bearmom
|
posted on April 28, 2001 06:55:07 AM new
Well, I believe Yahoo auctions are gasping their last breaths. I continued listing with my free credits, and for a while, did great. Not so much competition, so things got lots of exposure, and sold quickly. Then gradually, the sales slowed to almost nothing, even though I have listed some really unique items.
I think the buyers have finally realized that there isn't anything new being listed on Yahoo and have quit browsing there. Most of the buyers I've been getting are new bidders who are finding my items through the universal search, not by browsing. And the number of deadbeats has skyrocketed-I removed about a half dozen buyers from auctions yesterday, everyone of whom was a newbie.
I don't believe there's anything that can save Yahoo once the browsers leave. I'm through too, I think, free credits or no!
Edited because I haven't had my coffee yet! 
[ edited by bearmom on Apr 28, 2001 06:58 AM ]
|
dman3
|
posted on April 28, 2001 09:32:29 AM new
I believe this is a seasonal slow down, Ebay is slowing at this time too just like last year thing dropped off till about august and then slowly incressed again.
last year selling on yahoo and ebay selling was great till the week after easter then fell off fast over the summer bids were far and few between.
I been selling two years now and this seems to be the way online sales go over May, june and july the best you can do is keep listings low and put the bulk of listing you want up on a free listing site and work on building your inventory for the fall and winter while the buying and weather is good.
http://dman.Dman-N-Company.com
|
quickdraw29
|
posted on April 28, 2001 02:26:18 PM new
I tend to like the slow times because it allows me to devote time and energy to eliminating the junk from my inventory, and I usually get some nice prices with this junk. I view it that the buyers who remain during the slow time are not part of the crowd therefore you can sell a broader range of items since they have different tastes. The bad side is that I get more deadbeats and neurotics as they crawl out of the wordwork, just like at midnight downtown.
|
VeryModern
|
posted on April 28, 2001 05:05:41 PM new
I have 0 auctions listed - down from about 300 at all time pre-fees. Have plenty of credits but it's not worth the energy.
VeryModern Space Junk
|
petertdavis
|
posted on April 28, 2001 09:30:55 PM new
I have four items on eBay and four identical items on Yahoo this weekend. The items on Yahoo are actually slightly higher at the moment.
Anyone who's not using their Yahoo credits is welcome to send them to my Yahoo account (yptdavis).
Peter
|
bearmom
|
posted on April 29, 2001 09:17:42 AM new
I know there are seasonal slowdowns, but in 3 years, this is the worst I've seen. Good time to pick up bargains, though!
|
ironking
|
posted on April 30, 2001 07:43:58 AM new
yes, yahoo auction is paradise.
life is grand
|
mballai
|
posted on May 2, 2001 08:58:09 AM new
I went through one section I used to list in and I think I could count auctions with bids on one hand. 
|
tomwiii
|
posted on May 2, 2001 03:16:19 PM new
Hey, if FeeBay is good enough for Tim, it's good enough for me!
|
outoftheblue
|
posted on May 4, 2001 10:08:32 AM new
I've noticed that bids have declined sharply on yahoo in the last month or two. Categories that used to carry 100-150 bids are down to less than a page when you sort by bids. I listed a bunch of stuff 4 days ago and, so far, no bids at all.
BTW, I'm not noticing any seasonal seasonal slowdown on Ebay. We are selling almost everything. Nice items at good prices sell no matter what time of year you list them.
|
kasmoon
|
posted on May 4, 2001 04:44:57 PM new
The party is OVER alright. Wasting credits truly has become a waste. Of my 40 ads this week only 5 sold, by far my worst % on Yahoo ever.
It's not just me, the closed lists show the only others in my categories who sold at all this week were the few who opened for 1 cent no reserve. And shockingly 90% of their ads ended for LESS than $1.00. P A T H E T I C
|
justjoan
|
posted on May 5, 2001 07:35:48 PM new
Sales you say sales, what are those.
