posted on January 20, 2001 08:02:40 AM new
I hve been trying new sites for two weeks, here are the results.
1. bidbay no bids
2 auxpal no bids
3. epier no bids
4. buyitsellit no bids
I feel if i have to pay fees, ebay is the best with a heck of alot more traffic.
posted on January 20, 2001 08:10:53 AM new
I've been moving some of my stuff to auxpal.
really don't expect much for 90 or 120 days.
I'm e/mailing all my buyers with a link to auxpal.
It's up to us to build traffic.
posted on January 20, 2001 08:41:55 AM new
toph - there is no doubt about it. If you are going to pay fees, Ebay is the only place to go. Paying anyone else a fee makes no sense whatsoever because there is no traffic anywhere else.
However, if you do want to have a free listing site as an alternative you are going to have to pick one and support it with your listings and help get out the word that they exist. None of them are going to develope meaningful traffic overnight. It took many months to build Yahoo (though it appears they are being dismantled almost overnight).
It will take months (maybe years)for a viable alternative to rise, but in the meantime you will have only invested some time (and yes I know time to a large extent is money) and you will know you have at least made the effort to help build a site that will give people an option.
posted on January 20, 2001 08:43:19 AM new
toph - You pretty muich discovered the game plan. Yahoo is no longer a part of it unless you are selling very specific items to a very specific group of buyers who happen to stay with them.
Right now, Lycos or Excite (there seems to be no difference in their auction sites except different colors - even the items listed are the same, so I assume they're shared) are booming for one of my sales categories with as many as 40 bids per item along the lines of what I sell, so I HAVE to give them a try next.
I set record sales for myself on Yahoo during the preceding two weeks (not includig this one) but now its down down down.
Yahoo's initiation of the fee schedule, without considering closed sales fees in lieu of for starters, was their version of Pickett's Charge, only Pickett's Charge made a little more sense.
posted on January 20, 2001 08:50:35 AM new
Inless your perpared to settle in on a new auction site for 6 months to a year and build your auctions and buyrer base you will see little to no results.
The best Idea to do this is to sell some on yahoo and ebay in your EOA's and about me pages add links to your Epier or auxpal auctions Get people use to seeing these names and typeing these new addresses or book marking them in there browsers.
Yahoo is not the only auction site loseing listing sellers and buyers Ebay there is a rush from Ebay in this past week since they decided to incress fees Its a slow trickle right noe but sellers are moving auction to epier and auxpal there listing fee incresses dont even take effect till Jan 31 .
I know of well over 4 dozzen from ebay & yahoo I been fallowing that are moveing new listings to epier some registered less then 5 days ago and already getting there frist bids there and are pleased.
Watch the catagories on each of these auction sites each seems to have one or two catagories that gett the heavyer bids on ruxpal it beanies, stuffed animals on epier its colthing and crafts and on lycos the heay bid is in the glas and pottery catagories.
posted on January 20, 2001 09:01:23 AM new
You may find as a result of Yahoo's New Order, that you will have to post your stock on several different auction sites, depending on what's selling best at a particular one.
During this weekend, I will have had to spread myself across four auction sites to replace Yahoo.
posted on January 20, 2001 09:16:56 AM new
YAHOO's auctions are slowing down since last week, but some folks have e-mailed me directly and made offers on a couple of things. The exposure of my things on YAHOO continues to generates sales.
I have come to the conclusion that an alternative site to YAHOO will not become truly viable until it creates & offers a picture gallery equilivant to YAHOO.
Pictures sell things, and so far, I have not found picture galleries on the free sites.
I have moved some things to free sites, but nothing is happening - and I agree will probably not happen for a long time. Do I want to spend the time listing with no results just to build up another site? This site will probably do the same thing that YAHOO & other sites do (RAISE FEES) - or should I list on the 3 "Big" Auction sites - Ebay, YAHOO & Amazon and sell things now?
I have about decided that I need money NOW!
The key I find is to find what sells on each auction house - and list it there. There WILL be fees - and if you are running a home based business like me - you pay the fees and deduct them at TAX time. Businesses that make money expect to PAY FEES!
The secret is to deciding whether to stay on YAHOO, Ebay or Amazon is to list, pay fees, and deduct fees from amount that is actually paid by winners - and see if you are ahead at the end of the month. If you make enough money to stay - stay - if not - Move on. Your Rich Uncle Sam (taxes) can assume the loss.
Back to the original thought - if you have any pull with the new sites - recommend to them that they get a GALLERY of Pictures, and let us know which ones start a gallery.
posted on January 20, 2001 09:20:56 AM new
Two things I will miss most about Yahoo are the picture galleries at the tops of the listing pages and the ability to pick the TIME slot, in addition to number of days, that you want an item to close within.
posted on January 20, 2001 09:30:45 AM new
RebelGuns,
The ability to choose the auction end time is an excellent feature, however, when you clicked for one or two re-lists, Yahoo!Auctions primarily placed them in middle-of-the-night time slots.
I'm wondering if those who are posting auctions with re-lists there using real money realize the minimal "bang" for their buck on those re-lists.
Or has Yahoo!Auctions changed their policy now that they are charging listing fees?
posted on January 20, 2001 09:32:38 AM new
Yes, the time closing selector also had to be reset for each relist. Threw me for a couple of times also until I realized it.
posted on January 20, 2001 10:35:31 AM new
What I would really like to see and what I am quite willing to pay for is a members-only closed site which does a weekly analysis of the traffic and bids by category at all various auction sites. Surely the software required to undertake that type of numbers retrieval and analysis wouldn't be that difficult for someone to develop?
posted on January 20, 2001 12:25:20 PM new
stockticker - that is an excellent idea. One of those things where some enterpreneur with web savvy will go "hey, why didn't I think of that!" I would pay for such a service as well. Then you would know exactly where to place specific items for the best chance of making sales.
posted on January 21, 2001 05:58:56 AM new
I listed about 20 items on Auxpal, the first ones I listed, I was the only listings, now in that category there are over 100, there have been a few hits, but until the listings build up, and people hear of the site, I don't expect sales, at least it is FREE!
Auction sites - Ebay, YAHOO & Amazon and sell things now?