posted on January 30, 2001 12:55:04 PM new
I have been reading on some of the posts throughout AW boards opinions that yahoo wants out of the auction business, that they want to get rid of the low end sellers (doubt that cause it's the bread and butter of most big businesses online or off), etc, etc, etc.Although I never listed at yahoo, I do have an email account there and I have been reading the posts re yahoo auctions with great interest (being a seller like to know what is going on everywhere Can anyone tell me - if so many think yahoo is deliberately committing suicide - why is their home page now so filled with promoting their auctions??? Big Time....right on the home page!!!I am thoroughly confused and have to admit this is some mystery. Never saw that before on their home page....did I just miss it or are they now going full guns promoting their auctions while seemingly taking themselves off the auction map?Does anybody really know what is going on??? Doesn't make sense to me.
posted on January 30, 2001 01:05:32 PM new"...why is their home page now so filled with promoting their auctions."
Because we didn't react nearly as well as they'd hoped, and they now realize that they'd best get busy drumming up new business to replace all of us who are leaving? I don't buy that this was an attempt to kill off their auction business. I think it was a very stupid business decision.
posted on January 30, 2001 01:36:52 PM new
Yahoo has run the same ad on their home page on and off for the last year - not a new effort on their part at all.
posted on January 30, 2001 01:44:49 PM new
Thank You armantha,
You are right, the problem is the ones complaining expect champange service for a freebee price, Yahoo has always advertised auctions, everywhere. These people just dont know where to look. They're too busy seeing what joe blow is doing.
The new fee's will be minimal compared to other sites. The complainers can go to what ever free site they want and bring there so called free for me buyers with them, I am sure the troubles honest sellers and buyers have had to deal with will go with them and we will be back to normal again.
My new buying rule of thumb? DO not buy from sites who offer free services, you may get burnt. One actually has the catagory "Scams" Good luck. Ill gotten, is Ill gotten, it catches up with you sooner or later. If not in this life the next.
posted on January 30, 2001 03:51:20 PM new"DO not buy from sites who offer free services, you may get burnt."
Oh sure, that's real logical? All of the sales on Yahoo! in the 'pre-fee' days were no good? Now they charge fees, the same sales are now all going to be good? Come on.....get real.
What about eBay? They charged fees for years, are all of those transactions 'burn free'? NO.
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[ edited by CharlieOne on Jan 30, 2001 03:52 PM ]
posted on January 31, 2001 07:48:48 AM new
Rolllanotherone:
You do not sound like you have any idea what you are talking about? How many years have you been selling, how many sales, what $ value is your average sale, etc....
I believe Yahoo must have planted several Yahoo do-gooders to impose their ideology on the rest of us. Well, I have been selling for 3 years, have had 1000's of deals close, and I can tell you that Yahoo WAS (past tense) a great auction site when they were free, but now they are going to bury themselves within the next couple of months.
Maybe you post on Ebay and you are jealous that sellers (previously with Yahoo) have been selling and doing well on free sites while you paid large amounts of $'s to Ebay.
Grow-up, and let the rest of us talk about real business.
Free auction sites can make it and there will always be a new one to replace those that can't make it!
posted on January 31, 2001 09:10:07 AM new
deichen,
I started out in Yahoo 3 years ago when it was a real mess, have sold in ebay, amazon, msn, go.com,snap, and 3 other sites I will not mention because I would rather not share this. I also have had the option of my own auction site.
I returned to Yahoo last fall because my husband has been asking me to return for the 3 years since I left, he likes it for the simple fact I had more time to spend with him and our family when I sold in Yahoo before. He also enjoys shopping in Yahoo, it's easier for him.
Returning in the fall last year proved he was right, I have had more family time, less down times, less uploading hassels, less crap to deal with. I no longer have to wait until 1:00 am in the morning to try and get listings in, I am not spending 8 hours trying to list 3 items. I can monitor my multiple bidders easier, which is common in what I sell, thus the term "rolllanotherone".
My husband's income is more important than this income, I can not work outside of the home and make it worth my family's loss of me herw or the expense of working outside the home. My husband is my financial backer, not my fellow sellers. My family is happy, I can feel as tho I am contributing a little by building a decent stamp and coin collection and sell my dupes.
