I've been reading almost every post here with great interest. I've been selling on eBay for the past few months off and on, but am seriously thinking about expanding my horizons, LOL.
I see a lot of great advice here on how to sell, but am wondering what exactly it is you all sell?
I don't specialize in anything--mostly odd collectibles and books. From reading here it doesn't sound like books do well there at all, but does anyone else sell just odds and ends and have any success at it? Or do you all sell "new" items, or the hot sellers like computer equipment and digital cameras?
Any help would be appreciated as I am afraid that my variety of "flea market" items may only go over on eBay and no where else.
posted on June 29, 2000 06:20:17 PM new
Selling books at any of the various auction venues is most problematic --- it has nuthin' to do with Yahoo!
You see, nowadays, almost every single title ever published is available for sale, somewhere online, and so not only is almost every single title online, it can be found in DOZENS of duplicates, LOL1
However, that said, I must tell you that OBVIOUSLY YahooAuctions! is considered to be great by some bookdealers, cuz elsewise we sure wouldn't be seeing NONE of those rare~rare~rare books up for huction at Yahoo! and they are receiving bids.
posted on June 29, 2000 07:33:08 PM new
I thank you so far for your answering my questions.
radh, I only sell "special" books, you see. I am not a "book seller" but usually come across a few things that fetch a pretty penny for my investment.
I have spent some time looking through the various categories and it seems like very little picks up bids, but probably because as pointed out on this board of the Buy Price and First Bid Wins features. That is a very interesting approach, indeed, and could possibly work for some things I sell.
Overall, though, I enjoy the auction. I really love being able to pick up a yard sale goodie for 25-cents, start it out at a buck and watch the bids fly! I don't know the "value" of most things I sell, believing fully people will pay what something is worth to them. The only problem is that on a site where bidding activity may be low this type of thing doesn't work very well.
Believe me, I am appreciative of any input I can receive here. I am becoming more and more saddened by what is happening at eBay and feel the time has definately come to look for other options of putting the icing on my cake.
[ edited by wallypog on Jun 29, 2000 07:33 PM ]
posted on June 29, 2000 08:24:07 PM new
I consider most of my books to be banal retail items.
The ones that I consider to be *special* -- I just wanna find a Good Home for.
Really!
I am essentially a book-luver, not bookdealer and I adore reading. However, it is my luv of reading and also the extent of my reading (plus alotta jobs clerking in alotta bookstores) that made it pretty easy to be an online seller of books. lol!
posted on June 30, 2000 09:14:21 AM new
The bidding I've noticed is kind of erratic, but we are getting new people everyday that are bidding on things. I have listed things twice before and gotten maybe 20 page views, then this past week I sold the same item, had over 30 bids and 180 page views with nothing different in the listing.
The best thing about Yahoo is, if it doesn't sell, relist it, it costs you nothing. Ebay will wring you dry before you can make any money on it.
posted on June 30, 2000 11:41:08 AM new
Saxkid, thank you for taking the time to reply! Actually, my profit margin on eBay has been nothing short of astounding (100% to 3000%) and much of my stuff has moved very quickly there (others not at all, LOL)--I can't complain about that in the least. Unfortunately, with bidding being down and all I've got to either expand or something because I would like to have some extra money BEFORE the fall rush. (Also, every time I think about eBay I get a horrible feeling in the pit of my gut--I do not like it when this happens--it generally spells out impending doom. I only wish I knew where a crystal ball was so I could see which site is going to step in to take the best P2P spot on the web.)
I in no way make a living off of this, but it fills out the cake and adds a little icing as well.
I still prefer the auction format, but if more and more people step up to Yahoo! it eventually could become an auction again where you could start out almost anything with a dollar bid and watch the price go through the roof. Oh, what fun!
Here's what I have noticed about Yahoo lately. From my experience as both Bidder and Seller.
We used to carry a lot of early bids when we first started. My only complaint was to many people forgot to pay (deadbeats). Lately we carry almost no early bids maybe two or three (sometimes more) and 4 or 5 people per week bid the buy price on our items.
From the point of view of the buyer it seems that Yahoo is becoming an online flea market (first bid wins) where the seller sets the value of the item instead of an auction site. I personally like the low opening bid approach. Just in case the item somehow slips buy un-noticed and I can get a real bargain. This could be why many of the bidders seem to have left.
