posted on September 5, 2000 09:11:56 AM new
Well, it is probably the Summer slump, the holiday and the slowing economy, but for August alot of low starting bid auctions did very poorly.
Back in July, I started listing some auctions both on Yahoo and ebay with no reserves and minimum bids. Most started at $1.00, nothing at over $10.00. You know, the "real auctions" that buyers are always claiming they want to see.
Well the results are in, and they are very sorry on Yahoo. I am not a big ebay backer, but most of the listings there sold for more than minimum. The Yahoo items all sold, but only a few had multiple bids. This wasn't junk either. It was an interesting experiment, but it virtually wiped out any profits I had for a month - the price of knowledge, I suppose. Still, it was worthwhile in my book.
When it comes to getting active bidding, I have to agree with the posters who say there just ain't much of that going on here. You can only ride a horse in the direction he's going.
I think alot of people who scream for low minimums and no reserves are really stealing a line from the old song -
posted on September 5, 2000 10:30:56 AM new
Azrae-I unfortunately know what you mean. I did the same thing and did not come out ahead on anyting. I didn't have better luck on eBay either! In fact, it was worse because I had "Featured" the item for $14.99! Started it at $1.00 no reserve. Ended up with 5 bids BUT a final price of only $8.00! I featured it and THOUGHT it would bring well over $50.00 based on other auctions for a similar item!!!! Live and learn is right. Unfortunately I have now exhausted all the "expierments" I can come up with.
1. Start low with no reserve-disasterous!
2. Start at the minimum I can take-sold very few and only at the minimum bid.
3. Low start price with a reserve-didn't make reserve!
4. Start at least I could take with a buy price set $15.00 over-sold item at minimum no takers on the buy price.
5. Started it at a minimum with a buy price the same as start(1st bid wins thing)-worked on a few.
6. Offered FREE shipping w/insurance-lost money and saw very little increase in bids.
I am not selling junk either. I don't have a real high FB on Yahoo and wonder it that is part of the problem. I take good pics and give good descriptions. Offer refunds FOR ANY REASON. Ship item out the day payment is received. Follow up with a thank you and your item is on the way. Leave FB at the time I RECEIVE paymemt. Even gift wrap the items! My shipping fees are actual. What FB I have is good. I have repeat buyers (they are the primary reason I sell anything I think). HOWEVER, if a person doesn't every BID on one of my items, I WON'T get the chance to show them I can be a very good seller!
I have looked at this from every angle I can. It really has me stumped. Yes I am attempting to sell in a "clogged" category. I have discovered I get VERY FEW PAGE views UNLESS I feature the item. If the item is featured I get a good number of hits, but no or low bids. If I do get bids they are usually early in the auction, but that doesn't seem to drum up any action. If the item doesn't have a bid within 4 hours of close, I won't get any (this is consistant) SO I cannot rely on snippers!
Luckily I do this for a hobby and what I sell is from my personal collection for the most part. I have been watching other sites and trying a few out, but with no better results. I know there is pretty good evidence that I NEED TO FIND A NEW HOBBY, but I really do enjoy this for now and I have the time, don't really need the income and still have lots of "stuff" to offer to thin out my collection and "justify" my new purchases. If I do find something that works I'LL LET EVERYONE KNOW!!!!!
I really admire those that have figured this "venue" out and make a living at it. In my books, they have accomplished a great "feat"!
posted on September 5, 2000 05:02:07 PM new
I dont think no one really has this venue figured out I had the same trouble getting bids since apirl of this year right after easter.
but the trend has been like this one week of heavey sales two weeks little to non and one week of picking back up then in two weeks you get heavy sales again.
in the two weeks sales are hot and heavy it dont matter if you feature or have low starting bids or free shiping if its there they will buy it.
can anyone say auction stockmarket
WWW.dman-n-company.com
posted on September 5, 2000 05:54:42 PM new
sulyn-
I couldn't agree with you more, anyone who can make a living doing this has accomplished something pretty incredible.
If I relied on the internet to earn a living, I'd live in a big cardboard box.
You are right about ebay - unless you keep costs to minimum, or have something of great value that you don't mind giving away, you can run up huge losses. Strangely enough, I know someone who quite literally picks stuff up out of the trash, and does quite well with it. You know --- "UNIQUE ITEMS"
I don't think your feedback rating on Yahoo means a whole lot, really. I've seen people with lots of negs selling high $$$ electronics, and getting bids. There are too many phony ids, feedback bombing episodes and the like on Y! for anyone with any experience to take feedback at face value. I know I don't. People just get used to the fact that the system is unusual, and adapt.
dman -
You are right, sales on Y! are cyclical. I was hoping to "buck the trend", which is why I decided to try the low price auctions. Unfortunately, the buyers don't seem impressed.
posted on September 5, 2000 06:56:41 PM new
Every one of my auctions on ebay have sold. All of them had several bids. By comparison, my auctions on Yahoo get almost no bids, even to the last minute.
