posted on April 9, 2002 09:32:29 AM new
Even though I am really down on Yahoo right now, the sad thing is, we don't dare give up on Yahoo completely. Yahoo is the only alternative online auction site that is worth a damn and I'm beginning to think that it will be the only alternative to Ebay for a long time to come.
Ebay needs some competition. They are already full of themselves as it is.
What the hell happened to Amazon? I noticed the discussion board here is completely dead..
posted on April 9, 2002 02:06:25 PM new
With Yahoo you can list 100 items that start at less than a $10 start bid for only $5. You only need to make a $5 profit on one item to get the listing fees back on all 100 items.
Yahoo is nothing like ebay in terms of traffic or bids. Sellers must adjust to that situation by placing a start bid at least at the minimum price they want as the odds are very good that first bid is the only bid they will every get on the item. A free 'Buy It Now' option allows sells to set the Buy Price a little higher or at the start price to allow bidders to not have to wait up to 10 days for their item. Sellers can use Yahoo Auctions much like a store and much cheaper than any internet store.
The worst problem I have with Yahoo, is that sellers don't list their highly desirable items. They don't do this because they are not going to get the bids that they would on Ebay. A lack of highly desirable items on Yahoo means less buyers and less buyers mean less sales.
I search Yahoo for stuff to buy all of the time and seldom find anything I'm interested in.
The only way that Yahoo is going to be a viable alternative to Ebay is if sellers start listing their best stuff. Then the buyers will come..
posted on April 10, 2002 01:24:30 PM new
Many sellers do what I do and list on Yahoo the items that fail to get any eBay bids. On eBay, like Yahoo, the second listing is free if the item sells but it's a much bigger gamble on eBay so I usually just list the item on Yahoo and if doesn't sell then it is in my inventory for the next Free Listing Day.
Most third tier sites are the same way. Items that wouldn't sell on eBay because of prices that are too high. After a while it is not worth even looking on the third tier sites because both selection and prices are not near what can be found on eBay. A collector of very unusual items might find it worth the time but the average auction user probably not bother with those sites after a few visits. The vast majority of sales on the third tier sites are sellers buying from sellers on the same site.
Of course, the niche sites are an exception.
posted on April 11, 2002 01:24:28 AM new
Yahoo is like those old dying malls we see in every city. Stores constantly come and go, originally attracted to the low rent. But, the mall has abslutely no way it can attract the huge traffic away from the big mall. With enough gimmicks though it will hold on, but most of the stores will not for long.
An alternative that seems to work well in the B&M world would be to have a strip mall with a major anchor. In internet jargon, that could mean taking for example Disney, and and a maximum 1000 big sellers with a min 100 auctions each a week. They would sell related items that target the same market as the anchor.
That, I feel, is the only strong alternative we could ever see.
