posted on January 10, 2001 06:54:24 PM new
I have nearly 1000 credits-I'll list my 'junk' til they run out. If I'm going to spend real money, I'll spend it where it will do some good!
I'd just like to think of something really junky to auction! any suggestions?
posted on January 10, 2001 06:59:35 PM new
Count me in as both buyer & seller too. And yes, I have made a lot of sales to fellow Yahoo sellers. I also (used to) buy a lot of stuff on Yahoo that I planned to re-sell.
Right now I am so uncertain about the future that I don't even have anything on Yahoo watchlisted- a rarity for me. And I only have one auction running on Yahoo- also a rarity for me. I actually cancelled the rest of my auctions a few days ago- not because I was mad about the fees, but because I that stuff has been listed on Yahoo through 2 relists and it wasn't moving (I attribute this to the scrambled listings because I didn't have any of the items featured.) The last sale I made on Yahoo was 1/01/01. I don't have any extra inventory on hand right now and I can't afford to have that just stuff sitting, so I moved it to ebay. It all has bids now. Anyway, I wouldn't have cancelled those auctions had I known that Yahoo was going to fix the listing order, but too late now...
great post amalgamated!! I like the way you think. The biggest question is if there will be anyone left selling successfully with fees. Will it be you? I hope so! Will it be me? I hope so too!! My credits are just about gone so really it's do or die at this point!
posted on January 10, 2001 07:00:52 PM new
VERY interesting.......I will be interested also in seeing how many of those who said they were leaving actually stick to their word. Here's hoping that something works X
posted on January 10, 2001 08:52:47 PM new
VeryModern is correct. A lot of buyers are also sellers. Many of which will probably leave in a huff. Yahoo is not only driving out the "junk" dealers but they are also driving away potential bidders.
We did great in December and sold nearly twice as much as in any previous month on Yahoo. This month we have only moved 7 items so far and have no outstanding bids.
Bidding seems to have died about the time they announced the listing fees.
I don't believe that a change in policy would hurt Yahoo at all. If they were to change their fee structure (to FVFs) instead of listing fees, it may have a positive effect. They would make just as much, possibly more in the long run. Most sellers would stay.
As it is, the sellers that do stay are not going to list as many items so even if they stay less money will be collected in fees.
posted on January 10, 2001 09:06:59 PM new
Someone asked about buyers & sellers - I have been selling on line 6+ years ( I started by selling collectibles to other members on the collectible boards on the old fashion Prodigy Site).
I probably don't buy one article a year on line (except new books from Books-A-Million), nor hardly any where else, except product. I'm one female who hates to shop, and just don't feel the need of anything in particular....
But, many of my buyers are repeat, and because of that, I have gotten to know many of them, and I know that most are "buyers" only - although I do have a few dealers (off line) who buy from me on line to stock their booths and/or antique shops.
posted on January 10, 2001 09:09:25 PM new
bearmom
Regarding what to sell in junk auctions, how about a half eaten peanut butter sandwich, which fell in the sand of the illustrious beaches of South Florida!
OR since I just took the pups out for a walk, how about "Quality Doggie Doo?" !!!!!!
[ edited by jwpc on Jan 10, 2001 09:10 PM ]
posted on January 10, 2001 09:25:50 PM new
not considering spending real money on listing. Might consider a very small final value precentage fee (no sliding scales please) flat rate only.
posted on January 10, 2001 09:44:59 PM new
I need some help here. I KNOW I have Yahoo's wallet. For some reason I have only been able to access Yahoo's Paydirect. I cant access my wallet info !! Are they one in the same? If not, can someone help me with some kind of a link? the reason I ask is because I know I have credits there for freatured items. I dont think those go back to paydirect, dont they just sit in the wallet until you do something with them?
[ edited by paloma91 on Jan 10, 2001 09:46 PM ]
posted on January 11, 2001 01:17:39 AM newVeryModern:"btw I am searching "bid wins" so these auctions (possibly) resolve faster as a group than the masses, and so we may see the trend early this way."
