posted on April 28, 2001 01:37:43 PM new
I noticed starting about a month ago that there were sellers shown at the top of the category pages-called "featured sellers". I also noticed that they never rotated. Same 3 sellers were shown in all the categories I was tracking.
I asked Yahoo what it was all about and of course never got a response. It irritated me because the 3 being highlighted in my category were relatively new and had no real FB to start. Of course, now they do because being at the top of the page apparantly made many buyers feel they were being given the Yahoo seal of approval and all their past month auctions closed with bids (some were reserve auctions that did not end in a sale, but many of them did).
Well, today I noticed a new "Premier Sellers" icon and link to all "PS" sellers for a particular category on the main page of each category I checked.
Of course the "spill" says these are the sellers with the best and most consistant trading record.
There are only 5 so-called Premier Sellers listed in my selling category.
The thing that has me fumming is that I have found a seller that starts all their auctions off at $1.00 ususally with a buy price of $10.00 and they attract mostly "newbies". Their ads are long and the shipping states that it includes their cost for the merchandise from the manufacture and it often ranges from $75.00 to $150.00!!!!!
They have a rating of 32 Positive and 7 Negatives with 6 of those in the past week. The negs of course are for the unbelievably high shipping. The sellers responses to the NEGS are alway very rude like "what idiot would expect to get a $200 item for $10!" or they say "buyer didn't read the shipping terms clearly stated in each auction and have the nerve to leave me a Neg". Both of which are true. They don't "hide" anything, but they do leave a lot of room for misuderstanding by buyers who don't pay close attention.
KICKER: They are now proudly displayed as a PREMIER SELLER!!!!
If this sounds like sour grapes...well, it is! I have really tried to make it on Yahoo because I liked the site. I can no longer support them, because I refuse to have to try and compete with "Premier Sellers" who can scam newbies (yes they should carefully read all the ad, but most of us know they don't).
How someone with a FB of 32 and 7 NEGS can be called a seller with a history of sucessful trading with Yahoo when it doesn't take 10 minutes to find dozens of seller with FB records of 300+ who don't appear as premier sellers simply amazes me!
Just venting since NOBODY at Yahoo Auctions seems to care!!!!
posted on April 28, 2001 02:38:48 PM new
Now why the heck did I never think of that? Include the cost of the merchandise in the shipping...now that's the ticket!
Talk about a pathetic loser of a seller.
And remember, no one at Yahoo DOES care...unless you say or do something that is anti-Yahoo that they can accurately or inaccurately attribute to you somehow...or some rare e-mail makes it to someone there.
posted on April 28, 2001 03:04:00 PM new
Yahoo!Auctions is a rudderless operation. Their management team in incapable of developing a business plan to end the ongoing collapse of their auction site. Nothing they do should come as a surprise to any of us these days.
posted on April 28, 2001 03:47:56 PM newdimview-I must concede you are correct. I have steadfastly clung to the hope things would improve eventually or at least stop declining.
I cringed at the so called "hot auctions" on the main category pages which showed items with 1 bid from a new seller despite Yahoo's explaination that "hot auctions" were a sampling of live auctions with the most bidding activity from the sellers with the highest ratings. It seemed to be saying "hey, looky here..an auction with a bid! woopee, boy is it hoooot". Just seemed to send the wrong message to prospective new users IMHO.
My blood pressure would elevate when I finally had an few auctions with 20+ bids that never made it to the "hot spot".
I actually paid to feature a couple of items when my credits ran out. I had noticed those I had featured always did better than those I didn't. To my extreme irritation I never noticed the paid for featured items show up in the thumbnails at the top of the category!!!! I even had several friends "watching" along with me. I would go through all the pages, refresh a couple of times on each page, but never had one pop to the top. Then, I began to notice that there were times when an item would appear at the top in thumbnail view that wasn't even a featured auctions. That's when I popped a fuse.
I emailed Yahoo numerous times (I think my email addy/User ID is probably on a blacklist by now) and at first I would receive the usual canned response that was little more than an exerpt from their help pages. Never a response to my specific inquiries. Now I don't even get that.
I even stated in my last email to them I would not list again until the issues I had were addressed......still waiting.....guess they don't care if I list or not.
