posted on April 27, 2000 08:19:26 PM new
Until the events of the last month, I think you really could make the argument that Yahoo was the best.
Out of all the new "improvements", only the inclusion of winners emails directly in Yahoo's EOA messages strikes me as remotely
beneficial. It is the same old story of ignoring the seller's needs in favor of marketing gimmicks.
Bottom line - eBay is clearly back on top. Yes, they charge, but they deliver. (No, I'm not a big eBay cheerleader, just trying to look at things fairly)
posted on April 28, 2000 06:45:40 AM new
Well there certainly have been some changes, many of which strongly remind me of the pain in the derrière at eBay....
This Gestapo NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH - the limited relist - the Promo costs....SAD
Obviously, Yahoo doesn't give a darn about what their customers want.
You write with a serious, sincere question, and receive a FORM, which no more answers your question than a man in the moon.
BUT, if you see how few folks who are active on Yahoo actually come to this board to discuss, talk, complain, etc., Of the thousands of buyers & sellers on Yahoo, obviously there is totally apathy regarding Yahoo, and that in itself causes problem, and allows Yahoo to do what it wishes....compare the amount of discussion on the eBay message board to the Yahoo message board....
posted on April 28, 2000 07:11:43 AM new
I thought the Neighbouhood Watch was due. I see too many spam auctions pretty much leading to the sellers web site.
I have seen too many auctions with $1 million price tag which is obviously nothing more than trying to get free ads. Now this usually occurs in the Adult section. Other than that, I see no use for the Watch.
We need to get rid of all the junk auctions & I don't mean people selling junk but auctions that aren't really selling anything but looking for free ads.
I don't like to relist 2 times issue. Overall I still use Yahoo Auctions a lot. It has better features than any of ther auction site & its fairly simple. Agreed there are nagging complexities such as the 'BUY' price fiasco in which an inexperience user can get really confuse (emphasize inexperience).
I still use eBay & must agree that I get more hits & bids in eBay. I go where the buyers are & it looks like eBay is still leading the pack there.
posted on April 28, 2000 03:12:31 PM new
Until the end of Feb. I would have agreed it was the best. Yahoo has gone downhill fast. They have so many technical problems and absolutely zero customer service to deal with issues. I don't know if it's true but I'm told ANY letters sent to them are not even read by a real person. A computer searches the words you use and spits out a standard response keying off those words. No wonder none of the form letters I receive never address the specific issue, most often they have nothing to do with what I wrote.
Numerous sellers have had problems with disappearing ads, disappearing bidders, not being able to enter feedback, having their auctions killed by NW without good reason, winners with invalid email addresses, items not showing on their closed list for 5-6 days causing them to be very late writing the winners, not receiving any email notice of closed auctions ever etc. I've even heard of sellers clicking MY Auctions-selling and getting the response "you have no listings". They know they are running 100+ ads but have been told every day for 4-5 days they have no listings and are not able to view them.
The worst thing about Yahoo is NO verification of anyones identity. Numerous teens sign up under 50 ID's and bid like crazy as a game and of course never pay. Yahoo does nothing about deadbeats, they don't even do anything about sellers who take your money and never deliver. They have the highest fraud rate of ANY on line auction site.
What JWPC said about apathy is true. I am in constant contact with many other Yahoo sellers but if I start griping about Yahoo they say "You have no right to complain about it because it's FREE!" I don't believe that-- I would complain loud and long to Yahoo themselves but unfortunately, no one there is listening.
I moved all my Yahoo ads to eBay last month and have done very well. I raised the opening bids enough to cover fees & commissions and had no problem selling. These were all ads I had run on Yahoo repeatedly for months. I knew there were buyers somewhere and I'm glad I finally found them. If you browse many of the categories on Yahoo you see very little bid activity lately (especially compared to what it was a few months ago). All the ads seem much higher priced too, perhaps sellers trying to make up their losses for having to hold on to inventory so long. Yahoo used to be full of deals, now I could buy much of the stuff cheaper at my local mall. It's a shame, mostly because it was so good once but I'm just not interested in buying OR selling at Yahoo anymore.
[ edited by kasmoon on Apr 28, 2000 03:24 PM ]
posted on April 29, 2000 02:31:02 PM new
i agree yahoo used to be the best auction house but sadly it isnt anymore due to the deadbeats,and the glithes as well as no "real" customer support staff i have started listing on ebay and have done quite well i still post some on yahoo but no bids thus far
posted on April 29, 2000 02:50:33 PM new
I think the glitches really got me, I was so peeved that I had a repeat customer who I could not leave feedback for over 2 months, and of course the usual canned responses. I don't list anything on yahoo anymore, how do you know if what you are seeing is accurate in any sense ? Folks report auctions and bids disappear ? If I was a bidder, I'd be pretty frustrated.
posted on April 30, 2000 05:00:56 AM new
I must be pretty lucky, For about a year now i have been selling yahoo. I do have these problems or have had no trouble with yahoo auctions. I have a rateing of 55 all good sold twice that though. I've had about a half dozen dead beats, not to many. I think I've only had 1 or 2 weeks where i was not selling anything back a couple months ago. I can't really complain so far. After all, for free i think yahoo does pretty good. At all the exspence you have to pay at ebay i find there customer service no better at all.
posted on May 6, 2000 09:17:43 AM new
Well, even with the problems and there are definitely problems on Yahoo -
Lack of Customer Service
Automated Pat Responses that do not answer one's question
Neighborhood Watch
The new only 2 time relist
I have recently found:Well, even though I am VERY UNHAPPY about the 2 time relist, and a few other minor things on YAHOO, Being an eBay Power Seller, I am finding that I am using YAHOO more and more and eBay less and less - I am selling more (No not the big prices of eBay) but equal because of the volume I am doing on YAHOO....and I'm not being gouged by the ridiculous eBay fees which I am personally tired of......when I can make equal or more elsewhere without being gouged by eBay - I now only use eBay for high end pieces...
And since I got AUCTION TAMER, I am able to keep fantastic records of my Yahoo auctions, and it has make a total difference, plus adding PayPal - (although we personally take credit cards) we have seen our Dead Beat percentage drop dramatically....almost no Dead Beats...
I think when the winner can immediately pay, they are more likely to take care of their win and pay - since we don't have anyone to answer the phone 24 hours a day and PayPal does, we started offering PayPal along with our own merchant accounts, and now I have had marvelous success with Yahoo Winners Paying.
posted on May 6, 2000 09:19:49 AM new
Speaking of bad e-mail addresses on Yahoo for buyers, in over 400 auctions I have never had a bad address....guess we are fortunate.
Regarding Yahoo not sending the Winner close notice to the Seller, I have had that happen a number of times, BUT it doesn't take but a couple of minutes to check your closed auctions a couple of times a day......if you know Yahoo has this problem, check for yourself....
posted on May 21, 2000 11:31:31 PM new
As long as Yahoo has that lousy aucton SEARCH that brings up unwanted items you're not interested in, Yahoo will never be the BEST. The trend for Yahoo sellers is 1) use a reserve, or 2) high start bids. These are the reasons I shop on Ebay. Yahoo is a reasonable alternative to ebay for sellers because of the free listings, but who could seriously say Yahoo is better? I'd starve if I depended solely on Yahoo.