What I have made will never compare to what he makes, nor is it any of your business,my collection alone speaks for itself, if I had to buy a car or god forbid my husband should ever get hurt on the job I can go down the street and sell my collection to get by until his coverage kicks in.
P.S. you grow up, your expertise does not impress me, my husband's income does. So I guess he's the boss, he says stay in Yahoo, he backs me financially, you do not.
posted on January 31, 2001 09:30:29 AM new
Rollanotherone, please don't misunderstand the position that most of the posters here are taking.
Nobody disputes that an auction site must generate revenue to succeed. They must generate revenue in some form in order to remain online.
The position that most of the people here are taking is that Yawho, instead of charging a listing fee, should have charged a final value fee on successful auctions. I have yet to see a single poster here suggest that Yawho should have remained forever free.
Yawho, instead, chose to implement a listing fee when it does not have the bidder traffic to justify the fee. THAT is the problem we're all having with Yawho.
Had Yawho started charging final value fees on successful auctions, VERY FEW SELLERS would have left in search of another site.
Please don't belittle our choices to take our wares elsewhere - it IS our choice. Your choice is to remain with Yawho, and that's fine with all of us - we wish you much success.
And should one of our current choices for listing our wares decide to start charging final value fees, most of us will probably stay with them, because a final value fee on a successful auction is fair to both the auction site and the seller.
Please remember that it isn't the "free forever" we're looking for - it's fairness to both the auction site and the seller. Yawho isn't providing fairness to either.
posted on January 31, 2001 09:31:10 AM new
It doesn't make sense. I've been following the SportsCard section and I've seen it drop from about 250,000 to about 175,000 in about 6 days. That's just incredible. I can't imagine what that number must have been in early January. Probably 450,000 plus. I suspect you'll see another 50,000-65,000 decrease in the next week. That's just plain suicide. Yahoo! Auction moved from #2 from almost off the map in about 3 weeks.
Why would they do this? I suspect they didn't expect the MASSIVE exodus. That's the only explanation. Yahoo! doesn't offer anything unique or special. The traffic was decent, but eBay's is far better. Now add in the fees: It's like rats abadoning a burning ship.
posted on January 31, 2001 11:10:08 AM new
Thanks, Daredevil2010. After reading so many opinions that yahoo wanted out of the auction business, wanted to get rid of the low end sellers, etc. I started this topic out of confusion when I saw yahoo's home page calling attention to their auctions Big Time.
I was reading other opinions cause I didn't have a clue myself.
Nothing made sense to me re the opinions of yahoo deliberately committing suicide, then seeing them advertising so much (I hear them on TV also and I don't even watch much TV) and practically filling up their home page re their auctions.
You just gave the first answer that makes sense to me. They did not expect the MASSIVE exodus! ONLY thing that makes sense IMO.
P.S. to those who state "it's what you sell", or telling others what to do, how to do it, or where to go....I have been in this business 25+ years myself, know lots of oldtimers in the business (online and off) and do not know ONE SINGLE SOUL who has ever figured it out. We've known for a long time that this business has always been a crap shoot and will always be a crap shoot. Trying to figure it out will only have you feeling like someone took an eggbeater to your brain
To those of you pontificating (I should talk right now) to others, MYOB..to those of you responding by "explaining" yourself, you don't need to explain yourself to anyone. To anyone angry cause of anything I said...well, if the shoe fits...buy another one....will only drive you bonkers!
aramatha ~ aka ~ "too darn old to care what other people think but all sincere, caring advice welcome"
posted on January 31, 2001 03:42:43 PM new
Rolllanotherone:
Well, good for you, you do as your husband tells you to. Sit!
Is your husband's income a big deal to me? NO, I could care less, are you implying that you have more than any of us? Sounds that way ~ I am better than you ~ that what it sound like you are saying.
posted on January 31, 2001 07:42:28 PM new
It should be noted that what ever Yahoo! makes from it's new fee structure is bascially 100% (actually infinity) increase in profit. So even if they lose 80% of the auctions, they still are making more than before. Perhaps in time, people will start to come back to Yahoo! Maybe...maybe not. ebay is certainly more expensive, but it's worth it.
Yahoo should have done a fee for completed auctions. It would have prevented the massive lemmings from leaving. Of course, they might not have made more money because more than 80% of the Yahoo! auctions never get a bidder.
posted on January 31, 2001 11:04:50 PM new"It should be noted that whatever Yahoo! makes from its new fee structure is basically 100% (actually infinity) increase in profit. So even if they lose 80% of the auctions, they still are making more than before."
Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.....WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!!!
1) Whatever they were making (even at recently lowered rates) on advertising fees for "page views" is now GONE.
2) Whatever they were making from sellers who paid to FEATURE and BOLD TEXT and GIFT ICON their auctions is now GONE.
3) Whatever increased traffic from Auction bidders to the REST of their site with paid services (like Yahoo Shopping) is now GONE.
All of them, GONE, GONE, GONE.
It took Yahoo 3 years to build their Auction into what they had a month ago, and it took YaWhoFools one lousy decision to destroy it.
posted on January 31, 2001 11:26:15 PM new
I haven't done any number crunching, but the actual number of people who use Yahoo! Auction is probably a small drop in a VERY LARGE bucket for Yahoo! Thus, the loss in traffic from their Auction site is probably very minimal, yet the profit increased from fees will be a noticable amount.
All those featuring and BOLD type additions for the Auctions probably made Yahoo! very little money. Just think about it: Probably 1-2% of all auctions used the FEATURED option. Given that Yahoo gave back 50% if the auction had a bidder, they probably ended up making $0.20-$0.50 at most per featured auction. Even with the massive exodus, each auction must now pay a minimum of $0.20. That's probably 1000% more money they would have every seen with just the featured auctions.
I don't think Yahoo expected the massive exodus, but I'm quite positive they made a "smart" caluclated ri$k in terms of financial.
posted on January 31, 2001 11:39:32 PM new"I don't think Yahoo expected the massive exodus, but I'm quite positive they made a "smart" caluclated ri$k in terms of financial."
posted on February 1, 2001 04:19:10 AM new
I am with Granee on this one. There is NO WAY they anticapted this and had they made the other decision to charge FVF they would have shown more interest in actually bringing in more bidders, which is what the main problem was all along, the other problem they had was customer service and that was written in RED when they made this STUPID move. They didn't ask or care, so ta ta, moving on........
posted on February 1, 2001 05:36:38 AM new
WHAT REALLY DOESN'T MAKE SENSE
Is that not only are lots of sellers apparently leaving Yafool by the fastest possible means, but, Yahoo with it's gestapo like tactics are driving away, (forcibly) sellers that wish to stay.
One example:
Fellow posting on another board for two days about how he and the mrs reasoned that they would still make moneyan dbe happier staying on Yahoo, even with the fees, because he was making money featuring when Yahoo charged higher minimums for that, so it all about evens out.
TOSSED! NO REASON GIVEN!
this is just one story that helped wake me up. This guy wasn't doing anything, can't understand it. Then it hits me.
I have been very vocal about Yahoo's idiocy. I have contacted customers, I have placed banners on my remaining free Yahoo relists. They are still there.
I have received two warnings from Yastapo HQ.
WARNINGS! ...ha!
Why do I get warnings and others get TOS'ed with no explanation?
Does anyone see any correlation between the fact that I do not have a paydirect account? But it seems that most of the ones that were railroaded off of Yahoo do, and have money sitting there that is now tied up.
No, it does not make sense to me. Could there be enough moneyy there for them to make some chump change from the float? I mean obviously they will have to give the money back, but they could keep it months first. Could a corporation that earned $291,000,000 profit last year be that desperate?
If so, I would be scared, real scared.
That could only mean that someone(s) within the organization is doing something they should not be doing.
I am not just talking mismanagement either. I predict that the government will soon be investigating this corporation and it's officers in one form or another.
I hope so, cause everything I see going on leads me toward one conclusion.
IF it looks like a rat,
IF it sounds like a rat,
IF it smells like a rat,
IT MIGHT BE A RAT!
posted on February 1, 2001 06:29:26 AM new
Me thinks her husband works for Yahoo and tells her to post on here to get the sellers to go back so he can keep earning the "income".
posted on February 1, 2001 09:49:02 AM new
It'd be the first time I ever saw a large company abandon their market share. It might be the new economy economics where it's less costly and more profitable to serve just a few, mainly when you're an online company where they have no inventory and scale of production isn't important. It may be possible to go to"Yahoo Finance" and look up their cost outlays and profits and determine how much they can eat before there's a decline in earnings.
