posted on January 11, 2001 06:05:15 AM new
To make it easier to locate the latest numbers, I'll incorporate that date in the thread subject line from now on.
Anyway, here are the latest numbers at Yahoo!Auctions. First number, in bold, is "listing fees day" 10-Jan-2001 10:00 AM ET; second number is 11-Jan-2001 9:00 AM ET.
CategoriesTrack:
Antiques, Art, & Collectibles > Miscellaneous > Postcards - 18,406 | 17,617
Antiques, Art, & Collectibles > Miscellaneous > Maps - 473 | 462
Coins, Paper Money, & Stamps > Coins > United States - 50,602 | 48,356
Coins, Paper Money, & Stamps > Stamps > United States - 26,678 | 25,341
Computers > Hardware > PC - 19,667 | 17,648
Computers > Software > PC - 14,467 | 13,560
Entertainment > Books > Antique and Rare - 16,541 | 15,875
Entertainment > Movies > DVD - 13,075 | 12,113
Entertainment > Movies > Video Tapes - 42,802 | 40,693
Entertainment > Music > CDs - 29,964 | 28,452
posted on January 11, 2001 06:48:49 AM new
Somewhere in the reports of YAHOO comments on this fee change was the statement that they expected as much as a 50% reduction in the number of listings when this fully plays out(60 to 90 days+).
They have also stated they wanted to remove the "junk" and when pressed defined that as spam, "get rich quick" etc. I expect they wanted to remove many more of the lower priced items but were hesitant to point fingers at the full range of listings they would like to have disappear.
The remaining mix in say May,2001 will be interesting to see. Many lower cost items of some interest, for example, books, mags or sportcards, will not justify repeated listing fees but some of the "junk" has very low inventory cost(reprinting information sheets)and could well remain.
Auctions are such a small segment of YAHOO's overall activities that it might not get a lot of attention in the big picture. It is of greater importance to many of us both as an income source and because of the desire to have eBay competation.
For everyones sake I certainly hope it works out better than I think it will.
posted on January 11, 2001 09:09:16 AM new
I've seen that 50% estimate often, but not that it can be attributed to yahoo, rather to clueless independent analysts.
I think > 90% reduction is more realistic. I believe that a very large portion of the yahoo count has been in items well under $5.00 such as most of the 500,000+ sports trading cards.
The $ volume sales is what really counts anyway, results there will be more difficult and take much longer to see.
dimview - might I suggest editing rather than a new thread each update.
posted on January 11, 2001 09:26:21 AM new
figmente >
might I suggest editing rather than a new thread each update.
I had thought of updating the data via an editing of an initial post, but then realized that any followups would not be about the initial post. And the thread would also become increasingly long. So what seems to be the best approach is a new thread each day, with the date in the subject line, so anyone can post a followup to the latest data more easily.
posted on January 11, 2001 09:44:11 AM new
It appears that Yahoo!Auctions updates the left column numbers twice a day.
First number, in bold, is "listing fees day" 10-Jan-2001 10:00 AM ET; second number is 11-Jan-2001 9:00 AM ET which would be the first update, third number is 12:30 PM ET.
CategoriesTrack:
Antiques, Art, & Collectibles > Miscellaneous > Postcards - 18,406 | 17,617 | 17,446
Antiques, Art, & Collectibles > Miscellaneous > Maps - 473 | 462 | 462
Coins, Paper Money, & Stamps > Coins > United States - 50,602 | 48,356 | 48,183
Coins, Paper Money, & Stamps > Stamps > United States - 26,678 | 25,341 | 25,148
Computers > Hardware > PC - 19,667 | 17,648 | 17,564
Computers > Software > PC - 14,467 | 13,560 | 13,500
Entertainment > Books > Antique and Rare - 16,541 | 15,875 | 15,777
Entertainment > Movies > DVD - 13,075 | 12,113 | 12,086
Entertainment > Movies > Video Tapes - 42,802 | 40,693 | 40,377
Entertainment > Music > CDs - 29,964 | 28,452 | 28,237
posted on January 11, 2001 10:01:04 AM new
If you click through the categories you will finally get to a page with numbers in the left column. As an example:
Poscards lists 17,446 at Yahoo!Actions last update, but if you click on that link you'll see that they are now down to 17,439. And, since most folks posted their items to end during prime time hours, that when you'll see the sharpest hourly declines.
posted on January 11, 2001 10:01:24 AM new
Wednesday February 21 should be the day the system is purged of free auctions. There was a little known bug in the bulk loader which has let me and I assume others, to have 14 day auctions all along. And unlike the protesters who cancelled their handful of auctions, I did the opposite. I listed 2000 items the last 2 days for 14 days times 2 relists. My protest will come when the free lunch is over.
The sad thing about listing fees is it means there is no realistic place to make a profit listing inexpensive or obscure stuff which takes months to sell. Yahoo has temporarily killed this one area of selling that was made possible by the combination if the world Wide Net and no listing fees. What will be left will mostly be Sony Playstations and Digital Cameras and the rest of the stuff you can buy in 1000 other places, plus the stuff that used to be given to the Goodwill or sold off for what they can get for it in a garage sale. (And most people already know if you have to pay to list it you may as well put it on ePay and give them a commission too, because ePay gets many times the buyers that Yahoo does)
posted on January 11, 2001 10:09:37 AM new
zzyzx000 >
The sad thing about listing fees is it means there is no realistic place to make a profit listing inexpensive or obscure stuff which takes months to sell.
I have an interest in collecting postcards and as they are dropping off Yahoo!Auctions I'm not seeing them being posted on any of the several alternative auctions sites to any great extent.
posted on January 11, 2001 02:50:25 PM new
That's the old catch 22 and Yahoo was one of only 2 sites that had that problem licked:
Buyers won't buy someplace unless there are lots of sellers, and sellers won't sell someplace unless there are lots of buyers.
