posted on June 26, 2002 07:45:34 AM newYahoo still has the capibility to be a major player in the online auction scene
I disagree with that *type* of statement, and that is why I am wondering if you have chosen to cheerlead for Yahoo
fyi, I was a seller and a buyer on Yahoo before fees. And, while not a member of their Secret Rat Society, I was able to "help" them get rid of a high number of bootleggers from their venue. I did this by providing factual information about the listings, and the names and contacts of these Copyright Owners whom they could contact to verify my claims.
Then the fees came along and Yahoo decided it was more important for them to make a few pennies from their bootleggers than to maintain their integrity
They canned me when I reported a major bootlegger on their venue, who still today is successfully selling junk copies and taking 1 neg for every 3 positives.
Yahoo future in legal auctions? No way ...
edited to change last sentence
[ edited by RB on Jun 26, 2002 07:47 AM ]
posted on June 26, 2002 08:07:45 AM new
I too have forsakin Yahoo's auction.I hadn't used it in a couple months. I figured I'd take a look and see what was going on with the Harley Parts. I had a bunch of cheap stuff that hadn't sold on Ebay and figured I'd put it on Yahoo for the long run. (lots cheaper) Downloaded their new(to me)Seller management program, Looked good. set up about 50 auctions and tried to upload......to no avail. When I checked to see why, it said I owed $3.30 and may credit card had to be updated. It was the same card I've been using all along. I tried several time to do so but the system wasn't working. I'd never changed the card to begin with but it was screwed up on the wallet. I make my living sell on my web site and auctions. I have no time for Yahoo's screw ups. sent a email off to support, just to recieve a form letter with no help what so ever. Screw them. I'm done with them.
posted on June 26, 2002 10:05:23 AM new
RB, Yahoo spends millions of dollars on advertising and has tens of millions of registered users. That alone makes it capable of being a major player in the online auction scene again. A few modifications of their site and bam they are right in it again. They will never equal a pimple on eBay's butt but they can lead the secondary market for lower value common items like they once did.
RB, sorry, I didn't realize that you had sold on Yahoo before. I remember your first BV auction about selling electricity to California and thought that was your first ever online auction listing.
posted on June 26, 2002 10:46:13 AM new
bidbids ...
My on line auction activity goes way back to the beginning days of eBay ... way back when it was still really just a community and not a mob.
My first sale on eBay was an incomplete set of videotapes. I paid $2.00 Canadian for the tapes and sold them for $277.00 US. That was back in the days when no one bitched about shipping and handling fees and everyone was making decent bucks. I got my feebdack during that inning up over 250, then quit for some unremembered reason.
I have bought and sold on Amazon, Yahoo, Bidville, Carnaby and even AuctionCow.
Currently, I am a buyer only on eBay. Since the middle of December, 2001, I have created a feedback of over 200. I would like to sell on eBay too, but because I am a Canadian (cannot be "verified" and because I don't have, or ever intend to get any form of plastic money, I will never get that opportunity.
posted on June 26, 2002 11:33:03 AM new
I believe that eBay, like AOL, accepts a checking account to register as a seller. Your original eBay acount may have been grandfathered in as to the credit card seller verification unless the account was canceled by you or or it was suspended.
posted on June 26, 2002 12:02:08 PM new
If you are a non-US resident, you need to provide them with a credit card number *and* a bank account number for the priviledge of listing on their venue.
They can't have one,
They can't have one,
They can't have one without the other.
They haven't figured it out yet that it should be their buyers who have to prove ability to pay (i.e. credit) rather than their sellers. Buyers don't even have to give them their real name!
eBay grandfathers nothing. If the rules change this morning and you don't comply by this afternoon, you're outta there
edited to add that I did try to reactivate my old account (pre CC days), and couldn't as my email address has changed. Ever try to get eBay to do an email change and get it right:
"Hello eBay. This is Mr. Smith. I would like to re-register as a seller on eBay."
"Hello Mr. Smith. No problem - just go to this link and enter your password."
"But, I forgot my original password ... it's been a couple of years since I last used it."
"Then simply re-register and we'll look after you."
posted on June 26, 2002 12:47:23 PM new
Congratulations to zzyzx000 on being a featured seller on the BV homepage today.
