posted on October 6, 2001 05:55:43 PM new
We took a break from auctions for a while. We put a few up this past moth. The vast majority of our bidders have been "New" or in single digit feedback. I have no problem with new bidders, I'm just wondering where all the older bidders went. Have other seen this lately or is this just a strange run of new bidders. Is it that nobody is staying around anymore?
posted on October 7, 2001 06:11:36 AM new
I think a lot of people have discovered the 'universal search'. I have lots of new bidders as well, but most of the time, it is for some standard item like Coke, troll, mattel,cobalt, etc.
That means it is more important than ever to put all the important descriptive words in your title so that your item shows up when they do the search!
posted on October 8, 2001 08:04:57 PM new
How new is new? I finally broadened my horizons and started listing on Yahoo in July. Sales are slow but steady & although I've had quite a few sales, my feedback is still single digit. Kind of frustrating trying to build a reputation here when no one leaves fb. (sigh)
Takes a little extra work, but you might try a couple of techniques that I have used to get more people to leave feedback. The first takes a little work. Last year when there was a limit on the number of listings that you could list based on feedback, I used to keep track of those who had not left feedback. When it was about two weeks after I mailed the cards, I would e-mail the bidder again to thank them for their purchase and politely ask if they would leave feedback. Found that it worked in about 50% of the time.
Currently in my e-mail that I send when I mail the cards, I tell the bidder that I am leaving positive feedback and ask that they do the same when they receive the cards. I have found that this works well to get a higher % of feedback.
posted on October 8, 2001 08:52:00 PM new
I've got two new bidders right now myself. I was wondering where they came from. Hopefully, this is the tip of the iceberg coming from renewed promotional efforts on Yahoo's network.
BTW, I had a new bidder that was very temperamental - of course they will remain nameless. This bidder was new.
I have paraphrased the following Q and A. The bidder used the Question and Answer feature at Yahoo to ask a question - "Will you email the card number?" (This auction was for a phone card). I replied with "Yes I will email it to you, as I state in my auction listing."
Then, the bidder asked another question in a few days after that, stating "I am cancelling my bid. You seem to be unhelpful because you said 'As I state in my auction listing ...' You have bad manners for a seller.".
So, of course, at Yahoo the bidder cannot cancel their bid. I would rather not give this bidder any opportunity to email me directly or leave feedback, so I did indeed cancel the bid and blacklisted the bidder. Since I did that, this person's ID no longer appears in any publicly visible way related to my auctions- so I don't consider this to identify the bidder.
I just can't see what is so unhelpful about indicating the desired information was already present - in the listing I had bolded the words "free shipping" in two different places. If a bidder had read the text surrounding those words, they would learn I was willing to ship the number free by email after receipt of payment. Does anyone think I acted inappropriately? I figured since the bidder indicated a desire to cancel the bid, I basically just did what was asked of me.
In any case, I am super happy right now - I was online this morning about 5 am local time (and usually, I would be sleeping). I had a BIN, and the winning bidder sent an instant message via Yahoo Messenger to get my PayPal ID and I had money in my account within 15 or 20 minutes after the BIN! Talk about a dream transaction!
Myself, I am still in single digit feedback because I'm getting started, and because it appears Yahoo bidders just don't leave feedback as much as bidders at other sites. I hate to press the issue, as I feel FB ought to be mostly unsolicited.
Yahoo ID: grantje
posted on October 9, 2001 04:22:08 AM new
I haven't had much problem getting feedback. I do wish they would let feedback count for each purchase. I have some buyers who have bought dozens of things from me, been pleased, and still I only get one point for them!
posted on October 9, 2001 08:23:00 AM new
Hi Stavecards...always nice to see your posts. Yes, that's something I already do, and it works well on Bidville, Amazon, Carnaby, and ebaY. But for some reason it just doesn't seem to work for me on Yahoo. As posted earlier it frustrating, but I don't plan to let a lack of FB bother me, I know I offer great service and product, so it will come eventually.
I also enjoy seeing your posts. It is puzzling to me why you don't get similar feedback results on Yahoo. May just have something to do with the categories. My only conjecture is that books may attract more of the inexperienced auction buyers who come over from one of the other Yahoo services. Since Yahoo is much more than an auction site (or even shopping site), I believe you see more short term auction buyers at Yahoo who don't understand all of the finer points of auctions.
posted on October 9, 2001 09:16:09 PM new
You know that makes sense, stavecards - they are new buyers directed from totally non-auction areas on Yahoo. I sell videos, so I think it's the same thing - buyers must be coming to the video area from entertainment oriented parts of Yahoo's network.
Something else that pops into my head is that even experienced buyers (but who are not sellers and not auction experts) may perceive Yahoo Auctions to be more like Yahoo Shopping - in a way that's good - it makes the buyer's experience a bit more familiar and they may feel it is a comfortable website to be on. Whereas other seperate auction sites, that only do auctions, might feel more like a "different world" and therefore a buyer would feel a need to learn more before bidding/buying.
Yahoo ID: grantje
