New website for buying and selling Asian items

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 03 Nov 2006, 05:39

http://www.asianbay.co.uk/

I joined myself yesterday.

Thought you guys might be interested...

Keung · Post by **Keung** » 03 Nov 2006, 11:35

Been using this for quite a bit now. Dave, the owner, is a top dude!

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 03 Nov 2006, 11:58

Yeah, seems like a nice guy.

I'm buying a couple of mags from him.

Keung · Post by **Keung** » 03 Nov 2006, 12:17

Ha, he wraps DVD's up real good! Takes me atleast 10 minutes to get into the package!

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 03 Nov 2006, 14:54

Ace!!! Cheers Mark min.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 03 Nov 2006, 15:26

So how much is delivery etc?

Edit: Woops I just found out that it varies from dude to dude.

Ok coolness... time to shop.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 03 Nov 2006, 16:09

There are no seller fees. Postage is decided by the individual. It's really just a place to advertise stuff you have for sale for free. It's a good idea.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 03 Nov 2006, 18:19

Cheers Mark, worth a gander as well as checking eBay.

Two problems:

1. You search for something and everything but what you're searching for comes up.
2. The option to enlarge the photo doesn't work, you just get a white box (IE & Firefox).

Where does it say what postage is?
It doesn't support PayPal too right?
I presume Bank Transfer details would need to be sent via e-mail?
Does it have a feedback system?

Markgway wrote:It's really just a place to advertise stuff you have for sale for free. It's a good idea.

Except you're likely to get more for them on eBay with the number of people using it, selling fees or not.

You'd have sold your Hard Boiled: CC for good money by now if you put it on eBay. Besides for a DVD you're talking pennies not pounds.

mdreamUK · Post by **mdreamUK** » 03 Nov 2006, 19:24

Thanks for all the kind words guys, appreciate it.

Asian Bay is really still in its experimental stages, if more people use it, the better it will be become. All sites have to start somewhere.

Yes, you would have more chance of selling on E-Bay, that goes without saying. However, what you have to take into consideration is, you don`t always sell an item the first time around. Hence you keep relisting and by the time you sell an item you may as well have given it away. I know because I used to sell on E-Bay.

The idea of Asian Bay was for Asian film fanatics to be able to list as much stuff as they wanted for free. At the end of the day, its just an idea and nothing more. If it works out, great, if not, it was worth a try. I see lots of people selling through forums. Why? I think because E-Bay is simply too expensive.

The search engine isn`t 100% accurate because its simply querying a closest match. It is ok though, for example if you wanted to search for 'Celestial Pictures', thats what you enter. Common words are removed from the search. Again, an area I can improve on if its worth it.

The full size photo option works fine. What problems are you having? The site was designed and tested in Firefox btw.

Yes, there is a feedback system. Similar to E-Bays actually and a seller can reply if negative or bad feedback is left. A lot of info is in the help topics. So, far I think the system is doing ok. There is no payment system at the moment, but next year I plan to integrate the Paypal system to make it easier to purchase things. At the moment you contact the seller and arrange payment. I thought about how to code Asian Bay for ages and had feedback from some people during its creation. The feedback system was important.

I appreciate all feedback, so if you use the system, do let me know what you think and again, thanks for all the kind words.

One final thing is, if anyone is interested in the DVDs I have for sale, I can`t ship them after Nov 25th as I`ll be in Hong Kong for 7 weeks.

Take care,
David.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 03 Nov 2006, 19:49

Welcome to B&B David and thanks for your informative post. Like Mark, I've also signed up and am about to sell a few discs (once I take photos). I've also got my eye on a few bargains.

It's a great idea and I wish you success.

mdreamUK · Post by **mdreamUK** » 03 Nov 2006, 21:42

Thanks BiscLimpkit, its nice to be here.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 03 Nov 2006, 23:29

mdreamUK wrote:I`ll be in Hong Kong for 7 weeks.

Hey,

cool! What are you doing in HK? Vacation? Work? Both? Visiting friends?

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Nov 2006, 00:12

mdreamUK wrote:Asian Bay is really still in its experimental stages, if more people use it, the better it will be become. All sites have to start somewhere.

Of course. It was meant to be constructive criticism.

mdreamUK wrote:Yes, you would have more chance of selling on E-Bay, that goes without saying. However, what you have to take into consideration is, you don`t always sell an item the first time around. Hence you keep relisting and by the time you sell an item you may as well have given it away. I know because I used to sell on E-Bay.

Fair point. I've sold DVDs for peanuts but not always. Someone paid £7 for the old 2 Disc Gladiator DVD from me, why they thought they'd got a bargain is beyond me.

mdreamUK wrote:The idea of Asian Bay was for Asian film fanatics to be able to list as much stuff as they wanted for free. At the end of the day, its just an idea and nothing more. If it works out, great, if not, it was worth a try. I see lots of people selling through forums. Why? I think because E-Bay is simply too expensive.

