posted on January 15, 2001 11:17:48 AM new
Please pardon the thinking out loud.
I started selling stuff on auctions in Sept. of '98 at eBay. I have collected comic books and cards since I was 8, so I have a lot of stuff. Decided after 20 years I could part with some of it. I sold a little bit and then life got the better of me and I stopped.
Eventually, I decided to give it a go again. I found other places I could sell at that were cheaper than ebay. I sold a few things on Up4Sale, a really nice little site which must have been a real threat to ebay since they bought it out and eventually closed it down. I also landed at Auction Universe, and settled in for a good long stay. They were "comfy" and the place had personality, plus I was actually selling stuff for decent prices. Then they redesigned and became Auctions.Com. While I liked some of the changes, it was no longer "comfy", just another generic auction site and eventually they went bye-bye too.
So I stumble on to Yahoo and give them a shot. What the heck, it's free. Sold a bit, then had to take a while off to reorganize my life and move. So back I go in October. List bunches, sell a few, feeling comfy again. <BTW, get the feeling I don't like to have stuff scattered all over 10 different sites? Well, I don't.> Take December off, plan to come back in January.
SURPRISE! Yahoo make the bonehead decision to charge listing fees. In principal, I have no problem with listing fees, but they way they are going about it is just bad. I mean, at least allow 1-2 relists for free! Anyways, now I am feeling out of sorts and a bit depressed. I listed some things on Pootah <no looks, no bids>, used credits on yahoo for a few things <almost no looks, no bids>, 1 on Auxpal last night, and 9 on ebay <tons of looks, 3 have bids, 7 days still to go>.
Lycos is horrible at best. Little activity, from what i could see with the bit of wading in the dreck i did. Plus, they list items with bids first and then everything else. At least Excite puts the listings in Time Ending order. Course not much has bids, so I guess it doesn't really matter. And the search function does not impress.
So, I am feeling like I am going to have to go with ebay to sell my stuff. So far, based on bids, I have a 33% sell through, which is at least 10 times what I ever achieved on Yahoo. eBay is not comfy, but stuff sells there. I am however open to suggestions on a nice auction to SELL comics and non-sport cards at. I could maybe handle 2 places at once without going bonkers.
My apology's for the ramblings. SO is out of town this week on business and that always puts me in a gloomy mood. No job to keep me busy and the ferrets don't require my attention when they are asleep (the majority of the day), so it's muck around on the computer or veg in front of the tv. Bet ya'll are wishing I was watching Judge Joe Brown right now, huh?
posted on January 15, 2001 11:33:02 AM new
It's a bummer. It seems almost ALL auction sites OTHER than eBay are demonstrating a lackluster performance at best. It's making the decision of where to go other than eBay rather difficult.
Some folks ARE selling things on other aution sites, but if you don't happen to deal in their specialty (i.e. hand-blown glass grasshoppers from Mars, etc.), you may not experience the same thing.
Collectibles in general just seem to be doing poorly at most of the non-eBay sites, whereas on eBay their sales are booming. Not many options.
posted on January 15, 2001 11:44:18 AM new
EBay has a free listing day every December. Last month, for the first time in 3 years I was ready for it (eBay only announces the free listing day late the evening before, but it is usually around the 21st of December) with my auctions loaded in AW's auction manager software. I listed 200 auctions. If I didn't have a full time job, I probably could have prepared more auctions in advance and listed a lot more.
posted on January 15, 2001 11:55:32 AM new
stockticker,
Like you, I took advantage of eBay's free listing day and moved all the items that had been sitting at Yahoo!Auctions for a month or two without a bid.
And guess what?
Half the items sold, many with multiple bids, which demonstrates that eBay, despite its problems, can at least deliver traffic to sellers' auctions, while Yahoo!Auctions cannot deliver traffic and remains a few pagviewers, fewer bidders and even fewer buyers wasteland.
posted on January 15, 2001 12:01:11 PM new
It amazes me how these sites blow through hundreds of millions of dollars without any vision. Marketing is almost an exact science, but these MBA flunkouts rely mostly on huntches and feelings.
Yahoo doesn't know that in order to raise fees, you must offer more value. It doesn't take a genius to understand that simple principle.
So while all these sites flounder and die, we'll have to go with ebay who actually is a smartly run site, until someone with vision opens another site because there's no sites out there like that right now.