This will go down as the biggest bomb, or the greatest genius move in history.
posted on February 1, 2001 10:30:37 AM new
Most of you are probably biased as heck and want Yahoo! Auctions to fail miserbly now that you left. Personally, I was shocked and saddened that Yahoo! started to charge. I've basically moved 400 auctions from Yahoo to Bidville and eBay (still in the process).
I really don't care about Yahoo! anymore. They have every right to charge the sellers (except for the fact that they said it would be free forever, but talk is cheap). It's all about supply and demand: if people value Yahoo enough they will be willing to pay for it. Now whether it was smart IN THE LONG RUN is yet to be seen. Everybody here is spelling doom and gloom for Yahoo!, but it's only been 3 weeks. This type of exodus was expected (but probably not to this extent). Sometimes it's good to clean house: just like how a forest needs a good burn now and again.
We'll probably know if it was a "smart" move in about 4-5 months.
posted on February 1, 2001 10:45:20 AM new
Antiques, Art, & Collectibles > Miscellaneous > Postcards : -73.5%
Antiques, Art, & Collectibles > Miscellaneous > Maps : -66.8%
Coins, Paper Money, & Stamps > Coins > United States : -78.3%
Coins, Paper Money, & Stamps > Stamps > United States : -64.7%
Computers > Hardware > PC : -67.5%
Computers > Software > PC : -58.4%
Entertainment > Books > Antique and Rare : -71.7%
Entertainment > Movies > DVD : -68.1%
Entertainment > Movies > Video Tapes : -61.8%
Entertainment > Music > CDs : -66.9%
For the categories I'm following, the unweighted average is -67.8%. Two-thirds of Yahoo!Auctions listings have vanished since listing fees began just three weeks ago. Does that translate to a similar two-thirds of sellers voting NO TO LISTING FEES and taking their auctions elsewhere. Probably.
And the ten-day relisted auctions begin scrolling off next week!
That Yahoo!Auctions believed their auction site provided an incentive for sellers to continue listing there is laughable. Few pageviewers, fewer bidders and even fewer buyers, that's what Yahoo!Auctions is all about.
posted on February 1, 2001 11:01:12 AM new
Forshoppin said:
Me thinks her husband works for Yahoo and tells her to post on here to get the sellers to go back so he can keep earning the "income".
I wish he did, I could move back home. I dont think Yahoo has openings in the building trades. The next time you see a highrise being built with construction workers yell to them " Do you Yahoo?" Your reply will be "rolllanotherone"
I myself dont care if the posters who are out to get Yahoo come back or not. You are so hateful towards Yahoo that I would think twice about wanting to have you back. Your negative attitude towards those who dont think like you would only make buyers run. I hope you dont have children let alone a dog.
Granee said:
I wouldn't count on it going down in the books as an Einstein-type move.
Einstein was dyslexic, so am I, so maybe my money on Yahoo is well spent. It's an esp thing ya know. www.dyslexia.com
posted on February 1, 2001 11:39:07 AM new
rolllanotherone >
I myself dont care if the posters who are out to get Yahoo come back or not. You are so hateful towards Yahoo that I would think twice about wanting to have you back. Your negative attitude towards those who dont think like you would only make buyers run.
Remember the seller, mostly in stamps, that I've been profiling to see just how well they're doing under Yahoo!Auctions new, enhanced format?
Well, here's the breakdown of this seller's sales for the past few weeks.
12/27 to 01/02 - 15 completed auctions
01/03 to 01/09 - 20 completed auctions
01/10 to 01/16 - 10 completed auctions
01/17 to 01/23 - 10 completed auctions
01/24 to 01/30 - SIX completed auctions
01/30 to 02/01 - ZERO COMPLETED AUCTIONS
This seller has only two bids on 42 live auctions.
posted on February 1, 2001 01:10:22 PM new
Dimview, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah blah! I think you might be monitoring someone on vacation.=)=) P.S. I am not blonde.
Can anyone tell me - if so many think yahoo is deliberately committing suicide - why is their home page now so filled with promoting their auctions??? Big Time....right on the home page!!!I am thoroughly confused and have to admit this is some mystery. Never saw that before on their home page....did I just miss it or are they now going full guns promoting their auctions while seemingly taking themselves off the auction map?Does anybody really know what is going on??? Doesn't make sense to me.
