posted on May 30, 2001 10:31:51 AM new
Whatever the reason for the upturn, it's NOT because items are selling on Yahoo. I would guess it's former eBay sellers with free feedback credits to use up, and their sales are so horribly bad on eBay right now there's no point in giving eBay more money for listings.
The only people bidding now are the cheapskates looking for give-aways.
If Yahoo!Auctions has some 200,000 auctions of which 100,000 auctions (generous?) are relists, how long are the sellers going to plop down a minimum of $20,000 a week to maintain that pace.
posted on May 30, 2001 11:05:53 AM new
Hey dimview ... Is there any way to determine how many active members Yahoo Auctions still has compared to what they had say 6 months ago?
From personal experience and from what I have been reading here, many of us have been suspended for some very obscure reasons and I am wondering how many are left.
I could only come up with a rough estimate based on the "bookmarked" Yahoo!Auctions booths of those that (i) formerly posted here, were Yahoo!Auctions supporters and gave their userIDs, or (ii) were formerly listed on Yahoo!Auctions homepage as "featured sellers".
Most now say "no listings".
It would just be a guess, but how does 75% sound?
[ edited by dimview on May 30, 2001 11:23 AM ]
posted on May 30, 2001 11:25:41 AM new
Bidville's listings are increasing at a remarkable speed while Yahoo's drop like a rock. Bidville is free to Buyers and Sellers and currently hosting 622,778 auctions in 2,153 categories!
posted on May 30, 2001 11:33:32 AM new
cuff >
Bidville's listings are increasing at a remarkable speed while Yahoo's drop like a rock. Bidville is free to Buyers and Sellers and currently hosting 622,778 auctions in 2,153 categories!
Yahoo!Auctions listings are not now dropping like a rock. They have remained flatlined at just under 200,000 auctions for quite a few weeks.
As for Bidville, unfortunately they are increasing because of continuous relistings due to a lack of buyers. They had 612,000 last week, so there's only 10,000 new auctions this week, and that has exasperated the low sell-through rate as it becoming increasingly difficult to find auctions that are truely new.
edited to add comment about Yahoo!Auctions.
[ edited by dimview on May 30, 2001 11:36 AM ]
posted on May 30, 2001 12:40:37 PM new
verymodern ... WOW! Now that's a meaningful number ...
dimview - 75% seems a little high, based strictly on my emotional take of Yahoo's recent tactics
Spot On re the Bidville listings - it really is getting boring looking at the same stuff over and over again. The folks at Bidville (sellers and buyers, not the disappearing owners!) really are trying hard, but I just can't see a future there ...
posted on May 30, 2001 12:50:21 PM new
How would relisting closed auctions cause the numbers to go up? Wouldn't they go down, then back up as the auctions closed, then were relisted? The number of listings increases every day. I'm watching it happen.
I personally know that Yahoo had 30% more listings specifically in Nascar approximately one month ago. I had many myself. I'm gone and so are a lot of other people.
For anyone who is curious about Bidville I respectfully request you make your own judgements rather than taking the word of any one person here. Check out the message boards and you'll see what's up with Yahoo from many different perspectives. Bidville is seeing an increase in sales and listings dimview... like it or not. Everyone is working hard as a community to get word out there, and it's working.
posted on May 30, 2001 01:24:13 PM new
Cuff ... I am one of those folks who frequently posts on the BidVille forums. From my POV, there is more griping and complaining about the lack of bidders, lack of selection, and high starting prices going on over there than there ever has been here. Not to mention the mysterious disappearance of their wonderful Customer Service that was such a drawing card 3 months ago. The BidVille pom-pom wavers are the site's worst enemy these days, it seems
I don't think anyone wants to see BidVille fail, especially me (I can't sell on any of the big sites without a credit card!??) but you have to admit that the ratio of sales to listings there is extremely low, and the site owners do not seem to be interested in doing anything to improve this.
