posted on April 19, 2001 03:26:07 PM new
As others have mentioned, I believe many of the Sellers still at Yahoo are using the credits (“funny money”).
As I remember, those were given by entering your non-Yahoo! feedback on a form and would receive equal number in the credits and by asking questions in their chats regarding the listing fee. May have been other ways.
I haven’t noticed a thread on Sellers still at Yahoo to indicate whether they are paying for their listings with these credits or their own money! So thought I would start one.
posted on April 19, 2001 03:52:38 PM new
I recently did a bunch of listings using my credits. For 1-2 weeks I got several buys and thought things had turned around. Then nothing sold at all, and now I am once again off Yahoo.
I'll try again when I have enough time to more or less waste on listing there, assuming Yahoo is still around much longer.
posted on April 19, 2001 04:14:11 PM new
keziak >
assuming Yahoo is still around much longer.
Did you get your e-mailed Yahoo!Auctions Newsletter today?
Norman Hullinger, Yahoo! Auctions' new General Manager, was quoted:
I look forward to working with the talented staff here at Yahoo! Auctions to even further improve our product and provide you with the best auction venue on the Internet.
Well, Yahoo!Auctions has now further improved - many observers would call it "collapsed" - to about 190,000 listings.
posted on April 19, 2001 06:01:52 PM new
Kasmoon,
Yes, me too! And I doubt very seriously I will ever use them up. The last couple times I listed something, nothing sold and it seemed like a waste, even with funny money.
Dimview,
Is there really only 190,000 listings now? Good Grief, how absurd!
posted on April 19, 2001 10:04:59 PM new
I still have $500 credits, but my number of Yahoo sales lately doesn't justify the time and work of listing, so I don't have anything running right now. I tried listing some "better" things, but it appears the buyers don't want to spend more than $25.00, regardless what something's worth.
My eBay results last week were less than wonderful, so I'm taking a hiatus until the "income tax blues" subsides and bidding picks back up.
Having some ***very slow payers*** on both auctions right now---all registered with credit cards (since Yahoo requires it) and they were "Buy It Now" wins on eBay (requiring credit card to bid).
I, too, would gladly quit if all my inventory were sold, but that's a very big "IF". I haven't bought for resale since Yahoo announced fees, and don't intend to buy anything else short of an "almost free" that I'm POSITIVE will sell.
posted on April 20, 2001 11:58:24 AM new
grantee, $500 in credits. I’ve got $30!! Anyway I was wondering if those credits could be used for something other than back as listing fees. Say in Yahoo! Shopping area. Has anyone tried it to see?
figmente, you’re right, I don’t guess they accept cash. I actually meant payment out of your pocket. I assume they would charge a credit card on file. AND I only plan to assume, I don’t see paying listing fees at Yahoo!
posted on April 20, 2001 12:02:25 PM new
Credits all the way! I have about $500 left, and I very much doubt that I would EVER sepnd money to list on yahoo. It seems even deader than a few weeks ago.
posted on April 20, 2001 02:23:01 PM new
I was totally bored. I thought all my auctions had gone off, and a couple were already in the bag to go to the library donation bin. Then one suddenly sold. I put two lots on there today that didn't sell on ebay, one sold immediately. We are not talking major money here, but several bucks with no FVF = more than giving them away.
It's just so unpredictable. It's hard to develop much strategy beyond throwing something up and not caring if it sells. I would not invest my own money in that strategy.
posted on April 20, 2001 02:34:17 PM new
YES, I use the funny money as well. i have put my 99% auctions on nine other sites. and yahoo only five auctions at a time until they run out. i am getting very little bid activity, if none at all. i been to a funeral home in my city last week that had more action going on than yahoo auctions, and it was closed when i got their to visit a friend who works the books. hey, that's an idea ?! sell coffins on line, what an idea,?! i can have a layaway plan, i no people would just die to come to my site !!!
posted on April 21, 2001 10:57:56 AM new
I have credit but only list about 2% of what I used to.
Like granee, I have not bought for resale since January and so I am basically going out of business at my leisure.
The big switch here is that I do not think that there will be sellers to replace us. Everyone climbed on hearing about the fantastic margins gleaned on early ebay - but that buzz has dried up and with it the stream of new sellers.
posted on April 21, 2001 02:14:45 PM new
VeryModern,
I'm seeing a few new sellers (on both auctions), but they're almost all retail antiques and jewelry stores who are FINALLY getting online to try to supplement their devastated b & m sales. They're in for a
very rude awakening when they see the low level of prices people are willing to pay online, when they're interested at all.
Overall, the internet has become a boon for buyers who want basement-level bargains and hard-to-find items, but it has massacred the retailers. When eBay caught on with collectors, b & m sales dropped to NOTHING, and now the glut of online sellers and merchandise (much being offered for 10% of value) has dropped the PRICES of all but the very rarest and most desirable items to less than wholesale. You have to buy your merchandise for almost NOTHING to come out ahead.