I really am angry at myself more than anything for being so slow to learn. I even have Yahoo stock and have put off dumping it believing it would make a recovery. I'm so mad now, I think I'll just dump it, take the loss and move on. It's about the principle of the matter now!
posted on April 28, 2001 04:12:40 PM new
I'm long past the point of caring what Yahoo does. It's over.
After spending a couple of years warning sellers that an eBay monopoly was not in their best interests, I can find no real alternative other than listing with eBay.
posted on April 28, 2001 04:50:13 PM new
sasoony >
I can find no real alternative other than listing with eBay.
Reluctantly, I have to agree with you.
I have lots of items listed at BidBay, Bidville, ePier and Lycos. Only one completed transaction from all of them.
A copy of a single book, which always sells on eBay, is listed on all these auction auction sites, have been relisting it for months. Not a single bid at BidBay, Bidville, ePier or Lycos.
So I posted one copy of the book on eBay a few days ago. With just over three days to go on the auction, there it is, a bid on the book at eBay.
posted on April 28, 2001 06:13:25 PM new
Hi,
This is for sulyn1950. Did you upload your image to the Yahoo site? I thought that was the secret. They only put the image that they have at the top of the page. But, I may be wrong on that.
dendude
posted on April 28, 2001 07:40:06 PM new
These "Premier" sellers seem to have active links disabled within their feedback comments if you access them via the "Premier Seller" list. I also see a few of them who have "Closed Auctions" completely eliminated; it seems to become optional for that class seller now. (You can still get to their closed area by doing a workaround substituting their handle into the address in your browser after first going to a "normal" seller's closed list.)
posted on April 28, 2001 08:04:31 PM newwalhalla-Yes, I always upload to Yahoo. The issue was in the FEATURED listings. It was not working properly for over a week. I watched it quite closely and noticed the top 20 spaces were not rotating in the thumbnail view (in my category-don't know about others) as they are suppose to. I emailed Yahoo about it several times and never even got a response. I asked for a refund of the 2 auctions I had featured and never got an acknowledgement-a canned "we apologize for any inconvenience" would have been better than nothing.
I was just listing several irritating issues within this rant that I personally have experienced and/or observed with the workings of Yahoo Auctions over the past month. I doubt I am the only person that these glitches and new policies have affected. Maybe I'm the only one that noticed???? Maybe I'm the only one it bothers???? Maybe I do have too much time on my hands.....and I really should get a life?!?! LOL...
Just getting it "off my chest" has made me feel much better. This isn't my "career", but I am concerned for those who do this for a living. They are having to compete on an unlevel playing field. I wish there was really something I could do to help them.
Complaining to Yahoo obviously doesn't work. After awhile, all they probably do is hit the delete key. I can't even get a canned response anymore...
posted on April 28, 2001 08:47:55 PM newpyth00n-you noticed that too???
"Our Premium Sellers program is designed to reward our best sellers and provide a valuable service to bidders. This merit-based membership program acknowledges and supports the success of select sellers with enhanced promotion and superior customer support. The program also helps buyers find the most successful sellers are in each category easily."
This is what buyers now see when they wonder what the Premium Sellers are all about. What would you think after seeing that? If you were fairly new to online auctions and weren't wanting to be "burned" wouldn't you be more inclined to buy from one of the sellers with Yahoo's seemingSeal of Approval???
If your not new to the online auction scene, it doesn't take long to figure out something doesn't seem quite kosher! Like I said earlier, it doesn't take 5 minutes to find lots of high FB sellers with good ratings that, so far, have not been honored with the PREMIER SELLERS icon.
Just how did these first Premeir Sellers get that icon???? Did Yahoo just pick names out of the hat? Do you think anyone bothered to check out the FB comments given to or left by these guys?
I feel sorry for the buyers who were called "idiots" by one of these Premier Sellers. How's that for outstanding customer service????? Kinda leaves one with the impression if these are the best sellers what are the rest like?????????? That's not fair!!!! There is no making that fair either!
posted on April 28, 2001 11:17:00 PM new
Yahoo largely goes by percentage of negs to positive. The seller who racked up 6 recent negs won't last past the next Yahoo crack down unless he can get those positives way up. But I can't understand preferential treatment, why should one paying customer get preferred status over another paying customer? Maybe that's it, I'm using credits and these low Fb sellers are probably paying cash.
posted on April 29, 2001 06:31:24 AM new
Hi,
I was wrong about the images at yahoo, my apologies.
