You’re about to read our very first Experiences of a Penny Auction Owner story, an ongoing series that will feature stories, experiences and tips from penny auction owners. Hopefully this series will give rich prospective, as well as provide current penny auction startups with valuable advice.
This first story is from the owner of the young penny auction site MusiBids.com, Amy Hermes. MusiBids is a niche penny auction site for musical instruments and other music related items.
Amy’s site had to go down recently due to a really bad script issue. They re-launched today, and she has sent us her story to share with you.
The idea for MUSIbids.com came from my 8 years experience selling musical instruments. When a child enters band or decides to play music, the majority of parents are not prepared for the costs of everything that requires. I have seen it time and time again, a parent comes into the store to get their kid a trumpet, flute, or guitar not knowing it is going to be a major purchase. The high costs of a child wanting to play music causes the parent to react negatively making the child’s first music experience to be negative.
Myself and my team at MUSIbids.com all play instruments, and we believe music is a vital part of a child education and life experience. If a child or anyone expresses an interest in music they should be allowed every opportunity to explore that, despite the costs. At MusiBids.com, Price is an Option.
When we started this company we knew nothing about the penny auction culture. We spend time on the various forums, and sites learning as much as we could.
We first decided to purchase‚ script from pennyauctionsoft. After reading about them in the forums we quickly decided to change and go with pennyauctionsoftware.org. Since we were on a time schedule we did not take the time to research more than what was on the surface about pennyauctionsoftware.org. We moved forward and had a successful launch. Two weeks into operations our site was hacked, repaired, then hacked again 30 minutes before our Sunday auctions were set to start close. This caused our site to be down for over two weeks.
(Note from PAW: PennyAuctionSoftware.org is run by Toni Kirchner of the late Vacation4Pennies.com.)
Pennyauctionsoftware.org took it upon themselves to purchase a new script and convert us to it in an attempt to rectify the situation. I did not have much say so in this change over. The script I was changed to was not what I had purchased nor did I like its layout, or features that it included. I do believe Pennyauctionsoftware.org was making an honest attempt to get my site functioning in the most timely manner possible, however in doing so they rushed into a script they and myself were not familiar or comfortable with.
The script I was changed to was PennyAuctionScriptGuru.com. There were numerous reasons why I chose to end my business relationship with Pennyauctionsoftware.org and did not want to use the script from PennyAuctionScriptGuru.com. First and foremost it was not the script I paid for and did not include the features I needed. It also had the option for a robot bidder in the script. My company did not want a script that even had that option, because we strive to provide the most honest auctions possible. We never used that option or intended to, I just did not want it in my script at all. The final straw was when the owner of PennyAuctionScriptGuru.com began emailing my users trying to sell his script. The actions of that company were extremely unethical and the way they communicated with me was very unprofessional.
(Note from PAW: I also received this e-mail from PennyAuctionScriptGuru.com and documented it here just a few days ago.)
This is just a summary of some of the major issues we have faced while trying to launch MUSIbids.com. My team and myself all have degrees in business and are performing musicians. We started this company as a way to promote our passion for music and to help share it with everyone. We believe in working together, customer service, and above all, honesty. This is why we have chosen to share this information with you all to help future penny auction sites, and bidders. We see the good in penny auctions and want to do what we can to spread that.
Thank you all for your support and we look forward to hearing from you. If you have any comments about this or our site please contact us at info@musibids.com or call MUSIbids at (210) 446-0855.
Thank you Amy! We are so sorry to hear that this has happened to your young site and we wish you the very best going forward.
Do you want to be the subject of our next Experiences of a Penny Auction Owner story? Contact us!
Review and discuss MusiBids and all things penny auction related in our forum!
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Guru Technologies September 3, 2011, 12:36 am
The final straw was when the owner of PennyAuctionScriptGuru.com began emailing my users trying to sell his script.
>> the reason it i requested many times to do not use my script and Toni was keep on selling my script.
when i got that MUSIbids.com is suing my script i requested them to do not use stolen script but they said ”
From: Amyhe04
To: xlastguru@gmail.com
Subject: Re: Toni is script seller
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:18:48 -0500 (08/28/2011 01:48:48 AM)
You need to deal with Toni. Leave me, my site, and my users out of it.
Amy Hermes
210 488-7033″
i just want to ask you a question what if some one using your script and did nt want to pay you even though you had requested many time.
i never sent any wrong email to MUSIbids.com’s users even though i could have send let them know that they are using script without paying me.
i sent screenshot to Amanda about they are using my script with bots.
second we do not offer bots but some client asked to do that MUSIbids.com’s was suing same bot script.
we are not responsible for bots. even we do not supports bots development .