I closed and listed half or more of my auctions Jan. 9th WITHOUT "First Bid Wins", and other sellers might be doing the same, accounting for SOME drop in those numbers. Why did I do it? Because I have MULTIPLES, and if I (by some miracle) get more than one bidder on an item, I *might* be able to sell one to each bidder on a listing. Every "First Bid Wins" auction I have that closes, however, gives me a MAXIMUM of only one buyer, and relisting at that point will incur a fee. For that reason, category counts may be a better gauge of numbers than "bid wins".
stockticker:"In other words, I don't see Yahoo realizing that they made a mistake until it is too late i.e. when buyers have actually left."
VeryModern:"Irene - I think they already know they have made a mistake, but the news is out there, and taking it back would expose them to shareholder lawsuits, doncha think?"
stockticker:"You've also put your finger on another reason why I was and continue to be 100% positive that Yahoo won't change its mind about fees for quite some time - they don't want to appear "flaky" to their investors."
Whether Yahoo already realizes it's made a HUGE MISTAKE is debatable, since every single public face they've put on (press releases, chat rooms, emails, phone calls to sellers) has been SOLIDLY, POSITIVELY, CHEERFULLY, UPBEATLY "BEHIND" THEIR DECISION 100%. I don't know if they're 'robots' who've been programmed not to waver from the "corporate line" regardless what's said to them (by us or anyone else), or they truly are clueless enough not to see any outcome to this except that which they've forecast for themselves.
Had they announced fees, then CHANGED those proposed fees from listing to FVFs before implementing them, I don't think the investors, Wall Street, or the public would have bat an eye, much less called them "flaky". The 'Big Story' (made a splurb on the evening news here) was FEES, PERIOD, not what KIND of fees, and the stockholders don't CARE whether they're charging listing or final value fees---they just want promises of revenue. Once announced, it would be hard for them to totally *retract* the fee decision, but I think they could have CHANGED it without anyone noticing except their sellers, eGreed, other online auctions, and online auction sellers.
VeryModern:"See - who is going to spend for resale now??? We are all just trying to sell what is on hand. The future? Forget about it. No one has any confidence, and living Yahoo credit to credit is not going to help that any."
Sales were just beginning to pick up seasonally when they announced the fees, KILLING any buying Yahoo sellers were doing on Yahoo---not only buying for resale, but buying for themselves.
VeryModern:"They probably have a back up plan(s). Ways to hand out credits if (when) the count drops too low, but the reeeeal problem here is that LONG term they have "kilt" it all."
amalgamated2000:"So, if, at that point, they start providing lots of free listings to the sellers who remain (not free listing days that would invite the "junk" back, but some kind of reward system for previous listings.) That could possibly head off the exodus of bidders."
By the time Yahoo REALIZES they need to give listing credits to their "good" sellers to get them to keep listing (so the Auction won't die from lack of merchandise) it will be FAR TOO LATE.
The time is NOW.
Sellers are *already* going back to eBad or putting listings on smaller auctions like BidBay, auxpal, epier, edeal, Lycos, auctionaddict and others.
Once they're gone it will be VERY HARD to get them back again.
If they insist on keeping these high listing fees (without free relists), I think Yahoo will have to give free listing credits equal to Yahoo feedback on a monthly basis to keep their "good" sellers, and even THAT is not enough to keep everyone "desirable", since some haven't been on Yahoo very long and others sell 'pricier' items in fewer numbers.
VeryModern:"Irene, I agree with you *but* if they've missed the boat here, and the whole auction arm that was supposed to bring this income, instead enters a death spiral, or just plain rots and falls off, what do you think investors will do?"
It's not the investors I'm worried about, it's eGreedy eBad. And Yahoo should be worried, too.
"...well they will be top fool 2001."
Yea, and probably by April Fool's Day, too!
"and btw...Does anyone have any plans to spend REAL money on listing fees? Not credits. Cash. Anyone?"
posted on January 11, 2001 02:32:34 AM new
"and btw...Does anyone have any plans to spend REAL money on listing fees?