Yahoo has offered the premier seller logo (or whatever) to me. I've accepted but the information I got was that it didn't start until early May. I even had to set up a Yahoo shop, not sure what the heck that's worth.
My feedback is well below 100, I even have a negative. I am however a "power seller" at another auction site and I believe that may have had something to do with it.
I'm a just the facts kind of guy when discussing business matters. The only facts presented by Yahoo were sales%/value with no detail on the exact parameters. So if you like being a premier seller there's no way to know if you'll stay a premier seller.
posted on April 29, 2001 08:39:16 AM newI even had to set up a Yahoo shop, not sure what the heck that's worth.
walhalla-Do you have to pay for this shop or is it an auction booth???
Just curious, because I am trying to figure out the criteria Yahoo is using. If it's a pay extra thing, they need to STATE THAT UPFRONT. Not to say that some of those I have found listed under the PREMIER link don't deserve the recognition based on their performance, but the mix is a little suspect.... Someone with 15 FB listed right above someone with a 584 FB. Just seems odd to me when you apply Yahoo's own definition (copy/pasted in a post above).
It probably won't be worth much in the long run, but Yahoo still seems to be getting a lot of new users (or at least new ID's . I have already seen that having your name at the top of a category page can jump start your sales reeeealll fast. I watched a new seller (who appeared as a "featured seller"???) with no FB go to 52 in less than 3 weeks. I believe he was able to do that because of the preferential treatment he received from Yahoo. I am still waiting for Yahoo to explain what that little move was all about.
posted on April 29, 2001 01:34:45 PM new
Sulyn
I would never have noticed the Premier Seller list if you hadn't pointed it out. I had noticed the Featured Seller Booths missing from the top of the sub-category pages but it certainly didn't concern me. The 3 booth sellers that have been on top of my sub-cat page for months haven't made it to the Premier Seller list. I clicked on 5 random who were there and they had all positive FB's ranging from 100 to 1200 and lots of multiple bids on most of their ads.
Pretty stupid how the explation page tells you how to maintain your Premier status but not how to get it in the first place. I have sent the ? to their special email address [email protected] so I'm sure I'll have a pertinent answer in a few hours...Hahahaha
More than likely they'll simply send a link to the page I just read.
---------------------
[I]"How do Premium Sellers stay in the program?
As long as Premium Sellers continue demonstrating high quality selling on Yahoo! Auctions each month, we continue to reward them with membership in the program. Here are general guidelines for maintaining high performance:
>>Maintain a high rate of items sold (i.e. sell-through)
>>Maintain high gross merchandise sales within their category
>>Make sure inventory is consistent in quantity from month to month
>>Maintain the overall high quality of their items and listings
>>Keep the positive bidder ratings coming in
>>Keep their Yahoo! Auction booth fresh and functional
The official program will launch in early May, 2001. Our category teams are working with our top sellers to set up their listings and soon bidders will see prominent links their auctions and booths." [/i]
---------------------------
# of ads must not be a criteria, 3 of 5 sellers I clicked had less than 15 ads.
As far as the Featured ads you're complaining about, I've noticed major problems. The last time I paid to feature I was supposed to be in 10th postition yet my ad showed up and stayed on page 4, 160th position. I demanded a refund and they never answered any emails. A different week I [i]was[i] going to feature but when I clicked the link it showed 60 people paying to feature yet the category only displayed 22 titles on the featured list. The thumbnails do not rotate properly. I have gone into many categories and had to refresh 20+ times just to get 1 of the first 5 ads thumbnail to show up top. Since noticing all of these problems I have never and will never pay for a "feature" again.
Customer Service still completely sucks, same old canned responses as always--that is when you get a response at all. I see the page states if you become a Premier Seller you will get an email add for an actual human Cust Care rep...Hahahaha again.
posted on April 29, 2001 03:33:23 PM newkasmoon- I sent an email too, haven't heard a word. Of course, I emailed several times last month asking how exactly they chose the featured sellers......still waiting for an answer to that one too!