I disagree it's because certain people hate paying a penny/anything at all.

The other reason which is where Asian Bay could do very well is DVD Forums people know everyone else there is also into the DVD format so you won't get people who aren't serious contenders.

The other being people are scarred of giving their credit card details over to Paypal.

mdreamUK wrote:The search engine isn`t 100% accurate because its simply querying a closest match. It is ok though, for example if you wanted to search for 'Celestial Pictures', thats what you enter. Common words are removed from the search. Again, an area I can improve on if its worth it.

No offence but I typed in "Nowhere To Hide" and "City on Fire" and 2046 came up, what's 2046 got to do with those two films? I tried with and without quotations.

If the search engine worked better I'd be very happy to perceive.

To be honest I'd prefer a search which found what I was looking for. I'm much more likely to search for a film/title than film studio.

mdreamUK wrote:The full size photo option works fine. What problems are you having? The site was designed and tested in Firefox btw.

When you click on the small image a larger image preview appears but in IE7 you just get a white box, clicking on it as it asks does nothing (as if you didn't click it, no error message). In Firefox 2 it says:

"Firefox doesn't know how to open this address, because the protocol (c) isn't associated with any program."

Those are the exact words, along with a white box. I've found my firewall (ZoneAlarm) is often the cause of these sorts of issues but closing it down makes no difference. In short all I can see is a tiny picture of the item for sale.

mdreamUK wrote:Yes, there is a feedback system. Similar to E-Bays actually and a seller can reply if negative or bad feedback is left. A lot of info is in the help topics. So, far I think the system is doing ok. There is no payment system at the moment, but next year I plan to integrate the Paypal system to make it easier to purchase things. At the moment you contact the seller and arrange payment. I thought about how to code Asian Bay for ages and had feedback from some people during its creation. The feedback system was important.

Thanks, tbh I was put off by the search and didn't look too much further.

BiscLimpkit wrote:Welcome to B&B David and thanks for your informative post.

Me too, definitely welcome and thank you for an informative reply, taking the time to do so.

BiscLimpkit wrote:It's a great idea and I wish you success.

Agreed.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Nov 2006, 00:17

LOL I've found out why some photos are working and some aren't. I stand corrected some do work but Mark you've messed yours up

Others: http://www.asianbay.co.uk/images/david/ ... amurai.jpg
Mark's: c:\\Documents and Settings\\Markgway\\My Documents\\My Pictures\\Asian Bay\\GOD2.jpg

p.s - David it's user error, not your site 8)

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 04 Nov 2006, 01:18

Brad, can you check my images now please.

I realise the problem (d'oh!)

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Nov 2006, 01:27

All okay now thanks. What did you do wrong?

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 04 Nov 2006, 01:35

I forgot to upload them.

mdreamUK · Post by **mdreamUK** » 04 Nov 2006, 06:37

bradavon:

Thanks for your feedback, appreciated. Some good points. I have updated the search engine, so should be a little better now.

cool! What are you doing in HK? Vacation? Work? Both? Visiting friends?

Vacation mainly. These are the perks when you work for yourself.

I`ll be visiting friends and generally buying loads of DVDs and just chilling out. I go to Xmas every year. I`m friends with Tim Youngs, Ryan Law & Ross Chen, so I hook up with those guys at some point. See some movies. Last year I got 195 DVDs, doubt I will beat it this year. Depends on if I`m in a buying mood or not.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 04 Nov 2006, 15:10

195, all legit?

. I presume they show HK/Chinese films with English subs in cinemas in HK?

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 05 Nov 2006, 02:59

I've reduced the price of Hard-Boiled if anyone's interested?

mdreamUK · Post by **mdreamUK** » 05 Nov 2006, 08:31

bradavon wrote:195, all legit? . I presume they show HK/Chinese films with English subs in cinemas in HK?

Yep, they do indeed. And yes, all 195 legit. I got loads of cheap movies, mainly the ones on the Fortune Star label. Many of those crazy 80s/early 90s movies were the best. You just can`t go wrong at HK$18, thats like what, £1.20 a movie?

I haven`t bought any new movies this year except for a couple of Korean movies, so I have at least 12 months of releases to get. I`m always 12 months behind.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 05 Nov 2006, 23:30

meow.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 06 Nov 2006, 01:51

Thanks, Eva.

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 07 Nov 2006, 23:37

Further reductions.

Godzooki · Post by **Godzooki** » 10 Nov 2006, 15:07

mdreamUK wrote:Thanks for all the kind words guys, appreciate it.

Asian Bay is really still in its experimental stages, if more people use it, the better it will be become. All sites have to start somewhere.

Mdream? that's familier to me, did you have another site selling gear before?, if so i remember you had a Musa r3k collectors edition with book for a tenner, was gonna go for it but i suspected it was too good to be true and thought you were a crook.

Looks like i missed out!