posted on August 12, 2000 10:31:00 AM new
macandjan - it is hard to say if it is normal because it depends so much on the catagory.
Someone posted a week back or so that they were selling items first bid wins after an average of 8 views and my experience is the close to that, maybe average 6 views.
Did you offer a buy price?
Based on this, I would have to say that if you did, 25 views might have got you 3 sales.
It cannot be stressed enough that people are on Ebay to browse and bid, but many on Yahoo to buy and be done.
It is even fair to say that people are on Yahoo because they don't like ebay for whatever reason and so you really must market in a new way.
posted on August 12, 2000 11:15:24 AM new
I recently posted that, of the items that sell, I was averaging 8 views. I'm using 1st Bid Wins. Items that don't sell can get dozens of views before I lower the price, group into a Lot or pull and donate.
When I was using the usual auction format, items oftem had page views but seldom bids. It seems like a completely different market than eBay.
I still use eBay for items I expect will draw multi bids, where I'm uncertain of price range or where I'm uncomfortable setting the sales price.
I've only had a few hundred listings in a dozen categories so it's not very representative of the broad YAHOO market.
I think most of us are at the very early stage of the learning curve.
I'm planning to list almost all the "stuff" I have as "1st Bid Wins". Then I will try some better items as actual auctions.
As I try I'll learn and as I learn I'll try new things.
Doing what worked at ebay does not seem to be productive for most sellers. But other things do work and it's so much nicer not having your "business partner" wrecking the site and reaching into your pocket every week.
posted on August 12, 2000 01:41:11 PM new
VM--You are so right on the money here:
"It cannot be stressed enough that people are on Ebay to browse and bid, but many on Yahoo to buy and be done. "
For the past year I have been treating my Yahoo auctions the same as Ebay auctions and it just wasn't working. Only 2 days ago when it was time for re-submitting my listings, I listed everything the exact same way except I put a buy price on each one at about $5-$25 over the list price. BINGO $325.00 within 12 hours on the 6th page view on 1 auction.
WOW what a difference. Thanks to these message boards I finally found a marketing technique that will work for me.
posted on August 13, 2000 02:36:09 AM new
macandjan,
After reading your question, I went back and looked at my successfully-closed auctions for the past two weeks. They all were put on for 10 days, I had a "buy price" on all of them, and some were "First Bid Wins" auctions (the rest had "buy prices" of $2-$10 more than opening bid).
The auctions closed with the first bid (except for one that had two bidders, the second who bid the buy price) with between 2 and 31 page-views per auction. (I'm currently selling new collectibles/special interest books, some more desirable because they're out-of-print.) My average page-view per auction was 11.9 viewings, but I would think that would be LOWER if my prices were less, or my items were harder to find.
I sold well on Yahoo before I began using the "buy price" feature, but sales of "more ordinary" items have slowed this year EVERYWHERE, and other Yahoo sellers said they were doing well with the "buy price" and 1st Bid Wins, so I started using it to help me through this summer's slump.
Now I really LIKE it as much as the buyers seem to. I used to end all my auctions on Monday and Tuesday nights, when I had the most bidders, and stayed up for hours sending emails to the winners. Between Wednesday and Sunday I had no new winners because I had no auctions closing. I was killing myself two nights a week and had little money coming in the other five days.
With the "buy price" the bidder can pay my minimum and wait 10 days to see if he's been outbid, or he can pay a little more and KNOW he'll get it without waiting. Sometimes he bids, I email, he pays (PayPal or Yahoo PayDirect), and I ship the same day (all 7 days a week). He gets his purchase sooner, I get paid sooner, and it's out of my house sooner. A WIN-WIN situation for everyone!!!
I'm trying to get around to listings some of my antiques, and I think I'll STILL use the "buy price" rather than hope for a lot of bidding (though I've seen good antiques & collectibles sell on Yahoo for high prices with lots of bidding). My opening bid will be fair profit for me, and my "buy price" will be closer to retail. I always felt guilty when something I placed on ebay sold for much, much MORE than it was worth (and I sometimes told the winner to send me LESS than his bid). With the "buy price" that's not a problem.
Depending upon what you're selling and how high your opening bids are, your lack of bids COULD BE because you have a reserve (which I don't recommend on Yahoo), you don't have a "buy price", you don't have any feedback (which didn't hurt me when I came to Yahoo, but I was selling new books, which are fairly risk-free for the buyer), or a combination of reasons. You also haven't hit the "ending day" for your listings, when they might get bids.
You might also look through the past postings here on the Yahoo thread, because there are great seller tips for everyone. Good luck, and
posted on August 14, 2000 04:16:38 PM new
Reston_ray said: "Items that don't sell can get dozens of views before I lower the price, group into a Lot or pull and donate."
Has your (all of you) experience been that if you list an item that gets a LOT of views, say more than 100, and no bids, that it's way overpriced? Or is it just that the right person hasn't come along yet?
I have one of those, of course. It's on its first relist and I'm willing to ride it out to the end; I was just wondering!
posted on August 14, 2000 04:31:08 PM new
SilkMoth - it is probably overpriced to some degree, but if you have no immediate need to sell and you think *overpriced - not* then may as well leave it until the buyer shows up.
Art is something like this that I sell now and then. It may sell sooner for a lower price, but I don't care. I would not discount, it degrades the product.