Our sales on Ebay have picked up a lot over the last few days (past week). One day we sold 100% of our listings (many items with multiple bids) and have averaged between 80 - 90 percent on other days. I'm not saying this is not possible with Yahoo but I haven't seen it for myself. I'm also watching other sellers to see what kind of results they have. Use your watch list and auction alerts to see what kind of results others are having it is very revealing and you will defintely get a feel for the site.
posted on June 30, 2000 03:03:09 PM new
Hi wallypog, I agree with you that yahoo is more of an online flea market and also that you can get a deal on ebay now and then.
I used to be one of those ebay sellers that you could get a deal from, but I got sick of the very low profit I gleaned when the bidder got a deal and I paid ebay on top of that. Dealers can't continue to hunt stuff up, pack it up and ship it so that buyers can buy it so cheaply you wish you'd have kept it yourself. This scenario happens more often all the time which is why we are at Yahoo and MAKING money.
The deals will dry up at Ebay, watch and see. I am highly changeable, always have my eye on the new, and so I bolted with the reserve fee. Some people are stubborn and can endure far more pain before they too decide that it's not worth it. At that point, some will switch and others would rather quit than switch and so that's what they'll do.
In the not so distant future, hopefully Yahoo will resemble a flea market even more. A place where deals can be had now and then, off sellers who don't know what they have, and boy oh boy will you be happy for "one bid wins" and BUY PRICE then. See I figure ebay has 4 point whatever auctions and Yahoo has 2 point whatever and by Christmas it may very well be 3 million at each. The distinction will be the buy price, and I reeeally think people prefer it. The news about shilling is reason enough alone.
C'mon over to the Yahoo flea market, let the Sotherby's crowd have Ebay.
posted on June 30, 2000 05:40:46 PM new
"At that point, some will switch and others would ratherquit than switch and so that's what they'll do."
~ ~ ~
I think you're right on with this; however, I feel alotta people will quit not because they refuse to switch, but rather from burnt out disgust & frustration, in sheer distaste.
And in 3-D life I know plenty of people who have never placed any bids anywhere and won't list any items, either, cuzza the continuing slew of news items on the fraud and the shilling. But, as avid collectors they surf the auctions alla the time, outta interest, but won't participate.
posted on June 30, 2000 06:18:32 PM new
Well, I fairly well spent the afternoon organizing little nit-picking details and downloaded AW's bulk lister and gave it a whirl. Much to my dismay someone had recently registered at Yahoo with my "wallypog" so I won't be such there. At any rate, my "Control Panel" says I have 14 active auctions on Yahoo! now (and what's with that weird sort thing that only shows 5 auctions at once and 4 of them I can't see at all?), so we'll see how they go. Some of the stuff I have my doubts about, but who knows--it was the easiest to get listed for today, LOL. And I had to switch to 800x600 resolution, which I really can't stand on a 15" monitor because my eyes go bonkers, so I can see a bigger monitor is going to be in order here very shortly if I am to continue to use the AW program. That's downright aggravating because everything is too big for the 640x480, which is my favorite because I can actually see things! LOL
I would definately not rather quit than switch. I've moved my physical address many times in my life--this is so much easier! And considering where I live and that I prefer to stay home with my kids, this is really the only suitable job for me.
radh, I think it's a crying shame if people are so scared off by the bad publicity reports they are afraid to bid on online auctions. I've completed well over 300 transactions between buying and selling and I've never had one complaint on anything I've sold and have only got a handful of items that I felt weren't as great as they should have been according to their description. I think that says a lot for the integrity of the majority of online auction sellers.
posted on June 30, 2000 06:19:49 PM new
radh - I think we are still going to trade. The big world is small now, and when you want something you can't get close to home you are going to cast your net worldwide, find it, and buy it.
Regarding shilling - I think this is one reason that flea market pricing - aka one bid wins will continue to catch on. The other is an auction just isn't fun when there is only one bid which is usual these days for most things.
As for avid collectors who are disgusted, I have to bet that if they can save $100 on a widget by buying online rather than when a show comes to their city - they're going to do it. What is *done* is buying for sport. Selling for sport too, for that matter.
posted on July 1, 2000 09:48:05 PM new
VeryModern,
That's an interesting prediction you made, that ebay and Yahoo would have "equal" 3 million listings each by next Christmas.
