posted on February 10, 2001 06:33:33 PM new
I've been lurking these boards for a few weeks and watched the Yahoo demise closely. I felt that fees were a good thing for the auction site, but like Yahoo managers I had a very distorted view of the situation. I just closed my second to last auction on Yahoo. I only lost $.50 (after fees) I have always had No Reserve auctions and they have always done ok on Yahoo until now. I check the bidders on similiar items and they are the same 4 or 5. Many of the bidders I used to see are gone.
The only thing I feel is loss. I really wanted it to work. It makes no sense to stay even though I hate to leave. So long Yahoo it's been fun. ( Although I'm still not convinced there are actual human beings in the customer service department)
posted on February 10, 2001 08:47:25 PM new
I share your sense of loss. While I may be a few weeks ahead of you in the grieving process (so to speak), I guess the main reason I am still haunting this AW Message Center is because I still haven't gotten beyond my shock over the way Yahoo decimated the only auction site that came close to being a true rival for eBay. While the last of my Yahoo auctions closed a couple days ago, I am not quite to point of accepting final closure. Yet I know there is negligible hope that Yahoo can do anything to resuscitate (sp?) itself.
posted on February 11, 2001 01:44:13 AM new
amelias898,
Can you please explain to me how you could *possibly* have been a Yahoo SELLER and have thought that listing fees were a "good thing for the auction site"??????????
How can you actively SELL on Yahoo and, at the same time, "...like Yahoo managers I had a very distorted view of the situation."?????????
I just don't understand.
Didn't your experience with Yahoo's low level of bidding activity, its sparsity of bidders, its high percentage of deadbeat buyers, the long length of time it took to SELL anything but a "hot" item....all TELL YOU that sellers couldn't afford to pay the listing fees as Yahoo structured them???
I've seen a few sellers claim to have had 95-98% sell-through rates on Yahoo, but I find that very, very hard to believe (unless they were giving stuff away). Even my "hottest" items sometimes sat bidless for weeks, and I'm no amateur at online auctions.
Were YOU one of the "top-rated sellers" who supposedly told Yahoo to implement fees???
posted on February 11, 2001 06:43:43 AM new
First of all, no I am not a top rated seller and no I, didn't advise Yahoo to implement fees. I was blind to the fact that Yahoo was NOT a smaller Ebay. Fees made sense in that it would limit the auctions to serious sellers and bidders only. It's an arrogant attitude and I feel badly about it. To me Yahoo had become a classified ad for anyone with something to sell instead of an auction.I misjudged it. I mean really, who cares what anyone else was selling as long as it brings in bidders. BTW one of my complaints with the new Yahoo is that none of my auctions were ever featured as a hot auction because I am not one of there top sellers. Eliteism and arrogance fall from their own dead weight.
posted on February 11, 2001 07:34:03 AM new
Hi, Amelias898.
I noticed that these are your first posts here. They are very eloquent and insightful.
I hope to see more of your posts in the future.
Speaking of future, have you decided where else you are going to list?
posted on February 11, 2001 07:47:30 AM new
Still listing Ebay, believe it or not had good luck on Amazon ( even though they seem h___bent on destruction). Even have had fairly good luck on MSN. Hoping Bidville continues to develope. Would like to run a true auction on Bidville but the amount of hits I receive are too low. Found AuctionWatch 1 month ago and have learned more from reading the boards ect than the the last year of making mistakes.
posted on February 11, 2001 07:57:05 AM new
Yes! This is the GREATEST place to learn the in's and out's of OA's, if you can get past the barbs.
See ya 'round the boards.
Good Luck!
posted on February 12, 2001 12:05:42 AM new
Yes, Good Luck....but if you're still making touchdowns on Amazon in spite of their fumbling the stupid ball every play, you already have a good share of Luck.
Those "Top-Rated Yahoo Sellers Who Requested High Listing Fees" sure are an elusive bunch, aren't they? Try as I might to FIND them, I've yet to uncover A SINGLE ONE this past month. Do you think they're hiding in Yahoo Headquarters to keep from being stoned by an angry, "low-quality" mob?
posted on February 13, 2001 09:09:30 AM new
I keep looking for those sellers also as all I am seeing on Yahoo are a lot of sellers with little to no feedback. Unless they wanted us out of there so they could take over?
posted on February 13, 2001 11:17:01 AM new
I was sure after the drop in listings last Thursday, yahoo was dead. I'm not so sure now. They are getting a lot of new sellers.
There seems to be more new and low feedback sellers now than established sellers. I also noticed that the majority of these newbies want unrealistic prices for their items (Twice as much as I can get for the same items listed on Ebay).
[ edited by outoftheblue on Feb 13, 2001 05:11 PM ]
posted on February 13, 2001 01:14:51 PM new
I see a large volume of auctions from new sellers in categories I monitor also. I suspect these are folks who blindly bought into the Yahoo line about 'quality merchanside' improving the sell-through rate.
I sincerely hope the new seller who paid for 1,195 auctions manages to get a few more bids than the 4 they currently have! ::shakes head::
