posted on August 4, 2000 07:38:23 AM new
Last week, Yahoo! contacted me about Million Auction March and we had a phone conversation about what it is and where it is headed. They were going to send me some stuff via email about Yahoo!, but after a bit, they decided it might be better to fly us out to talk with their whole auction team face-to-face. Diana (DCJ), Momelie and I went to visit Yahoo! yesterday.
We arrived Wednesday afternoon from our respective homes and checked into the hotel. We spent the rest of the time discussing various auction issues and our meeting. Basically, we all went in with a bit of trepedation, not really trusting Yahoo! very much.
Yesterday morning, we arrived at 10AM in their lobby, where we got name tags and were NOT asked to fill out any kind of NDA. Our contact came and met us and took us past the Yahoo! store we toured the building a bit and saw a sea of cubicles with all kinds of fun toys and stuff hanging all over the place. They had video games, and foosball tables, and an expresso cart all for their employees to let of steam or unwind. People were smiling, happy, and seemed to like working there and being around each other. The outside walls are ringed with conference rooms and we met in the one called Singapore (they all had exotic destination names )
The meeting began with introductions and a bit about our personal histories and how we all came to be in that room together. Some of them had auction experience, but only one had really spent any amount of time with online auctions, and he is brand new there.
We talked about MAM and it's goals for a while and they walked us through their auction site and tools. We saw that there is a LOT more there than meets the eye at first. They have a bunch of really great features and it's all free!
Yahoo! is a media company and they make money by selling advertising. The banner ads that we have complained about on ebaY are in evidence on Yahoo! as well, but not on the listing pages, and since there are no fees charged, the banners do not decrease the value you receive for your fees. They are also not keyword linked!
Yahoo! has 155million registered users. As of March/00, they were serving 625million page views a day. Yahoo! is looking for ways to involve their 155million registered users in their auction area. They have new folks running the auction area there, and they are excited to promote it.
I mentioned that it's free, and I did ask about the future of that. While they don't have a current plan to charge fees, they did admit that if they start helping folks make a lot of money, they do expect to get something for that at a later date. Frankly, that sounds pretty fair to me.
Yahoo! realizes that auctions are not an online marketing solution for everything, so they have classifieds, online stores, and more. They are working to merge those for a total online marketing solution for everyone. Yahoo! really wants to listen to their buyers and sellers to make things work for everyone. They were very exicted during our meeting and took TONS of notes. They all admitted that they will likely not sleep in the aftermath of our discussions, as they were very enthusiastic about working on some of the things we discussed.
One thing they have realized is that different categories have different needs, and they are wanting to draw in buyers and sellers from certain areas to customize specific categories to work better for transactions in those areas. This could be very interesting indeed!
Yahoo! may not be the place for everyone now, but from what we saw, they are working very hard at becoming a major player in the online auction scene. As the largest internet company on the web, they are in a good position to do it.
Finally, Million Auction March is very happy to welcome Yahoo! into our list of cooperating companies. We remain committed to being a fair and equal resource for all online auctions and auction-related tools and resources. If you visit the site and see something that is missing, let us know and we'll check it out!
Besides Yahoo!, we are also working with several other auctions on co-promotional events and on getting more information to bring you.
posted on August 4, 2000 10:36:06 AM new
Besides a few here like radh, no one else is bothered with the MAM. But good luck anyway, whatever your agenda is. I know several Power Sellers are laughing the rear end off at this.
posted on August 4, 2000 11:18:51 AM new
Well, there are a bunch of Power Sellers who are participating and are very interested in MAM, but it's not going to get the interest of everyone...
and a bunch of individual buyers and sellers from a bunch of different places, including more from AW than you might suspect.
And that is without a budget, without revenue, without anyone to work on it full time, and without any press releases or even a concerted effort yet to contact other folks about it.
So there is a great deal of interest, but perhaps not from your circle of acquaintances.
posted on August 4, 2000 12:57:00 PM new
A couple of thoughts:
First, don't burn yourself out. I've been there, done that and sometimes find it difficult to keep things in balance.
Thanks for all that you and others have done. I hope you find it personally rewarding because this type of effort has little in the way of compensation from outside yourself and a small circle of supporters.
I feel a great deal of annoyance with eBay for both their actions and attitudes toward most users. I also realize my views are not universally accepted, never will be and may not be justified for others in the light of their expectations. Nevertheless, I still believe eBay has been fundermentally abusive and deceptive in it's relationship with sellers.
