posted on December 10, 2000 10:36:05 AM new
With apologies to Rudy Rucker.
Yahoo, it is time to start charging fair transaction fees to all sellers, and get rid of the spammers, weird featured item fees, and sellers who don't care about their items.
I'm tired of getting dirty, waterstained paperback books advertised as great condition. Likewise, glassware. If you were paying a fee to list it, I think some of it might have been cleaned up first. Just a hunch.
I'm tired of wading through spam ads that just direct me offsite, or sell something totally unrelated to their auction title.
No, I can't figure out the new new listing orders either. Yes, I know you can reorganize the searches, but the search function here has never been accurate anyway.
If it takes extra revenue to do it right, start charging now. There are no free rides.
posted on December 10, 2000 10:59:09 AM new
Ridiculous.
If yahoo auctions were strong enough to successfully charge fees then they would have enough income from featuring to eliminate the need.
posted on December 10, 2000 11:56:09 AM new
What makes you think fees will change anything? Look at feebay, did it improve the bad sellers, because they pay fees? Of course not. You want to pay fees as a remedy, go to feebay and have a ball there. Yahoo! is not hurting for money, period. Giving them more money will not change anything, except their bottom line.
Since they started charging to 'feature' auctions, have you noticed any improvement in their service? No! In fact, with the jumbled listings everyone is getting less sales, not more. I'm sure you can send them checks if you want to, as a donation. Because that is exactly what it would be. Just don't drag us all along with you.
(copy and paste from a previous recent post, but still holds true)
posted on December 10, 2000 04:10:24 PM new
Fees for listing won't stop what you are complaining about.
I don't sell things that fit this description, but if Yahoo charged fees for me to list, I would have to stop listing because I actually don't sell here like I do on Ebay.
Now if listers who do not list these kind of items leave because of fees....what have the fees accomplished?? Nothing, that's what.
Bad sellers and bad buyers are always around, on and off the internet. Charging fees is not going to change that.
JMO
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."---Mark Twain
posted on December 10, 2000 04:59:32 PM new
Just had a thought...with all of these posts about charging fees popping up all of a sudden....one could use similar logic to conclude this....
Yahoo should start charging fees...to the BUYERS. Then, under the same logic, it would eliminate the deadbeat bidders. It would also eliminate most of the lookers, leaving us with only buyers (after all, why would anyone pay to look without buying). It would also help with their credit card verification process, and if someone registered with a fraudulent credit card, Yahoo would know in a hurry and could put a stop to them using it for PayDirect before any sellers lose and money because of it.
I know, I know...no need to rake me over the coals...just using the same logic.
posted on December 10, 2000 05:28:30 PM new
I can't figure why justinas is even over here looking at Yahoo items if it's as bad as said...
Heavens run over to EPAY and I'm sure you will find all PERFECT items as easy as can be and you can search there too...
Easy for a buyer to say charge fees...
but that's not going to change a thing....
See ya!!!!
Joan
posted on December 10, 2000 05:47:44 PM new
auctionee
That, in my opinion, is the best reply to charging sellers fees that I have seen to date. Not meaning to be disrespectful of all comments related to this subject. Your post makes as much sense as the plea to start charging seller fees, as a remedy to unrelated problems.
posted on December 10, 2000 06:11:17 PM new
Charlie- I disagree with your statement "Yahoo is not hurting for money, period." According to an article I just read in the Wall Street Journal (it is an article from a week or so back, I just caught up on my reading last night) Yahoo's revenues from advertising are drying up. Yahoo does need to find new sources of income to replace those that it is losing. Fees for its online auctions seem to be one way to accomplish this, and I think that is why they are making it almost a necessity to feature.
edited- yikes! typo.
[ edited by CAgrrl on Dec 10, 2000 06:12 PM ]
posted on December 10, 2000 06:28:31 PM new
CAgrrl
Yes, I know their stock is dropping. Another reason to make it easy for buyers to find what they want. If their auction site was drawing rave reviews from buyers, sellers, and related articles, more than likely the advertiser revenue would pour back in.
