posted on February 7, 2001 05:05:00 PM new
I think charging a listing fee can only be good for Yahoo. As a buyer, I pretty much gave up on Yahoo because the listings seemed so stale and most everything was overpriced.
Every time I would go there and do a search for items in my field of interest, I would get the same results, week after week. People would just constantly relist their overpriced junk. I didn't have the time to wade through it all.
Yahoo was boring. Part of the excitement of eBay is the knowledge that you are going to see a whole lot of new stuff every week. That was not the case with Yahoo.
A listing fee will get the junk off of Yahoo and cause sellers to reasonably price their items. Buyers will respond to that.
Of course, it may be too late. Buyers have built up a negative impression of Yahoo, and I don't know what Yahoo can do to entice people to try the service again. If Yahoo is indeed dead, it was killed by free listings.
posted on February 7, 2001 05:14:46 PM new
decpage >
If Yahoo is indeed dead, it was killed by free listings.
Yahoo!Auctions is indeed dead, it was killed by a management team that concluded that sellers would support the implementation of listing fees based on the traffic to their auction site.
They even wrote a suicide note:
We've introduced listing fees to improve the quality of our site.
posted on February 7, 2001 06:19:24 PM new
Where do these people COME FROM who appear out of nowhere and insult us, degrade us, make false, inflamatory broad generalizations about areas in which they know NOTHING, then disappear again into the woodwork???
Funny that decpage didn't identify his/her "field of interest" that was filled with nothing on Yahoo but "stale, overpriced junk".
"A listing fee will get the junk off of Yahoo and cause sellers to reasonably price their items. Buyers will respond to that."
Really? Funny that *thousands* of my Yahoo buyers never once complained about my "unreasonable" prices!
"Buyers have built up a negative impression of Yahoo."
Not the buyers who stuck around long enough to actually BUY something, which leaves you out, decpage.
"If Yahoo is indeed dead, it was killed by free listings.
Spoken by one who REALLY KNOWS, right?....One who spent the last couple years buying or selling (or both) on Yahoo?
posted on February 7, 2001 06:51:38 PM new
Wow! A little "tough love" there, eh granee? From your well reasoned response I now see that Yahoo and each and every seller and listing there-in are the best thing since sliced bread. Any opinion to the contrary should be squashed immediately. I actually think that decpage made a good point, but I'm afraid to publicly point out which point that was for fear of public flogging.
I quit bidding on Yahoo last year after the mandatory credit card registration, even though I preferred it to eBay. I regularly use the search feature on Auction Watch and have only rarely found items I would have considered bidding on at Yahoo (had I re-registered).
Will the new fee system entice me to register my cc and bid on items? Only time will tell, but, probably not. In fact, I'm hoping eBay institutes a similar registration/verification process, I'll put the money I save (from not bidding there either) in my vacation fund.
posted on February 7, 2001 06:59:21 PM new"Will the new fee system entice me to register my cc and bid on items? Only time will tell, but, probably not."
I fail to see a logical connection in this comment? You may register your CC with fees implementation? Like Ricky used to say 'esplain' that please. What does one, have to do with the other?
edit to add sentence~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[ edited by CharlieOne on Feb 7, 2001 07:01 PM ]
posted on February 7, 2001 07:29:13 PM new
Why is it that some people will give their credit card to every minimum wage cashier in their town, where their info will be in that person's drawer all day long, but not send it one time over a secure line, to the computer of a big company like Yahoo or Paypal or eBay?
posted on February 7, 2001 07:52:57 PM new
I may not be a proffesional seller, and I can see why fees are cutting back on a once more profitable business, BUT I also got disgusted when I go to Yahoo to find something. That's right: FIND SOMETHING on auction. What I do FIND, is a lot of ressllers using Yahoo auctions as their own personal storefront because it cost them nothing. For example someone selling a Sony DVD player for $279 (Opening bid-not BUY IT NOW) when the same player is $280 at Best Buy. Now, I know that the fees may hurt the legitimate sellers and this particular person isn't everyone on Yahoo, but I go to auction sites to bid on things (reserve or no) not buy something I could walk down the street and get. Maybe Yahoo should have a seperate auction listing for these storefronts?
posted on February 7, 2001 08:50:06 PM new
And maybe you should learn to use the search engine and quit whining while you look through a couple dozen of what you're after without so much as moving your mouse 6 inches.
