posted on July 29, 2000 05:01:26 PM new
My A#1 tip is to forget about the auction format wherever possible and use the buy price feature to start your auction at the price you want, & use the words "first bid wins" in your title. Most items will be successfully sold this way, and at the price you want. If you rely on an auction format the results might or might not be disappointing. That's been my experience, & I'm an ebaY transplant. I made the switch in early June & I'm THRILLED with Yahoo!
There are some excellent threads that I think originated in June. They all had fantastic advice for Yahoo newbies. Please try to dredge those up ; they all offer advice that helped me tons! Yahoo is it's own animal & pretty different from Ebay. You'll see. But it's GREAT!!
posted on July 29, 2000 05:05:29 PM new
Oh, the best thread is one started by Very Modern called Newbie tips about Yahoo blips, from early July. Definitely read that one!
posted on July 29, 2000 07:19:42 PM new
Hi magazine-guy--the best auction software to use with Yahoo is Yahoo! This guarantees that your pic will be in their thumbnail free gallery. And it is such a delightful change of pace to deal with an auction site one on one and not have to deal with a secondary "host" site. Some of us, me included, are just so brainwashed to how eBay works, that Yahoo seems too simplistic to work. But after a month listing-- I'm here to state--it does work and incredibley simply and so advantageous to the seller!! I am grooved on Yahoo. With just some--strategic ads- to attract more bidders-they are going to give eBay a run for their money! YES!!!!!
posted on July 29, 2000 07:28:39 PM new
agree with jeanyu - perhaps someone can dig up the threads on this.
People on yahoo often shop "pics only" and if you don't have a thumbnail, you will not be included in the listings. Some people think it is a minor thing and you will be found in search anyway. I think it is death to your auction results. The truth is probably somewhere in between like "it depends on what you sell.." but I prefer to sell with a tasty pic.
posted on July 31, 2000 05:27:20 PM new
Welcome to Yahoo!! It looks like there is a steady flow of people moving over which is great for buyers and sellers!!
I'm suprised I've beat jwpc in saying AUCTION TAMER!!! This is a great little program to manage auctions with. It works well with Yahoo and many of the other sites. I think you can still try it free for 30 days and then buy it at a VERY reasonable price. It may not be the fanciest program but is always working on more features and Mike is amazingly quick at helping with problems and questions. We're talking minutes here not hours or days! There are a few things I'd love to see changed with the program but it's the best one I've found.
As far as tips
- Include your email addy in your add. There is no way to look up someones email at Yahoo until after the sale.
- Load at lease one pic directly on Yahoo! or you won't get in the gallery.
- Include as many key words in the title as possible. Their title search is much more reliable than their desc search.
- Make sure you are keeping track of your auctions somewhere other than Yahoo itself. They sometimes vanish for a few hours after they close.
- Keep it simple. I've noticed a lot of buyers that are new to auctions.
- Use the auto-relist feature!!!!!
- Like everyone else is saying: Patience and persistance. It may seem to build very slowly but it is worth it.
posted on August 1, 2000 12:44:34 AM new
I haven't used Auction Tamer yet, but you DO need to list directly into Yahoo so your first photo will be in the "show only photos" thumbnail gallery.
Read through the past Yahoo message posts---all the tips you'll need about reserves, pricing, buy price, first bid wins, writing titles, system quirks, etc. are discussed there, with one exception:
Yahoo has JUST THIS WEEK begun to offer sellers and buyers "Yahoo!PayDirect" as a payment option, much like Billpoint except that THERE ARE NO SELLER FEES (similar to PayPal, but Yahoo buyers may trust the Yahoo name if they're unfamiliar with PayPal). If you're just starting to list on Yahoo and plan to sign up for PayDirect, you need to DO IT FIRST so it will be in your auction listings. (Previously listed auctions have to be closed and relisted to include it as a payment option.)
posted on August 2, 2000 06:26:32 AM new
I'm surprised they haven't squashed this thread already, but Tamer is the best mullti-site tracking sw package...
