After revealing it was looking for a buyer for its C2C auction site in an April 29th AuctionBytes podcast interview, uBid officially announced on Friday it would close Bidville.com in June. According to Friday's press release, the decision was due to uBid.com Holdings' recent strategic change to focus on liquidating excess inventories.

uBid.com Holdings CEO Jeff Hoffman stated in the release, "uBid.com Holdings is now a multi-channel asset recovery solutions provider. Clearly, our expertise is in a business-to-consumer marketplace dealing only in certified supply. We are simply not equipped to run a C-to-C marketplace like Bidville.com."

Hoffman went on to state, "We certainly appreciate everything the Bidville community has contributed. And, of course, if current B-to-C Bidville sellers fit our excess inventory solutions model, we hope they will find uBid.com a viable alternative."

Users will be allowed to bid in open auctions on Bidville until June 13, 2008, when existing auctions must close. No new auctions may be listed as of May 27th, and existing sellers have until June 27th to complete transactions. Prorated refunds will be available to sellers who provide their username, email address, and amount due in an email to refunds@bidville.com.

Bidville was founded in 1999.

http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/cab/abn/y08/m04/i30/s01