VeryModern
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posted on June 21, 2000 05:09:47 PM new
A few more bits for Yahoo newbies who may be migrating over here.
Do not use the quote symbol to denote "inches" in your auction title. When you do, the rest of the title
(everything after the quote symbol which I cannot use without making a yellow smiley)
falls off when your auction posts. It looks like this:
Rare and Fabulous 12"
We Yahoos don't know why, we just know.
Yahoo also does not like ALL CAPS IN A TITLE. You Can Have SOME Caps but NOT All or they will edit your auction title which is why you see "Nr" all over Yahoo XXl instead of XXL for a size.
If you do not upload the pics to yahoo itself you do not get a thumbnail. Someone posted here awhile back that they did not think it was important but I think it is critical.
I have fast access (and more people do everyday) so the first thing I do when scanning Yahoo is click "show pics only" and if the auction does not have a thumbnail it doesn't exist on the screen and so it's not really buyable.
[ edited by VeryModern on Jun 21, 2000 05:40 PM ]
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porcelaingirl
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posted on June 21, 2000 07:13:35 PM new
VeryModern,
Thanks SO MUCH for all the great info, I just posted my first few auctions on Yahoo, and did not know ANY of that... VERY helpful, thank you!!!!!
PG
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VeryModern
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posted on June 21, 2000 07:58:58 PM new
You are quite welcome - here are some more.
Your auction title can be much longer in comparison to ebay, plenty of room to spell "inches". I never counted, but I think it is probably twice as long as what is allowable on ebay.
Always put your email in your auction listings so people can contact you. There is no way to pull user info like ebay and the question feature is not always reliable.
You will get not get any bidders emails unless the auction closes successfully, in which case you will get them all. If you want to reach someone try [email protected], this will work about 1/2 the time. You should set up your own yahoo mail also for this same reason. You can have it forwarded to your regular mail very simply under "options".
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porcelaingirl
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posted on June 21, 2000 08:20:34 PM new
VeryModern... A million times THANK YOU!
Didn't realize either of those things. The extra space in the title could come in very handy! And I totaly didn't realize that on Yahoo the bidder doesn't have a "e-mail seller" option to my email address like eBay does, I will definitely add an "email me" to my description!
You're awesome. 
PG
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granee
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posted on June 21, 2000 10:52:02 PM new
In addition to resticting the use of capital letters in titles on Yahoo Auction listings, they also restrict the use of punctuation marks (periods . commas , question marks ? and signs & quotation marks ( ) etc. You can see your finished title when you review your listing page, and go back to eliminate punctuation marks and capital letters until you "find" the limit allowed. (If you don't understand what I mean, type a long title in all caps, review it--the caps will be gone--and hit "back" to make some of them lower case letters, review, until the finished title has the mix of caps and lowercase that you want. Same thing with punctuation.
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VeryModern
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posted on June 22, 2000 08:30:17 AM new
Here's another.
If you upload a pic to a Yahoo auction and it does not sell or you have mulitples, however tempting, DO NOT NOT NOT link the pic in a ebay auction using Yahoo auction space.
This will get you an enormous banner ad for Yahoo in your ebay auction which gets ebay mighty bumpy. Magically your auction pic will still show up in your Yahoo auction which is a neat trick really.
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porcelaingirl
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posted on June 22, 2000 09:11:46 AM new
granee, so THAT'S why one of my titles was all screwy! I had used some quotation marks and such, and when I uploaded the auction, all the punctation was gone and the title looked silly and didn't make sense. I didn't understand why, now I know!!
VeryModern, I will be sure not to give into the temptation... Maybe I'll stock up on the chocolate just in case! LOL
PG
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granee
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posted on June 22, 2000 10:20:42 PM new
Yes, too many punctuation marks will eliminate ALL punctuation from your finished title, and too many caps will make a screwy mix of caps and lower case letters. Just go back and keep eliminating the "offending" digits one by one until the title looks good on your review page. After awhile you'll have a "feel" for what you can put in the title and get away with without going "back" to make changes over and over and over again.
Incidentally, I didn't know that quotation marks won't work AT ALL in a title....guess I've never tried to USE them. Thanks for the tip, VeryModern!
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heygrape
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posted on June 22, 2000 10:37:38 PM new
VeryModern--Wow! So much info! Thank you SO MUCH! I use " for inches all the time! It's a good thing you told us about that. And everything else too!
Thank you!!
Grapey
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VeryModern
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posted on June 23, 2000 05:03:36 AM new
granee, grapey - just a clarification. Quotation marks may work I can't rememeber off the top if my head, but 1 quotation mark definitely cuts everything following it.
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porcelaingirl
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posted on June 23, 2000 06:23:51 AM new
VeryModern, you're right... I have a couple of auction titles with a "word" in quotation marks and they are fine. I think probably when you use it as inches, such as 16" doll, their system maybe looks for the end quotation mark, doesn't find it, and screws up the rest of the title...
I am really enjoying the fact that on Yahoo I have have a much longer description!  No sales yet, but it's only been a week. I am now trying the "BUY PRICE", I like the "1st bid wins" you suggested, I'll let you know how it goes!
Does anyone else get a little nervous though about the fact that the "Buy Price" option is working well for a lot of sellers because people want to buy stuff right away and don't want to wait for the auction to end? I mean, if buyers are getting tired of the auction process, what's going to happen to the future of online auctions?? 
