posted on January 5, 2001 02:05:58 PM new
I do not understand why all of you are mad at Yahoo. People are starting auctions selling rocks to protest Yahoo. I am reading all kinds of things about how people are being cheated.
Yahoo is a business and they have been very generous and let everyone who wanted post auctions for free. Now they are trying to make it profitable and all of you are mad.
I guess I don't understand , but for me I would like to thank Yahoo for the many free auctions I have ran. I have made enough money off my free auctions that I can afford to pay this small fee to run my auctions.
posted on January 5, 2001 02:12:11 PM new
I agree with santac. Yahoo was kind enough to give me free auctions for nearly 3 years I don't mind paying now.
posted on January 5, 2001 02:13:59 PM new
If something's not broke, why fix it? Had Yahoo! stayed free, they probably would have overtaken eBay. Now, they won't even be competitive.
posted on January 5, 2001 02:16:56 PM new
Yahoo PROMISED that the auctions would ALWAYS be free. They LIED
I paid Yahoo $100. - $200. per month to feature my auctions. I have had success- but that's because I could list the item for less than on eGREED and pass the savings to the buyer. Even on many of my high end items, I do not have that much margin for a profit- especially if I have to relist it 2-3 times to sell it.
I do not do business with LIARS and Y!GREED has shown that they are LIARS. Most of my items, the fees are within .75 of eGREED's fees and with the fewer bidders on Y!GREED, it is not worth it.
Good luck staying - you are staying on a sinking ship.
posted on January 5, 2001 02:19:35 PM new
I think I can summarize this: I started selling on Yahoo 2 years ago. I feel like I have helped to build Yahoo Auctions by promoting their site with my items. I know I have given them plenty of free advertising and that the items I have listed have gotten more people to come and look. And then, they change the rules and don't even ask if we care. I have yet to hear one person say they want it FREE but reasonable is the goal. Over those two years I have seen Yahoo make quite a few changes and for the most part they were not WISE business choices. They have been looking at eBay and saying "If it works for them, we must make it work for us! We want the money they are making." Instead of letting us continue to build it so it worked for the sellers and thus the buyers. The reason Yahoo Auctions grew was because people didn't want to deal with eBay. That should tell Yahoo something. Sellers don't want the same thing. Yahoo does not run a good enough auction to request the money they are asking for. Everyone who has tried to deal with them knows that. I would guess that half the people who sell on Yahoo also sell on eBay to a small extent. I DO! But Yahoo has been a place for the stuff that needs the right buyer. And there was a need for Yahoo Auctions in this capacity. There is no need for yet another pay auction. eBay works real well if you are going to pay. Mind you I wouldn't have a problem with a one time listing fee at Yahoo or a final value fee to help improve the site and/or advertising to draw buyers. But the amount asked for is the trouble. They want the sellers on Yahoo Auctions to cover all their expenses and financial troubles. And that is not right.
posted on January 5, 2001 02:29:29 PM new
I myself am not mad at yahoo at all I have been listing auction there for a year and the math is simple 112 listing 7 days a week 24 hours a day for near 405 days no sales where does the money to pay these fees come from.
I list 24 /7 on ebay and sell my items daily.
I have paid to list on yahoo for features these features also did not make sales I cant continue listing there and paying fees out of greatfullness I must turn over my inventory as well.
If im going to pay even $10 per week to list there I need to have more then $10 in bids per week.
Im not mad at yahoo or anyone but since yahoo cant see there site dont have the bidding to suport fees and since they arent listening they will have to learn the hard lesson.
hey I dont want them to feel bad if I called the maytag man to fix my washing machine and it still didnt work when he was donr I wouldnt pay his fees either.
posted on January 5, 2001 02:35:09 PM new
Many (unsuccessful and marginal) auction startups have offered free listing with a clear reservation that they might charge in the future if the market would bear it.
yahoo has always claimed their listings would always be free.
yahoo was looking like a significant alternative auction site, they had a lot of mass and momentum. This is the second round within 4 months of destructive "improvements" - fixes which break what wasn't broken.
It was great of yahoo to offer a free alternative. It is wrenching to see them self destruct.
posted on January 5, 2001 02:54:28 PM new
I myself am not mad at Yahoo. To get mad it would have to be personal. It isn't personal it is business. They mad decisions they thought was best for business and I will do the same. As I said elsewhere I will keep a few auctions running 5-10, mainly to use it for links to my website. The other auctions which are mostly books. I will switch to somewhere else because it wouldn't make sense for me to keep it there. I do okay on Yahoo but 400 auctions times .20 = 80.00 times 3 equals 240.00 a month. They don't have the kind of traffic there that would make it profitable. That would cut my profit quite a bit. Yahoo is by far not a main money maker for me but there will be a little less sugar on the cake for a few weeks until adjustments are made. I will now spend more time on my websites and on my Ebay auctions along with checking out half.com.
