part of this new membership and help those “improve” that are already doing well
@Pugs – We will be helping other sellers also
Power Sellers = Ranch Hands LOL
LOVE the changes and I think offering a free trial is a great idea.
And PS. When in the world do you Bonz people SLEEP???
“Instead of Power Seller, why not call it a Pro Seller”
I like this choice of words better than Power Seller…Pro Seller sounds more original to Bonanza as opposed to Ebay’s choice of words they use.
>>>@Pugs – We will be helping other sellers also<<<
then I am really confused pheadra … if you are helping other sellers.. then you are helping all sellers.. right??
so why mention that in the platinum membership like it’s special for them and they are paying for it
is it free to everyone or not
are they paying for extra consultation or not
sorry, I just don’t get it
oldbaloo@ we didn’t sleep much last night, but hopefully we’ll catch-up tonight. ; )
@pugs – I’ll try to get to most of your comments this morning, but I might not get all of them. As for your latest inquiry, Platinum members will get prioritized access to sales consultants, but yes, the sales consultants will be working to help as many as possible. And we will be working to improve our help content as well.
As for why platinum folks would need sales consultants I would expect that folks at those levels are pretty invested in getting all the tips and tricks they can to optimize sales.
I thought I’d try to get my answer myself. I clicked on the upgrade button, thinking I’d get a confirmation page. But, nope it was instant and the upgrade was processed. OOPS! It says the upgrade to gold will not take effect until Mar 14, so I am taking the plunge and going to see if my sales increase. I guess I will find out if I am charged for the first 30 days or not.
my guess is they are well seasoned and not only know them but teach them to others
and I wouldn’t pay to have priority.. what could be so urgent if I am successful?
@pugs – it sounds like the platinum program is not for you then. That’s your choice of course! Like I said, while they are open to everyone, it’s a personal choice. ; )
please let us know princess.. I don’t like plunging unless I can see the bottom of the pond
OH! another question….since I was already billed for March at the silver level, will the upgrade be pro-rated??? Would be nice to have first 30 days free and second month pro-rated.
Please…pretty please…. with bonanza bananaz on top
just trying to understand the benefits Alex and the reasoning and so on.. also understanding the functions of the consultants since they are included in the package
oh, and again, know you are busy and you will bet around to it.. but please dont forget my question about the 3X and 5X and gingers question
I’m sure you wont but since this is getting so long didn’t want them lost
I have to say that I agree with Pug’s post. I was surprised to see that the consultation was available only to the Platinum booths. I would have thought it would be the other way around….a Plus getting a consultation so that they could eventually start selling enough to become a Gold booth and later (if a seller wanted to) become a Platinum booth.
For those with sales that are already up there, I think the price for the Platinum with no FVF is an awesome price….I just think it would be a shame to not have the consultation available to Plus and Gold so that they can later get increased sales and possibly upgrade. It makes sense that way.
Adding that I do appreciate all of MGMT and am grateful for the 2 new Bonanza members to the MGMT team. It feels really good knowing they are a part of it!!
@all – there are no free trials for upgrades or previous subscribing members. The free trial is for folks who haven’t tried Bonanza membership programs. The goal is to get new folks to try it out.
I dont understand the “collect email addresses from buyers” on the Gold membership
first, well I am sure you ask the buyer if they want to be included and get promo info from the seller
second..most buyers pay with PP and GC .. we already have their addys from the payments.. so …..
“see your items prominently posted on the home page”
dont they first have to be on someones HPL???
many do not even know how those items get on the home page.. seems like saying that would make newbies think that membership will get them there
@princessgifts7 – there is no free trial for upgrades. And, in an effort to keep things simple, your upgrade will go through at the start of the next billing cycle.
“As for why platinum folks would need sales consultants I would expect that folks at those levels are pretty invested in getting all the tips and tricks they can to optimize sales.”
This statement here does make me think and understand more….I just still feel that Plus and Gold would benefit just as much from the consultation, resulting in benefiting the site in the long run, too.
Glad I came here first to find out why I have no categories today. Power Seller hits me the wrong way too, I vote for Pro.
Financially (based on sales) none of the subscribing member plans give any evidence of being a good return on investment for me. I have subscribed at the Premiere level for two years, since the beginning. I will re-evaluate at billing time this year.