The real truth is buyers like these are used to getting a real steal from amatuer sellers on ePay and are disturbed when a Yahoo seller starts the auction at a minimum bid = to a fair price.
posted on February 7, 2001 09:51:30 PM new
I think bidders that are afraid to register the cc and other information are usually suspect as to being those that are dead beats... The only two negs I ever got were from such characters saying i did not reply or emai, after over 200 sales of excellence?, do the math. As for buying at high prices or storefronts, that is just simply not a big deal. Weed through it... you will find some terrific stuff. I go to ebay and search for rubber stamps on star trek and I get four or five and about ten others that are BUY MY CD SECRETS... what is that? I get so tired of it and it shows up everywhere. Yahoo was good to the little guy and if it was not fun to surf, then why did you bother? bored or just like to run us little guys down... Yahoo ran us off, we don't need further beatings...
posted on February 7, 2001 09:54:24 PM new
decpage
Speaking as a buyer. The listing fees didn't clear out the junk (There's still a lot of it there) but it did clear out everything that I look for. When I do a search I can't find any listings for what I am looking for. Run the same searches on Ebay and I find hundreds of listings. I'm only interested in quality items, so there goes that theory....
zzyzx000
The real truth is buyers like these are used to getting a real steal from amatuer sellers on ePay and are disturbed when a Yahoo seller starts the auction at a minimum bid = to a fair price.
hmmmm, so Ebay sellers are amateurs? I just love the sellers on Yahoo with bad pictures, no descriptions, no listed TOS, and who attempt to sell items for twice the going market value. They sound like amateurs to me...
posted on February 7, 2001 10:00:19 PM new
decpage has a very valid point of view. When I listed on yahoo I would re-list until the item sold. Often that took months. During that time I'm not suprised that returning customers saw the same stuff all the time.
Funny thing is tho, after months of being listed, things sold! What am I to think, as a seller, when an item that has been listed for 3 months is suddenly sold for the buy-it price which is even more than the opening price? What I thought was that my item had finally found it's buyer, a buyer who did not visit every week, but who just came by by chance.
Should I have been concerned with providing new and different items to yahoo regulars? Or should I have been concerned with keeping my items in view of the people who only occasionally visit yahoo, if that?
My experiences showed that Yahoo had more 'occasional visitors' than 'regular browsers' , and I tailored my listing strategy accordingly. Given the low overall traffic it was the only way to make using the site worthwhile.
Most Yahoo pioneers preached the same gospel. "Things will sell if you give them enough time - it's time that they need." Those were the people who had figured out how to make the site work for them, and their voice was just beginning to be heard by others.
-- except the people who work at Yahoo. They heard other voices. too bad.
posted on February 7, 2001 10:01:08 PM new
Well if you are seaching yahoo now, you must really be new at all this or not listening... THEY ARE GONE.... there of course would not be much there... just bones and left overs... What ever catagory you are seeking, I would be surprised if there was even a file to hold it open at this point.
posted on February 7, 2001 10:05:50 PM new
What happens 100 times for every item that sells for too much on ePay is an item that sells for too little. Amatuers are enticed to list for $.30 at under $10 and assume the "market forces" will bring their item to the correct price. But it just doesn't happen very often. I got better prices on Yahoo with 1st bid wins by starting with a fair price and waiting, than I did on ePay.
Perhaps Yahoo thinks they can make it by having a great buyer's market where the sellers are all the same people who used to have a garage sale once per year. If there was millions of items listed to sell for peanuts there would be lots of happy buyers, lots of hits, and lots of listing fees.
But life is seldom so simple and it just ain't happenin'
posted on February 8, 2001 03:27:14 PM new
I have to concur with decpage!
Initially when Yahoo first started auctions, I tried to bring collectors to Yahoo from
E-Bay!
I have had a link to YAHOO in my About Me page, since E-bay first started using the About Me page!
I had the same complaints from regular customers I brought from E-Bay that the start prices were too high and the constant relisting of items was too slow to browse through the same stuff over and over!
Half the fun to many collectors is too browse, find an item and bid!
Not to just use a search engine to find what you are looking for!
AGAIN, we are all specific to different categories and I am refering to the collectible market place in general!
Search engines do not catch all items unless the terminology is used exactly the same as that which the prospective buyer is using!
Now electronics, clothing and many other items can be a whole different ball game!
The ALLURE of an AUCTION is what attracts folks for hopefully a good DEAL to these sites!
