When phpBB revealed their plan to start a bidding system for their advertising, we decided to give it a shot also. Instead of using a flat rate for Featured Sponsor Text Links here at AdminFusion, we are going to allow our viewers to place bids on them.

This gives everybody an equal shot at gaining great exposure here at AF. Instead of us setting the prices, you set the prices.

For more information on this process, you may refer to our Advertise page (position #2).

We realize that this is a new concept for a lot of people and the process itself can be quite confusing...so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask us. This is new to us as well, so there is surely room for improvement. We are going to run this for a month or two to see how it pans out. If we decide that it is worth pursuing, we will more than likely expand it to our header and footer banners and perhaps implement a fully automated system.

Happy bidding

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...some super-sweet signature

So, we have a bidding war for a text link
I mean, if twenty people bidded, the person with the highest gets the place, right?

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Be sure to read through all of the bullets on the bid page...hopefully that explains things for you. Although, I do anticipate confusion...so for those of you who are still confused, read on.

When bidding, you provide us with two numbers - a minimum bid and a maximum bid. At the "end" of every month (1 week prior), we stop accepting bids. We then add together each person's minimum and maximum bid. We'll call the result a "total bid". Each person will have a total bid, and bids are ranked according to the totals. There will be a certain number of slots open each month, and that top number of people on the list will receive a slot.

How much each person pays depends on their position on that list. The person at the top of the list (with the highest total bid) will pay whatever the highest minimum bid is for all bids that were submitted. The person at the bottom of the list will pay whatever his/her maximum bid was. Everybody else in between will pay amounts in between, proportional between the high and low amounts just given.

To put it all into perspective, say we have 5 spots open and received the following bids:

A) Min:$5 Max: $14
B) Min:$4 Max: $12
C) Min:$8 Max: $15
D) Min:$1 Max: $3
E) Min:$9 Max: $15
F) Min:$5 Max: $22
G) Min:$4 Max: $7


The resulting totals and ranks would be:

F) $27 (5 + 22)
E) $24 (9 + 15)
C) $23 (8 + 15)
A) $19 (5 + 14)
B) $16 (4 + 12)

D and G would not receive a spot.


The amount each person would be charged would be:

F) $9 (highest overall minimum bid)
E) $9.75
C) $10.50
A) $11.25
B) $12 (their maximum bid)

Let me know if something is still unclear...I know that it can be very confusing. Like I said, this is all very new to us, but we feel that it's a good system. It actually keeps the rates quite low for you guys, relative to your maximum bids. You will notice this if you look at the maximum bids and the final rates given. You will also notice that the people at the top of the list actually receive the lowest rates...so bid smartly

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...some super-sweet signature

May i just ask, before this, how much did text links cost per month here at AF?

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$15

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...some super-sweet signature

Ah right, Thanks
Will go check my PayPal balance and put in a bid

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it is a confusion process, i might place a bid but i might wait until everythings ready for my new site.

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Metaltera.com :: Breed the Metal
Myspace Profile :: My profile!

Interesting concept... I wonder how it'll work out.

By the way, your advertising page is wrong There are only 75 people on right now, but the advertising page says 80+ users are online at a time It should say something like "Average of 80+ users online at a time"

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Justin S. / MyBB Wiki Lead / RCTgo.net

To be honest, i'd say Average of 60+, ive seen times when its been as low as that.

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Of course, and there have also been times when it is 120+...the 80+ is an average, and just that. Right now it is 77. It's actually not a very good indicator of traffic anyways because most are search engines and that number can be manipulated.

This thread is not about our statistics though, those are accurate...if you've got any questions regarding the bidding process, fire away.

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...some super-sweet signature