EBay RIval Tazbar Launch Niche Product Minisites

The recent positive noises coming from Tazbar.com have got even louder following the announcement of several RSS fed mini-websites promoting live auctions in specific product categories.

Tazbar has announced the first five of a planned series of individual category websites featuring live displays of current Tazbar auction, instant purchase and classified listings.

Lee Markham, Tazbar's Managing Director, said; "As promised we have the first batch of mini sites that have already been rolled out. These will find their place out on the Internet and serve one purpose. That being to spread a net further afield and to draw people back to Tazbar. The content on the sites is limited because the object is to tempt the user to click on one item and then find themselves in the heart of the relevant Tazbar category."

The sites appear clean, simple and user friendly. By using RSS they will always feature up to the minute live auction listings including images, price and time to run information. All Tazbar sellers listings can feature on the sites without any fee or membership upgrade required. A general search facility is also provided enabling keyword searches of the whole Tazbar site regardless of category.

A useful feature of the search facility is the ability to add any keyword you like to the basic URL address of each site to find more specific items virtually instantly. This could be useful for someone wanting to add a constantly up to date link as part of their blog content. For instance, the home page of the minisite www.BidOnArt.info simply returns items featuring the keyword "Art" in the listing title. But if you add "ACEO" to the URL (www.BidOnArt.info/ACEO) you will see a selection of ACEO art cards displayed. Even if you broaden out the search term to a non-art subject the site still produces returns - for example www.BidOnArt.info/gemstone or www.BidOnArt.info/dvd.

I've long believed that RSS technology is a powerful but underused promotional tool to syndicate live auction data elsewhere on the Internet and it's good to see Tazbar among the first of eBay's competitors to make serious use of the potential on behalf of its sellers.

The five Tazbar ministites announced so far cover Art, Crafts, Fashion/Clothing, Pet/Animal Supplies and DVD Items.

Tazbar is free to join and they offer a variety of pricing options for sellers. Their most popular plan costs only £4/$8 per month and allows a member to list up to 2,000 items without listing fees or final value commission charges. If you're currently exploring your options following the recent fee hikes and feedback changes at eBay then why not visit Tazbar to see what's on offer.