No advertiser, especially the larger corporations, want to put their money in a site that is lacking activity. They check market research very carefully. No buyers on the auction site, means no potential buyers for what they are trying to sell.
posted on December 10, 2000 07:51:28 PM new
auctionee, etc. -
actually, I already pay a buyers fee at some of the RL auctions I attend. It doesn't bother me to pay a small amount to get better service.
If it takes bidders fees to weed out the deadbeats, spammers and scammers on the bidding end, I'll pay my fair share. It appears that you don't agree on the other end, which is still too bad.
Regarding - going back to ebay. Well, that's interesting logic. Before all the ebay and Amazon crowd got here, I thought things were alot better here. Now, the two things aren't necessarily related, but it does seem that things have declined here.
posted on December 10, 2000 09:05:37 PM new
I think justinias is an ebay or Amazon employee, planted here to make it appear that Yahoo sellers are *ready and willing* to start paying listing and/or FVFs, so the powers-to-be at Yahoo will make a decision along those lines.
WHY ELSE would someone who doesn't list on Yahoo, who has absolutely NO CONCEPT of the time it takes to sell something on Yahoo, or of the final price realized, or of the profit margin, or of the bidding activity level....come here just one week ago and REPEATEDLY START THREADS CALLING FOR YAHOO TO CHARGE SELLER FEES???
Nothing else makes sense. If justinias REALLY IS a Yahoo buyer who is unhappy about receiving dirty merchandise from Yahoo sellers, then one of these conclusions can be drawn:
1) Justinias is able to buy on Yahoo for far, far lower prices than on any other online auction---otherwise he/she would go *elsewhere* and purchase "clean" merchandise.
*********OR*********
2) Justinias gets dirty merchandise from sellers at OTHER auctions, too, but feels POWERLESS to combat the problem on the ebay and Amazon boards...so he/she comes HERE instead, to try to get seller fees implemented on Yahoo in a misguided attempt at a solution. (And for your information, I know one long-time Powerseller who NEVER cleans or repairs ANYTHING WHATSOEVER before listing on ebay.)
*********OR*********
3) Justinias is slightly masochistic, and actually ENJOYS being taken advantage of by all those awful Yahoo sellers.
NOW I ASK YOU, which seems most plausible to you....No. 1 or No. 2 or No. 3 or "another auction's employee"???
Really....if you receive dirty merchandise from Yahoo sellers, do you go to message boards and ASK FOR ALL YAHOO SELLERS to be CHARGED FEES???????? Does THAT solve your problem (or make any sense)???
Of course not. You write the seller and say that you were expecting 'excellent condition' because the listing said 'excellent condition'. And you return it if you feel cheated.
But you don't start screaming, "CHARGE HIM FEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
posted on December 11, 2000 07:09:13 AM new
If you want to pay fees go somewhere else - I totally agree with Very Modern -
NO FEES NO WAY, I WON'T PAY!
If you don't like the style of Yahoo, it is a free world go to any of 100's of other auctions, no one is making you use Yahoo - it is sort of like a marriage - don't get into it thinking or wanting to make changes!
Yahoo is GREAT just as it is - leave Yahoo alone - please take your crusade elsewhere.
The spam doesn't hurt our auctions, I don't understand what you problem is with what someone else is doing?
posted on December 11, 2000 08:16:56 AM new
How can Yahoo! start charging fees for services, when the sellers are crying out to correct so many problems? That would certainly be the final nail in their auctions coffin. It's bad enough they turn a deaf ear to our recommendations to get the sales moving again, but to try to make us pay for their indifference? Not very logical reasoning, in my opinion.