16 months and 79 positive feedbacks, BV is a great place to sell indeed.
posted on June 26, 2002 02:11:09 PM new
I tried selling on Bidville once. I wondered how much being a featured seller on their home page would help, so I checked out how zzyzx000 was doing as a result. It appears nothing has changed - featured or not - he has 6 full pages of auctions, hundreds of listings and ZERO bids. Unfotunately, it appears that Yahoo management is hellbent on achieving the same results for their sellers.
posted on June 26, 2002 03:01:10 PM new
No bids means nothing. All my items are "1st Bid Wins" immediately. It's hard to believe I have had 79 different customers on Bidville. I sold so little, that I deleted most of my stuff and now use it as a 'psuedo-web site" for old computer software. I have regular customers who know to look there. I can list for 30 days with 20 automatic relists and use free image hosting service. And occasionally I get a newbie (had one today actually).
posted on June 26, 2002 03:16:16 PM new
You're not a membership member so you're limited to only 50 free photos out of your 500+ warehouse auctions.
I've started buying very old computer software games and selling them on eBay. It's amazing how much people are willing to pay on eBay and how little people want for the games at a flea market because they are so old and outdated.
posted on August 18, 2002 06:28:19 PM new
>>RB, you were never a seller on Yahoo BF ( Before Fees )? It was an incredible place where there were lots of bidders and sellers could warehouse their stuff until it sold. Sellers could place the rare items on eBay and wait until the right buyer showed up to buy the more common items at a fair price on Yahoo. Now sellers are either forced to warehouse their common items on very low traffic auction sites or give them away on Half or eBay. Anything that can bring back those glory days of Yahoo is very welcomed by most former Yahoo sellers. Yahoo still has the capibility to be a major player in the online auction scene<<
Query: What does the listing fees have to do with your sell through rate? Particularly since it's so low.
I find it hard to believe that raising your prices by 10-20 cents/item causes a lot of buyers not to spend money on you.
posted on August 18, 2002 09:18:02 PM new
For me Yahoo sales have never been better. My sell through rate is slightly higher than before listing fees, but the deadbeat ratio is way down. Most of the deadbeats went to Bidville along with the worthless sports cards. The sports card croud is by far the biggest bunch of deadbeats in the online auction business.
posted on August 19, 2002 09:36:21 AM new
"Query: What does the listing fees have to do with your sell through rate? Particularly since it's so low. "
That's what I always wonder when reading this kind of thread. Everyone complains about there not being enough stuff listed on Yahoo, and nothing sells there. These are TWO COMPLETELY DIFFERNT PROBLEMS.
They can make the whole site free and not have any buyers- just take at look at the majority of free sites to see proof of this.
They can advertise their butts off and gets tons of buyers and still charge any listing fee they want.
Cheap fees DOS NOT equal more buyers.
-------------------------------------
And now a question:
Someone previously mentioned that Yahoo could neve again be taken seriously. But isn't Yahoo STILL, even with all it's problems, the second biggest auction site? If not, who is number 2 and 3? The last I heard Yahoo was a distant second, followed closely by Amazon, then a big gap before the various smaller sites. Has this changed any?
posted on August 19, 2002 11:04:30 AM new
The best thing yahoo did was charge fees. Before fees there was over 2.5 million listings, the only problem was 90% was low demand items, and junk. All that stuff went to bidville and has been sitting there ever since. Now yahoo has over 250,000 quality items that changes weekly.
Yahoo is the #2 site in item quality and sell through. eBay does take yahoo seriously because they are the only fly in the ointment. If ebay keeps raising their prices sellers will have no choice but to sell at yahoo. And yahoo is a very economical choice with several free pictures for each auction, free BIN, Free 10 day auctions, MUCH easier listing form, and you can eliminate negative bidders.
posted on August 19, 2002 01:52:51 PM new
Yahoo is still the Number Two site by virtue of it's 2.5 million listings on Yahoo-Japan.
