posted on January 27, 2001 08:40:38 AM new
I have enjoyed better sales on YAHOO with higher % of folks who pay for the past couple of weeks than ever!
Even my newly listed items are selling 1st time around - without waiting forever.
I am still buying thru YAHOO and appreciate the sellers who continue to list my collectible items.
I find that there are new listings in my favorite catagories almost every day - or maybe I am able to find interesting new items because there are fewer listings.
I know there are lots of folks very unhappy with YAHOO and I have carefully read each posting. What I am looking for here are Positive postings.
Is anyone else still happily YAHOOing along like me and plan to stay with YAHOO?
posted on January 27, 2001 08:54:59 AM new
In the name of energy conservation, when you are the last one to leave Yahoo, please remember to cut out the lights and shut the computers down.
posted on January 27, 2001 09:04:17 AM new
When standing on the aft deck of the Titanic it's a bit difficult staying positive. I've only been selling on Yahoo! for 5 or 6 months and my sales have been about 25% to 30% of what they have been on eBay. Lately, sales have dropped to almost nothing. There is a lot of discussion about sellers leaving Yahoo! for greener pastures but the blame seems to be because of the new fees...not lack of bids. If sellers leave, obviously buyers will leave also, but I can't believe that if sellers leave buyers will also leave within a few days or a couple of weeks. There is usually a time lag between action/reaction and as far as I can see the bidders started disappearing over a month ago.
Yahoo! decision to charge fees may well drive out the "junk" being offered but if there are no bidders around in the first place, what diference does it make?
posted on January 27, 2001 09:11:05 AM new
I know this is very 80's, but GAG, ME WITH A SPOON! PLEASE DO REMEMBER TO TURN OFF THE LIGHTS. No, I will not Yahoo, ever again! By the way, what do you sell? I find it unbelievable that you are doing better than ever? Are you a Yahoo employee? HA!
posted on January 27, 2001 09:13:25 AM new
Interesting timeline:
Yahoo!Auctions implements listing fees: January 10.
royrogers signs up at AuctionWatch: January 11.
That being said, I think its great you're finding success at Yahoo!Auctions. You are obviously one of the few that are. You might want to consider leveraging that success by securing credit card cash advances (interest not tax deductible) or a home equity loan (interest is tax deductible), among other sources, to maximize your listings, sell your items quickly and repay the loans early.
posted on January 27, 2001 09:16:46 AM new
Clearly, some of the "junk" listers have upped their prices to cover the additional fees.
Additionally, I noticed in my sections that reputable first-rate dealars have apparently "left the building."
Bear in mind it's not always about profit. Some dealers just won't up their prices just to compensate for fees now being charged, and will establish themselves on other free sites to keep their prices down.
I'll continue to cruise Yahoo to snipe at items I want at clearence prices, and even then feel guilty about supporting an enterprises which made the immoral decision to ban some items which it doesn't seem to feel it needs to ban from their other European auction sites, while, at the same time, telling the French courts that they felt doing this would violate the Constitutional rights of their sellers in America.
(By the way, I found Third Reich items still being offered on the French auction site, but not the American site!!! Not to mention that they haven't been removed from the British or German sites. I don't think Yahoo wants to take THEM on! hahahaha. Clearly this was a Get-America effort by the French, and Yahoo caved into it, possibly violating American civil rights by its own admission.) - End of lecture. The exam will be Monday morning. Bring a #2 pencil...
Supporting Yahoo now is borderline anti-American.
Like I said elsewhere, you can buy a gun on Yahoo that you could use to kill someone with, but you can buy a swastika because you might offend someone with it.
posted on January 27, 2001 10:08:42 AM new
I wonder if this choice of handles might indicate Yahoo plans to keep the Auctions division around sort of like ol' Roy kept Trigger? That is, stone cold dead but propped up cheerily stuffed in the living room?
posted on January 27, 2001 12:08:45 PM new
Pyth00n: As long as my stuffed trigger does not want to split the profits, I'll keep him around...
Deichen: I'm not an employee of YAHOO, just a seller who enjoys Seller's discussions...
Dimview: I've been around probably as long as you, but changed my name to protect the innocent - Besides I like the name RoyRogers. Tomorrow I may be someone else. Isn't that the great thing about this seller's discussion - you can be anyone you want to be, for as long as you want to be...