But, Yahoo draws me because of the free listings. My only strategy is to put hot selling items on ebay and bland stuff on Yahoo. This way, ebay's listing fees are worth the price of getting big profits.
I still think that Yahoo is so much more feature-rich than Ebay, and if Yahoo had Ebay's numbers (bidders), Yahoo would be my #1 auction site.
posted on September 5, 2000 06:59:53 PM new
azrae
If you list low on Yahoo the only ones smiling are the sellers who bought your items to sell!
I usually list my start bids On Yahoo at what I normally get on E-bay or book values!
I also take my inventory into consideration and ensure I make $$$$!
Some folks do first bid wins and sell it and end the auction!
I would rather see the bid up and hope Bill Gates is looking for the same thing over the next 7 or 10 days and it is Paul Allen that he is bidding against!
posted on September 5, 2000 07:48:14 PM new
I've been an eBayer for almost 3 years now, and I'm going to take the Yahoo! plunge very soon. After looking around the site, I've decided to sell my low-priced items on Yahoo! in the First Bid Wins format. I sell mostly books, and selling them on Yahoo is better than half.com (where I also sell) because Yahoo doesn't take 15% of my already low price! And I don't have to pay a quarter plus 5% to eBay on low-priced books. I'm really curious to see how the Yahoo! thing turns out. I will, however, continue to list my good books, flatware and china on eBay simply because eBay has the lookers and consequently the bidders. I sure would love to see Yahoo's bidding get more competitive! I bid on a book last night, and I'll bet the seller almost fainted that he had 2 bids on it! <LOL>
posted on September 6, 2000 07:36:23 AM new
I've been trying Yahoo for about a month now and I can't sell diddly. I move them over to eBay and they sell.
kurzon
You're right about coming back to Yahoo because of the no fees. I usually list twice on Yahoo then I move them over to eBay. But I'm going to keep trying Yahoo - it only costs some of my time.
posted on September 6, 2000 11:29:17 AM new
Profits and sales are DOWN for sure,(and so is Yahoo right now) but, I sincerely believe that Yahoo's format has much to do with it. I receive a lot of complaints from Yahoo bidders that they are confused abd irritated while shopping.
Well, join the club -- since first selling on Yahoo was a nightmare trying to read their mind on how they set it all up. When bidders come here from ebay--they are used to a certain type of service and Yahoo falls very short in that dept. Their categories are a like "B" movie A bidder tries to understand the plot and then changes the channel. If ebay did ANY thing right-- they did overkill on categories. That is the main reason for their success.
I still think "1st Bid Wins" makes a bidder say ,"huh"? Why else would they put it on WATCH? You can't watch a Buy Price---cuz it goes down on the first bid! (unless they are hoarding their bid for it in case nothing else looks good to them
Also, ever since yahoo started featured items - sales plummeted. I'm not being accusatory, but sumpin' don' seem right here. WHY are there bids mostly on featured?? There stuff isn't any hotter than anyone else's--- Now, I notice that when I list an item it doesn't show RIGHT away like it used to...... why?
I sometime think that yahoo is trying to phase out the freebie listings. Now, all of a sudden only (yuk yuk) 1,000 listings allowed a month......Well, that is the first "signal" times they are a'changin. They are trying to get us accustomed to the fact that they steer this ship and free may not be forever.
The UP side of Yahoo is the tremendous ease it is to list....It's such a pain to use an image host for ebay---and takes tooooo much of a seller's time.
Not trying to be cynical but, the Yahoo CEOs must cringe to see money made by all the free listings and will slowly find a way to infringe on it. Seems they could clean up with Yahoo Direct CC service but, I've tried to sign up for it and the dang thing malfunctions.
Thanks for listening..haven't been here in a long time. Let's hope we can all convince Yahoo to get with the program and try to support our auctions. I get an earie feeling of "apathy" from them.
posted on September 8, 2000 03:21:47 PM new
I gave up on auctioning things on Yahoo awhile back after doing a similar experiment to yours, azrae- only my experiment was much smaller scale. I now sell Yahoo on a first bid wins basis & don't rely on auctions at all.
Until today I used to list my few & far between "auctionable" items on Ebay. As of today that may change. I just read on the Ebay board that Ebay may start adding sellers' phone numbers to end-of-auction notices in an attempt to decrease fraud. This is not OK with me. If that is their plan, my plan is to only sell on Yahoo. Screw Ebay. I only used Ebay as a "laziness" crutch anyway, because to me "auctionable" = something I'm not exactly sure how to price. (Well, I do have one category that sells REALLY well on Ebay & doesn't on Yahoo but that is another story.)
I'm wondering if other Ebay sellers will feel the way I do or not. There are so many changes going on across the board that my head is spinning. Many small sellers who work from their homes will probably feel as I do- their phone line is off limits in all but the most extreme circumstances. This change on Ebay's part may create an influx of smaller sellers to Yahoo, which would be a good thing IMO. On the other hand, larger sellers may decide to leave Yahoo due to the 1,000 auctions limit.