I've never seen it so slow. But then I'm not listing 100's of items, just listing maybe 1 or 2 a day, but it's still pathetic.
Useing up the free listing stuff and putting a lot on another site, but it's slow there too.
Joan
|
electrophonic
|
posted on May 5, 2001 09:07:25 PM new
In my opinion it was over in JanuarY.
|
lovepotions
|
posted on May 6, 2001 07:23:42 AM new
I had a constant 150-160 items at any given moment.........When the fees got put into place that was actually a boost for me in my category (adult) sincemost sellers had bulk lists of 500-1200 items they were not about to pay fees on on bulk lists.
But with the end of the adult category i am down to a dozen or so listings ending in 4 days i luckily had resubmitted the night before the NO WARNING cut off.
I feel as if I have been treated unfairly.
Kind of like when your little brother or sister does something bad and all the kids get spanked for it. Well big brother Yahoo should not be punishing me because they got busted for selling porn themselves.
What were they thinking to sell it in the first place........they were fine for years accepting small businesses selling it.......why did they have do it. They for damn sure deserved the heat they got forit but that doesntmean they needed to cut off legitimate paying customers from running their businesses on yahoo servers.
I paid the same fees as the beanie baby ladies and collectibles dealser maybe more since I didn't spend enough time at Ebay to cash in with a pile of funny money.......I paid cash.
So instead of switching the lights off I'd rather take a baseball bat and bust the bulb out of the socket and let it go dark forever.
http://www.lovepotions.net
|
CuFF
|
posted on May 14, 2001 12:00:13 AM new
What are Yahoo Credits and how are they acquired please? Thanks in advance.
|
retta321
|
posted on May 14, 2001 12:42:08 AM new
Sigh, my latest auctions ended with no sales a few hours ago. Still debating whether to bother relisting anything.
CuFF, credits was a promotion Yahoo did over a year ago when featuring ads was a new option. I guess no one was using it so they did the promotion to kick-start it. Sellers who applied got $1.00 of wallet credit for every positive feedback they had. You could choose your FB from Yahoo, eBay or Amazon to get your credits. Around last Oct. they ran the program again but that time you could only use eBay or Amazon FB. When Y! started listing fees they let the sellers who hadn't used up their credits use them for listing fees. "Funny money" is the other term we use to refer to credits. Each time the promotion only ran about 3 weeks and I doubt they'll ever run it again.
|
deichen
|
posted on May 14, 2001 05:57:08 AM new
LOL at Lovepotions!
So instead of switching the lights off I'd rather take a baseball bat and bust the bulb out of the socket and let it go dark forever.
Don't think you are the only one who feels this way!
Cuff: Credits were given as a promotional thing months ago and they are no longer being given. Of course, if those of us with credits (such as me) feel they are useless.
|
outoftheblue
|
posted on May 24, 2001 02:14:06 AM new
>>Well, I believe Yahoo auctions are gasping their last breaths. I continued listing with my free credits, and for a while, did great. Not so much competition, so things got lots of exposure, and sold quickly. Then gradually, the sales slowed to almost nothing, even though I have listed some really unique items.<<
This is almost identical to my experience. No Dman it's not a seasonal slowdown. Our sell through on Ebay is almost 100% (first run with no relists). I'm not listing on Yahoo right now.
[ edited by outoftheblue on May 24, 2001 02:16 AM ]
|
bearmom
|
posted on May 24, 2001 05:43:57 AM new
I'm going to have to agree. This is not a seasonal thing. I've been doing this 3 years now, and it's not the same.
But I think maybe Ebay is slowing down some, too. Not so noticeable, but I see a lot of things ending with no bids in the categories I watch-and I am winning a lot of auctions with just the minimum bid.
Ebay has picked up their advertising, so I suspect they are seeing a decline themselves. I got two email ads from them in the past two days.
