R-J partners with papers to launch auction website

The Review-Journal has joined with nearly 300 other local newspapers and broadcast partners nationwide to form a new auction website that will compete with eBay and other national e-commerce sales sites.

Boocoo.com will go live for Review-Journal subscribers Monday, and will launch its national unveiling on June 21.

Bob Brown, corporate director of sales and marketing for Review-Journal parent Stephens Media Group, said Boocoo.com would enhance opportunities for the paper's customers to sell their wares through the company's website.

"Boocoo is an exciting addition to the Review-Journal's classified offerings. Many classified users enjoy the excitement of an auction, and now we're bringing that to the Las Vegas Valley," he said.

Michigan-based Ranger Data Technologies, an 11-year-old company that sells classified-advertising software systems, is also a partner in Boocoo.com.

"Because of the explosive growth in Internet usage in the past decade, a new revenue opportunity has opened up for newspapers and other local media," said George Willard Sr., Ranger Data's chairman, chief executive officer and founder. "Boocoo.com was designed in part to regain revenue lost to online classified advertising and auction sites while giving consumers a secure and competitive alternative rich in local content. The massive audience produced by Web users, loyal readers and viewers of hundreds of trusted local media brands, combined with Boocoo's consumercentric site, will result in long-term revenue growth for all our partners."

Boocoo's model involves licensing ZIP codes to media partners. Those partners will have exclusive rights to split sales fees generated by the site. If the buyer and seller are from different ZIP codes, the media partners will share the fee. If they're from the same ZIP code, the area's partner keeps the entire share. More than 20 percent of the country's 29,735 ZIP codes have been licensed. The partners plan to license all ZIP codes.

During a promotion that begins Monday and runs through June 21, Boocoo.com will waive transaction fees for Review-Journal subscribers. From June 21 to at least July 5, transaction fees will be waived for all consumers.

The website is at www.lvrj.
boocoo.com.