Relentless Simplicity - The Bonanza Blog

New and Improved Community Section Now Live

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By bonanzamark
Posted on May 21, 2013 | Launched on May 21, 2013 | 129 comments

It has arrived at last!  Today we are debuting an updated and improved Community section, with emphasis on the key areas that we heard are most valuable to our customers.  Here's a quick rundown of each:

Forum Experience Bonanza Style

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By bonanzamark
Posted on May 19, 2013 | 36 comments

About a month ago, we reached out to you and asked you how you would like to improve the forum experience on Bonanza.  We had our ideas on how this could happen but it would be silly if we did not tap into our awesome community to see what you thought.  Thanks to you, we received a ton of great feedback to get us to where we are at today.  We are happy to announce that our new Community pages are ready to be launched and will be live the next time we deploy (aka, upload all of the things we have been working on).  With so many great suggestions, it was hard to narrow it down.  For example a few suggestions that nearly made it into production:

Please create a laser where you can zap posts, you know, like a video game.  -Luke Slywalker

Please add a Netflix plug in to the forums so I can live on the Bonanza forums.  -Betty JWhite (the J is silent)

Please add Amazon Coins so people can reward posters with Amazon Coins  -Jeff Blezos

Unfortunately those suggestions may have to wait until the next go around.  In the meantime, feast your... (continued)

New features, updates, fixes

By bonanzamark
Posted on April 15, 2013 | 10 comments

If you visit our changelist on Bonanza then you are already aware of our often updated programming journal which lists bug fixes, new updates and features as they go live.  So if you want to be "in the know," make sure and keep an eye on that page.  Here are some recent items to note:

 "Show larger images in search results"

This one has not been added to our changelist yet but it is just about ready to be launched.  Shoppers will now be treated to an even more appealing search with much larger images.  Make sure the images you are using for your main image are tops.  Great pictures sell items so be sure to use all of the tools available to you to make that happen, including our background burner!

"Add magic brush to Background Burner"

If you have not used our background burner recently then now would be a good time to get reacquanted with this lovely photo editing tool.  We have added new features and continue to optimize this Bonanza exclusive tool.  Rumor has it that Bill is going to lift the already low fees for our background burner and make it free... (continued)

Find items that interest you with a Saved Item Search

By bonanzamark
Posted on April 09, 2013 | 4 comments

When is the last time you used our feature Saved Item Search?  Homie say what?  You mean you have never heard of this feature?  Have no idea where to find this gem? Well then this here blog is dedicated to you my good friend (aka "homie").

A Saved Item Search will automatically keep you updated on a daily or weekly basis when new items are posted to Bonanza.  First created for buyers to shop, we found that many sellers use this tool to keep a pulse on newly listed items in categories that interest them.  Setting up a saved item search is easy peasy. To do so, go to your "My Bonanza" page and locate and click on the "Saved Searches" icon.  

Once on your Saved Item Searches page you can click on the "Create a new saved search" icon to get started.  If you have existing searches you can also manage them from this page.

1. This is where you will enter the title of your search (this is for your reference and will not influence the search results).
2. Here is where you would enter your search terms (i.e. "Civil War").  You can edit this at any time to... (continued)

New Rewards of Olympic-Sized Proportions!

By bonanzamark
Posted on August 02, 2012 | 11 comments

Olympians in London are currently working hard to earn Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals for their efforts in the Olympic games.  Inspired by the USA Womens Gymnastic Team, "Fab Five," we have added a whole new set of rewards on Bonanza, and yes, they include Gold and Silver (Memberships that is)!  The next time you visit your rewards page on Bonanza you will see a whole new line up of rewards.  We have discounts, bumper stickers, massages from our resident masseuse, memberships, blog time, programmer time, and a couple of other goodies.  Only on Bonanza can you get a massage and have the programmers tweak the site for you.  

We also added free background burns for subscribing members, and uploaded a few fixes to forum links and images.  Please note, when I say "We" I mean our lovely programming team.  I just get to tell you about it :)

Two new features are now live

By bonanzamark
Posted on July 31, 2012 | 15 comments

Just wanted to post a quick blog to let you know about two features we recently pushed live.

Buyers can now post feedback without logging into Bonanza (added in July).  Bonanza sellers have often requested that we make it easier for buyers to post feedback for transactions.  Now buyers can post feedback without logging into Bonanza.  To make sure you have this option enabled on your account, go to your "Account Settings > Notification Settings" and make sure to select the option, "Send an email reminding a buyer to leave feedback about me (sent a month after transaction closes)."  Buyers intending to leave negative feedback will be taken to a confirmation page which will suggest our Order Resolution Center and some other options prior to leaving the negative feedback.

Allow direct responses to BMails (added July 29th). Buyers and sellers can now respond to BMails (messages sent via the Bonanza email system), directly from the copy that we send to your privately regsitered email.  When you reply to a Bmail via your private inbox, Bonanza will generate a Bmail and forward it to the other party. Nothing is needed to use this feature, it is already live on the... (continued)

What's New on Bonanza?

By bonanzamark
Posted on July 13, 2012 | 59 comments

The Bonanza programming team has been cranking on all cylinders and shipping some pretty cool features on Bonanza.  Each time we update the site, the programming team will log their updates and enhancements to our "What's New?" page.  Make sure to bookmark that page and visit it often to keep abreast of the latest and greatest updates on Bonanza (the page is linked via our help page as well).  Speaking of latest and greatest, we wanted to highlight a couple of really cool features that have recently been added to Bonanza:

"Add ability to mouse over item image to zoom"

This was added last week and by now most of you have had the chance to see it in action.  If you have not, visit any item detail page and point your mouse over the main image.  If the image is large enough, a second image window will automatically pop open to the right of the main image and will zero in/zoom in on the area that you point your mouse over on the main image.  If the main image is not large enough then the zoom will not trigger.  Go ahead and give it a try on ... (continued)

Third Annual Christmas in July Sale!

By bonanzamark
Posted on June 20, 2012 | 7 comments

Days getting longer?  Temperatures heating up? Summer is upon us and so is Christmas in July!  For the third year in a row, the Bonanza community has independently organized a month long sale from hundreds of Bonanza booths. Discounts range from 10-50% off of normal prices and many sellers are throwing in free shipping to boot!  In addition to a month long sale, there are "block parties" planned, Secret Santa fun, prizes and something for everyone.  Not only is this a nice opportunity for additional sales but the networking you will get can pay dividends long after July is over.  

It's not too late to get involved but make sure and get signed up so you can take part in the festivities.

Sign up for Christmas in July 2012

General Info Christmas in July 2012

Sign up here for Secret Santa fun!