posted on December 1, 2000 06:13:00 PM
Anyone care to predict the future for non-specialty auction sites to compete with eBay? My guess is that only Yahoo has a chance.
posted on December 1, 2000 06:18:40 PM
I agree that probably only Yahoo has a chance.
Maybe Fairmarket. I mean, Fairmarket should be huge since they are integrated into so many big sites. But they are clearly going to have to get their act together.
Actually, I suspect that Ebay will soon offer a "co-branding" option so that Ebay auctions could be intergrated into a site like Lycos, the way Farimarket does.
posted on December 1, 2000 06:25:33 PM
Yahoo doesn't seem to generally operate like an auction in the way that ebay does. Time and again you'll read on these boards that the road to success on Yahoo is the first-bid wins concept, and when you scroll through the closed "auctions" the vast majority have one bid.
it will be interesting to see if Ebay manages to sustain auctions or whether the BIN feature will change the nature of the site. When it comes to fixed-price sites, I think Amazon marketplace will be an excellent alternative for books.
posted on December 1, 2000 06:32:06 PMYahoo doesn't seem to generally operate like an auction in the way that ebay does
Very true. But, I think there are two seperate reasons for this.
One is that some products, particularly new items that can easily be bought retail, don't lend themselves to an auction format.
But I think there's another factor at work at Yahoo and that is the "chicken and the egg" factor. You can't really sustain actual auctions without a lot of potential bidders. But, as GoldsAuction and so many others have seen, it's hard to attract bidders unless you have a lot of sellers. You get the picture.
So "buy it now" is a good work around for both buyers and sellers. Sellers don't have to rely on attracting multiple bidders, and bidders can find a nice selection of items. But it may be that it is just transitional, and that actual "auctions" will be more prevelant at Yahoo in the future.
posted on December 1, 2000 06:59:55 PM
Auctions are on the way out, fixed price is in. Ebay is already heading in that direction. I see auctions heading in the same direction as RL auctions, where dealers will be the majority of the buyers.
Yahoo won't even make a dent in Ebay. They have had an auctions link prominently featured at the top of their home page for some time now and still can't attract the buyers.
posted on December 1, 2000 07:15:09 PM
I guess the market tends to weed them out one by one - especially if they have capitol problems. Brand name recognition is very important too. Everybody knows or has heard about eBay and Yahoo. I kind of see it like tv was many years ago....a few big networks will exist, some smaller local stations will thrive on a small scale. Then a new change will comealong (like cable did) and change the whole equation again.
Ah, to know yesterday what I do today!
Make money for your school with www.School-Auction.Com
I can definitely state that in the 3+ years I have been on eBay, the eBay site has never gone down more than a couple of hours without a posting either on the eBay Announcement board, or if the Announcement board was inaccessible by a posting here on AW, by an eBay employee explaining that there was a problem.
posted on December 1, 2000 09:05:30 PM
It has indeed 'Bitten the Dust', much to my sorrow!
It shut down 'suddenly' around 10? last night and apparently they cannot bring it back up. Owners say they are hoping to bring it up for 7 days to allow users to complete transactions but no promises.
____________________
I have a memory like a steel trap .. unfortunately it's rusted shut!
posted on December 2, 2000 08:41:10 AM
Whether or not you see "BUY IT NOW" as a problem on eBay, I think it is here to stay and I for one am glad. I hate waiting 7 to 10 days to see an auction end.
Live time auctions in our part of the country are dominated by dealers - naturally, we don't attend. Dealers selling to dealers - ridiculous. More than ridiculous, many newbies, or would-be dealers running prices like crazy,who will ultimately be sitting on the junk they over paid for, for years and then give it up in another live auction to some other would be dealer who is too uneducated to know better.
So, this has nothing to do with the demise of Golds. But I am not surprised about Gold's, it amazes me it lasted this long. I have posted and posted on Gold's testing it with items that sell like crazy on eBay, Yahoo, and our web site, and never get a bid on Gold's so I felt its time was limited.
Personally, I have seen the same problems on Amazon - not in the beginning, but in the last year. I don't even bother testing Amazon now, but every 4 or 5 months and then it is the same story - items which sell like wild fire on eBay and Yahoo - don't even get a bid on Amazon.
posted on December 2, 2000 09:41:34 AM
Regarding Yahoo...
They have had an auctions link prominently featured at the top of their home page for some time now and still can't attract the buyers.
I don't think this is true. My sales on Yahoo are currently about 1/2 the amount of my sales on Ebay. (My fees are about 1/10).
There aren't as many buyers on Yahoo as there are on Ebay. But there certainly are buyers there.
posted on December 2, 2000 05:25:24 PM
well said, Amalgamated!
Just to let you guys know...one of my Yahoo featured auctions that ended today had 1,785 total page views. THERE ARE BUYERS on Yahoo! THEY DO SPEND MONEY! THERE ARE HORDES OF THEM! Getting them to view YOUR items and spend their money on YOUR auctions is not the easiest thing in the world to do these days- but believe me, THE CUSTOMER BASE IS THERE!
