posted on May 7, 2001 06:35:46 PM new
That's right, Yahoo! Auctions is giving away $2 MILLION IN PRIZES during the Yahoo! Auctions $2 Million Sweepstakes. Every time you successfully sell an item on Yahoo! Auctions between now and June 4 you'll be automatically entered for a chance to win one of twenty $100,000 prize packages for your business! And there's no limit on the number of times you can enter - so if you've got stuff to sell, get to it!
posted on May 7, 2001 07:39:09 PM new
Yep, there's a "Yahoo! Auctions $2 Million Sweepstakes" link on Y Auctions. It goes to this page (sorry, I don't know how to make it click-able):
posted on May 7, 2001 07:42:25 PM new
Hello olhickory,
In order to make a link clickable just
do something like this, but delete the asterisks: [*url]http://promotions.yahoo.com/promotions/yahooauctions/index.html[/*url]
posted on May 7, 2001 08:00:05 PM new
This $100,000 looks to include $85,000 supposed value of advertising of your auctions on Yahoo... a day on the main page, and some other sites. What if you have a small business presence that really can't gain anything much from that exposure?
What if the IRS wants say 30% of that value as taxes of income? Won't they charge the winners in cash as a tax bill?
Is there an alternate cash award option? If not, I don't want any part of being entered, even, not if there're tax consequences.
posted on May 7, 2001 09:03:15 PM new
Ah, I read the prize page a few hours ago, laughed & promptly forgot about it. It's a plan to draw businesses not individuals. The major "prize" is $85,000.00 in free banner ads. Hmmmm, isn't the reason Yahoo started charging was that NO ONE was clicking their banner ads? You get a Yahoo store for 6 months so you can post the 50 items you have in quantity for a fixed price. I say quantity because I'd [i]hope[\i] you'd sell more than 1 of any item that's sitting there 6 months straight. Although I have no idea how a shopper would even get to a Yahoo store. I know how to browse shopping & auctions, no clue how to get to a store. Of course they'll let you hook your store into Yahoo Shopping for a price (not included in this package). The rest of the prizes are inconsequential IMO.
Pyth00n, I have no idea about the tax aspect, good question. I want no part of this promotion either.
I guess they can't give away cash, too many sellers would just get a friend to bid on all their unsold stuff at the last minute to get entries. Then Yahoo might shoot up to 90% sell through rate. Hahahahahaha
<sarcasm> yeah that ought to rake them bidders in.</sarcasm>
How many page views will the $85,000 worth advertising will you get??
What is the going rate to advertze on Yahoo these days anyways.
And the advertising will be directed towards your auctions not nessecarily your website or your business in general.
So I get an $85,000 headache to create auction adds like a mad typing psycho
THEY AT NO POINT SAID THAT LISING FEES WILL BE INCLUDED............lol
So you'd have to create endless auction adds do get ready for your public banner ads to bring in people not neccesarily bidders, but people to go look at your auctions. Lets not forget that auctions would be for 1-10 days and you'd have to resubmit and pay more listing fees (not included in the prize)
Since it directed towards online businesses......don't you think they'd HAVE A DOMAIN ALREADY......so that freebee domain is worth $35 LAUGHABLE!!!!
Then you gotta bust ass and build your 50 item Yahoo store.......working around the clock like a mad woman/man
Then have it fade into nothing because your $85,000 worth of banners adds will run out within a months time. And it took you that long to build the store. If you don't have a merchant account then you'd have to make those arrangements yourself and pay for that.
In Summary
The only thing you'd WIN would be a keayboard, digital camera (i've seen the one it will be and it is mediocre (mediocre being a generaous description) and a mouse.
Woopdy-friggin-do. I got the best mouse/keyboard on the market and a good digital camera already.
Oh yeah I forgot............the Yahoo magazine lol so when it runs out you get a letter in the mail every 5 days harrasing you to pay to continue it.
I sell Adult novelties..........would Yahoo let me win???
Would they re-open the adult category just for me???
*laughs* prolly not
OH BY THE WAY are they claiming the keyboard, mouse, camera and domain name are worth $15,000??? If you get $85,000 in advertising what makes up the rest of the $100,000 prize??
The store is $300 x 6 so $1800
http://www.lovepotions.net
posted on May 8, 2001 10:08:48 AM new
Thanks, Marty!
