posted on July 4, 2000 01:49:27 PM new
This was discussed in another post but the topic changed to other matters and I would appreciate any specific feedback.
I've been posting on YAHOO for awhile but never have used the search function much as eBay is where I go for research purposes.
I want to make most of my YAHOO listings "1st Bid Wins". When I search for that group of words or "First Bid Wins" I get about an equal amount of hits for both (10,000ish).
Seems I either have to choose between them or use both as one format in the title and one in the description does not pull the listing into both searchs.
I'm planning on putting both into the title, as in "1st Bid Wins - ABC LP - First Bid Wins" and the YAHOO title area seems long enough to do this and still put all I would usually say about the item. Now reading the other thread I've come to realize "One Bid Wins" and other variations are also in use.
Think I will stick with my two present choices, and add a statement in the description outlining how this works with YOU BID - YOU WIN NOW - NO WAITING - plus encouragement to visit my other auctions for 1st Bid Wins listings.
Some of these item have been listed before on eBay or YAHOO and most are having their price reduced. I plan to continue reducing the price until they sell. As I'm using this approach with books and records purchased in large lots at a low average cost(pennies) I would rather get something for the item than relist forever or cancel the auction and have stuff pile-up around the house or be donated, after spending time on a listing. If I also give some users a good bargain and encourage them to return to YAHOO and/or my listings,so much the better.
I agree that the sellers choosing one format for titles, eg 1ST Bid Wins, would help in customers finding this type of listing but it will take time to develope a norm and have buyer come to expect a certain pattern. Even NR is not clear in it's meaning to many users.
Until then, any comments on my approach as outlined above would be appreciated and ANYTHING you might add in productive use of the 1 Bid option will be helpful.
While this is clearly not a standard auction format, the combination of 1st Bid Wins and reducing prices does create a "reverse auction" excitement that buyers might enjoy if enough sellers start using this approach. Anything that increases the excitement above the level of most eBay auctions and watching grass grow/paint dry will help.
posted on July 4, 2000 01:55:07 PM new
restonray - seem to me that with it split down the middle like that we can only hope that people search "bid wins".
posted on July 4, 2000 02:47:48 PM new
Duh! Well, doing it that way pulls 23,000 plus listings.
Now why didn't I think of that?
Not sure what we can expect from potential buyers in their use of the search function. Others may be as thick headed as I am or spoiled by the, what I consider, very good search function at eBay.
Now can someone tell me how to search for items by "most recent listings" with or without "bid wins"? That might be an interesting group to watch.
posted on July 4, 2000 06:15:30 PM new
Hi Ray
The only way to narrow the search to NEW listings is to use the Universal Search here at AW. Select Yahoo only, newest listings first. It will still show all listings but the order is latest additions up top. Note though that AW search is usually around 30 hours behind in adding Yahoos new ads.
I just did a title only search at AW for 'bid wins' and it came up with 17,226. Same search title and descrip came up with 18,285. It shows the # breakdown per category so you can simply click any one category that interests you to narrow the pool more.
posted on July 4, 2000 11:40:53 PM new
reston_ray,
If you're reducing the price, you might include that in the title (along with SALE, if you have room), along with First Bid Wins or 1st Bid Wins or One Bid Wins. For example:
posted on July 5, 2000 07:02:25 AM new
I use 1st Bid Wins because it has less characters than First Bid Wins - Personally, I think there is a limit to the amount of hype in a title if I want my auctions to pull the searchers looking for a specific type of item, I need the space for key words, not just bargain hunters for anything.
I personally don't think, let's say that someone interested in dragons is going to put in 1st Bid Wins, and search through 17,000 auctions looking for dragons....that is too much work.
In the same vein, not everyone who might be interested in dragons may think of them listed in the same manor and may put in MEDIEVAL OR GOTHIC, so I like to leave room for my major key words, and leave all the hype except 1ST BID WINS out of my title.
I would like to add PayPal, but at the moment I don't see where I have room in my titles for it...wish we could come up with a universally accept abbreviation on that outside of PP, which at the moment I don't see everyone would recognize anyway.
posted on July 5, 2000 09:15:13 AM new
I think you are missing the point about "1st bid wins". The reason it is a good concept is because it teaches the buyer instantly what the BUY price is all about. Yahoo did a crap job calling it just the BUY price. I'm sure about that because I get LOTS of questions about it.
Some of us sellers figured out how to increase sales several hundred % by making the auction a classified ad really, using the BUY price at or near the minimum bid. It makes sense to close the deal NOW while the buyer is hot and ready. Not may items are really suitable for auctions...only the truly rare ones. If you know what the reasonable price is, the immediate sale works better.
That said, it's not the least bit important to worry about how "1st bid Wins" affects the search engine. It's only important when the buyer sees your as they understand that they can buy this item immediately and for what price.
I saw the 1st post about "1st bid Wins" recently and have been creating my new ads this way. Before, I explained in my ad about the BUY price and set that price a few $ above the minimum. As I said, that increased sales 300% but I'm sure many people don't read all the ad. It makes sense that "1st bid Wins" in the title sends the message loud and clear and I'm expecting it to increase sales, althought since I just started it, and since I have been using pretty much the same concept, I don't expect a huge increase (I'm already doing ok.)