@pugs – I haven’t forgotten you. Just trying to keep up and get our fixes addressed with the team. Last night’s update was one of the most complex technical changes we have ever made to the site. And now to your question. Or at least one of them. ; )
The views and sales increases for plus and premiere members (now silver and gold) were based on a comparison of sales and views of subscribing program members and those who do not subscribe. It is an average and therefore may not hold true for everyone. One could argue that subscribing members are more invested in their sales and are therefore more likely to get more views and sales, but we happen to think the tools and features are pretty helpful and a contributing factor.
We encourage all of our merchants to decide which program is right for them!
well I just went into my store and I am a silver member. They have taken all my categories away.NOT HAPPY!!!! In order to get them back I have to upgrade??? I dont even sell $10 a month now
it’s OK Lily
no one has custom cats this morning.. it was a glitch in the upgrade
they should return soon.. so don’t do anything to them… you should see them back in about an hour they said
no upgrade or even membership needed
Alex, there is one question which has been asked repeatedly and I notice that you have studiously avoided answering it. I’d really like to hear that answer.
For silver membership you state:
Compared to non-members…
2x more page views on average
3x more sales on average
For gold membership you state:
Compared to non-members…
5x more page views on average
5x more sales on average
Since I know that your claim can not be backed up by forum threads over the last year related to this topic, what data do you have to justify this claim? Further, has that data been normalized to account for outside factors unrelated to the possession of a paid membership?
@lilyladys – Pugs is right. We are working on getting the categories to show up again and work properly. Please don’t make any changes on your side. ; )
And thanks for your patience.
Thank you Alex, I will try gold for a month.
@pugs I have been harvesting email addys from the other avenues, but am hoping gold membership will simplify the process. It sounds like a great feature to me. And really, $24 is not much of a risk.
I am also guessing that the consultation available at the premium level is more advanced than what is generally available. Newbies need to learn how to walk…seasoned walkers want to run. Premium members are ready to join the olympics.
…just my take on it.
@Rdesigns – scroll up a few posts and you’ll see my response. And I’m working on addressing as many of the questions as fast as I can. There are a number of questions and plates being juggled right now. I’m prioritizing doing what I can to help the development team fix problems before responding to questions.
Thank you very much for your patience. I really appreciate it.
Thanks Pugs & Alex
Hahaha, I read through the posts and all I can add is: When the other place changed the structure a year ago I had the option of a $50 month store with reduced fees to make up for the fee hikes. That strategy still cost a bundle for the low turn inventory business model. You may notice that I’m here now and not there.
Don’t forget why we came here to sell in the first place. The paying base is the small seller. Help the small seller grow and help yourself grow. We like it here…let’s keep it that way.
BTW – if I sell more than $50/month in FVFs – I’m happy to pay them.
I would think consultations would fit the person at any level
princess, while you are correct, they will not be teaching top sellers how to walk,they will not need to spend as much time per member on the well advanced, those who need a little tweaking or a new tip or two
the majority of time is spent teaching people how to walk
I just do not see a the value of including in that membership consultation for a bit of tweaking or a tip, seems to me the only value in that package is if you sell enough to come out ahead on FVF
if you are not spending over $50 a month on average for FVFs then that membership is not for you seems like.. get the gold .. you have the same benefits and can still have consultation.. you just wont be on the “priority” list.. but I doubt they will have few in that group asking and wont be spending as much time per person.. so, go with the gold cause you are not really getting anything extra
I just dont’ understand you point and how it justifies it being part of the package
>>>BTW – if I sell more than $50/month in FVFs – I’m happy to pay them.<<<
ditto
1. Under Gold..get your items promoted in search..are we speaking of the actual search OR just the pictures on the side?
2. if we do not pay does that mean we can no longer make custom categories on our own?
3. if I am reading correctly the help we could give/get on the forums will now cost you?
4. How long before the “free” membership is revoked? Or can we anticipate that if we remain free that our FVF’s will be increased?
Alex, posting my question again in case you missed it.
first 30 days are free for silver and gold only. I think I might sign up all my stores for the gold and see if I get 5x times as many sales. Can drop them before the next month and won’t have to pay if you dont get sales. I hope that is correct? Is that correct Alex?
@sofyblu2 – good morning! I’ll address your questions so the numbers line up. ; )
1. Just the pictures on the side and the first/single row in grey at the top, but NOT the main results in the body of the page. This has not changed.
2. Custom categories are free for everyone as they have been. Custom sub-categories are part of the Gold program. This is a new feature. There are a couple of bugs which we are working on.
3. There are no plans to charge people for help in the forum or the help topics. ; )
4. The free trial is 30 days. It is for members who have not yet tried a premium option. There are no plans to change FVFs.
