Thoughts/Opinions on Bid rebrand

boredshopper said:

Ironically, Debbie Greenwood would have been perfectly suited to the newer format. Looking at the listings for the next 24 hours, however, it's still the usual suspects: penny watches, throws and JPD stink.

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They opened up talking a lot about having brand names. Bid are usually full of ****, but they don't tend to claim that they're full of brands. Maybe we'll be seeing a change of products for the better over the next couple of weeks?

KingEurope said:

They opened up talking a lot about having brand names. Bid are usually full of ****, but they don't tend to claim that they're full of brands. Maybe we'll be seeing a change of products for the better over the next couple of weeks?

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I wouldn't expect to see Punjaban Sauces in the near future, I can tell you that for sure

This won't be the end of the changes don't expect everything at once, also note that now they are not doing live auctions they will be able to show these shows as many times as they wish, thus saving money on a presenter standing there for three hours that is where this is going pre-recorded features.

steveh31 said:

This won't be the end of the changes don't expect everything at once, also note that now they are not doing live auctions they will be able to show these shows as many times as they wish, thus saving money on a presenter standing there for three hours that is where this is going pre-recorded features.

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Makes me wonder whether they'll stop selling their airtime from 2am to 8am.
The potential money they could make from pre-recorded show must be more then just selling the time for another company to do the same.

Bexi said:

So is it one product an hour now? If so, very boring

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Not quite that bad Bexi, the site shows a mix ranging from 4-13 in a 3 hour segment

My thoughts? The new logo is OK; presumably the intention is for a "homespun" look to make everything somehow feel more friendly.

The graphics are MUCH more professional and the price at least for the Tefal ActiFry 1kg is even competitive (£119.99+£7.99+5x20p) compared to Argos (£169.99, Page 887 of their current printed catalogue), so full credit to Bid for doing that price given their current dire financial circumstances. Plus the 20p/minute phone call (at least from a BT landline) is also a welcome improvement.

However...It's obvious that they've had to evolve into an Ideal World clone since that channel's still going (despite the odds against it, quite frankly!), and with it much of the fun (when it WAS fun!) of watching Bid TV has probably now gone for good. (Though of course Bid itself could have gone for good by the end of this month due to several other reasons.) Whether Bid's creditors will be impressed by this late conversion remains to be seen, but that perhaps unavoidable long delivery time is still a huge downside when 3-5 working days is perhaps the most that people are nowadays prepared to wait in a competitive market outside of specialist product deliveries.

They stopped selling the ActiFry at 11pm which is quite frankly tedious compared to the faster pace of their previous TV formats, so they better not do that sort of thing too often in the future. At least Gollum had something to eat! :mysmilie_59:

And now Gollum's selling the Irish coin watch, so along with the extended delivery time some things have definitely not changed...

As someone who hasn't watched the channels for over 2 years this will not be bringing me back I have had a look, I may look to see other presenters on future days but I will not be a regular like I used to be.

My honest opinion. This format can be lucrative as costs are lower, BUT it cannot work with the presenters and product range they have at the moment.

Much of what was sold in the past was by hyping up the falling price and limited time and /or quantity available to buy. You can sell decent volumes of low end products at good margins using that model, people impulse buy on the spur of the moment and get caught up in the frenzy built up by the host.

For the new model to work they NEED a much higher grade of merchandise, which at the moment they simply don't have.

Just my thoughts

snowden said:

I wouldn't expect to see Punjaban Sauces in the near future, I can tell you that for sure

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From what I read elsewhere, they must have been royally screwed over by Bid, and naturally weren't too happy about it. Bid were still selling their sauces this afternoon on the website ! They seemed lovely people, with a great product...they must be ruing the day they signed up with Bid to promote their business.

Mike "look at that on the rot, ER wrist" hahaha

snowden said:

My honest opinion. This format can be lucrative as costs are lower, BUT it cannot work with the presenters and product range they have at the moment.

Much of what was sold in the past was by hyping up the falling price and limited time and /or quantity available to buy. You can sell decent volumes of low end products at good margins using that model, people impulse buy on the spur of the moment and get caught up in the frenzy built up by the host.

For the new model to work they NEED a much higher grade of merchandise, which at the moment they simply don't have.

Just my thoughts

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I'm disappointed they couldn't even string together 2 or 3 big brands in a row for their opening night. Ok, Tefal is fine (if not exactly new to the channel), but then we're straight on to those awful Irish coinage watches that Peter made such a pig's ear of selling the other night. Others have mentioned that the cheap throws and JPD stinks are still on the menu.

some early shop at bid facebook feedback

Not sure if I like this or not all I've seen to night is this fryer for chips etc there only so much you can watch a item for if you don,t want the item for sale miss marina and other assistants ,think I stay with price drop sorry guys

Don't think they will sell many fryers at £120 + p&P. The problem withh this new set up appears to be that you have to talk to the swithchboard / assistant on phone instead of simply keying in your no call-back number as before. Surely one of the novelties of the sit-up channels is the falling nature of the prices and the (over) exaggerated reactions of the presenters...bid tv may find that viewers find the one price only format boring and too much like other shopping channels to be interesting to watch. Price drop for me too, I think