You don't kick a person in the teeth, and make them pay the dental bill too. They are responsible for the situation they put themselves in, not us. As far as penalizing all sellers, because a buyer is unhappy with purchases from a few, is totally rediculous. If you get upset with a purchase at the flea market, (literally), do you turn in a complaint to the BBB about Sears, Wal-Mart, and Macy's too?
posted on December 11, 2000 09:10:07 AM new
Charlie one GREAT ANSWER
"If you get upset with a purchase at the flea market, (literally), do you turn in a complaint to the BBB about Sears, Wal-Mart, and Macy's too?"
posted on December 11, 2000 02:18:02 PM new
"It appears that you don't agree on the other end,"
You're right. After all, what would I be paying for? If I'm going to make a donation, which is what it would be, there are much better causes than Yahoo. On the other hand, if I were paying for increased bidders (MUCH increased), and improved service (MUCH improved)....then I might be open to the idea of REASONABLE fees.
posted on December 12, 2000 01:22:26 PM new
Well- I do agree that fees should measure the excellence of service. All of us ebay refugees can speak for that. Keep in mind though- that when yahoo feels they have reached that point of excellence we WILL pay either in features or whatever.
They just do NOT understand - that WE the sellers, are the ones they need to satisfy!
It's beginning to look like they just don't get it
posted on December 12, 2000 03:03:00 PM new
As I have said before, I am against any kind of listing fee/ final value fee because it brings no value to sellers.
If I'm going to be giving them money, I want some value for it.
So here's my suggestion. Yahoo obviously has a problem providing customer service. Why not charge for "priority customer service."
It would be easy for them to set up, using Yahoo wallet. They charge you some amount, perhaps depending on the type/depth of your question. And then a REAL PERSON actually answers your question. Or maybe there could be a subscription service -- $30 per month or something. The specifics aren't relevant.
The point is, that with something like this, Yahoo can generate revenue AND provide value to sellers. Everyone wins.
posted on December 13, 2000 12:38:35 AM new
amal- great post! very interesting & thought provoking. I'd be all for that!! I mean, yes, we'd ALL RATHER have FREE, myself included. But let's be realistic! Yahoo NEEDS TO MAKE MONEY! I would personally rather pay a little bit and ensure that Yahoo stays around for us all to use in the long run. But as Amal has pointed out, we all need to feel we are getting value for the money we'd be spending. This is where Yahoo has to be careful, because if we have to pay but we feel as though we're not getting our money's worth, then we all end up spending our money elsewhere- namely Ebay.
The customer service angle is really an interesting one. That is one good thing I have to say about Ebay- every time I have had to contact safeharbor, I've had appropriate help from them almost immediately. When Ebay is up and running I do generally feel as if I get my money's worth there. Both customer service wise and also in ease of selling.
I'm like everyone else- I'll go where I feel I get the best value for my money. Better customer service from Yahoo would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath. But anyway, my major issue isn't customer service- that's not as important to me as SELLING ITEMS is.
posted on December 18, 2000 09:57:48 AM new
I find that there is almost no activity on Yahoo Auctions. I have listed a bunch of items and sold only 1. They want me to get a rating of five before using their bulk uploading tool, but when no one buys anything how do you get a rating? Before you start screaming I sell about 50% of my lisings on eBay. FREE-You get what you pay for? My Grand Daddy always said; "if someone offers you something for free, just take a little bit!"
posted on December 18, 2000 01:34:38 PM new
PLEASE DONT FEE US!