With the arabs raising oil prices to such high levels and natural gas in short supply, everyone is struggling to pay exhorbitant heating, gasoline, and now summertime electric cooling bills. All this in an economy with daily announcements of poor corporate profits and more employee layoffs.
To top it all off, now eBay is putting more (non-ISBN & UPC related) categories on half.com, so it can become glutted with give-away-priced trading cards, sporting goods, computers and electronics just like it is with books, CDs and movies---to be sold with steep commissions, of course. Soon every eBay search result will have links to buy elsewhere.
So what is YaWho doing to try to revive its terminal Auction in the face of all this???
NOTHING.
No changes in fees, no improvements in categories, no seller (or buyer) incentives, no advertising to attract buyers, just NOTHING AT ALL but the same old upbeat public rhetoric flowing from the mouths of their NEW leaders, just like it did from the mouths of their OLD leaders.
posted on April 25, 2001 12:53:57 AM new
I think you all underestimate Yahoo too much. They're geniuses there. Sure Koogle is a bonehead, but he's gone. Don't you see the master plan? The free credits given to sellers. Who's going to be sticking around Yahoo? Us sellers burning through hundreds of dollars of credits. What's going to happen when our credits run out? They'll give us some more. Yahoo is too high class to accept any run of the mill seller. They want full time sellers who depend on the income.
Just look at who they drove out, and then look at who has remained. Yahoo will be bigger and better than ebay someday. Count on it.
posted on April 26, 2001 12:01:18 AM new
Don't bump your head while you are rolling on the floor laughing.
Of course you think that the past is the future. There is a fraction of time where the past ends and the future begins. If it does not, well we could invest in a company and the stock would continously go up simply because it went up in the past. Unfortunately in the real world that doesn't quite work that way.
Have you gotten off the floor yet? You might wear a hole in your knees.
Yahoo is an innovative company with a keen eye for quality. I use Yahoo quite a bit every day and no one comes close to what Yahoo does.
Ebay has smart management, but they are more followers. That's fine, all they have to do is maintain the status quo. However, Yahoo has cleaned out the house, whereas ebay has yet figured a way to do so without alienating everyone. Yahoo has kept it's best sellers around, those sellers now have less competition.
You're in an established class using free credits, you're not going to leave.
When the big corporations decide it's the right time, Yahoo will get their business because it's a bigger base of members, and a more reliable site.
posted on April 26, 2001 11:00:44 PM new
Yahoo had a promotion going on last year to trade your ebay feedback rating for credits. It's too late now, but watch for it again, Yahoo is not going to sit back and let the house crumble.
posted on April 26, 2001 11:42:58 PM new
quickdraw29,
Either you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, or you work for YaWho Auction. Click on the "testimonials" posted on YaWho Auction's homepage if you want to see how the Auction as a whole is faring these days. When the seller STILL has auctions running, you'll find the merchandise no better than it was 4 months ago, and sell-through is running 25% at best (usually much less).
You said, "What's going to happen when our credits run out? They'll give us some more....Yahoo is not going to sit back and let the house crumble."
Why do you think THAT??? There's NO SIGN of future credits yet, and many, many "quality" sellers have already run out of their credits, quit listing on YaWho, and returned to eBay (or gone elsewhere).
If you don't sell in one of a handful of categories still active on YaWho Auction, you'll only get bid levels at a small fraction of your item's value--if that. Not to mention the deadbeats still bidding. Yahoo's "house" has ALREADY crumbled, while they sat back and did NOTHING to stop it.
posted on April 27, 2001 08:40:39 AM new
I have over $800 in credits and am using them. Selling about 1 or 2 items a week. Would never sell on Yahoo if I had to pay. I'm using it more as a holding place for things that didn't sell the first time on ebay and when I want to relist them.
posted on April 27, 2001 09:33:07 AM new
I listed 16 items yesterday with a buy price and sold 8 so far. didn't use cash, used cc. I bought the items in bulk from a yardsale and I've already made profit even with the listing fees (so long as buyers pay lol). I'm going to start listing more items on yahoo.
posted on April 27, 2001 10:13:24 PM new
granee work on your reading retention, you skipped over everything I said just to rush in your two bits which lacked any thought whatsoever. I won't even respond to your comments as I don't see repeating myself will drive the point any further into a hardened skull.
Better keep your eye on the raod ahead and stop looking through the rearview mirror!
posted on April 28, 2001 06:30:03 AM new
I listed another round of auctions on Yahoo last week. They all ended lastnight with no bids. I have alot of credit left but really am not sure if it is worth my time. Maybe in the fall?
posted on April 29, 2001 04:32:19 AM new
I have 7 book auctions on yahoo with 1 bid. Auction are payed for with funny money. On ebay I have 11 books up for auction with 5 bids, even some with more than 1 bid. Bidville has all my books, about 300, with 1 bid.
As soon as something sells on yahoo or ebay, I will repack and rebundle some books, and put them up first on ebay(with 1 free relist) and then on yahoo (until my funny money runs out).