Not credits.
Cash.
Anyone?"
I probably will. I don't have any plans to completely abandon ship. I will be cutting way back on my listings though.
My reasoning is simple. There are a good half dozen people who have my pages bookmarked, and they buy quite a bit from me. consistently. Walk away from that without a second thought? No way.
Then there's Ebay. Down every other minute, or sticking a banner ad somewhere I don't like. I'm sure there are reasons that Ebay will make me mad in the future that I haven't even thought of yet. I REFUSE to rely entirely on Ebay. The 20¢ I have to pay Yahoo is not going to change that.
I can live with fees as long as the listing order is back to time-ending. I really don't feel that yahoo has "no traffic" as people have repeatedly posted. I feel like Yahoo's traffic was unevenly distributed, especially at the time of the scrambled listings. I really wasn't planning to pay to feature items PLUS list them, but at least listings are de-scrambled and featuring my items won't be such a necessity. Actually listing fees are quite a bit less expensive than feature fees are, and so I am ecstatic because this actually means that I will be spending less in fees all together, and will be able to feature a bit more selectively. I'm happy overall.
I want Yahoo to stick around and I want to continue to have choices, as in a viable place to list and sell OTHER than Ebay, although I will continue to list on Ebay also.
Don't get me wrong, I'm making plan C, D, & E as we speak. I feel like I've re-structured my auction strategy about 2 dozen times since June (at least). So if I see that I'm just completely wasting money listing on yahoo then I'll definitely change my tune. Time will tell.
posted on January 11, 2001 04:12:48 AM new
Interesting dimview - I was thinking 24,000 but the then...
Does it start to climb back up, or does it sit there for a couple weeks and drop more??
I gotta say - I think the Y auction count is going the way of their stock price which did not stop down by 1/2 by a shot.
posted on January 11, 2001 04:56:39 AM new
I will not be giveing up on yahoo I will list less for sure Some of the types of Item I list on yahoo do sell.
Im still waiting to see one of these other sites to show some type of return for the effort it takes to set up listing on them before I invest more time moveing any more of my Items.
My sales have been moveing upword since august its in my best interest to just keep moveing forword and focusing on what I am doing The Items I would move from yahoo bring maybe 3 to 5 sales in 6 months and would be a loss of less then $6 not worth crying over or loseing other sales over If I find a auction site catch fire and start moveing items and getting bigtime bids this and I see there is a chance of sell more then double my sports cards and music memoribila but right now its not worth loseing focus to list a .50 or $1 items.
posted on January 11, 2001 05:05:38 AM new
When you are quoting your tally for your category can you mention the name of that category please???
Not all of here know you yet so I dont have any idea what you sell and where.
Out of curiosity I picked 90's basebell cards to watch inaddition ot my own categories of Adult toys/vibrators
I went on a hunt to find a category with a massive volume of listings at super cheap prices. The bulk of 90's bseball cards were selling for $.10 and to me it seems more of a traders forum rather than a buyer/sellers category.
Jan 8th it had 97,400
Jan 9th right before the free listing ended it balloned up to 104,500
Today at if the time of this post 99,800
Add a little flavor to your love life with "Love Potions"
posted on January 11, 2001 05:59:49 AM new
VeryModern >
Interesting dimview - I was thinking 24,000 but the then... Does it start to climb back up, or does it sit there for a couple weeks and drop more??
Well, see, you should not have rounded it off.
No, I think Yahoo!Auctions will have pretty much carved its gravestone by then. Most of those "lost" auctions will have found a home on an alternative auction site. Sellers by then will have come to the realization that Yahoo!Auctions charges a couple of dimes for listing with few pageviews, fewer bidders and even fewer buyers, while the alternative auction sites will provide pretty much the same for free.
fixed UBB.
[ edited by dimview on Jan 11, 2001 06:02 AM ]
posted on January 11, 2001 09:31:52 AM new
This is a very good thread.!!!!!!