@gingernellscloset – the free trial is for first-time subscribing members and applicable to a single booth. So, I would not sign-up multiple booths in hopes of getting multiple free trials. Sorry I didn’t get to your question earlier. There are lots of questions. ; )
1. Wording should be changed then as it is misleading and I’ve seen numerous people indicate that they think they are getting placed better in the actual search by paying
2. Guess I’m not getting the sub cats idea…I can already do that on my own
3. sales help?? Still available within the forums just ask
4. I was referring to FREE as those of us who do not pay a membership at all. How long before that is removed from The Bonz site? Or will people that do not chose to purchase a membership eventually be forced to pay higher FVF’s?
Thank you Alex.
@sofyblu2 – one more time. ; )
1. If you mouse-over the icons on the actual page (not the screenshot clearly) we provide additional information. For this benefit we clearly state we do NOT change the body of search.
3. There are no plans to require a paid membership (or, put another way, removing free memberships). Nor are there plans to raise FVFs for people who don’t have a paid membership.
Thank You Alex..just wanted to make sure this was all perfectly clear
I imagine for those selling high priced items, ie antiques, purses, or those that have many repeat buyers the platinum is quite the steal! And this is not to be negative whatsoever….if we can ever get increased traffic here I may consider it. However w/ the Bonanza name not being recognized by the vast majority it is ludicrous for us to even consider this..especially those of us that worked our behinds to develop more than one booth. When I open my 4th booth that would cost me 200.00 a month in membership fees alone if we went platinum.
Nice. NOT. If I had waited just a short time to pay for a year’s membership, I could have tried it free and, unless I’m reading it wrong, get a free month tacked on besides. How hard would it be to let already paying members get a one-time perk of an extra month or two? And there is no longer a discount for paying a year in advance??I can’t see that I have gained one single thing.
Also, it’s hooey to think that paid members are helped in site search when search is all fouled up. In order to make the best use of all the allowed characters in a title, I leave out little words like “of” and “the” (which Google doesn’t see anyway). BUT if someone searches Bonanza and uses those little words, my item is not found.
Nuts.
Yep, you posted your response while I was writing the question.
So I take that the data was not normalized……
You compared paying members to non paying members. Which made me think of another non paying member I ran into a while back on another site. She complained that she had no views or sales in her booth here. I took a look and pointed out to her that she hadn’t actually logged onto Bonanza for 3 months and had a total of one forum post. I don’t think any of us here can be too surprised that her desk isn’t overflowing with Bonz invoices. If you included her in your data to compute your averages, thus comparing her to CritterCreekRanch and pricessgifts7, aren’t you kind of comparing apples to oranges? I would be more likely to suspect that their stronger sales numbers are more attributable to the fact that they actually log on, show up, and probably actually promote their booth and less about their paid membership.
Unfortunately, if I were to sign up for a free 30 day trial, I would have no manner to verify if your claim as being true or false. Without the ability as a non member to track where the sources of my traffic are coming from and without the ability to track the conversion rate from those sources, I would have no control data to compare the membership data to. I’d be left saying something like, “I’d like to think that the paid membership contributes.” I mean, I happen to think that my Adonis DNA and dazzling good looks contribute to my views and sales, but I have nothing solid to back that up.
I do understand that you have many balls to keep in the air, updates do tend to bring out a million little things to fix. I would think though that you would have had the supporting data well sorted to back up your claim before you made it. I was interested in seeing that data.
@CrystalBlue..if this helps…Alex just clarified that PAYING members DO NOT get placed higher in search results. They merely have photos on the side and at the top of the page
I know, sofyblu. My complaint is about site search in general. Maybe not the appropriate place to complain about it but, since I very recently signed on for paid membership, I am a little ticked to think I would have been much better off to wait a month. Hence, the griping.
I understand everyone’s thoughts. I really do.
But, if I may take a moment to offer another perspective, it may calm some anxieties. And crystal I really empathize with your for missing the deal by a small amount of time.
But from a big picture point of view. I think the changes may bring more first timers to try the membership. And this gets them to focus on their booth a bit more seriously. In turn, they may keep the membership which will increase their commitment and bring more revenue to Bonanza. This revenue can be used for more future improvements.
The more bonanza improves the more sellers and customers will come here to buy from our booths.
Although it may cost us a few more dollars, these few dollars multiplied by all of us bring lots of dollars to bonanza.
Our goal is to improve Bonanza so we can gain customers isn’t it?