Number Three should be Bidville with it's 1.15 million listings but 300,000 are static listings from one book seller confederation. Also about 350,000 of the items are priced under $1.
posted on August 20, 2002 09:37:17 PM new
I don't know what listing fees and FVFs has to do with success. It's the bidders who make a successful auction sight and there are more deadbeat bidders on Yahoo than anywhere else on the web. I don't know why this is...I know Yahoo has tried to do away with nonpaying bidders, but it doesn't work. I ban all nonpaying bidders from bidding again on any of my auctions, but that doesn't work either. I think Yahoo just draws the deadbeats. I left Yahoo, then came back, then left again, and returned. I like the ease of listing and posting pictures, but the buyers are mostly non-existant. I'm going to slack off for awhile.
posted on August 21, 2002 04:37:42 AM new
homeless,
Spoken like a true bidville deadbeat.
If you really were using Yahoo right now, you would know that the majority of the deadbeats went to bidville. Proof is in the pudding and the sell through rate at Yahoo is better than ever.
posted on August 21, 2002 08:43:30 AM new
Homestead7- I'm going to have to disagree with you on that point. I have probably triple the non-payers on eBay that I do on Yahoo.
Yahoo certainly has FEWER bidders, but they all seem serious about paying. It probably depends on what you're selling.
posted on August 21, 2002 09:26:02 AM new
I have triple the deadbeats on Yahoo than ebay but ebay is catching up. More and more ebay buyers are using the BUY IT NOW & Fixed Price options and that reduces deadbeats though.
Yahoo does have a 1,000 times more traffic than a site like Bidville and that's what counts. If items are overpriced on Yahoo they will not sell just like most of the Bidville items will not sell because they are over overpriced. But if auction items are competitively priced then they will indeed sell on Yahoo because of it's traffic.
To endure a few deadbeats is well worth the much lower costs.
posted on August 21, 2002 07:03:34 PM new
Caffeitalia,
Well, I do sell on Yahoo as you can check it out; I for one do not use an assumed name on this board, although I do not use this name on eBay. I list what doesn't sell on eBay and I admit that I made a big mistake by not checking feedback on some of my buyers. One person won 8 auctions and wanted them all shipped together, which I agreed to do it. But after 30 days of waiting for payment for the first auction, I checked her feedback and was surprised that she didn't pay for half of what she had won from other sellers. I had to relist all 8 auctions (they are running now), and I will be more careful from now on. My other deadbeat had 0 feedback, so again I say I should have checked. But this is 9 auctions not paid for which I had to relist.
posted on August 24, 2002 09:23:32 PM new
Similac,
Been there and did that way too long. When Yahoo started their listing fees, I also left town for bidville. It didn't take long to see why Yahoo started listing fees. Without question, it was the sports card crowd causing the biggest problems over at Yahoo. After the listing fees were implemented, the deadbeat rate at Yahoo dropped dramatically and the bidville deadbeat rate jumped to record levels. I used to refer people to bidville and would get e-mails back basically telling me off. Real item bidders do not want to have to sift through crap to find good items.
What bidville needs to do is specialize and become only sports cards. That is their nitch and to pretend they are a contender in anything else is just a pipe dream.
posted on August 25, 2002 07:20:25 PM new
caffeitalia there was another user who posted here about people wanting nothing to do with bidville. I also agree they should go to a membership based sport site. The book section remains stagnant for over a year now, and all others are slowly going down as well. Yahoo has the right idea for eliminating the junk.
posted on August 25, 2002 08:43:55 PM newYahoo has the right idea for eliminating the junk.
Trouble is they stopped short. Once they have eliminated all the other junk (their management, for example) and have removed themselves completely from the on-line auction market, the job will be finished.
posted on August 26, 2002 09:53:34 AM new
RB is like a drifter in a way. Bidville doesnt want him, Yahoo doesnt want him, and I am not sure if eBay wants him lol. I have nothing against him, and I get a laugh from some of his posts.
posted on August 26, 2002 01:20:10 PM new
When it comes to bootlegs yahoo does far more than ebay does. eBay will tell you to contact the coptright holder, while yahoo has the neighborhood watch feature.
RB I am surprised you had no idea canadians were not allowed on the US site. It has been this way for along time now. I dont like it either, but there was too much fraud.
and because I don't have, or ever intend to get any form of plastic money, I will never get that opportunity.