PG
[ edited by porcelaingirl on Jun 23, 2000 06:28 AM ]
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VeryModern
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posted on June 23, 2000 11:08:21 AM new
my opinion regarding buy price vs auctions is if you can go to Ebay and find 5 of them up for bid and 8 more ended, there is no need for an auction. Just price it at the going rate 1 bid wins and it will sell.
Sweet and simple, and people love it.
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kasmoon
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posted on June 23, 2000 11:53:20 AM new
Hi VeryModern, It's been awhile since I used " in a title, as I recall it accepts it fine the first run of the ad but all text after the " disappears on resubmittals. If you use auto-resub then you would have to cancel the ad to fix the title. When you manually re-sub you can refill the remainder of your title each time but it is a hassle.
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hawkwand
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posted on June 23, 2000 09:58:26 PM new
Kasmoon is correct. The resubmissions get truncated. The original listing looks fine.
Put your e-mail in your profile and have the bidder look you up. You get to be more personal there. Leave your description to desscribing the item.
Buy price works because the bidder knows s/he won't be outbid. They can just buy the dang thing!
Love Tom - hawkwand on Yahoo.
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radh
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posted on June 24, 2000 03:33:49 PM new
Thanks for providing alla this important information, everybody. U guys are providing true service to the online auction community.
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VeryModern
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posted on July 2, 2000 11:51:52 AM new
Posting to bring this UP for the newest newbies and to add another tip.
It is worth considering listing your auction for 5 or 7 days rather than 10 and relisting (if necessary) more often, in order to improve position in the search results.
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VeryModern
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posted on July 3, 2000 03:07:59 AM new
You can click on the rain cloud / bad feedback and all the negs will show on one page. No more searching.
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wallypog
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posted on July 3, 2000 11:53:12 AM new
Thanks bunches! Great tips here. That all-caps thing should really take care of all the sellers who haven't found the shift key yet, shouldn't it? LOL
One concern I've had about putting my e-mail addy public in auction listings is that it seems to attract spamming from e-mail harvesters. Anyone ever have a problem with this? That's one feature I love about eBay. If I get spam at that account I know where it came from since I use it strictly for eBay, and have an account strictly for Yahoo!.
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granee
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posted on July 3, 2000 03:09:15 PM new
VeryModern,
I didn't know you could click on a person's bad feedback "cloud" (at the top of the page, next to their feedback box) and see ALL their bad feedback at once. I've been going through page after page after page of a person's feedback to see their negative comments!!!! How long has this been available????????
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VeryModern
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posted on July 3, 2000 03:17:32 PM new
Long time granee, isn't just the bomb?
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reston_ray
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posted on July 5, 2000 01:52:13 PM new
Great info. We may have to keep pulling this thread to the top.
I have a question. I've been selling some new items at YAHOO that I have in quanity. They either automatically relist or I resubmit the listing after a sale.
I recently realized that the images in three seperate listings are not showing. I do not know when the images disappeared but they were there for several months. If I go thru the "manage your auction" link, as if I'm changing the description, the screen still shows that the image URL is assigned to that listing but it does not show when you view the auction.
I can easily cut and paste to a new auction listing, reload the image from my computer and be back with a new listing but I would like to know why this happened.
I think these are some of the first listings I put on YAHOO (over six months ago) and wonder if they clear images from their storage after a certain time even if they may still be being used in a listing.
No big deal but just another one of those head scratchers.
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reston_ray
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posted on July 5, 2000 02:48:37 PM new
I know I can delete the old image and add a new one thru the "edit auction description" function instead of starting a new listing.
Any approach to regaining the image solves my problem but I'm still interested in knowing why the images disappeared. It would help me avoid or work within the limitations in the future.
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magazine_guy
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posted on July 29, 2000 05:15:47 PM new
Good tips! More!
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VeryModern
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posted on July 29, 2000 05:28:49 PM new
magazine_guy - thank you.
Read deeper for more. Several of us have written our hearts out on this forum.
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labbie1
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posted on August 9, 2000 10:40:43 AM new
GREAT THREAD! Thank you so much guys! More MORE!
PS, I usually don't use ALL CAPS, but I just thought that if I were actually there, I would have shouted that, so...
Up to the top!
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MaddieNicks
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posted on August 9, 2000 12:24:35 PM new
Very helpful! I'm off to read more of these threads before I take the high dive....
Kris
[email protected]
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VeryModern
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posted on August 14, 2000 03:07:02 PM new
up
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bopkh
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posted on August 15, 2000 04:05:51 PM new
VeryModern:...I had know idea you could click on the cloud and see the bad feedback. I, like granee, was muddling through all those pages trying to find it! Thanks for the tips! See what a learned!
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granee
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posted on August 17, 2000 01:37:56 AM new
reston_ray,
In answer to your question about the photos that sometimes aren't there when you relist...Yahoo seems to be deleting uploaded photos of closed auctions after a certain time period (or perhaps those that were uploaded before a software change?). Just click on "Upload Photos" and upload it again. If your EARLIER uploaded photo (of the same image, placed when you first listed the auction) is still listed, you'll see a DIFFERENCE in the number Yahoo assigns to it in front of your photo name. Delete that first image (even though it's not showing, it may count as one of your 3 images), click "Done", and you'll see the name of the newest uploaded image on your submitting page.
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radodge
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posted on August 24, 2000 08:03:48 PM new
There is a way to get someone's email if they have a Paypal link in their auction. Just click on the link, and it will take you to Paypal, click on sign up now, whether you are a member or not, and their email will be at the bottom of the page under referring member.
Sometimes you can also right click on the link in the auction, and their email address will be at the end of the link, if they have copied their own html from Paypal.
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