I have asked these questions to others, and perhaps you'd like express an opinion:
1. What do you think would happen to the total listings number if the automatic relist feature was abandoned? In other words, if a seller had to take the time to create a new listing for his 10 cent sports card that didn't sell the first time, how many do you think would do this?
2. What do you think would happen to the total listings number if BidVille started charging a small listing fee for each list (and reslist)? I suspect we would see another mass Yahoo migration, but this time the migration would be from BidVille.
posted on May 30, 2001 02:25:46 PM new
1. What do you think would happen to the total listings number if the automatic relist feature was abandoned? In other words, if a seller had to take the time to create a new listing for his 10 cent sports card that didn't sell the first time, how many do you think would do this?
*I don't think the relist feature is a problem. I don't understand why you do.
What would happen if all the auction sites abandoned it?
Why should a free site shell out money to advertise for you? Can you not do your own advertising? Can you not submit Bidville to search engines? Can you not enclose the bidville url with your emails? Can you just stop expecting everything handed to you on a silver platter (yesterday) and put forth a little positive effort rather than negative?
2. What do you think would happen to the total listings number if BidVille started charging a small listing fee for each list (and reslist)? I suspect we would see another mass Yahoo migration, but this time the migration would be from BidVille.
*I can't really say because I paid the listing fee's on Yahoo as did many others. The listing fee's did not drive off Yahoo's Customers so much as their severely deficient Customer Service.
A lot of the negativity you hear on Bidville Message boards comes from people just like you RB. You'll see their nicknames over and over. Someone will come online with what they believe is a good idea only to have the first response be a completely negative one with no suggestion as to a revision or a different angle on the idea. This type of sniping is not necessary. If you don't have anything positive to say about Bidville and you are indeed one of the one's who wants it to succeed why say anything at all? Why kill the spirit of a thread the second it's posted?
posted on May 30, 2001 03:20:32 PM new
hi i have never wrote here before but i just wanted to say i to sell on bidville and my sells have been pretty good.it started slow but i belive it is picking up.and i think there is alot of good nice sellers there that will help anyone that ask. jmho.
posted on May 30, 2001 04:29:13 PM new
RB >
dimview - 75% seems a little high, based strictly on my emotional take of Yahoo's recent tactics
I should have been clearer. I'm guessing that Yahoo!Auctions has lost 75% of its sellers along with the 90% of its auctions. Just a guess though.
cuff >
How would relisting closed auctions cause the numbers to go up? Wouldn't they go down, then back up as the auctions closed, then were relisted? The number of listings increases every day. I'm watching it happen.
Let's take a look at WackyAuctions as an example. Let assume five auctions close each week, those remaining are relisted, and they get 100 new auctions every week.
Week Two:
95 relisted auctions + 100 new auctions - 5 auctions sold = 190 auctions remaining.
Week Three:
190 relisted auctions + 100 new auctions - 5 auctions sold = 285 auctions remaining.
Week Four:
285 relisted auctions + 100 new auctions - 5 auctions sold = 380 auctions remaining.
So what has happened?
WackyAuctions has shown extraordinary growth, in just a month the number of listings has soared from 100 auctions to 380 auctions, or 280%. The sell-through rate, however, has declined from 5% in week one to just over 1% by week four. Relisted auctions were 49% of the total in week two and 74% of the total in week four.
Right now the "other auction sites" are right here. They have a relatively constant number of buyers, making a relatively constant number of bids, on an increasing number of auctions. As the growth rate in number of listings outpaces the growth rate in the number of bids, the sell-through rate declines.
Now let's assume that WackyAuctions has a constant 1% sell-through rate.
Week Two:
99 relisted auctions + 100 new auctions - 2 auctions sold = 197 auctions remaining.
Week Three:
197 relisted auctions + 100 new auctions - 3 auctions sold = 294 auctions remaining.
Week Four:
294 relisted auctions + 100 new auctions - 4 auctions sold = 390 auctions remaining.
So now what has happened?