I'm not impressed with the new look. Was getting bored with the actifry. Maybe it will get better as time goes on,but it doesn't seem the same without the lovely assistants. Can't believe they got rid of them all. we always used to use the no call back feature. Was a lot easier. Nuw they're going to get more money out of you for phone calls. Probably keep you talking as long as possible. Yes I think I'll stick to price drop for now. Sorry bid

dont like the changes prices more than they where bid and price price doing items that went for £1 and 1p for a lot more and no big things going £s and 1p can see them lasting mush longer

Have watched for one and a half hours, and that's enough for me. Boring!!!:-(

Not all that exciting reli , wheres all the assistants gone ( all sacked ) i will stick to TJC ?

a few people saying they like the new look and a few wanting the no call back, well back

What happens if all agents are on a call? You have to wait in a queue at 20p a minute?

Sent from my Vodafone 354 using Forum Runner *meep meep*

PJ. said:

What happens if all agents are on a call? You have to wait in a queue at 20p a minute?

Sent from my Vodafone 354 using Forum Runner *meep meep*

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Unlikely, they have more agents than buyers right now, believe me, might be a problem in the future if this new innovative idea of shop at bid captures the publics imagination though

Actifry is cheaper elsewhere , in fact its £99.99 on the Tefal site with free delivery http://www.homeandcook.co.uk/slimmingworld

Goodluckifyageddit said:

From what I read elsewhere, they must have been royally screwed over by Bid, and naturally weren't too happy about it. Bid were still selling their sauces this afternoon on the website ! They seemed lovely people, with a great product...they must be ruing the day they signed up with Bid to promote their business.

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Could you explain a little bit more please, GL? And do you know why they changed from 'Panjaban' to 'Punjaban'?

my thoughts;

Look of the studio is better

new logo is dreadful

phone call is much welcomed although I think that could become a talking point when the telephone operative is trying to sell the Bid.tv club or other 'special offers to you'. - It may end up costing the same £1.53 as before or more.

Variable P&P - good idea

dropping the falling price - I'm not so sure, but it could be a good thing - it was something unique to them.... although I guess Price Drop keeps part of the Bid heritage. Makes me wonder if Price Drop has a future with all these cuts they're doing across the board?

Dropping the assistants - could make the channel much more boring and less varied to the point of unwatchable - but I understand that finances aren't the best.

Presenters - I'm not sure they'll be able to cope with the new format.

At least we know why Guy Kean was fired - he couldn't cope with the new telephone number.


Mixed emotions about the whole thing really - it could work but I have a gut feeling it'll just make things worse.

Paul_s said:

my thoughts;

Look of the studio is better

new logo is dreadful

phone call is much welcomed although I think that could become a talking point when the telephone operative is trying to sell the Bid.tv club or other 'special offers to you'. - It may end up costing the same £1.53 as before or more.

Variable P&P - good idea

dropping the falling price - I'm not so sure, but it could be a good thing - it was something unique to them 0 although I guess Price Drop keeps some part of the Bid heritage.

Dropping the assistants - could make the channel much more boring and less varied to the point of unwatchable - but I understand that finances aren't the best.

Presenters - I'm not sure they'll be able to cope with the new format.

At least we know why Guy Kean was fired - he couldn't cope with the new telephone number.


Mixed emotions about the whole thing really - it could work but I have a gut feeling it'll just make things worse.

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That's exactly what I thought :mysmilie_59:

I admire them for having a go at something, it's gotta be worth a try. Mike Mason looks even more limited in such a format though, he's dreadful and I just cannot imagine The Dirty Peter thriving now.

Pola said:

Could you explain a little bit more please, GL? And do you know why they changed from 'Panjaban' to 'Punjaban'?

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I've no idea about the name change, Pola. I read elsewhere that the company left a bunch of irate tweets on the Bid account which were promptly removed. I assumed they must have been treated pretty badly by the company.

Wirral70 said:

That's exactly what I thought :mysmilie_59:

I admire them for having a go at something, it's gotta be worth a try. Mike Mason looks even more limited in such a format though, he's dreadful and I just cannot imagine The Dirty Peter thriving now.

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I agree. If they are going to copy the IW format the presenters need to be calm, informed and able to sustain interest in the product for an hour (which is a very long time in broadcasting terms). Description, description, description is what this business is all about. It's no good just standing there and drooling over the food as MM did last night. He couldn't help slipping back into old habits of mentioning The Goddess and his son after about 30 minutes. I also think they have to lose the old background music which seemed very out of place last night in this new format.

I dread to think how Peter Simon will manage with the new format. Can you imagine him "not onlying" his way through a whole hour on one product during the "One Day Specials"? I assume they'll have told him to keep a lid on the bum-related humour too if they want to be seen as a serious channel. I don't think he'll be able to cope !