posted on December 18, 2001 10:57:12 AM new
I got a notice from Yahoo Warehouse that a sale had been cancelled because I hadn't confirmed it. I went to MY WAREOUUSE and there were 2 more sales waiting to be confirmed. I never got an email notice on any of them, as I should have.
At least the notice Yahoo sends you claiming you didn't confirm and giving you a black mark got to me.
So mow I'm over 30 Warehouse sales, and my rating is -1. The only one who rated me says their 10 cent jewel case was cracked for their $5 computer game (the Cd was fine).
posted on December 18, 2001 10:58:17 AM new
So I wnnt to confirm the other 2 pending orders before they expire....and Yahoo Warehouse "service is currently unavailable."
posted on December 18, 2001 12:30:37 PM new
Sounds like you are not having a very good day!
I really don't know much about the Warehouse. The category I normally sell in can't list in the Warehouse.
I did go check it out and I thought it was rather odd that they had an item listed and it showed the lowest price and highest price that currently was listed with links and then to the side it had where I could buy it NEW and the high and low price!
I found I could buy it new from a company shown with a link, cheaper than the "lowest" price showing for the used item in the Warehouse!
I would think that would make it very difficult to sell a previously owned item if more than one was available and if you weren't the cheapest!
Also, why would anyone buy used when new is available at a cheaper price from a Yahoo Store? Thanks to the way the warehouse page is set up, I get to see that all in one convenient spot!!!!!
Might be a great place to BUY, but I sure wouldn't want to SELL there! LOL
posted on December 18, 2001 03:34:00 PM new
The Yahoo Warehouse is the answer to eBay's Half.com, which you obviously haven't checked out yet.Soon HalDot will be linked to eBay the way Warehouse is to Yahoo Auctions and Stores.
They let sellers choose their own prices. Not their fault if used is more than new. It is their fault how Yahoo can screw things up.
This type of selling makes sense for common mass-produced stuff and has already surpassed listing #'s at HalfDot (over 100,000,000 listings vs. 5,000,000 eBay listings.
Many things that were given to charity and sold in garage sales will now be sold for the benefit of the seller (in theory anyways). However some items that are cheap are not economical to sell, even though people are learning the hard way. A used Video you can buy at Blockbuster for $6 costs to ship. HalfDot gives $2.23 shipping on these, so the seller must figure the buyer won't pay more than $6 total, so his sale price must be under $4. halfDot takes 15% of the sale (Yahoo takes 10%) so there goes another $.40 from a $4 sale. Plus you must wait for the seller to ship Media Mail. What's the chance teenage Barbie, who is selling her old videos with Mom's account, is going to go to the Post Office tomorrow, wait in line for 30 minutes, and ship your video for $.75?
Yet for common Videos, there are often 50 of them offered at $.75 each, HalfDot's minimum.
This is silly and nobody is making money, not even HalfDot or Yahoo.
As for me having a bad day, it got better. I went to the mall looking for a new pair of Denim Jeans, as mine are getting worn and faded. What I found is that mine are in better shape than most of the ones in the mall selling for $65!!. You get better old jeans for $5.00 in the thrift store. And the salesgirl told me I don't need new jeans. Mine are in fashion they way they are.
posted on January 1, 2002 11:51:16 AM new
I have 700 listings in the Yahoo Warehouse and I was thinking of having all them cancelled when I went on a 1 week break at X-mas. That's because Yahoo Warehouse doesn't even have a vacation button (HalfDot and Amazon do).
Then I decided it was their problem, not mne. But the truth was it wasn't anybody's problem. Today I got my first Warehouse sale since December 19.
From what I've seen Yahoo isn't taking the Warehouse seriously. I've seen no improvements since they opened it. One that should be obvious is that buyers are not pushed to rate the sellers so the only ones that do are the complainers. With 32 successful sales now, I have a -1 rating (a cracked jewel case worth $.10) and no returns.
In fact if you look at the sellers ratings at random for any items for sale. the vast majority are rated NEW and nearly all the rest are rated in the negative direction.
This is so bad for business, that Aall I can do is repeat: Yahoo doesn't really care.