WackyAuctions again has extraordinary growth, soaring from 100 auctions to 390 auctions, or 290%. As defined the sell-through rate was a constant 1%, but they need an increase of 300% in the number of bids to maintain that level. Relisted auctions were 50% of the total in week two and 75% of the total in week four.
Everything seems to be just about the same, except that to maintain the sell-through rate either the fixed number of buyers must dramatically increase their bidding activity, or the auction site must attract a signficant number of new buyers.
So far that hasn't happened.
[ edited by dimview on May 30, 2001 06:37 PM ]
posted on May 30, 2001 06:00:42 PM new
You can throw out all the numbers you'd like to confuse the issue... bottom line is several days ago Bidville had approximately 612,000 auctions running. We are now sitting at 622,400 and I have watched the figures rise ~steadily~ in this time. It has nothing to do with relists. The math isn't there to support your figures. It couldn't have taken a week to ten days for everyone to resubmit with all that auto re-listing going on, so it stands to reason that the majority of the increase is due to new listings.
The traffic is improving as the word gets out. Bidville is what Yahoo used to be and there's a very good reason for that. It has nothing to do with listing fee's. It has to do with people. A lot of us grew up on Yahoo & eBay... now take all that knowledge and experience and you have a pretty powerful developing entity. Good Luck to all the rest... BIDVILLE IS THE BEST!
posted on May 30, 2001 06:11:54 PM new
dimview ... about the 75% - makes more sense now
cuff - I don't do numbers, but if you have been around BidVille since Day 1 (I have), and if you happened to look at the 130-odd listings in the movies/television/memorablia category back in January, I can tell you that the 130-odd listings in that category right now are the exact same items as they were almost 5 months ago. The only thing that has changed is the closing dates. With 99 automatic and free relists, these same items will be here this time next year!
These 130-odd items are included in that 622K figure. So, what does that mean?
I don't think BidVille's growing number is any indication of a successful site. It would be like McDonald's changing their advertisting to read "billions made, eleven served".
I don't believe Ed and Jenn think it means anything either - they appear to have abandoned their baby (maybe Ed went back to doctor school)
posted on May 30, 2001 06:30:58 PM new
cuff >
You can throw out all the numbers you'd like to confuse the issue... bottom line is several days ago Bidville had approximately 612,000 auctions running.
Ummmm, then look at it this way.
eBay has a sell-through rate reported to be around 30%.
If Bidville had the same sell-through rate there would be some 200,000 auctions successfully closing every week. If they managed a sell-through rate of 15% they would successfully close 100,000 auctions every week.
They have a constantly increasing auction count because the overwhelming majority (98-99%?)of them are relisted over and over again, with a couple thousand new auctions tacked on every week.
It couldn't have taken a week to ten days for everyone to resubmit with all that auto re-listing going on, so it stands to reason that the majority of the increase is due to new listings.
Then go to any category and click on the "closed auctions" tab, because I'd sure like an explanation as to why there are only one or two or a few closed auctions in all the categories.
posted on May 30, 2001 06:40:47 PM new
Yeah! And as more & more people find out about Bidville they're going to see quite the selection! An increase in listings is an increase in listings... whether you "tack" them on or not. Goodnite
posted on May 30, 2001 06:50:07 PM new
I sure hope those buyers show up en masse real soon, because right now my e-mail program is gearing up for yet another round of "your item has been relisted" messages from ALL alternative auction sites.
I might have to get a water-cooled computer because it seems like its ready to overheat when the hard drive spins like crazy downloading all those messages week after week.
posted on May 30, 2001 07:33:53 PM new
Dimview, I have always followed your post and felt you were fair. I understand you sell on Epier and that is fine I wish you luck. But to compair Epier to Bidville is a little much, Bidville has alot more listings yes some catagories dominate the site. But the same is true with Epier. Both sites have alot of X-BooHoo members and now Ebay members are checking us out. If a seller from Epier or Bidville would say Hey I am doing great and am happy with my sales why try and make them out to be a full of it. I expect negative comments from RB that is his style. Bidvilles listings have been going up a average of 1,200 new listings aday. I learned from Dimview and have been keeping track. So that tells me we have alot of new items comeing all the time. I for one had 12 auctions close already this week with bids 7 in the mail with paypal and I am not the only one selling thats just me. If Bidville was getting no new listings then they would fall off not move ahead 1+1=2.
posted on May 30, 2001 08:36:49 PM new
Bidville's sell-through rate, when I last did the math, was between 0.1% and 0.2%, so that of 622,000 current auctions there are somewhere between 622 and 1,244 auctions closing successfully each week right now. That, of course, assumes the sell-through rate is the same as a week or so ago.