IF YAHOO STARTS CHARGING A FEE FOR ITS AUCTION LISTINGS ETC,IT COULD SPELL THE END OF YAHOO AUCTIONS!THE AUCTIONS MAIN PURPOSE IS TO GENERATE INCOME BY THE USERS CLICKING ON THE ADVERTISEMENT BANNERS,THE PAYDIRECT CC SYSTEM & ITS SEARCH ENGINE LINKS.THIS IS HOW YAHOO GENERATES A GREAT DEAL OF INCOME.NOW IF THEY CHARGE FOR LISTING AUCTIONS,LESS & LESS PEOPLE WILL VISIT THE SITE.IN TURN THIS MEANS LESS PEOPLE CLICKING ON THE AD BANNERS OR EVEN USING YAHOO AS A SEARCH ENGINE.IN TURN THIS MEANS LESS ADVERTISEMENT BY LARGER CO.IN TURN WHICH MEANS BOTTOM LINE........... LESS INCOME FOR YAHOO STOCKHOLDERS!! WHICH SPELLS DOOM!.....FACE IT IF EBAY WAS FREE,WE WOULD ALL BE ON IT-WOULDNT WE.NOW IF YOU HAD A CHOICE TO LIST ON EBAY OR YAHOO (IF YAHOO ALSO CHARGED FEES TO)-WHERE WOULD YOU LIST? YAHOO WILL ALWAYS TAKE A BACK SEAT TO EBAY-BUT BEING FEE FREE I WILL NEVER COMPLAIN! ITS GREAT FOR A "SMALL GUY" LIKE MYSELF WHO SOMETIMES IS LIMITED TO SELL ON EBAY BECAUSE OF LISTING FEES.
posted on December 18, 2000 03:55:25 PM new
albertaradical- I disagree with you. There is A LOT of activity on yahoo auctions. I recently featured an item that had well over 2,000 page views alone by the time the auction had ended. Just because YOU PERSONALLY are not selling well on Yahoo, that doen't mean that NO ONE is.
GRETZKYMANIA- the "banner ad as largest source of income" is a bit dated. The powers that be at Yahoo are intelligent enough to realize this. That is part of the OLD, UNSUCCESSFUL DOT COM strategy that has largely FAILED. According to the Wall Street Journal, revenues generated from banner ads in general, and at Yahoo SPECIFICALLY, are falling off. Banner ad dollars haven't dried up completely and may not for some time, but they are not plentiful as they were in the early days of the .com.
I also do not agree with your statement "Yahoo will always take a back seat to Ebay". That may seem like a true statement now. However, I don't think that there is really that much in the way if Yahoo really wanted to take the lead. The customer service issues that Amal has pointed out are the largest hurdle. Customer base is a secondary issue, but Yahoo does have a huge customer base already. And if they would address the customer service issues the customer base would only grow, because there are a LOT of restless & dissatisfied Ebay customers out there.
posted on December 18, 2000 04:22:01 PM newTHE AUCTIONS MAIN PURPOSE IS TO GENERATE INCOME BY THE USERS CLICKING ON THE ADVERTISEMENT BANNERS,THE PAYDIRECT CC SYSTEM & ITS SEARCH ENGINE LINKS
Well, that was the hope... it hasn't turned out that way, at least not yet.
Banner ads in the auctions section are the least desirable ads on Yahoo, and that's saying a lot. They're not even close to selling out the advertising inventory on the main site.
So when someone wants to buy some desirable space on the main site, Yahoo forces them to purchase "packages" which includes ads in auctions, personals, games, etc.
Paydirect is currently free. And making money on the float is a myth. Do the math. Everyone would have to leave every payment in account for three months for them to come close to breaking even on the float. So Paydirect is costing them money.
And as for generating traffic for the main site, it hasn't worked out that way. The main site sends far more visitors TO the auction site than it receives.
Yahoo stock has lost what -- 3/4 of it's value in the past year? They've gotta start making more money somehow.
posted on December 18, 2000 04:26:23 PM new
I PERSONALL DO VERY WELL ON YAHOO COMPARED TO EBAY! I THINK YAHOO AUCTIONS HAVE COME ALONG WAY SINCE 98.I GUESS WITHIN TIME YAHOO WILL BE JUST AS WIDELY USED AS EBAY.I STILL WONDER WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THE SELLER BASE OF PEOPLE WHO SELL BOTH ON YAHOO & EBAY IF YAHOO STARTS CHARGING FOR LISTINGS?
posted on December 19, 2000 03:46:50 AM new
If Yahoo started charging sellers fees I would stop selling there. I don't have too many auctions on Yahoo, but it seems that 80% of my bidders have turned into deadbeats! I think Yahoo fees would make for less sellers than they have now.