It's very possible it could happen, BUT WE'LL NEVER KNOW, since ebay has changed their home page "count" (which, by the way, was NEVER number of listings, but "items for sale", which counts dutch auctions as total number offered instead of a single listing) to a generic "over four million items for sale"....and Yahoo has eliminated their listings "count" from their site ALTOGETHER.
I can see why ebay is hiding their numbers (after all, they "froze" their dropping number ALL DAY when they instituted their greedy Reserve Fee last year). If it weren't for big, big listers like Thai--- in Thailand who keeps 6,000 listings on at all times, ebay listings would drop like a rock. (Unfortunately, my recent "searches" on Amazon and Yahoo have uncovered them there, too, invading new territory with their unset stones and ugly 3rd world carvings.)
But WHY is Yahoo hiding their listings numbers NOW????????? They've been steadily growing.
posted on July 1, 2000 10:20:33 PM newwallypog Great to have you at Yahoo! I know what you mean about the feeling you get when posting to eBay. I've had stuff ready for weeks to put up there and can't seem to make myself do it. I'll probably start putting them on Yahoo! and maybe Gold's instead.
One thing you will notice soon is you don't get the pic icon or in the gallery if you don't load your pics directly on Yahoo! It's very simple to load them onto Yahoo and a lot of people don't open auctions that don't have the pic icon.
Yahoo! has a bulk loader but I haven't used it so I'm not much help there. I make general templates with a spot for the specific auction info and copy/paste them.
Good luck and have fun!
Lora
BTW- I've been selling my <gasp> Mary Kay inventory but have lots of sewing/craft related items and misc collectable stuff I need to get going.
[ edited by IBStitchin on Jul 1, 2000 10:22 PM ]
posted on July 2, 2000 12:08:06 PM new
IBStitchin, I signed up for Yahoo's bulk loader, took one look at it and it's not for me. You have to create everything in a spreadsheet program like Excel. Well, I don't even have Excel and I'm not at all familiar with spreadsheets (I know they can do great things, though.) I was starting to do my listings through Yahoo's site because I did read where the pictures only show up on the picture only option if they are uploaded there but went ahead with the bulk lister. I'll have to see what I can do. I really love bulk listing programs, but do want my pix to show up in the free "gallery"!
Oh well, another something to work on.
I check Golds' periodically but haven't seen anything there that would entice me to list anything. I looked at about 200 auctions there on Friday--2 had bids. I also checked in the automotive categories because so many sellers from eBay say they are selling there now that the new Motors fiasco emerged. I think maybe they're full of it because there weren't very many listings in the category and only a handful with bids.
[ edited by wallypog on Jul 2, 2000 12:11 PM ]
posted on July 2, 2000 12:39:05 PM new
IBStitchin mentioned:
"I know what you mean about the feeling you get when posting to eBay. I've had stuff ready for weeks to put up there and can't seem to make myself do it."
~ ~ ~
Isn't it pathetic when experiences with a website eventuate in a 100% lack of motivation?
posted on July 2, 2000 12:46:36 PM new
I posted 1 auction last week for a specific reason, but decided 3 days later it was intolerable and pulled it down. I am on DAY NINE since filing NPB on the last auction I had finish, and I'm waiting to get credit, and I gotta wonder how anyone could endure this process *twice...
posted on July 2, 2000 12:56:11 PM new
>>If it weren't for big, big listers like Thai--- in Thailand who keeps 6,000 listings on at all times, ebay listings would drop like a rock.
What is Thai's ebay ID?
Does anyone know how to find sellers with large inventories - >1000 items?
Does anyone know how to find sellers with super high ratings - >1000?
posted on July 2, 2000 02:33:00 PM new "If it weren't for big, biglisters like Thai--- in Thailandwho keeps 6,000 listings on at alltimes, ebay listings would drop like a rock."
~ ~ ~
I have to emphatically disagree with this statement.
Had the eBay ever actually determined WHAT ITS BUSINESS WAS and therefore correctly identified its customer and considered its focus to be the growth, nurturance, development and protection of its most vital precious asset, there wouldn't be NO retailers, liquidators, suppliers & wholesalers listing 1000s of auctions at a time on the eBay.
Since the eBay is simply another stoooooopid corporation, which didn't even correctly identify its own business, conditions are such as they are on their website, and will further corrupt as they continue to co-brand with BigBiz -- that's just inevitable, like natural law.
