Always the innovative alternative, Bonanzle.com announced two new games on it's social ecommerce site today. The first one,
"Merch Match" is designed for sellers (and maybe gamershoppers from "out there") to play with each other, earning points for the correct response as they go. According to Bonanzle founder
Bill Harding, "It has two purposes: (1) to entertain (2) to provide useful data about our 3.5m items."
Presumably "someday" that data will translate into sales for the 33,280 storefronts (called booths), and the merchants of Bonanzle who are hoping that the "someday" comes prior to this holiday shopping season.
And, presumably "someday" those points will be worth something on the site. ( The game within the game... what are the points for?) There already exists a
Roundtable Question and Answer Forum where you can ask questions about merchandise, and have the best answer voted on by the community, earning "Reputation Points."
I don't have any points from either the Roundtable or the MerchMatch game.
If I have time to play a game it's going to be golf, OK? Hopefully my reputation speaks for itself from the quality services and products I provide to my customer-friends. But if I really need extraneous points to be a successful ecommerce merchant, I'll add up my scores from every round of golf I play this season. We can use those. I play a lot of golf for charity. So it's a good circle.
So, speaking of customer-friends... the second game is for you! Actually it is a scientific experiment that sure feels like a game. Its an
A/B split test. On 50% of my Bonanzle listings the buttons have been redesigned so ‘add to cart’ is super-easy to see. Of course Bonanzle's international shipping scripting is still full of glitches so you may not actually be able to check out without several rounds of emails with me. But, if you DO navigate the process yourself you may be lucky enough not to be charged any shipping. It's not that I'm super generous to my international customers, it's just that the platform is unstable. But if it goes thru FREE, that's not your problem. Don't worry. It's part of the game: you MIGHT get free shipping without me knowing it. How's that for fun?
Also, on 50% of my listings the Bonanzle designers made a sad empty shopping cart for more fun. The cart wants you to shop. (Assuming you want the cart to be happy, my sales will increase.) The object of this game is to control your spending habits via the sad face. Are you having fun yet?
I'm so sorry. And somewhat embarrassed.
I have put all of my listings at my
Bonanzle storefront on hold until the shipping, offer, and checkout issues are fixed.
The Bonanzle Christmas in July coupon code SAVE15 which takes 15% off will be honored at our website, http://www.oshunspirit.net. Our JourneyBeads storefront on Bonanzle has not been affected by the errors and remains open, fully stocked, and the coupon code is in fine working order.
I appreciate you all and I know that your time is precious and that you don't have time to play games. I know that you want to see a good picture, read an accurate description of the product or service, and make your purchase securely and easily. Online shopping is all about convenience. Please accept my sincere apologies for your inconvenience.
image credit: http://www.psfk.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/video-game.jpg
