Ouestion on Overture Min bid

Overture min bid

[webtraffic]

Hi everyone,

Overture states that the minimum bid is 5 cents however I have seen many bids for 1, 2 and 3 cents, etc. Does anyone know where these bids come from. Thanks.

[chiyo]

These are "grandfathered" listings for customers before OV changed to 5c minimum. If ever they need to change their bid for those terms or bid on new terms the 5c minimum applies, but left alone it stays! You can do what people do all us old grandfathers. Bid 5c on us, - as soon as 2 do that to topple us off AV etc, we are forced to increase our bid to the lofty heights of 6c!

We are not too concerned however, and its touch and go whether we continue with OV seriously. Due to the FTC enforcements and google competition I think OV has seen their best days already. They will certainly stay on as provider to engines for shopping and commerce sites, but as a deliverer to non commerce/shopping sites to the likes of AV, MSN etc, their future is uncertain.

[Zoron]

As one whose many grandfathered bids are still producing I look at it as a bonus, but like you say if I'm shoved out of premium positions, not a problem, I'll become 'un-grandfathered.'

Re OV in general, however, I grossly disagree. As long as OV provides listings on the top search sites (and anywhere near their claimed 85% of the web) they will reign. And as long as they provide a substantial source of revenue for these search engines, they will remain.

And as critical as I am about many of OV's practices and procedures, it's still the very fastest way to get immediate and substantial (and highly targeted) traffic to a site. Google's AdWords are still a long way from knocking OV off the roost.

Re the FTC...there has been NO 'enforcement' of anything. They issued no 'directive' but an announcement...an action taken in response to a deceptive advertising [an area within FTC jurisdiction]complaint made last year by a watchdog group called Commercial Alert...with an FTC 'recommendation' to improve disclosure of paid content within search results. Many believe, as do I, that Overture's various "sponsored results" labels were already in conformance with that recommendation.

And contrary to some's belief that the FTC may be a global internet overlord, its jurisdiction is only U.S. wide and under the worst circumstances would not affect OV's international ventures (U.K.and Germany).

OV is definitely here for the short term long run... and with the dynamics of today's internet, that's a long time.