Lovepotions, i looked at the rules - it looks like the other $15k is made up of a day on yahoo.com plus that other stuff. Definitely looks geared towards BIG auctions businesses (which doesn't include me). It would be something to be on the homepage of Yahoo. Hopefully, you can turn down what you don't want and accept what you do (at least, I think that's the way it works on Price is Right).
posted on May 8, 2001 05:08:07 PM new
Anytime you enter a sweepstakes, anywhere in the US, you'll pay taxes on winnings over something like $800.00 that's the law, and it's built into every sweepstake you see.
If you win it, you'll get much greater traffic, and likely from that bidding. Goes without reason I think, the more people that see your stuff, the more likely you'll find people who are interested.
Plus includes front page mention by the look of the example on the yahoo webpage.
Maybe not for everyone, but still an interesting way to drive traffic.
posted on May 8, 2001 06:05:01 PM new
A word about the taxes....(not Yahoo related exactly, but I can't resist):
Girl in CA wins a car. She has to pay taxes on it value. She is unemployed and cannot pay the taxes, so she holds a raffle for the car to raise money. She gets arrested for holding the raffle (illegal in most states except for charity) and was fined several hundred $$. She was interviewed and stated winning that car had been the unluckiest thing to have happened to her in a long time.
This all happened several years ago and if I'm not mistaking, it made it to "60 minutes". I believe that is where I saw it.
I most definetly do not want to win a $100,000 contest from Yahoo!!!!!
posted on May 8, 2001 07:13:24 PM new
Hey sulyn1950
Thanks for that. I took another look at the sweeps. Looks like they do a pretty fair job of laying out that this is for "a business" who can make that decision on the taxes. For a lot of sellers who are doing into it full time, it could be a good opportunity. I'd like to have a chance to decide, if/when I win. nobody can force you to take it right. But it sure would be nice to have the choice.
I think too many people are seeing a half empty glass.
posted on May 8, 2001 08:37:54 PM new
Lovepotions,
I'm confused, why do you say "the advertising will be directed towards your auctions not nessecarily your website or your business in general."
If you get a free banner why wouldn't you make it strictly for your website? My understanding is you get the free store for 6 months, therefore you make the banner for your store (or website if you have one.) There would be no need to run any auctions at all and I can't imagine why any prize winner would waste listing fees doing so.
Wedgyboy,
"you'll get much greater traffic, and likely from that bidding."
Do you really think you'd get traffic from having a banner on top of a Yahoo auction page? I've been using Yahoo auctions daily for 3 years now and I have never paid attention to much less clicked a single banner they have flashed. I know click-through stats are available somewhere and last time I saw them the ratio was something like 1 of 100,000+ unique vistors to any site actually click a banner anywhere on the web. I'm not joking when I say I don't see ANY value in winning this prize package.
I don't have a website, I don't have inventory for a store and I damn sure don't want to pay huge taxes on a useless prize. I don't know if you can refuse to accept this prize so if the only way to make certain I don't get entered is to not run anymore ads until after June 4th I'm perfectly willing. The ads I have on Yahoo right now are on day 6 of 10 and only have 1-2 views each in 6 days. Even with the emptiness of the category's they are in. Yahoo is deader than I have ever seen it and I just don't think this sweepstakes will help bring it back to life. I think smart business customers will continue to eBay where they will get views and sales. JMHO
posted on May 9, 2001 04:24:46 AM new
Lovepotions,
I'm confused, why do you say "the advertising will be directed towards your auctions not nessecarily your website or your business in general."
If you look at the link at the top of the thread it has a caption stating $85,000 worth of online advertising directed towards your business auctions.
Also the 1 day on the main yahoo page will also link to your auctions not your website.
Sure you can have a link to your website from within your auction adds. But that will come from your efforts not Yahoo's.
And it still has no mention of auction listing fees being included hehe
The store prize......you'd have to build it yourself. you have to make arrangements for a merchant account and deal with it as well.
If it takes you a month to create........too bad so sad the 6 month clock it ticking and you'd better get a move on.
At the end of 6 months you'd be pressured to pay the $300 a month or however much it is to maintain a Yahoo Store but by then the advertising going into your auctions will be long gone and you'll be left with overpriced webhosting.
I see it at an $85,000 headache.
Your full day on the front page of Yahoo.........the banner into your auctions.......its a huge company and even if you got notice of the day of your front page banner will you be ready and have 1,000's of auctions ready to go for the world to see.