I'm not saying that online auctions are dead. But I suspect that they are slowing with the economy. Here in Austin, people are getting laid off in the thousands from the technology companies. Austin's economy has already slowed noticeably, and there's just not much spendable income around.
However, Yahoo didn't have room to slow down any-so the recession has almost killed them, just as it has the smaller technology companies. Ebay may hurt, Yahoo may die.
|
cuff
|
posted on May 24, 2001 06:03:35 AM new
*Cuff throws a rock at Yahoo's porch light.
|
noshill
|
posted on May 24, 2001 09:12:51 AM new
noshill leaves a sack of cow dung on Yahoo's porch.
|
jwpc
|
posted on May 24, 2001 02:23:37 PM new
Heck, I thought Yahoo turned the lights out on their own party a few months ago - and what a time to commit suicide with eBay going crazy, Yahoo would have grown like crazy if it were the "old" Yahoo - this continual and endless restricting that eBay is doing is driving sellers wild - Yahoo "would" have been the perfect alternative - but of course Yahoo is worse than eBay with its TOS cancellations with no reason and no reimbursement - sad - they "might" have become #1 - but that is history now.
|
granee
|
posted on May 25, 2001 12:29:50 AM new
jwpc, I agree. Had Yahoo listened to us and implemented another fee structure (any one of SEVERAL different fee plans would have done the trick---kept the **overwhelming** majority of their "good" sellers coming back), they would be THRIVING now instead of shriveling into nothing. And they would have picked up LOTS of unhappy eBay sellers to boot.
What a wasted opportunity. 
|
bearmom
|
posted on May 25, 2001 05:48:57 AM new
This is what amazes me. Right at the time Yahoo was really becoming a force in online auctions, they shot themselves in the foot. I never saw a company deliberately commit suicide before.
Maybe someone's using Yahoo as a tax write off?
|
reamond
|
posted on May 25, 2001 08:27:40 AM new
Don't count YaHoo auctions out yet.
eBay is beginning to button down their auction site.
eBay clamped down on email, linking, and they have just expanded their picture hosting service.
Before it is over, eBay will have a mandatory exclusive payment system, and virtually no electronic contact between buyer and seller, and no outside picture hosting.
|
cuff
|
posted on May 25, 2001 10:45:12 AM new
What's going to kill Yahoo is their Customer Service.
At least eBay doesn't deliberately cheat their customers when cancelling auctions. They spell out exactly what you did wrong, and immediately refund any charges for the cancelled auction(s).
Anytime you have a company running to your credit card just before cancelling your auctions, and collecting featured charges DAYS IN ADVANCE for a service they KNOW they are about to terminate seconds later is NOT gonna make it. To add insult to injury they treat you as though you have NO RIGHTS as a Consumer. Finding out your specific TOS violation is nearly impossible. Expecting a refund for unrendered services will not happen unless you dispute the charges through your credit card. You can talk yourself blue in the face and KNOW you are right and they will not bend because they believe their TOS is the last word. If that were true it wouldn't be so easy to dispute the charges.
The deterioration of Yahoo is real. Communistic attitudes don't get you very far in America. Do you know any other company that would get away with monetarily punishing Customers for not following their rules? I don't.
|
reamond
|
posted on May 25, 2001 12:30:30 PM new
If you were unfairly charged fees by YaHoo on your credit card, dispute the charges.
|
RB
|
posted on May 25, 2001 12:51:48 PM new
It's not unfair - it's in Yahoo's fine print.
But, it certainly is unethical ...
|
Empires
|
posted on May 25, 2001 07:52:10 PM new
Keep in mind yahoo'r's the ebay sales are in a slump too... don't be missled by the few saying sales are great! For the most part they stink!
|
reamond
|
posted on May 26, 2001 06:17:41 AM new
The "fine print" doesn't make it a valid charge.
The credit card issuers rules supercede the vendor's "rules".
|