While it is unrealistic to expect others will "take-up" my cause, it is prudent for me to seek alternative solutations for my own needs and to attempt to build relationships where a common ground of shared values exists.
I'm in the March by choice, as I believe in it's goals, and by happen stance, as I had already started my mirgration from eBay before it was announced. An aside, for the first time my gross and net results were better at YAHOO this past few weeks than with similar listing exposure at eBay.
I'm not interested in punishing or getting back at eBay. I just want to find a site or sites where I can conduct businessin a manner that is comfortable to me without the threat of what I consider dysfunctional management as applied to my goals.
I expect I will continue to use the eBay site but never to the extent that anything they do will ever again be of major impact on my business or personal feelings.
I'm encouraged by what you report, look forward to future developments but remain cautious.
If YAHOO is ready to move forward with sound, mutually profitable and responsable auction expansion, I think it is very good news for everyboby. The entire industary will rise with the tide, profiting online auction users who may not ever even visit the YAHOO site.
I feel better having done something rather than just stewing in my eBay focused anger. The additional rewards of finding success elsewhere and starting to regain some of my early enthusiasm for the business is a nice bonus.
You will never know the full positive effect of your actions but please believe, as I do, that is very worthwhile. Thank you.
posted on August 4, 2000 01:10:44 PM new
Online auction selling and marketing has enabled the American Dream once again. The same dream that lived years ago and was all but destroyed. It's not only enabled that in the US, but is doing it on a global level.
I believe in that dream and will do all I can to preserve it, not only for myself and my friends and associates, but also for my children.
In December of '96, when I found ebaY, I had a store, 3 antique mall spaces, I had items on consignment in 2 stores, I advertised mail order in 3 publications, I set up at antique shows all over the place, and a buddy and I would rent warehouses and put on our own auctions.
By March of '97, I had mail order ads and ebaY. By March of '98, I had only ebaY.
It's going to take time and work to develop some of this other stuff, but the potential is there and it is considerable. It won't happen overnight, but it will happen.
ebaY is not a viable single source income anymore for me, and for many others. Some of the things they are doing with the competitive banner ads and co-branding efforts are causing that to an even greater extent.
I love ebaY, I still list at ebaY and don't plan to stop. At the same time, I feel the need to expand my online marketing beyond one site and right now, there are not many alternatives for many of us. That's the agenda of Million Auction March. It's not for everyone, but for those who want it, it is there.
posted on August 5, 2000 01:07:53 AM new
toyranch,
I ENVY YOU!!!!! What I would give for the chance to meet with Yahoo's Auction employees!!! I love Yahoo Auction, but it has some shortcomings that could be fixed.
I've been selling on Yahoo for almost a year (when ebay started the reserve fee), and it has really spoiled me. No fees means no worry that something hasn't sold in 10 days; no worry if I make a mistake and must close, then relist an auction; no worry if my bidder fails to pay for an auction; no worry that I'll lose money on an item I didn't pay to protect with a reserve.
Over the past year, I've occasionally put identical listings on ebay to see how sales are doing over there, and been VERY, VERY disappointed. It seems only the rarest, most collectible items are doing well now, and more "ordinary" stuff only sells for give-away prices. Not anything like it was 2 years ago.
Incidentally, Power Sellers on ebay don't impress me in the slightest. When I come across one on ebay (or read about one in ebay magazine), I pull up their past month's selling history and feedback, and many, many, many aren't AT ALL impressive in their merchandise, their profit margin, their "successful sales" percentage, or their handling of transactions (according to complaining customers). So who cares if they laugh at the Million Auction March???
In fact, most of the people I knew "way back when" on ebay quit selling there a year or more ago, when they could no longer make any money selling and got cheated every time they bought something. It's too bad, because there really WAS a very close, caring "ebay community" at one time.
I keep thinking I'll give BidBay a try, too, when I get around to it, so maybe this is the time to start!
posted on August 5, 2000 02:40:29 PM new
At present, MAM is not a member organization. It is a resource for everyone. To join, start spreading your auctions around and start spreading the word.
Anything you care to contribute in the way of time and help is greatly appreciated.