RebelGuns: I'll take money as long as it is thrust at me - from wherever...I'll bet you are doing the same
toomanycomics: Too many comics...Hummm... Maybe something else will sell? Give it a try...
jrogers: As long as YAHOO has the best picture gallery around, bidders will be at YAHOO! Not as many as Ebay, but Ebay is like the tides - in and out - bids and no bids. When you look at $.30 for minimum listing + $.10 for 10 day run + $.25 for gallery +++++ for more options on an ad, that is terribly expensive. For $.20 you get 10 days + gallery + BUY IT. Works for me! The Whiner's days are numbered - let them enjoy it while they can...Eventually the SELLERS will Booooo them away...
RebelGuns: I would give you my seller's ID for you to be sure to snipe my items, but I don't think that would be the right thing to do right now. Keep looking - I'm sure I have something you want - SNIPE AWAY!!! That is what I am doing
Genxmike: Hang in there!! It'll get better!
OutoftheBlue: Buyers will be back...Try somewhere else - wait a bit - then relist on YAHOO...
Internetedge: The real sellers are merrily selling along and ignoring us...Isn't that terrible???
posted on January 27, 2001 01:20:31 PM new
royrogers says "As long as YAHOO has the best picture gallery around, bidders will be at YAHOO!"
If they are at Yahoo, when is it that they intend to emerge from hiding and actually place bids? I agree that Yahoo has the best interface for auctions, however to argue that very many people are using that interface to place bids is obviously untrue.
" Not as many as Ebay, but Ebay is like the tides - in and out - bids and no bids."
Well I can't argue that point, Yahoo is consistent - no bids and no bids.
Incidently RR, your point of view is welcome (at least by me). It takes two sides to have a meaningful discussion. It gets awfully boring when everyone agrees with everyone else.
posted on January 27, 2001 01:55:26 PM new
royrogers >
Isn't that the great thing about this seller's discussion - you can be anyone you want to be, for as long as you want to be...
You can even pretend to be a successful seller on Yahoo!Auctions. Right?
posted on January 27, 2001 02:59:43 PM new
dimview, you said, "Interesting timeline: Yahoo!Auctions implements listing fees: January 10. royrogers signs up at AuctionWatch: January 11."
Yeah, I noticed that, too. Which department do you think he works in at YaWho???
royrogers, you said, "I've been around probably as long as you, but changed my name to protect the innocent - Besides I like the name RoyRogers. Tomorrow I may be someone else. Isn't that the great thing about this seller's discussion - you can be anyone you want to be, for as long as you want to be..."
Are you aware that Auction Watch's rules state that you are only allowed to have ONE ID here??? If you plan to be someone else tomorrow (to protect yourself from being known as either a YaWho employee or a bald-faced liar), I suggest you instruct AW to DELETE this "royrogers" ID and all your OTHER IDs so you won't be violating their rules.
"The Whiner's days are numbered - let them enjoy it while they can...Eventually the SELLERS will Booooo them away..."
WHAT sellers??? When the free listings are gone, YOU will be the only seller left! ENJOY!!!!!!!!!
"The real sellers are merrily selling along and ignoring us...Isn't that terrible???"
posted on January 27, 2001 03:27:46 PM new
A big part of the difficulty in holding a meaningful discussion on the subject is that there are really two different auction sites being discussed. The "old" yahoo, which was a come one, come all, sell, buy, pay or not as you choose atmosphere, and the "new" yahoo which is more of a "if you use my site I want to know who you are and you will pay for the privilege" site.
I don't personally believe that any auction site is under any moral, ethical, or legal obligation to provide me with a place to list my auctions without themselves being able to make a profit. The big problem with the way yahoo (and ebay and amazon) go about collecting from the users of the site, is that it automatically excludes a very large proportion of the sellers who mainly provide the items that have been traditionally sold well on internet auction sites - namely the low value collectibles and other low-dollar price items.
There are valid ways to solve the dilemma of providing a place for the low-value items to be sold, while at the same time making a profit for the people who underwrite the equipment and personnel necessary to provide the service. The big problem is that not very many of them are practical from the perspective of the site host. To be able to make a reasonable profit from a final value fee, there needs to be an existant buyer base who will make enough purchases to keep the cash flowing in. To be able to profit on a 'membership fee' type arrangement, where the sellers pay a set fee for listing their items, you have to have both a buyer base and a large seller base from which to collect the fees. And, obviously, to use a listing fee based structure, it is necessary to have a buyer base who will purchase enough items at a high enough price to make it profitable for the seller to list their items and be able to afford the listing fee.