The actions of that company were extremely unethical and the way they communicated with me was very unprofessional.
>> i know Toni and you both are friend and selling my script. i relied your evey mail professionally even you did not co operate me professionally.
i can upload all emails here if required besides when i requested to pay to use script Toni Replied
“You do not understand USA people. You look like fool.
You will always be poor and live like dog.
I live like King in greatest country in world.”
this is what you called “professional”.
PS : as you sold me script without paying me i could have free distributed email list .
you can understand that i respect you. when you removed my script totally i left emailing to your user.
Amanda ,
PLEASE TAKE A SCREEN SHOT FROM HERE STILL THEY ARE USING AND IMPROVING BOT SCRIPT FOR FUTURE USE.
http://www.musibids.info/
Guru Technologies September 3, 2011, 12:44 am
and most important thing, how i got email from musibids.com.
musibids.com hired a cheap developer who sold stolen script even could not secure website at all.
i am not hacker i am just php developer in spite of this i got all users from musibids.com.
musibids.com user can feel confident that no one can information related to him from musibids.com in future ?
can they make a secure site ?
we did not work for musibids.com, in spite of this we could access admin panel to play 🙁
i promise here if you do not use my script without paying me any of domain related to you, i will not email of any of your site user even still you are using my script at http://www.musibids.info/
please also not sell my script.
Guru Technologies September 3, 2011, 12:54 am
try google cache to verify truth too, that still has my script at http://www.musibids.info/
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:93NSuShnZZMJ:musibids.info/+http://www.musibids.info/&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in
check who is information for domain name :
http://whois.domaintools.com/musibids.info
Musibids.com September 3, 2011, 1:20 pm
Guru Technologies
First off, I was a customer of Toni’s. I purchased a script from him then he chose to purchase your script and switch me to it without my choosing. Any issues between your company and Toni’s has nothing to do with me or my company. If you remember correctly you emailed me saying Toni had not paid you fully for your script. Even though it is not my place I emailed Toni asking what was going on. After that he paid you whatever you were due and you emailed me thanking me for helping. If Toni did not pay you and is selling your script without your permission, then I agree that you should be very upset however, again this has nothing to do with me.
I no longer have anything thing to do with toni or your script. I have absolutely no plans of using your script in the future. Everything you are posting regarding my business is only effecting me, it is not effecting Toni. It does sound like he has wronged you in some way however, the issues between you and toni have nothing to do with me, my site, or my users.
I am sorry you are dealing with troubles from Toni, I guarantee you my experience with Toni has not been a positive one either.
If you have any more questions or comments about this issue please email me.
Guru Technologies September 3, 2011, 2:03 pm
I am sorry you are dealing with troubles from Toni,,
>> Dear Amy Hermes, you do not need to be sorry, i respect you and your business as well.
as you told me that you would not use my script.
i posted prof here regarding “musibids.info” which is domain belong to you.
in spite of this i did not bother you. even i did not send any wrong mail to any of your user.
but i have to posted here because you asked Amanda to post half story 🙁 which say that LastGuru is unprofessional . i hope i have given you enough proof that i am professional and respect you as well as your business.
please try to understand , i am not wrong BUT you are who give me to do some thing little professionally wrong.
i really wish for your business success. Even i am able to help you to run a successful business.
note : i am not only a developer, BUT i am a good business man with unique business ideas , a good father, a good husband at last but not least a GOOD HUMAN BEING too.
Daniel September 30, 2011, 3:59 pm
Just to weigh in as another PA site owner: online based business are always susceptible to unique security and operational issues. Moreover, each company in its formation and execution works within an individual set of limitations that range from funding, to launch requirements and personnel.
My advice is a little late for Mrs. Hermes, but for future PA owners here is what I suggest: do as much research as possible. Be exhaustive in all avenues. Ask your peers, ask people in the industry (you’d be surprised at how many people are willing to share).
To be clear, I’m not trying to accuse Mrs. Hermes or her colleges as being unprepared or irresponsible. What I do mean to say is this industry can initially look simplistic in it’s execution – but it is far from it. There are many pitfalls in all forms from technical, operations, and customer based.
Speaking to our own experience, we had both the good and the bad that came with building our entire company (software included). The pro’s: you know all the ins and outs of your capability, you can be as security conscious as possible, you can respond to problems immediately as well as exercise total control over your business model. On the flip side comes a longer timeline to build the company, more resources, and at the end of the day you’re responsible for everything that occurs on your site. As I said before, not every company is dealt the same hand.
We here at Label Doll feel for Mrs. Hermes and Guru Technologies. In the current times we live in, starting a business is harder than ever, and we wish everyone the best of luck in the future.