In fact if they were smart, Yahoo would forget about all this selling stuff and go after the "social" aspect to the net. Porn, dating, meeting, Yahoo clubs, web cams, etc. is where the potential is. Most of it they have kept hush-hush, but the facts are that the vast amount of money generated by internet activity is in this general area.
posted on January 1, 2002 12:37:48 PM new
Yahoo's dating service costs money now to join.
Yahoo does need a lot of improvements and some serous promotion for it's new Warehouse.
posted on January 1, 2002 01:45:59 PM new
there are folks out there who do not want to buy 'used' items.
on amzn marketplace,if the book is in print and amzn carries it,then all the other sellers have to sell their books as USED.
of course under used-there are used as new,used good,used acceptable etc.
many booksellers sell new copies so they list them as used like new.
but i have found out some customers do not even bother to click the used button to find all these like new books waiting for them,they just go ahead and buy new copies.
i would think same is true for dvd,video etc.
a dirty video can ruin your vcr recorder??same with dvd??a used book which is in poor shape and smelly is not enjoyable to read.
folks,there are customers out there who still have some money in their mattress.
i recently bot a book on half,com,noting 5 buyers complained his book is not like new,i emailed and asked him if the copy is like new.
he said yes,well it is far from like new,WORSE,IT IS NOT EVEN THE SAME BOOK!!
posted on January 1, 2002 02:05:53 PM new
"A used Video you can buy at Blockbuster for $6 costs to ship. HalfDot gives $2.23 shipping on these, so the seller must figure the buyer won't pay more than $6 total, so his sale price must be under $4."
Half gives $1.78 for videos and paperbacks. $2.23 for hardbacks.
Consumers are stupid. Twenty minutes to travel to the video store and back + tax, plus another twenty minutes wasted at store + gas and wear/tear on car + cost of video = appr. $15.70
Half.com: $6 video + $1.78 shipping + time of ten minutes + electricity= appr. $9.82.
Consumers should value a Half video in relativity to a $6 video at video store for $11.88.
Now, we know consumers are master of the obvious. They wait in long lines at gas stations to get the cheapest gas in town, but their gross expense is higher than if they bought the gas at the most expensve gas in town because there's no wait in line burning gas and wasting time. Therefore, this is not an example of consumers calculating in risk when paying less on Half, they are merely observing the obvious that a $6 video is cheaper at the store, and not aware their total expense is lower on Half.
This is why B&M stores will be around for a long time.
posted on January 1, 2002 04:09:25 PM new
at b& m store,you can see what you are buying,in cyberspace you see a picture of what you are buying.
<br />
you can always return to the b & m store,but a cyber seller may not be around next week or next day.<br />
most important,you dont have to wait for days to have the item
[ edited by stopwhining on Jan 1, 2002 04:11 PM ]
posted on January 1, 2002 05:02:48 PM new
"at b& m store,you can see what you are buying,in cyberspace you see a picture of what you are buying.
you can always return to the b & m store,but a cyber seller may not be around next week or next day.
most important,you dont have to wait for days to have the item"
True, but if you look at all the transactions that go through on the web, you will often see consumers paying same or more for an item. Last year I saw game boys sell for the same as in stores. PS1 were selling upwards to twice retail. I sold new items on ebay for 10x retail.
That's what I was trying to show in my previous post, consumers don't necessarily quantify risk when making a purchase online.
As we look at items that sell for less than retail, online, why do consumers pay more retail on some items and less for others? The items that sell for less online don't have an urgency to own, meaning people just want the lowest price. If they can get a video in the store for $6 and on Half for total w/ shipping at $4, they'll buy on Half. They won't pay $6 on Half because there's no extra value than what they get from the store.
posted on January 4, 2002 07:23:53 PM new
glad to know about this.
<br />
I just listed some books at Warehouse, I will remove them and remain with Amazon and Half.com.
Your observations about Half.com are perceptive, but it depends.
If the book or video is out of print, priceless, hard to find, it will sell in a heartbeat.
I just sold an "out of print" book for $90 at Amazon.
<br />
<br />
[ edited by LiW48 on Jan 4, 2002 07:28 PM ]