See, if due to some "miracle", (not forecast!) (lol!) all them huge mega-thousand listings were to vanish overnight, the categories would become more browsable, and 1000s of sellers would put up fun auctions with one-of-a-kinds, again.
People who oppose my point of view have said that I'm adhering to the Nirvana Methodology of business and that I am in favor of corporate welfare. In both points they are sadly mistaken.
Any business which fails to identify its purpose --- it's DUST!, that's obvious, it's classic, and in this case a corporation who gave NOT a hoot about it's responsibility to the tens of thousands of human beings whose lives & livlihoods were impacted by it, it has not wisely created a prosperous future for itself. (lol) Some people like to disdain the sellers who do not like the eBay, referring to Darwinian survival of the fittest philosophy and calling them misfits, good to weed out, well, well, well....won't be too long before all the major Net e-Biz learns for themselves the meaning of cybereugenics.
NO FURTHER COMMENT, here in this liddle corner of the e-universe.
posted on July 3, 2000 12:13:04 AM new
I think the things that bother me most about eBay is that they appear to lie through their teeth.
1. They claim trading there is "safe" yet they are powerless to do anything when things go haywire other than providing information to authorities.
2. They apparently pretend to have a customer service department. I've tried to deal with them and as everyone knows it's all canned responses. (At least with Yahoo you know from the get-go you are on your own.)
3. They say they want eBay to be a safe and fun trading place, yet the only way it's kept safe is by their users, and then ultimately that's left up to eBay's discression, anyway. Then when users do find something that should be reported to eBay and report it they are called every name in the book.
4. eBay seems to create distractions to create smoke-screens from the real problems.
And it just aggravates the snot out of me what they are turning their site into. It's the sellers of unique items that make that place a great place to shop. Sure, it's nice to be able to buy just about anything you'd ever imagine getting there, but the real draw is, as mentioned, the one-of-a-kind items. (Like the Christmas cards from war-time Korea my sister just sold for over $40 apiece that she got in a box of garbage from a yard sale.)
posted on July 3, 2000 09:11:38 PM new
I can't put Thai---'s ebay ID here without breaking the rules and having my posting deleted by the lovely Joyce Moderator. I can tell you that they sell unmounted gemstones (that word is sometimes SHORTENED) under three or more numbered ebay identities, and have started listing on Amazon and Yahoo in the last few months (GAG GAG GAG) .
I don't know any way to search for "heavy" ebay listers or sellers with 1000+ feedback. I discovered Thai--- because I used to buy cameos on ebay, and discovered one day (to my ABSOLUTE HORROR) that their listings ALL contained the word "cameo". I would search title and description for "cameo" (this was back when the carved/cameo category only contained about 200 listings, a manageable number) and have to slug through THOUSANDS of their stupid listings to find the actual cameo listings. Even doing TITLE ONLY searches would bring up hundreds of their ugly carved-stone "cameos". They only sold one out of every 10 listings (probably worse now), all for opening bids, and make up for sky-high ebay fees by charging a flat $15.00 shipping fee to everyone.
Radh, I fully agree that ebay has completely MISSED THE POINT about their own auction, that the individual seller of "unique" items that was their BACKBONE and PURPOSE has been "ousted" by Big Business, but I don't know that you're right when you say the individuals would all come back listing and buying again should all the mega-listings of new merchandise miraculously disappear. Ebay would be "searchable" again like it was when there were less than a million listings, but would all those who have jumped ship go back to search??
I think it may be too late for that. Too many individual sellers have lost faith in ebay, have been "burned" by them one-too-many times (ebay STILL lets auctions end without extension when their site is "partially" down), and many have bitterly gone elsewhere in search of greener pastures. It would take FREE LISTINGS/NO COMMISSIONS to lure many of us back now, and ebay will NEVER do that. It goes against their "bleed them dry mentality".
posted on July 4, 2000 11:04:33 AM new
I just started here on Yahoo. I've done well on eBay, but I don't like the idea of tossing money down the drain when people aren't in a bidding mood. Those 25 cent insert fees really add up. I sell mainly books and I keep the price down. I'm going with First Bid Wins -- not so much because it will move something, but because the majority of book auctions get only one or two bids in my experience. If someone wants to do business, hey, let's get on with it! Waiting several days for an auction to close adds no value to the process when that's the case.
My take on Yahoo is that the whole process is much simpler and tighter than eBay.
I hope this stuff can finally move. I have the feeling that people are fed up with eBay.