MAM does not generate or collect any revenue. It was created to benefit online auction users.
posted on August 6, 2000 09:25:46 AM new
ToyRanch - Good Going - and we eBay Power Sellers are behind you - at least this one is....I seldom use eBay any longer, and would love to see a group which could actually act together - this is the major weakness in any action to get eBay's attention - so many individuals, all with their own agenda and greed - so that they don't see the forest for the trees - they only look at their next sale - they fail to consider the direction of eBay - they fail to think about where they will sell if ebay continues in the direction it is going...
Will be watching your site and participating as much as possible.
posted on August 7, 2000 01:29:14 PM new
Hi toyranch. I moved some auctions over to Yahoo and got bids. But not like I would hope to see. Yet. I haven't been contacted on one that ended last week. That concerns me, but hopefully it will work out.
But I do intend on giving it as much attention as I can. I very much respect the MAM and think it is a wonderful project for all of our use. Good luck and continued success for all!
BTW, I consult it every day to see which new sites or niche sites are there. You're doing a great service. I never even knew about many of these. So thanks again.
[ edited by millicent_roberts on Aug 7, 2000 01:31 PM ]
posted on August 9, 2000 08:55:41 AM new
Okay, a question....
Can we put a little sig line on our EOA's at Ebay with the URL's of our auctions running at all the venues at which we list? Or is that a no-no with Ebay?
I would like to find a way to help my customers find me elsewhere...
Ebay has no control over the content of EMAILS you send to your bidders or anyone else, only over the content of your ebay listing page. Their rules state you can't put a link to any other online auction ON YOUR LISTING PAGE, just to your website IF you aren't selling identical merchandise there for the same price or less than you're offering it on ebay.
You can put links to anything you want in your emails.
posted on August 9, 2000 11:03:11 PM new
Hi Toy and Diana! Just wanted to say I listed on yahoo tonight and added the link to my homepage. Tonights fiasco finally moved me to get back into Yahoo again...now, I will wait and see how my items sell (keep your fingers crossed). I have no intention of leaving ebay for good, but this is how I make my living, and not being able to list, bidding getting that "hit and miss" thing, the WATCH ITEM feature, which I HATE...all combined to get me to mosey on to other pastures. So...hopefully things will sell and if so, I will list many many more items there, as well as on ebay...but heck, Yahoo is FREE, so you cant beat that (besides having items acutally sell!).
posted on August 15, 2000 10:10:52 PM new
Folks need to get away from the either or mind set. Use different sites for different reasons, and don't be afraid to move stuff from site to site. Obviously Yahoo has the advantages of being free and being up as close to 24/7 as any site I have used - yes there are glitches and the site sure is not perfect - but it is good. One thing I have done is when I am looking for something, I now check Yahoo FIRST. There are some people being very brave and listing great stuff at $1. no reserve - and from all I can see are doing better on Yahoo than ebaY!!! Shift your mindset away from ebaY first, but still use ebaY as it suits YOUR needs,NOT ebaY's! -Rosalinda
TAGnotes - daily email synopsis about the Online Auction Industry
http://www.egroups.com/group/TheAuctionGuildnotes
posted on August 16, 2000 12:21:49 PM new
Thanks for your story about your meetings with the people at Yahoo.
Isn't it curious that, according to you, Yahoo invited a bunch of people who have no experience and know nothing about auctions, to give them feedback and suggestions about Yahoo Auctions?
Actually is sounds just like something they would do.
posted on August 17, 2000 12:30:48 AM new
zzyzx000,
You need to learn to READ. He said the YAHOO EMPLOYEES he met with had little online auction experience except for one man, a new employee---NOT those who were invited there to give them feedback and suggestions.
What's your problem, got a big chip on your shoulder???????
posted on August 18, 2000 10:12:24 PM new
Just my little two cents worth. I too became disillisioned with ebay. Low sales and deadbeat bidders. I never contact a bidder on ebay more than twice bcause the fear of Negative feedback. After scanning the threads here i decided yahoo was free and worth a shot. Now I am posting half of my items on yahoo. I am going to the MAM website after I post this to see what else is out there. I can see how posting auctions all over the place will only make me a better www seller. Not just an ebay seller. My wife is still hooked on ebay but when I sold two items with the buy price feature that she had listed three times on ebay, I think she will go all the way with me. No I will never leave ebay but they need to know that without sellers there will be nothing to buy except the items on the banner ads. I wonder what the ratio of seller fee dollars to advertising dollars are at ebay.
)