I have no plans of doing all that work for Yahoo to make the profit. Mad no not at all. I will agree some people are getting quite silly.
More and more of the same thing is going to happen and in this business of E commerce we just have to be fast on our feet and never expect things to stay a certain way because they won't.
posted on January 5, 2001 05:49:31 PM new
Who's mad...
It's very simple. If I had sell through, I would stay and pay. I have items on Yahoo that had to relist several times till the right buyer came along. My sell through on Yahoo is not good enough to support listing fees and make money. I have Ebay for that and do quite well there.
Yahoo has been a great place for me to list crafty/sewing stuff and have fun. Now it's not and I have to find another.
Although I will be staying in a limited basis till the feedback credits run out.
posted on January 5, 2001 06:03:57 PM new
The gripe generally YooHoo doesn't have the buyer base yet to (for me) justify charging for the service. Again, I wouldn't object to a closing fee, but they want the whole kittenkaboodle. If I have to pay it all, then I'll just move it to a site that has a broader bidder base. I would be stupid to do otherwise.
posted on January 5, 2001 07:02:25 PM new
I personally am not mad. Business is business, and Yahoo needed this for their bottom line.
What does upset me, is that Yahoo was getting so close to catching up with eBay - and I KNOW that this will destroy that momentum. I feel Yahoo will probably go the same way of Amazon when Amazon made all their major changes.
Very sad, because we did VERY well on Yahoo, and wouldn't mind a FVF, but don't think we can live with a listing fee.
We will look into their Merchant Accounts, but will look heavy at other sites...as I have said before, my concern is the buyers following to other sites....
Naturally, we will continue to post some one eBay, but had almost stopped posting on eBay when Yahoo made this startling change.
Sad....but time will tell......I don't intend to get in a twit about it, as I spent my twits out years ago on eBay and all their non-sense.
posted on January 5, 2001 07:31:06 PM new
As everyone has said, it isn't necessarily because we are mad at Yahoo. We are mostly annoyed at how they are doing this. They don't have the traffic to justify this. Most items on Yahoo go unsold, and will sell maybe after several listings. For the prices they are charging, it is better to be on Ebay, where there is traffic that does buy. My guess is that after a month or so, there will be a LOT less traffic at Yahoo.
What I can't understand is that they do not see the connection between number of sellers, and number of buyers. They claim that fewer auctions will be better for those that are left, that the "junk" will be cleared out. However, with fewer sellers, my guess is that buyers, few that there are, will leave the site too. Why stay if there isn't much to buy.
In my opinion, this is a fatal decision by Yahoo. If they instituted a Final Value Fee, I believe they would lose very few sellers. Even though they promised free forever, a lot of people can not deliver on forever promises. With that type of fee, they would make more money if they deliver on their promise to bring in my buyers. With the current set-up, it really does not matter how many buyers are looking, since they will make their money whether your item sells or not.
Also, 8 days notices really is annoying as well. That's unfair.
posted on January 5, 2001 07:48:34 PM new
Yahoo still has a crappy rate of dead beat bidders. It was to a sick level.......After a month I would give up on a bidder and just move on. Oh well right......it didnt cost you anything to list it. Now if it is going to cost me money to chase dead beat bidders then I will be filling out forms daily for each and every dead beat.
Yahoo has cracked down on worthless bidders with invalid email addresses by requiring a credit card for validation when making an account. BUT that is only for new bidders only.........not for already made accounts.
Yahoo now lists items according to the sellers rating regardless of time left in a category. So a seller with 9 days left but with a high feedback rating is on the first page of a category and a newer seller with 9 HOURS left is on the last page and invisible.
But that newer seller is going to be paying the same fees now........
I sure as hell am not going to sit on page 22 in a category 34 pages long with my stuff on its last when a guy who has been here longer than me sits on the front page 24/7 with freshly listed items.
posted on January 5, 2001 07:51:59 PM new
santac- you say "I guess I don't understand , but for me I would like to thank Yahoo for the many free auctions I have ran. I have made enough money off my free auctions that I can afford to pay this small fee to run my auctions"
Well, what about those that have not had the chance at having all the free auctions and are just starting out in their business? Personally, I am just starting out and I can in no way afford to pay these kind of fees- that's why I chose to use yahoo over ebay! Not everyone has a cash filled wallet to start out with.
I wouldn't object to a final value fee or a one time listing fee with free relists if your item doesn't sell. I just simply can't afford to pay these fees for every time I list something.
