Herald partners with auction site

The Columbia Basin Herald joined nearly 300 media partners in publicizing a national Web site called Boocoo Auctions - a safe alternative to Craigslist

MOSES LAKE — The Columbia Basin Herald joined nearly 300 media partners in publicizing a national Web site called Boocoo Auctions.

“Our partners are the promotion arm,” said Tony Marsella, president/chief operating officer of the Royal Oak, Mich.-based Ranger Data Technologies, the site’s founder. “They will be promoting this site through print and online.”

The Web site launched on June 21, featuring a variety of sales categories, including antiques and art, automotive and transportation, baby and toddler, boat and watercraft and books and magazine.

 “It’s been incredible,” he said. “We are very pleased with the growth of this site. We’re growing our listed items at a rate of 10 percent per day.”

Boocoo Auctions has 23 percent, or 7,000, of the nation’s zip codes licensed to its media partners. Revenue is shared with media partners based on where the buyer and seller live.

But what sets Boocoo Auctions apart from other sites like Craigslist and eBay?

For one thing, consumers can access Boocoo Auctions through participating newspapers’ Web sites.

“We’re ensconced with the newspaper, so the consumer is in a safe place,” he said.

Marsella said Craigslist is unregulated because of its adult category, which eBay also has.

Boocoo Auctions does not have an adult category.

“What we feel good about is you can leave your 14-year-old daughter on the newspaper Web site and the Boocoo Web site and not worry about it,” he said.

Marsella claimed eBay moved away from the auction experience, believing that everyone wants instant gratification.

”We’ve positioned ourselves to bring the auction experience back,” Marsella said. “One of our base assumptions was that eBay was vulnerable because of that.”

He described the Boocoo Auctions site as simple and easy to use.

Marsella and the company’s other executives spent many years working in the newspaper industry.

“One of the goals we have is to demonstrate to consumers and population at large that newspapers are not dead,” he said.

Columbia Basin Herald Publisher Harlan Beagley called Boocoo Auctions “a funny name for a business, but a bright idea.”

He remembers when eBay started and how much fun it was to buy and sell items online.

But eBay changed and became commercialized, he said.

Later, Boocoo approached hundreds of newspapers in the U.S., asking them to invest in their launch, he explained.

The Columbia Basin Herald and Coeur d’Alene Press are now among the participating publications.

“I had been looking for an opportunity for our readers that was a safe alternative to Craigslist,” Beagley said.  “I hope you enjoy our new auction site and find it useful.”

For more information, visit www.boocoo.com.