This is all working toward what we want. We want Bonanza to become a household name. We can’t expect things to change, if things don’t change. bottom line.
We all have the choice to keep the paid membership or to opt out.
I’m going to give gold a chance. You have to stretch your wings out if you want to see if you can fly.
Blessings to all, whatever you choose.
I agree with Rdesigns about the data and would like to see the documentation. I’m a premiere (gold) member and have yet to see an increase in views or sales based solely on membership. What I have seen are increases/decreases based entirely on my own effort at promoting, and times when other Bonanza sellers have promoted items for me. How does Bonanza sort out the efforts of individual members from stats related solely to membership level?
Ok I did the math, calculated my past 11 months of money paid for membership and FVF’s and compared it to what it would have cost me using the new Platinum fees, I would have saved $64.00 by purchasing the Platinum package, and with this being my first year, I do feel this is a big savings for me. JMHO
I would like to add a comment if I could.
To begin with, the specific tasks and expectations have not even been totally spelled out yet for Phaedra and I. We will do our best I’m sure to work with the plan set up for us, but it appears that many others are assuming they know what the obligations of the sales consultants will be.
We are two individuals, out of how many sellers? This is a brand new process that hasn’t even been fully rolled out yet, so we can’t even reveal to everyone else what the job will entail. But I can tell you it will be immense. I only hope that there is patience and understanding regarding our positions and what we have to accomplish, as designated by management. This blog was written I think to introduce the three tiers of membership that in many ways haven’t changed, except with regards to the Platinum level…..yet much more is being challenged. I would like to say more, but for now I can only say that I have used the membership, I have enjoyed the membership, and it has served me well. There are also many other sellers who would agree it has worked well for them also. Please don’t find fault with us for saying so. I just hope I was able to clarify my stance on this issue.
so people can still Not Pay and it is still a Free site?i pAY 10.00 A MONTH AND HAVE ONLY SOLD 8 ITEMS IN A YEAR (not including my auctions)The Search here is Seriously MESSED UP!!!!It looks like i have to sign up again?? But before i could pay my 10.00 by pay pal and now i have to use a Credit card?which i do not have Can I pay my 10.00 pay pal?? i was a paying member I stopped my payment last month and have to resign up again?? Do I get my free month? let me know thank you
@granny123 – I’m not sure I follow your specific questions, but rather than try to hash them out here, I sent your post to the support team so they can reach out to you. They are a pretty stellar lot and I’m sure they’ll help you out.
Great post Princess and Momspennies! I’m inspired and therefore will go check out what I can do to make my booth better. Have a great week everyone!
Thank you so Much!!
This says that with a Gold membership people can collect email addresses!!! No One better be collecting My Email address for Anything without my Permission.This is a way for people to make money selling email addresses to companies I went through this already and had to get a Lawyer.and I would hate to think this site would encourage others to collect this Information and that my email address could be sold from this site instead of Protecting our personal information and I would have to go through such a hassel again.NO ONE has the right to COLLECT my email address for Anything
!!!!
I agree with Rdesigns also
I tend to think that paying members are more invested, read the fourms more and in general are probably more knowledgable in the first place
I would think they put more work into their booths and in to optimization .. and think they would have more sales than non paying members for those reasons
I do not see how there can be any figures to know if membership helps sales or to what extent
there are also those who do not understand how to best optimize ect … and get membership because they think it will help sales.. after all it’s right there saying it will
I feel saying it does help sales and giving a % is terribly misleading and hense the treads “I paid for membership and still have no sales”
@granny123. I believe you have to give permission for this in checkout. Alex can correct me if I’m wrong.
granny, a buyer has to “check” that it is OK to receive future correspondence from you
but, the addys are in the payments sent to you or if you are the buyer, then to the seller.. by law unless they agree at the time of the purchase to get future emails from you .. then you can not contact them … or at least are not suppose to.. you can also loose your PP account if you do so
It is possible to make sales here with out subscribing to a membership. I did and will again – and I suck!
Your friend,
LouieTheSeller
The free trail offer doesn’t say anything about only for first time buyers, I hope they change that soon. Would not want folks to sign up and then find out they don’t qualify because they did have the plus membership for a few month for their booth.
I think it’s too late ginger
@ louie, may sales didn’t seem affected one way or the other from when I was and was not a paying member.. I had sales and the same amount either way
Well, don’t shoot me for saying this, but I’ve been a Premiere (Gold) member since December and am happy to pay my monthly fee. When I first signed up for Plus (Silver), I wasn’t expecting it to increase sales. I just wanted use of some extra features that I could use to help increase my own sales. Same goes for when I upgraded to the Gold membership.