A new auction site cannot become profitable by offering free listings forever, without having some other means of generating income. It has been shown over and over that the fees for special features will not generate enough income to sustain a site. The advertising based structure that has been used up to this point, seems to be headed into oblivion due to the inability of the advertising to generate sufficient revenue for the sponsors. What other options do the new auction sites have for generating revenue? The short answer would seem to me to be the auction site themselves using the traffic generated by the auctions to sell their own products. When a site appears that is able to generate sufficient revenue from it's own offerings to be able to provide the listing space needed by the low-dollar value sellers, I think that they will quickly become dominant in the area, provided that they can also offer the ease of use and customer service that is desired by the majority of sellers whose opinions I have seen.
Sorry this is so long-winded - I don't know how to say it short.
posted on January 27, 2001 03:29:32 PM new
granee: Only one ID at a time for me thanks! I am RoyRogers yesterday, today & tomorrow! There is no problem in changing IDs - just in using more than one.
Your question: Show you just one seller merrily ignoring us on the seller's board???
Go to almost any catagory & sort on Winning Bids - Enjoy!
Let me see what happened for me today: 2 take-its so far + 3 more bids that close tonight for approx $65 total. That will not make me rich, but not bad for a day that is not over...and...
posted on January 27, 2001 05:18:15 PM new
Yup! I Yahoo! (for about 3 more days....Then its back to the free sites that have worked. Only about 90 listings on three sites and 4 items in 2 weeks. No this is not a full time job. More like a hobby. BUT .... yep, I yahoo (until 31 Jan 2001)
posted on January 28, 2001 01:03:24 AM new
RoyRogers
Go to almost any catagory & sort on Winning Bids - Enjoy!
Been there done that. Not Impressed!!
2 take-its so far + 3 more bids that close tonight for approx $65 total.
Let's see, I sold 100% tonight on Ebay. One item started at $24.99 and finished at $157.
[b]Redo Titles - make them catchy or lead folks to want to look...Add HTML to Ads if you don't have it...Add a logo made especially for your ads so folks will recognize you...Include your e-mail address - look more like a business than a hobby...Move items to different catagories...
Repackage your items - combine for better "deals" - Folks love to buy in bulk[/b]
I'm not a hobby seller. I've been doing all of these things for a year now on Yahoo, and I would venture a guess that most of the people here do the same. It doesn't help much. People with a picture, a 2 line description and no listed terms of sale do just as well, sometimes better.
BTW, our last 6-8 sales on Yeeeehaw, I mean YaWho, were from people who missed our auctions on Ebay and placed bids when we relisted them on Yahoo. That's about the extent on our business since the fees began...
Yahoo promised it would get better....
You've no doubt heard the saying "A fool and his money will soon be parted?" Very soon, only fools will be listing on YaWho...
posted on January 28, 2001 10:26:31 AM new
Hey, Roy!
Still impressed with YouWho? They are having major problems today, noone can get in to look at their own auctions! Must be the tech team got trampled with more Yahoo sellers running out on them!
posted on January 28, 2001 10:40:58 AM new
deichen:
I'm not a happy camper about this lockout either...
Until I remembered the times last week that I could not get into or around on Ebay (I have lots of auctions there), BidBay with a couple of my auctions was not receiving At ALL right after I listed with them, and I've gotten NO BIDS on my 20+ items on AuxPal (Bidville) for the last 2+ weeks.
At least I make money on YAHOO. I guess some rain must fall so future bids may grow...
posted on January 28, 2001 11:21:31 AM new
I will also be leaving when my feedback credits are used up. But I've got enough credits to probably last 4 to 6 months if I'm careful not to use any of their bells and whistles.
posted on January 28, 2001 03:34:21 PM new
No customer service no bidders now only a few sellers and they charge fees now it is sink or swimm DUH I think I will swim. See you yahoo better sell to ebay while you have some value.
posted on January 28, 2001 05:43:50 PM new
I too am doing very well this month, but only because I've cut the prices of my stamps by about 20 percent and posted the words `CLOSEOUT SALE' on all my headers. Plus. I sense that some buyers are seeing the writing on the wall and buying before the curtain comes down on Feb. 9. Make no, mistake, Yahoo auctions is in a self-imposed death spiral, and I won't be back when my listings expire.
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