When my inventory is down to a more managable level, all my stuff will go to the auction house with the results.
If I buy books in bulk again, they go to half.com and alibris.com until I can bundle up several in a like-group and put them up for auction. Single books only sell well if it is something very special. Otherwise the do better in a grouping.
At least, thats my experience today. It might change with the time
heikejohn everywhere else!
posted on April 29, 2001 10:33:12 AM new
quickdraw29
I am with you! Yahoo will be bigger and better than ebay! That is what I said to myself when I first found Yahoo Auctions over two years ago and E-Bay has taken a lot of what Yahoo already had going! I have been on E-Bay over 3 years!
Prior I solds my collectibles on PRODIGY and AOL BB's(Bulletin Boards for those who were not around then)!
I even had large Toy Dealers trying to buy my inventory! I told most of my customers when I first found Internet Auctions as I still do that I have no intention of divulging what I have in inventory or selling my inventory! I still stick by that policy and have acquired many followers who are slowly showing up over at Yahoo with all the clutter gone!
No collector enjoys browsing through 60 plus pages of the same stuff relisted every two days at or above "RETAIL BOOK PRICES"!
I usually list my items below book prices and could not compete on "The Old Yahoo"!
When dealing with Mint In Box items that are no longer produced the supply is definitely limited and you can not just order somemore from the distributor!
Yeah YAHOO! Hopefully I can get further away from E-GREED! All those Exec's and staffers will need a COLA and someone is going to have to Pay?
I was looking when I found E-bay and still always looking!
I am trying another venue which has free on line inventory management and hosts 3 images and I have elected to gamble on their venue for six months to see what happens!
Just started this weekend and will keep folks updated here and at the "TSZ"!
Good luck to all!
"If I could only get 1,000,000 Internet users to send me 1 cent/month for a year my forth coming pension would be great!"
posted on April 29, 2001 01:40:38 PM new
Yahoo is mainly seen as a portal with some fun sites to venture on to. So Yahoo Auctions doesn't have that key positioning in the minds of buyers, that of being a place for collectors.
That's where the twist Yahoo will build upon. Ebay built the first perception of what online auctions should be like, that is, collectibles. Yahoo has capitalized on the fact that collectibles aren't a growth area, and they didn't do so well on Yahoo anyway, so the fees scared that segment away. Perfect for Yahoo. Yahoo's growth is in line with the growth of practicals, (collectibles are ususully listed one by one, another growth stunter). Ebay must be very jealous of where Yahoo is positioned. This is the genius positioning I previously referred to because it takes great foresight to scare away your major seller base to build this new position. But, that's where the major corporations come in to pick up the slack. Ebay can't hold all these major corps like Yahoo can because ebay is bogged down.
The future will tell whether ebay starts to alienate the collectible area too. It wouldn't be wise for them to do so because they own that segment. No one can come remotely close. And that is why I claim Yahoo will be bigger than ebay. Play the numbers that the big corps will bring compared to ebay's collectible segment and Yahoo will have the largest share.
posted on April 29, 2001 02:14:53 PM new
quickdraw29 - this almost makes sense BUT I, being a wife and mother decide where most the money gets spent and I am going to go to Target where I can easily return if unhappy and not incur shipping cost and I am typical.
The reason people shopped ebay early on was because it was fun. The reason to shop now is to get a STEAL and the big guys are only going to learn what us small fry's already have.
It ain't worth the trouble for what you can make.
They will then start dumping inventory which is what is happening now and fewer and fewer buyers and pretty soon (mark my words) Goodwill is gonna turn the stuff away.
posted on April 29, 2001 08:23:54 PM new
I am using cash to list about 20 items a week. so far, I have had about a 50% sell through rate. I can live with this on a limited basis
http://ballsandstrikescollectibles.beckett.com/
posted on April 29, 2001 08:58:09 PM new
Figmente- thanks for adding your brilliant wit to the discussion.
Very Modern- While I had been under the same belief as you, simply because I wanted a good return policy, this last Christmas I did all my electronic shopping on ebay. The hundred dollars or so that I saved, which added up over time, far outweighss that one time when you need to pay fifty bucks to have something fixed because you bought it defective. I'm also buying my printer cartidges on ebay at the moment.
In hindsight I always find I am part of a trend, so at this moment I would naturally assume that millions others are part of that trend also. Besides, ebay has already reported faster growth in practicals so the trend must be real, and not just some theory of mine.
I also sell practicals on occasion and the bidding is far greater than on most of my collectibles. I've sold burglar alarms, flashlights, scopes, Rio digital players etc that all achieved retail prices or above. My friends sold Palms at 20-40% above retail. I can also say my collectible inventory has decreased while my practicals is growing. I also signed up a new supplier for practicals. Believe me, Yahoo will capture most of this market and it is way better than the collectible segment that ebay has a hold on.
[ edited by quickdraw29 on Apr 29, 2001 09:03 PM ]