What am I looking for you ask? A new classifieds only site which has free listings, picture hosting, email notices, credit card-matching-name verification from day 1, a police force to kick off the bad deadbeats and pirates, feedback based on successful and unsuccessful transactions (not the good, the bad and the ugly), and a bulk loader that is built to accept Yahoo's bulk loader Excel .csv files with no modifications. For that I'd pay a 5% commission on sales without a whimper.
posted on January 11, 2001 04:05:48 PM new
Well folks, Yahoo!Auctions updated again.
First number, in bold, is "listing fees day" 10-Jan-2001 10:00 AM ET; second number is 11-Jan-2001 9:00 AM ET, third number is 12:30 PM ET, fourth number is 7:00 PM ET.
CategoriesTrack:
Antiques, Art, & Collectibles > Miscellaneous > Postcards - 18,406 | 17,617 | 17,446 | 17,283
Antiques, Art, & Collectibles > Miscellaneous > Maps - 473 | 462 | 462 | 455
Coins, Paper Money, & Stamps > Coins > United States - 50,602 | 48,356 | 48,183 | 48,063
Coins, Paper Money, & Stamps > Stamps > United States - 26,678 | 25,341 | 25,148 | 24,838
Computers > Hardware > PC - 19,667 | 17,648 | 17,564 | 17,037
Computers > Software > PC - 14,467 | 13,560 | 13,500 | 13,296
Entertainment > Books > Antique and Rare - 16,541 | 15,875 | 15,777 | 15,611
Entertainment > Movies > DVD - 13,075 | 12,113 | 12,086 | 11,977
Entertainment > Movies > Video Tapes - 42,802 | 40,693 | 40,377 | 40,165
Entertainment > Music > CDs - 29,964 | 28,452 | 28,237 | 27,912
posted on January 11, 2001 05:54:40 PM new
Auctions > Antiques, Art, & Collectibles > Home & Garden > Appliances > Radios
Listings two hours before fees went into effect: 637
Currently listed: 589
Featured two hours before listing fees: 18
Featured now: 6
I just now randomly opened 30 auctions on the last three of the 12 pages of radios. Only 3 were started after the fees went into effect. Many were started on the 9th and I assume they have automatic relists. Once the relists tun out, the radio category will be totally dead. Too bad, I would have had at LEAST 10 radios featured in the category if Yahoo would have gone to a FVF instead of a listing and extortion (reserve) fee.
posted on January 11, 2001 07:39:14 PM new
I think it will even be hard to track bidwins accurately because I think a lot of sellers drastically reduced the prices to clear up some of the slower moving inventory.
posted on January 12, 2001 09:43:28 AM new
dimview - Take a loot at Pootah.com. I'm going over there. They are also working on setting up new subcategories etc. and taking requests on their forum. No postings fee. I'm going to have to do a lot of promotion on my e-mails and web site to get my buyers there.
posted on January 12, 2001 10:01:26 AM new
RebelGuns,
My business strategy is no longer dependent on a single or even two auction sites. I've signed up at several, including Pootah http://www.pootah.com.
I'm not too pleased that their listings are not compatible with simple HTML-tables that comprise my own items, so to list there I will have to make an entirely new set of descriptions. Very time consuming, although I do have two items listed there.
Also, did I read the other day that Pootah had surpassed the 1,000 listings level? Please correct me if I'm wrong because I see right now that AuXPal http://www.auxpal.com is at the 93,000 listings level.
posted on January 12, 2001 05:35:44 PM new
Hi Troy! I will continue to list an estimated 25-40% of my merchandise on Yahoo, and the rest will be split between Ebay, Pootah, & Dutchbid.
posted on January 12, 2001 05:54:13 PM new
troywolv:
My user ID on Yahoo is Reinbeaux on Yahoo and my full email address on eGREED (Reinbeaux is my horse's name) I specialize in collectible radios - most that sell between $50. - $1,500. (and I also sell lower priced items - above $10.) I will not be paying the fees on Yahoo - the traffic does not warrant it. I would have paid a reasonable FVF but not a listing fee or reserve fee. I was paying $100. - $200. to Yahoo for feature fees- so the auctions were not free to me.
eGREED: $2.00 list + $1.00 protection money (reserve fee)
YaGREED: $2.25 list = .75 reserve fee
It does NOT take a genius to figure out where the money is best spent- especially if the item sells first try on ebay and takes 3-4 times listing to sell at Yahoo/
If I continue with internet auctions full time, I may be forced to list a few items on eGREED and I am looking for sites that I can sell my items on. I would go back to eGREED permanantly if they removed the reserve fee - I feel like I am paying extortion / protection money to organized crime to protect my investments against bid shielders and the numerous eGREED outages (I have lost thousands of dollars to both)
I just ended my auxpal auction early to list the item on eGREED tonight. a $300. radio that didn't even have one bid on auxpal (it was my last item on Yahoo and ended at $125. on Yahoo the other night) I have a few test auctions on edeal and a couple of pieces of art pottery on potteryauction.com I will be trying lowestbids.com, auxpal (again- for other items), possibly auctionaddict, and a few others. I am also applying to airlines for pilot positions (I am a commercial pilot) as well as applying for other jobs that will utilize my college training. In other words, I may leave online auctions all together.
eGREED was a great site until they went public. Yahoo was adequate and I would have stayed until they stabbed the sellers in the back when they announced the fees- and refused to listen to sellers' concerns. Yahoo has showed that they do not care about ANYTHING except the "almighty dollar" I was happy on Yahoo even though my items took longer to sell and I was getting less for them than I would have gotten on eGREED.