That said, I’m happy with the latest changes and the added value I will be getting for my money — sub-cats and collecting buyer emails. Does that mean I expect my sales to increase simply for having the membership? Absolutely not — that’s entirely up to me to improve by using the tools available with my Gold membership and elsewhere.
About the only things I would recommend changing are “For Small Sellers” and “For Power Sellers” under Silver and Platinum, respectively. Their descriptions should be more along the lines of the “Best Value” statement for Gold. They shouldn’t be applied to any certain group, thereby alienating those who aren’t in that group. They should speak to all members.
Maybe for Silver you could put something like “A Starter Kit” and “For Even More Value” for Platinum. Mind you, those two suggestions could possibly use some improvement, but you get the idea of what I’m trying to say, right? LOL
As for the stats for how each membership affects sales, I think they relate more to the sales potential IF you make full use of the tools available with your membership in conjunction with tools outside of Bonz. I will say that having a paid membership, particularly Gold, DOES get you a lot more exposure in searches.
However, if a customer doesn’t like what they see, then they will move on. My level of membership isn’t going to change their mind. LOL Only I can do that by making any necessary adjustments and testing different things to find that magic selling point.
So, maybe those stats should say something like you have the “potential for” X amount of sales. The stats for views are obviously pretty accurate because we can see the number of views we get. However, we don’t have access to general sales data to personally see those comparisons as accurate.
As for our new sales consultants, let’s give Bonz time to solidify those plans. They merely announced the hiring of sales consultants and haven’t specified how or with whom they will be working. Yes, they are announcing one group they will be assisting — Platinum members — but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the only ones who will be helped.
Bonz is making some great changes for all of us. They are trying to improve our experience here on all sorts of levels and I, for one, appreciate it — sales or no sales. Like I said, sales are entirely up to me to make — not some membership level or even a group of hard-working programmers who never seem to sleep. LOL So, any change YOU make to improve your own sales will be proven effective or not over time.
I think what it is, is that it is easy to just think that Platinum will get the consultation because that word is only under Platinum and no other mention elsewhere.
It’s just a suggestion, something that I felt and thoughts I wanted to share, about Plus and Gold benefiting from consultation definitely just as much.
Everyone take care. Like many, I care about the members on here….I just want to see us succeed also.
I’ve got lots to do and thankfully my custom categories are now back up. It’s time for me to stop spending so much time in the forums and get to work.
Alex, I was thinking the other day that I would like to try to the now Gold membership, just to see if I saw a difference in sales…keep in mind I was a Gold member approximately 4 to 6 months ago, something like that. The site has grown since then. I liked Crystals idea on allowing a booth, where once a paid booth but no longer or whatever, to be able to give it a try…maybe as a one time courtesy. It is because I have tried it in the past on why I am skeptical if there would be an increase in sales from it now, though I know at the same time I have to put work into my booth as well…..maybe you all can give it some thought.
@ Granny
A buyer has the option to share their emails and it is provided to us with their payment notice. Their choice.
Wow!! A wide spectrum of issues has been hatched by the on-going upgrades and creation of a new paying level of membership!!!
I have been a “plus”, now Silver, member since joining in Oct of ’08….. Did not make the decision to be a paying member for any supposed benefit that came with it…simply felt it was a good idea to contribute to the success of our site………
I can truthfully say being a paying member has not done anything for sales expectations….and probably will not regardless of the level selected……just pride in our site……
If and when my sales ever justify a move to the next level I will not hesitate to take advantage of what that level has to offer……in the meantime, don’t plan to change anything involving my membership…………….
My custom categories still are NOT working. It’s been all day.
@purpleiris – Very well said, Nicole!
Custom Booth Category (aka “CBC”) update:
If you had your CBC’s set to Manual then your CBC’s should be working fine.
If you had your CBC’s set to Automatic then your CBC’s are showing in your booth, the items are just not mapping to your categories just yet.
Ryan is working on putting the final pieces to the puzzle together and all should be fine soon. When I asked Ryan for a time frame (when the fix would be applied), he said “Two hours ago.” So it is a priority for us to get this corrected. The good news is that everything should return as it was soon. Thanks for your patience.
yeah, mine are manual
and seem to be working fine at this time
My goodness, this is a busy place today. I like the changes, but wasn’t around during the day to see it all. I’m going to go play with the hierarchies right now! Super cool!
