It's Sunday night and a group of eight individuals have met up with me at the local International House of Pancakes in Tampa, Florida. I contacted the folks at Bidjit.com to meet me at IHOP and talk about their new web site, which launches today (Monday, June 2nd).

The enthusiasm at the table is at a fever pitch! Everyone is talking as fast as they're passing the varied flavored syrups around the table. Forks and knives ching against the plates (as the group of eight) are scarfing down their food as though they haven't eaten in days.

They're (at times) all talking at once and eager to finish each others sentences. They jump from topic to topic and lay out their plans for the future. The head of the group is Paul Fischer, a forty-year old man who describes himself as a "pure" entrepreneur.

"I came to Florida seven years ago and settled in Tampa as my mom and dad retired to here. After my parents settled in, my brothers and sisters also decided to come down quickly found various positions in law enforcement. I, on the other hand, decided to open up a tech firm and jewelry company".

The jewelry company was known as WindsorAuctions-USA and the venue in which Fischer sold products was the eBay Live Auctions platform.

"eBay, at first, presented itself as an opportunity to grow my business. It was an honor to be selected for a feature article in eBay Entrepreneur Magazine (Beyond Borders) in 2007, however, little did I know that there were forces working against my  business before that magazine article even hit our local Barnes & Noble.  I never thought that anyone would be allowed to gain an unfair competitive edge against my company or that of anyone else on the Live Auction platform".

Windsor sued eBay in December 2007 and eBay responded by suspending all eBay user ID's associated with Windsor and their CEO.

"In retrospect, I simply can't believe that eBay would suspend our user ID's simply because we exercised our right to question their actions or in this case, inaction, as it pertains to a "like" competitor gaining an unfair edge against all other eBay Live Auction jewelry sellers. eBay created that platform, put it out there and advertised it as a fair marketplace". 

I asked Mr. Fischer exactly what happened between Windsor and eBay and he stated that the lawsuit is just about everywhere on line and that anyone can review the case.

"I'm not going to speculate as to who knew what and when they knew it. The answers to our questions will eventually come out in court and quite frankly, I'm not here to discuss eBay, I'm here to talk about Bidjit".

Bidjit.com is a new venture founded by Fischer and company. Bidjit is an auction site that combines the traditional static (style) auction with live streaming technology.

"When you wake up one day and lose your entire business, you begin thinking that it's time to take the good, bad and ugly of what you've learned from past experience, strip it down to the basics, rebuild it and make it better. Bidjit.com does just that. We studied on line auction sites, reviewed users likes and dislikes on message boards and forums and then began to build out what we see as the future".

One doesn't have to dig too deep on Google and Yahoo to find disturbing accounts and experiences posted by auction sellers and buyers.

"I know that people want something new and they need a venue that truly cares about them and they're certainly fed-up with being treated like children. Entrepreneurs are adults, not five-year olds. They operate small to large operations and are tired of being dictated to as to how to run their businesses. Entrepreneurs have their own code of ethics and if they stray away from those ethics, their business suffers at their own hands and not at the hands of the venue".

Bidjit.com (as a venue) works to assist its sellers in achieving their goals by broadcasting live streaming global events on the web.

"There's no doubt that sellers want a true auction style format, however, they don't want their traffic being re-directed off of the venue to competitor sites. They want lower fees, streamlined listing procedures, traffic to those listings, a level playing field and a feedback system that is not one-sided. Bidjit.com works for its sellers by way of broadcasting live streaming global web casts. The reality? Sellers are tired of the same old flea market routine of list your merchandise, wait (or hope) for a sale and pay your fees. How about helping sellers advertise their merchandise? The first thing that had to go away were banner ads and text links that send traffic off of the venue. The focus should always be on the sellers merchandise. The next step was to slice the fee structure dramatically - followed by a concerted effort on the part of the venue to advertise the merchandise being listed."

Bidjit broadcasts are front and center on the homepage of Bidjit.com and accessible through a broadcast pop-up viewer throughout the site. In addition, Bidjit does not allow advertising banners or text ads to be sold within its venue.

"Bidjit is basically a television show that focuses on the sellers merchandise. Our producers randomly select items to talk about during the broadcast events. Our studio is located in Tampa and our hosts are engaging and serve as presenters of seller merchandise. Our categories are designated as channels and as our channels fill up with merchandise, those channels will go live, one channel at a time".

Is Bidjit.com a start-up?

"No, at this stage, Bidjit is an ongoing concern and is building both its traffic and listings base. We have thousands of categories thus far and are adding thousands more every day. No doubt, there are those who appear to have a stronghold within the on line auction market, however, both auction sellers and buyers are literally begging for new and improved venues. The creation of Bidjit is not about taking away market share from any one venue, it's about offering up new a venue and opportunity. I think Wigix is a great site and people will take to Wigix as well as they have to OLA. We're all in this together, we're all etching out our own niche and we'll all be successful in the long run.

Bidjit may be accessed through Bidjit.com and Bidjit.co.uk