My post is on the verge of rambling off topic here, but the point I'm trying to come to is that an influx of former-Ebay sellers to Yahoo (if it happens) may be good for the bidding environment on Yahoo. I would love to see that happen! Well, we'll see!
posted on September 8, 2000 06:13:00 PM new
dave_michmerhuizen - the ebay buyer is migrating to Yahoo, and has been for awhile.
I just had a customer bid and buy 14 of my auctions within 10 minutes. Then he wrote pleading me to trust him - referenceing his 95 EBAY fb. (all buyer, all pristine)
This is a buyer in Japan who just took the Yahoo plunge. He paid with Bidpay and I packaged and shipped his things by the end of the day. He will buy again on Yahoo, no doubt about it.
The drift drifts more everyday and anyone who thinks *not* has a serious case of denial.
I came back to work Tuesday and put up roughly 140 auctions. 40 of them have already closed sold, and it is not looking like there is a deadbeat in the pile.
Not bad.
CAgrrl - I have just thrown up some things on ebay for a pal of mine and reading about the phone number thing now, it is a perfect horror for me. I loathe ebay, I really do.
posted on September 8, 2000 06:51:05 PM new
Hi Everybody--just a fast warning--do not list $1.00 auctions on Yahoo like you might on eBay. Just a personal experience from August----they did about $2.50 (resale should have been a lot higher!!). I honored each and every one of this puny bids and got some good feedback from some very happy bidders But will I do this $1.00 starting bid again on Yahoo?---nope. The auctions are just not receiving the hits that eBay gets--or interest.
My advise for Yahoo auctions---start the bids where you are comfortable and let it ride. That way---no harm done if your item doesn't garner interest and bids. Remember--it is free and you still have other auction sites to use. Been there---done that
posted on September 10, 2000 12:06:56 AM new
Dave-
I agree with you that getting more Yahoo customers would be very beneficial. I do believe that many Ebay sellers have a loyal customer base & that they in large part would bring that customer base along with them if they made the change to selling on Yahoo or any other site.
Also buyers do go where the best stuff is.
I often tell people, customers or otherwise, about AW's universal search. The people I've told have all been happy to learn about it. I personally think it's the greatest thing. I use it constantly to comparison shop. In the areas that I frequently search I have come to the conclusion that the best prices are generally on Yahoo & the best selection is generally on Ebay. If the selection between the 2 sites were about equal then I feel very certain that there would be a lot more buying activity on Yahoo. (Amazon doesn't even enter the equation; I've found only overpriced merchandise & poor selection in the categories I search, generally speaking. I haven't purchased one thing from a seller at Amazon.)
Sorry, guess I went kinda OT again.
jeanyu- As of right now, right this minute, I agree with you 100%- auction format doesn't work well on Yahoo. I am SO, SO, SO hopeful that we can build the site enough to change that though. I am positive that it can happen.
posted on September 10, 2000 09:41:09 AM new
I get a kick out of this best stuff business I sell on both yahoo and ebay I search out bids and items on both.
Im not dum anyone can see its mostly the same type Items on yahoo or ebay mainly small easy to ship items they are of mainly the same quality.
I can also see that many ebay categories have 5x or more the Items that yahoo catagories. have and over all if you average out the amount of goods for sale in most categories you will find that bidding is equil on ebay and yahoo is buy percentage a close match.
yahoo 3000 item in category with 160 active bids today ebay category 30,000 items with 450 to 550 active bids.
Nothing better quality no seller any better then the other most useing the same auction tool and managers all with quality picture both sites.
my auction on yahoo manage about 37 to 50 veiws a week with or with out bids my items on ebay average 13 to 52 veiws weekly with or with out bids.
my Items on ebay usually have a 2% to 3% sell off on frist list of 15 to 20 items.
that right I list 20 and sell 3.
my cost with listing and FVF for this on ebay $11.43 on sales of $55. all but one sale ened with one bid
listed 100 Items 8 with winners on yahoo 3% to 5% sold frist time my listing fvf cost $0 features cost $1.80 on sales of $210 all sales but one ended with one bid two sold one bid win buy price.
all this in the same week.
same person same type quality items same packageing same shipping and handleing rules same TOS.
you all can argue quality of items you all can argue which is better or biger and so on me I will combine my efforts for both when I have the inventory and incress my sales while im at it.
posted on September 11, 2000 12:53:56 AM new
d-man- with respect to selection of items available for sale- I agree with you that what is available is comparable on both sites, but only in certain categories. For example in the toys & clothes cateogories the stuff I like to buy, I can find comparable goods on both ebay & yahoo. In those cases I choose the better-priced item, which is usually offered by a Yahoo seller, incidently.
not so with antique needlework books though. Nothing really desirable for sale on yahoo in that category, & tons on Ebay, with very fierce competition in the bidding. It's not that I think Ebay sellers are superior to Yahoo sellers (NOT AT ALL!) It's that in that case there just isn't ANYTHING for sale on Yahoo that I'd want to buy, & on Ebay there is. If I want those items I have no choice but to buy on Ebay.
All depends what you're selling/ looking for really.