I am sure on line classifieds do not get the attention an auction site does?
To browse and bid competitively is an auction and to browse and buy at a fixed price is a classified!
Live auctioneers will do a reverse bid or first bid wins if they can not get any opening bids on items! The items at these auctions sell the day of the auction regardless of price unless a reserve has been posted at the expense of the seller!
Myself as a seller I still enjoy it when an item listed for $6 and has instant buy of $15 sells for either the Instant buy price or above my start bid!
If it is a "got to have?" Many collectors do not care what the price is!
Now if you have 1000 sellers selling 1000 items (seems as though there was a lot of complaining about not being able to list more not too long ago?)then you have 1,000,000 items for sale!
Now relist those every two days for months on end until that right person finds them at your price under the guise of an auction format!
You continually have millions of listings even though a large percentage is the same stuff over and over!
One can make numbers say what ever you want!
I will continue listing as long as it pays for itself and shows a profit or my credits run out as many others have said!
On a closing note! NINE out of my past NINE bidders in the past two weeks have feedbacks of less then 10 and several are new and NO DEAD BEATS! Even a few went for the Instant buy price!
Good Luck to all and hope we can keep keep the auction veneues running someplace with some competition to E-BAY!
posted on February 8, 2001 04:05:55 PM new
ZZYZX000
"Why is it that some people will give their credit card to every minimum wage cashier in their town, where their info will be in that person's drawer all day long, but not send it one time over a secure line, to the computer of a big company like Yahoo or Paypal or eBay?"
Why is it? Because I choose not to. I don't generally carry cash, so, around town, I charge what I need (or want). The difference is, I'm using the cc to make the actual purchase, not to prove who I am. I never show a credit card to prove my identity when I write a check (at least not for the last 10 years or so). But you are right about the greater risk at home. I just read a frightening article in Kiplinger's about identity theft. It's a sad state of affairs.
CHARLIEONE
""Will the new fee system entice me to register my cc and bid on items? Only time will tell, but, probably not."
I fail to see a logical connection in this comment? You may register your CC with fees implementation? Like Ricky used to say 'esplain' that please. What does one, have to do with the other?""
You are correct, one has absolutely nothing to do with the other. Yahoo is neither better nor worse with the new fees. I've just learned never to say never. Some day I may see something I absolutely cannot live without. Therefore I may someday register. The original post indicated that buyers may respond to less "junk" on Yahoo, and that the new fee system may facilitate this. My comment was just my simple way of shrugging my shoulders. I can't see it happening.
[ edited by aramatk on Feb 8, 2001 04:18 PM ]
posted on February 8, 2001 05:47:12 PM new
I prefer bidders to be registered via cc, Sellers are obligated to give personal info, buyers should to, usually the ones who were no registered were the ones who were either deadbeats, slow pay, pay when they get around to it or try to haggle for a lower price after they have outbid others.
I have even had people so much as out bid others to where the ending price was an odd price, such as $10.77 they send a check for $10.00 because it's too hard for them to balance their check book, money gets returned in these cases and item gets offered to the next person, you would think these people would at least have the decency to round it off in the sellers favor, I would have sent the change.
Buyers like this.... please DO go to ebay and play your games, I am sure those sellers too will set you straight.
I have never treated a seller poorly, have always made every effort to be prompt and pay to the sellers preferred payment type. I can't imagine doing otherwise. I guess some people have no shame.
I would hate to see how these deadbeats act in a restaurant.
posted on February 9, 2001 07:28:43 AM new
decpage --- While I mostly sell, like most I also buy from time to time.
The last item I bought on Yahoo, back in early December, was a somewhat rare TIN box for a colt model 1903 pistol. I gladly paid 49.00 for this box.
Had it been offered on Ebay, I am sure it would have sold for perhaps twice that price. The fact that I found this unique and interesting item on YAHOO made it well worth wading through all the "stale" and "overpriced junk" that seems to be found on all auction sites.
The "Auction Alert for "Search terms: colt" where I discovered that prized tin box, now only comes to my mailbox every few days. When it does come, I find a few floor mats for the Dodge "Colt" and the occasional porn tape featuring someone named "Colt".
decpage - how do you jive my observations with listing fees? Items in my field of interest have totally gone, alas, this serious collector seems to be left only with floor mats and porn...
Law of unintended consequences?
tyops have been pre-inserted, so no need to go back and edit them in
