Eugene,
Your March heifer lot sold for about $7,500 less than Jack's price.
Same month, same kind of calves, nine days after Jack Auction Group's sale. I went through every lot and every bid on your website. The difference is bidders.
March 2026, your sale and Jack's
The lot with 7 bidders matched Jack. The lots with 3 and 4 bidders didn't.
This hits your income too. Jack's prices go into the Canadian Bison Association's weekly price report, so your sellers can compare. A seller who gets less with you books with Jack next time, and your fee on that herd goes with him.
Prices per pound from your lot pages and the CBA weekly price summary of April 10, 2026 (Jack's March 18 sale). Dollar amounts are estimates using the middle of each listed weight range. Jack's bull and heifer calves were heavier than yours, which usually lowers the price per pound.
What's keeping bidders and sellers away
I checked every one of these on November 5.
1Buyers can't get in
- Your signup form asks for a "Website". Your guidelines tell buyers to send back a PDF form that isn't attached anywhere. Then they wait for you to set up their account by hand.
- All three "Shop now" buttons on your homepage go to "Page not found".
- Your homepage still advertises "Online Auction October 29th" (that was 2025) and says © 2023. Your Facebook post says monthly sales from October to June, but nothing is listed. To a new buyer, it looks closed.
Every buyer who gives up is one less bidder on your next lot.
2Buyers don't get reminded
- 522 of your 546 bids came on the last day. 87% came in the final two hours or after the posted close.
- Nothing tells a buyer when your sale opens or when it's about to close. If he's doing chores at closing time, he's not in your sale.
- Your posted closing times are wrong. Lot 27 said 1 PM and took bids until 3:31 PM.
- Only 25 different bidders have bid on your 14 lots.
A buyer who misses the close isn't there to push the price. Your 3 and 4 bidder lots came in under Jack.
3Sellers can't find or book you
- Your phone number isn't on your main pages. It's buried in a 2024 news post.
- "Taking bookings" is all over your homepage, with no way to book.
- You're not on the Canadian Bison Association's auction list. Jack is.
- Your Google listing isn't claimed, and the only review on it is yours.
- Jack's NO BORDERS sellers pay 8% commission plus entry fees, about $12,100 on a herd like your Dauphin dispersal. If your sellers keep their whole cheque, nobody knows it.
Consignments are your income. A seller who can't reach you calls someone else.
Here's the fix
A new website at bisonmarketing.ca, built for selling bison, with its own bidding system. Your web address stays and every page keeps its address, so you keep your #1 spot on Google for "online bison auction".
Phase 1: A website that works
Live about a week after I get your logins
- Your phone number on every page, tap to call or text
- Sellers book a sale with a short form, and you get a text the second it comes in
- Buyers sign up in a minute. No PDF, no "Website" box.
- Text and email alerts to your buyers when a sale opens and before it closes
- Your Google listing built out, and I apply to get you on the CBA auction list and Saskatchewan's auction mart list
- Your current bidding keeps working behind it until Phase 2
Phase 2: Your own bidding system
3 to 4 weeks. WordPress is gone for good.
- Buyers set their top price and walk away. It bids for them, only as high as it needs to.
- You approve new buyers with one tap
- Outbid and closing alerts, plus an "add to my calendar" button on every lot
- A results page that fills itself in after every sale, so sellers see your prices
- A full practice sale before your first real one
You run it from your phone
- Add a lot in about 10 minutes: photos, video link, head count, weight, how it sells
- Change photos, times or details yourself, any time
- Your sale flyer makes itself, ready to post on Facebook
- Text all your buyers in one tap
You never wait on me to post a sale.
Already tested on your sales. I ran all 546 bids from your 14 lots through the new bidding system. Same winner, same price, every lot.
It's built for how you sell: by the pound, by the head or for the whole group, farm gate, and the seller can still pass. Every bid is saved and backed up, and I'm on call for the last two hours of every sale.
What it costs
Both phases
$4,500Ready in about 5 weeks, long before spring calf sales. You pay as each part goes live.
My guarantee: if your new website isn't live within 10 days of me getting your logins, you don't pay for it.
Canadian dollars, plus GST.
For comparison, HiBid, where Jack Auction Group sells, charges auctioneers 2% of everything that sells online. On your March sale, that's about $8,900 for one sale. The whole build costs less than the gap on that one heifer lot.
Your last two spring calf sales closed in late March. Start this month and everything is built, tested and practiced well before then.