I well understand why Yahoo decided on fees, and we can really blame the spammers who listed 100 of the same darn thing over and over on a site. I think that is what caused the whole thing,besides needing revenue.
But also if Yahoo had used their computer knowledge and looked at the sellers by their auction numbers, and how fast one of those items sold etc, they would have realized that the sell thru sometimes takes from 3 to 10 relists or even never.
If we could all find a way to help Yahoo get rid of those spam listings it could help us all in the long run.
Since they put the listings in time order again, bingo I'm getting more bids than I have seen in months on my stuff.And not just buy its, actual BIDS...
I well understand why the fvf won't work to rid us all of those spammers, but gads can't somebody come up with a way to stop it.
posted on January 11, 2001 01:55:29 PM new
YAY Justjoan!!! I'm glad to hear your bids are UP!!! That's fantastic! What good news! Wishing now I hadn't cancelled my auctions prematurely, but at least they have bids on Ebay.
posted on January 11, 2001 02:07:52 PM new
I don't know why or who or for what reason they fixed the listing order and I don't care. What I do care about is that they DID do it. And since they fixed it, I'm having a bunch of sales! It's like every hour a 1st Bid Wins sale comes through!
WHY oh WHY couldn't they have fixed the listing order BEFORE Christmas? Christmas Sales were Ruined!
Personally, I feel that people can no longer allow companies like this to affect their personal livelihoods. People have to take control of the destiny of their businesses.
posted on January 11, 2001 02:24:54 PM new
My Christmas sales were GREAT but I cater to a different type of buyer than most. Great to see that things might be picking up for those of you that are sticking with Yahoo.
posted on January 11, 2001 02:41:10 PM new
For me, Plan A was eBay and Plan B was Yahoo with Plan B slowly becoming more important than Plan A.
Within 24 hours of Yahoo announcing listing fees, I had developed a new Plan B which I estimate will take me 6 weeks to fully implement. In the meantime, I cancelled and relisted my 600 auctions on Yahoo for 10 days with 2 automatic relists. When the relists expire in early February I will probably maintain a listing of 60-100 items on Yahoo, paying the fees with my free credits (balance of $500). This means I can list for free for several months. I'll accelerate the listings if I notice that buyers are starting to disappear from Yahoo. In the meantime, I will be focusing most of my efforts on my new secret Plan B.
I've reading this message board here mainly in search of a Plan C - perhaps another auction site where I can start to test listings, perhaps a co-op arrangement if interest is shown.
posted on January 12, 2001 12:24:11 AM newdoubledimwit, would you mind saying WHAT you sell that did so well on Yahoo before Christmas? And HOW MANY constitutes "great"?
posted on January 12, 2001 05:56:00 AM new
90's baseball cards
Jan 8th it had 97,400
Jan 9th right before the free listing ended it balloned up to 104,500
Janunary 11th 5 am 99,800
january 12th as of this minute 96,000
I am glad they went back to the time left system. on this seller ID (cybertemptress) I had a rating of 35 (then) and all my stuff was hidden waayyyyyy in the back behind my 3 big compettitors with 1,200 800 and 600 listings each so even though my listing had a few hours it was invisible and it was costing my a fortune in featured listings just to get noticed.
Add a little flavor to your love life with "Love Potions"
posted on January 12, 2001 06:15:42 AM new
Personally, I am just waiting , and watching how sales go....so far our sales are good, but I'm definitely apprehensive about running all of our auction again, because I know some have to run a couple of time to sell.
posted on January 12, 2001 10:12:39 AM new
FYI..........I bailed out of Yahoo the first of the year! My concerns are the same as yours. They have become another Egreed only without the traffic. And.....ANY sales on Yahoo are considered a PLUS by me because of that fact. I refuse to pay for services that are rendered in a half-a** manner. Therefore, while the Christmas season was a good one for me on ALL my auctions, I will stick to the tried & true.
Will it be me? I hope so too!! My credits are just about gone so really it's do or die at this point!