As for reducing the price of books until they sell....I have found that doesn't work like the pure model they teach in Economics 101. Yahoo is a slow book seller site, no matter what the price. I think you need to accept that somebody who is looking for your book will pay a reasonable price (1/2 of Amazon's) and you can't give it away to somebody who isn't. You just have to be patient. Relist and wait. Someday Yahoo might get around to changing the book listing tree to something sensible. Until then, browsing for books is a joke. But somebody looking for your title will find it. That person may not come along for 6 months or more.
I tried selling books on Amazon, but it isn't worth the fees. I did sell some books more quickly, but there is another problem: they also have a 3000 book flat rate monthly plan for about $30 a month. Book stores use this and create very spartian ads with no pix with their bulk loader and flood Amazon's Z-shops with all their stuff. So if you have say, a nice recent novel by John Sanford, you can be assured there are about 50 other copies also on Z-shops. Lots-of-luck selling yours there. It's like winning the lottery if someone clicks on yours to look at it.
posted on July 5, 2000 10:20:36 AM new
I think the idea of 1st Bid Wins is terrific.
Many items get only a single bid anyway so taking a weeklong nap until auction close doesn't have any value whatsoever.
I like the idea of added explanation in the description. Bidders are generally not clear on the concept if they come from other sites.
posted on July 7, 2000 02:02:40 AM new
I'm not suggesting you leave KEY WORDS out of your title in order to put in "Sale" or "Lower Price" or "PayPal" or "First Bid Wins"....but Yahoo Auction, unlike ebay, allows MANY title characters for a very, very long title, and few sellers on Yahoo USE the title to their full advantage.
After you put in all the key words you need for your item to be pulled up on searches, how many spaces do you have left??? FILL THEM. Many listing pages (or pages of "search" results) on Yahoo, have mostly SHORT titles with an occasional LONG one, and the long one STANDS OUT because it's hanging out there in white space, or it takes two lines to display instead of one, giving space under it.
A buyer viewing "search" results or a listing page through "show only photos" will read your ENTIRE title when their mouse is over your photo, so put everything you can into that title that will encourage them to consider buying it.
posted on July 8, 2000 06:15:09 AM new
HELLO,
I am new to the message center and AW. I like your concept and have actually tried a form of it on Ebay. It worked great. My titles all included a dollars sign and the word Sale
You might try something like this.
$$$ SALE $$$--1st BID WINS-- ABC LP
I did not actually use the words 1st bid wins but think i will try that on Yahoo. Thanks for the idea.
posted on July 8, 2000 07:32:06 AM new
Granee - actually after I put the key words in a title there is little room for anything else, and sometimes I have to re-write to get in the 1st Bid Wins! I use every key word I and my thesaurus can think of to pick up as many buyers searching as possible.
With the item lets say DRAGON, you can pick up bidders with: Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance, Mystical, Magical, now once you get in any simple description of the dragon, you have all the characters allowed used....
posted on July 8, 2000 06:24:17 PM new
I am learning soooo much from you expert auctioneers. Thanks!
I have been putting in a buy price and IT WORKS great for me and the buyer. Also, I'm experimenting with the title to get the most from searches and YES... I agree, fill it up with key words. There is still much that grasshopper must learn.
posted on July 13, 2000 02:06:13 PM new
Couple of points on this.
First I have been tracking the listings by searching "bid wins" periodically over the last several months, and find that the listings which had been very level at 20-21000 now run between 24-28,000 (from spot checks this week) so we are getting something done, and I am very encouraged.
The other thing I wanted to point out, is that recently I have been using the AW AltaVista search provided by radh, and I gotta say...
When a buyer is slogging through all the possibilities across sites, having 1st Bid Wins in your title is gonna make your listing most tasty, at least this is what I think. Particularly come Christmas which starts in October, no? I mean before you go bid and all the rest of the hoopla, won't you at least go take a peek at what's on the shelf you can take home today to see if it'll do ya?
What VeryModern is trying to say, is when a universal searcher clicks a Yahoo listing and buys, well baby, we got 'em. They'll be back, because Yahoo's da best AUCTION HOUSE IN AMERICA!
posted on July 14, 2000 11:15:39 AM new
Just did a fast check "First Bid Wins"-12,720 listings. "1st Bid Wins"-9,405. Hmm, no matter which way you use first, looks like its catching on. Interesting to see what the next month or so brings.
posted on July 14, 2000 12:54:39 PM new
Cool!
I just clicked back to the window where I did the "bid wins" search and one of the 4 thumbnails was my auction!
posted on July 14, 2000 01:01:38 PM new
Granee & jwpc, that is excellent advice. Ebay's eeny teeny tiny bitsy witsy title space is SOOO irksome. Yahoo is so much more generous with the title spacing, & anyone who doesn't take advantage of such generousity is really missing out! Plus I didn't even think of the thumbnail aspect, but you've got a great point. Those gallery shoppers can see all the pertinent information about your item at a glance - a great time saver for them.