Not all the categories have the PS links yet. Of the ones, that do, most have sellers listed that I would assume deserve to be "honored". All the sellers I clicked on were well established (with just a couple of exceptions).
My category now has 6. Of those 6, 2 have FB in the 500's. Great comments on both.
The remaining 4 are the ones that have me stumped-just can't find a common denominator for them. I am sure that there will eventually be more because my category is filled with lots of well established sellers.
It appears they are looking for a seller who list auctions consistently, and sells most of them 1st time out. They say with the highest gross values, but on the ones I checked the average price received would be modest. So perhaps we'll see an increase in sellers who list 15-25 items weekly, sell 100% at prices under $50? I guess overall that's not too bad???? ESPECIALLY for buyers????????
In the long run, if you get lots of buyers coming to the site all the sellers will benefit. Do you think???
I'm just trying to find a bright spot in all this.....
What I am afraid will happen is that if they display a list of PREMIUM SELLERS on each category page, many buyers will get in the habit of only checking those sellers auctions out (after all they provide a link to use) and if you are not on that list, you will be at a distinct disadvantage. It's hard enough to sell on Yahoo without the deck being stacked against you by Yahoo itself! At least on eBay, they don't list all their Power Sellers seperately on the main category pages!!!!
posted on April 30, 2001 10:36:47 AM new
Here's the answer I got from Yahoo (in less than 20 hours):
We award membership in the merit-based program to sellers who have consistently achieved top selling performance within a category or categories. Ratings are one piece of our evaluation. The factors upon which we judge performance include that the seller:
>>Maintain a high rate of items sold (i.e. sell-through)
>>Maintain high gross merchandise sales within their category
>>Make sure inventory is consistent in quantity from month to month
>>Maintain the overall high quality of their items and listings
>>Keep the positive bidder ratings coming in
>>Keep their Yahoo! Auction booth fresh and functional
Sellers in each category will be evaluated on a monthly basis and [b]new Premium Seller candidates will be notified directly with a special invitation url.
If a seller hits the criteria above, that seller will receive notice directly from the manager of his/her top category.[/b]
--------------
From the premium sellers I've browsed it appears they all open for 1 cent or $1 no reserve which is why they have tons of bids & high sell-through. That also saves them plenty on listing fees but their final bids don't look too great. I think I'd rather stick with opening for what I want while I waste away the rest of my credits. Who gives a flip about high sell-through if you aren't making any profit.
posted on April 30, 2001 11:55:59 AM newKasmoon-I see you at least received a reply. I did get an email this morning that said they "were working on a detailed email to my inquiries" and that it would be sent later this morning, Do you think someone actually read and intends to answer my specific questions!? If they do, it will be a 1st.
I have also observed the same things you have and feel the same way you do. I "played around" a month ago with starting $1-NR auctions and discovered yes they get bids and lots of them. TEN CENTS at a time! Nothing closed anywhere near what I wanted. BUT, I did have a 100% sell through!!!!! I now have been there, done that and don't intend to try that again!
I'm also glad to see I was not the only person who saw how screwed up the featured listing were! I didn't get my money back either!
posted on May 14, 2001 12:27:13 AM new
Contact Information For Yahoo Auctions
Terry Semel, CEO
3420 Central Expwy.
Santa Clara, CA 95051
The new CEO for Yahoo should hear what you have to say. Write to him personally and make your voice heard. I did and am awaiting a response reference to problems with his Auctions Staff and their need to submit charges on my credit card for featuring auctions they moments later intend to cancel. One thing is certain... if no one speaks Yahoo is as good as gone, and it really is a shame.
posted on May 14, 2001 12:29:28 AM new
Contact Information For Yahoo Auctions
Terry Semel, CEO
3420 Central Expwy.
Santa Clara, CA 95051
The new CEO for Yahoo should hear what you have to say. Write to him personally and make your voice heard. I did and am awaiting a response reference to problems with his Auctions Staff and their need to submit charges on my credit card for featuring auctions they moments later intend to cancel. One thing is certain... if no one speaks Yahoo is as good as gone, and it really is a shame.