I’m not a ‘Power Seller’, but it seems it would be less expensive for me to use the Platinum, based on fees paid and the Premium status combined for most months historically.
My question is:
Can I get this month pro-rated if I upgrade? I signed on for the Premium on 3/1/2011 and expires 3/31/2011.
I would have been more apt to sign up as a Platinum member , if the exchange would have been that Bonanza was going to use that money do advertising in the media , TV, etc…..
What you get in return for that membership, is basically nothing that I can see that is beneficial to anyone.
Why on earth would anyone go into a store and hand them 600.00, and walk away with nothing for their money. It makes no sense to me.
Now if you can promise that I’ll have 5 X more sales, I’m more apt to sign up, but you can also bet I would not be a happy camper if I did not get those sales you promised.
As for the data, how you found the information, think on this, those sales came about from what they did to promote themselves, not what their membership did for them.
I know this sounds negative, but the fact is, that Platinum membership doesn’t benefit most sellers here. It only benefits those who have a large volume of sales, and they got those sales from what they did themselves, not what their membership did for them.
I hate to say this, but it looks like Bonanza is going down hill as fast as it went up hill.
Well said, Alibirdy.
I was reviewing my Google Analytics and my views and sales are coming from Google, Bing, my own promoting, Bonanza member blogs and referrals, Twitter, and even Etsy ranks high for referrals. People are not typing in ‘Bonanza’ when searching, that’s for sure.
When I get more sales I will happily pay more fees, but I see no point in gambling $600 per year. I don’t mind the $200 I pay for the gold membership now because I like supporting the site for the good of all, but I’m tapped out at that level.
Although my sales have increased over the past year I have to be doing a lot better to justify a Platinum membership, and if I were doing well enough to pay for the Platinum membership, I wouldn’t need it.
I did mine manually but they are not back.
I have little hope at this point.
Don’t give up on us yet GrandmasPantry. We’re still working on it actively. Thanks for your patience everyone.
You are not ‘gambling’ 600. per year. If you were a Gold member at 24. per month, and upgrade to Platinum, you are only ‘gambling’ the 26. difference, which would hopefully be covered by your savings in Final Value Fees.
It does say on the membership page, that the free trials are for new subscribing members only, so unless Alex changed that before I looked, the info IS there.
Alilbirdy2: Ditto…..It makes no sense to me either lol
But I suppose it’s a lot like fishing throw the baited line into a holding pond of fish and you are bound to catch a few!
when I click on membership this is at the top
>>>Our professional subscription programs offer features and analysis to help you improve your sales. From metrics and expert consultants to custom tools and promotion, Bonanza Pro tools have you covered. The first month’s on us. Cancel anytime, no contracts.<<<
I do not see it saying first time people only
@BookbinEtc, since I pay the gold membership yearly, my cost is only $16.66 per month ($200 divided by 12). So far my highest monthly fee has been $28 for items sold and most of the time it is closer to $20.
I’ve benefited immensely from free advice in the forums because this site has fostered knowledgeable and generous sellers. Everyone’s situation is different but I don’t see an advantage to upgrading.
Sorry to say, I have to agree with those who have posted their reservations about this.
I am actually thrilled about the new membership level! However, I have been trying all day to sign up, and it just keeps linking me me back to the same page explaining the benefits. Am I the only one that would like to sign up, but has not been able to?
@mysillymonkeys – I sent this off to support so one of them can reach out to you personally.
All very interesting. Am I now correct in saying there is no longer a discount for paying a year in advance? Be that the case, I need to make some changes, and thats ok, just want to make sure I understand.
@AutumnLeaves – I am still seeing the discount to $16.67 per month if yearly is paid for a total of $200.
What did you do with my Merch Match???
Thanks so much Phaedra. Mine is due to renew in April so I thought I would check.
All Bonz peeps, thanks for all you do to try to make this a better place for everyone. Change is difficult and peeps usually accept it better if they are part of it. I do not envy you trying to do the best thing for this sight and the sellers/buyers.
@StarvingPackrats – sorry for the delay in getting back to you. With Premiere you could pay monthly for $24 or pay for a year for $200. The Premiere membership has been re-branded the Gold membership and is also $24 monthly or $200 for the a year. First time members are eligible for a 30-day free trial, but that doesn’t raise your rates from what you were paying before.
If I’m missing something in your question please shoot a message to support. I’m sure Mark can connect with you directly.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. If you see any continued issues or have questions please reach out to [email protected]. ; )
Login to see more comments