So relisted auctions comprise >99% of all auctions and explains why there are so few closed auctions in the 2,153 categories.
I'd like nothing more than to see one, or even better two, of these "other online auctions" evolve into some real competition to eBay, but the numbers just are not there right now.
Of course, these are AVERAGES. It makes sense that some sellers will do better, others worse. And I'm the perfect example of that. In addition to eBay, I have items listed on BidBay, Bidville, and ePier. Since I get few pageviews and ZERO bidders and NO SALES, that means someone else is getting a few pageviews, some bidders and some sales.
posted on May 30, 2001 11:17:47 PM new
I do advertising for bidville while having fun at the same time. I created the yahoo user name www_bidville_com and play card games like spades and canasta during my freetime or while i'm waiting for ebay's pic services to load.
posted on May 31, 2001 04:43:26 AM new
I'm posting most of my auctions on Yahoo! now because of Ebay. Ebay is now a joke. They are driving sellers away in droves.
Where can sellers go? If they are using a service like AuctionWatch, there isn't that much choice.
I find items listed on Yahoo! take longer to sell, but do sell, and usually for a savings on fees compared to Ebay. I like the fact that fees are refunded for non-paying bidders. I like the fact that PayDirect is still free.
I only hope that Yahoo!'s new CEO has the intelligence to jump on this opportunity as posted in other threads posted on this board.
posted on May 31, 2001 07:11:23 AM new
It looks like we finally got the answer to why Bidville isn't advertising. According to Cuff, if they are free, we shouldn't expect them to advertise!
Huh?
Are they or are they not in business? Do businesses not have a marketing plan?
For that matter, doesn't BV have various bells and whistles that sellers DO pay for? Hence, they are not a completely free site.
As for how to advertise on a budget, a move in the right direction would simply be to get out there and try to get some press. An article in any major newspaper or magazine, even just a blurb, would raise visibility. People would check it out and stay if they found anything they wanted.
Noone's going to show up if they have never heard of the site.
posted on May 31, 2001 08:45:39 AM new
keziak ... makes sense to me, and this has nothing to do with favourites or negative attitudes. It is simply a fact of business ... the old "squeaky wheel gets the grease" thing if you like ...
posted on May 31, 2001 12:53:32 PM new
Thanks for updated stats Dimview. Depending on how much active bidding I see in a given category on my listing days I'll list a little or a lot. If other sellers do the same that could explain some of the fluctuation.
cuff's an enthusiastic newbie who just registered at BV May 15th. Perhaps if BV advertised she would have heard of the place before then.
"You can throw out all the numbers you'd like to confuse the issue."
Hmmmm, I thought the issue was sales to listings ratio for judging the success of a site. On that front BV could hardly be called successful, in fact they are far from becoming a viable auction site for a serious seller. That's not negativity, it's realism based on studying the closed lists since the place opened. Yes, some stuff sells there but it's quite rare to spot anything closing for more than $2-3. No one will be happier than me to see that improve and I hope it happens very soon.
A site depending on its users to tell their friends, neighbors & customers about it is hardly a solid marketing plan. Nobody ever told me about eBay, I heard about it on TV and saw their banners & icons all over the web. Nobody ever told me about Yahoo, I simply clicked the auctions link from the Yahoo.com page I regularly used for web searches. BV has to get their name out there somewhere because there are millions of people who don't know anyone associated with the online auction biz to hear about it from.