Would you make enough profit in that round of auctions to cover the taxes you'd have to pay for when you get your prize? Even if your dreams came true and you got 1,000's of bids on your MAGIC DAY could you handle that burst of emails and and addresses and shipments. Hell 1,000 emails and my isp just might reject half of them if I didnt download them fast enough and maxed my account.
Prizes: Twenty (20) Prize Packages will be awarded, each consisting of the following: (a) $85,000 in free run-of-network advertising on Yahoo!'s collection of U.S.-based web properties, valued according to Yahoo's then-current standard rates for advertising (including design of one (1) standard-sized banner ad for the winner by Yahoo's design staff; Banner advertising must point to the winner's Auctions Booth. The winner's Auctions Booth must be populated with no fewer than 5 listings at all times while the banner advertising is running); (b) a Yahoo! Store account for six months (ARV $1,800); (c) a free text link advertisement pointing to the winner's Yahoo! Auctions Booth from the front page of Yahoo! for one (1) day (ARV: $13,030); (d) Yahoo!-branded digital camera (ARV $70); (e) a Yahoo!-branded computer keyboard (ARV $35); (f) a Yahoo!-branded mouse (ARV $15); g) a 1-year subscription to Yahoo! Internet Life magazine (ARV $15); and (h) registration of the winner's domain name of choice (subject to availability) through Yahoo! Domains valid for one (1) year (ARV $35). Approximate retail value of each Prize package: $100,000.
Notice that all references of links and banners only go to your auctions booth......
http://www.lovepotions.net
posted on May 9, 2001 04:51:03 PM new
Thanks for clearing that up Lovepotions. I don't know how I misread it so bad the first time. LOL, now that I have it straight I think this promotion sucks twice as bad as I originally thought.
posted on May 9, 2001 07:14:39 PM new
I think Yahoo should be embarrassed at this shameful ploy to get people to list auctions.
The winner of the $100,000 worth of advertising has to pay the listing fees.........
God forbid they cover that......
If they want to run promos they should run free listings for a month or something that directly benefits the seller not a friggin keyboard and mouse or a $70 digital camera lol or $85,000 worth of banners adds hidden over in the grandma's cookie recipe club in Yahoo clubs......who knows there you add will ROTATE within Yahoo's properties.
And your one big day on the front page.........woopdy-friggin-do
A text link going to your auctions *twirls finger*
I won't even go back into the Yahoo free store hehe
If I win I'll auction off the Yahoo keyboard and mouse lol what would they think of that?
http://www.lovepotions.net
posted on May 9, 2001 08:03:03 PM new
If I won it the best thing I could think of to do with it is to auction it off. Two questions. What do think the high bid would be? Would you auction it on Ebay or Yahoo? I would want to auction it on Ebay just to see Ebay and Yahoo squirm about it. Maybe some news services would report on it. I think you would get a much higher price on Ebay. I really don't think the package is worth much at all but maybe to the right people it would have some real value and bring in some money. I would think it would only go for about 5,000 but who knows?
posted on May 10, 2001 08:11:43 PM new
I sent a few questions to Yahoo customer care about this sweepstakes, here's a copy/paste of their response:
"Keep in mind that as it states in the rules, [b] a seller must own, or be
employed by, a company that offers or has a desire to offer online
auctions in order to be eligible for the sweepstakes. The taxes will be
the responsibility of that company or business, not the individual.[/b]
We are not tax professionals and can not advise any business, company,
or individual on how accepting a prize will affect their taxes. As with
any sweepstakes, winning businesses should consult their tax
attorney/professional before accepting the prize.
Winning businesses can absolutely refuse to accept the prize if they wish to do so."
posted on May 12, 2001 05:11:10 PM new
I was a contestant on Wheel of Fortune back in the days when winners bought prizes, instead of receiving cash. I "won" $9,000 of crap, for which I paid about $3,000 in taxes (including a 5% California tax that had to be paid before receiving the prizes.)
If I just had $3,000 in cash sitting around, there's no way I would have bought ANY of this junk. I should have just refused 90% of it.
This Yahoo deal sounds even worse. It seems to me that you would be required to pay tax on the retail value of the package. That would probably be at least $30,000.
Given Yahoo's current financial situation, I would bet that if you went to them with $30,000 or so in cash, you could get at least as much, or more, advertising. And you could use it for anything you want -- not just for promoting your Yahoo Auctions.
Sounds like the only winner on this deal is the IRS.
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