posted on September 24, 2000 06:54:21 PM new
I am very diappointed. I am a die hard ebay user but decided to try a few things on yahoo. After 3 weeks of listing items I can count on my hands the hits...and have sold nothing. What gives with this? The only thing they have going for them is that it is free. Otherwise it has been a waste of my time.
posted on September 24, 2000 07:57:41 PM new
My limited experience on Yahoo has been very positive. But my approach is a little different. I don't think of it as being free. I think of it as a lower-priced alternative.
I feature ALL of my auctions. It's still far, far cheaper than eBay, and I've found that my hits and sales per listing have been at least as high, if not higher, than on eBay.
Of course, I suspect that, as with everything, it really depends on the items that you are selling.
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posted on September 24, 2000 08:05:37 PM new
I have also discovered if I don't feature, I don't get hits or bids either. Do those who "browse" on Yahoo just not look past the featured items?????
[ edited by sulyn1950 on Sep 24, 2000 08:06 PM ]
posted on September 24, 2000 09:11:38 PM new
What a TIMELY topic! Synchronicity strikes again.
I just spent about an hour browsing through Yahoo for the first time ever, with an eye toward possibly listing over there, expanding my horizons.
I was shocked at how few items in my category even had bids at all. I was even more shocked that there's no "New Today" or "Ending Today" sort feature. In fact, shocked even more, perhaps, that things aren't listed in any obvious order. You can find something ending within the hour before something ending days from now, followed by something ending 6 hours from now, then tomorrow, and so on. What gives with that? I use these New Today and Ending Today features all the time on ebay. Doesn't everybody?
Glad to get the tip about Featured items. It'd taken me a while to tumble to that idea, I think.
posted on September 24, 2000 10:03:03 PM new
The jumbled listings were implemented just a few weeks ago, I think to eliminate the "top of the list" advantage that two-day auctions had over longer 3-10 day auctions. To sort the listings by ending time, you have to click on "Time Left" on the far right side above the list.
Yahoo sellers aren't at all happy with the change, and have been writing Yahoo to convince them to change it back to "ending order" as the DEFAULT for every page. Hopefully, they'll listen and "fix" it soon.
Many Yahoo sellers use the "buy price" feature with or without "first bid wins" (opening bid and buy price are the same), so many auctions close IMMEDIATELY upon the first bid---one reason you see so few listings with bids. For tips on selling successfully on Yahoo Auction, go back and read through previous threads here on AW.
posted on September 24, 2000 10:11:22 PM new
I ran 10 featured ads this month, 2 got 25-30 views, 5 got 100-150 and 3 got over 400. 7 ended with multi bidders, 3 ended with 0 bids.
My non-featured ads only got from 1-5 views each and only 4 items sold. Pitiful, especially considering I used a large & bold text in all 10 features stating I had many similar items & would give shipping specials to multi ad winners. They still didn't view my other ads. I really don't know what else to try, I certainly don't want to pay to feature everything.
I haven't featured anything this week but I have been monitering the features in my usual categories to judge how much bidding has dropped off due to the new CC policy. Sorry to report it seems to be way down for all sellers.
posted on September 24, 2000 10:22:09 PM new
Also, after reading here about the popularity of "First bid wins" auctions at Yahoo, I raised my opening bids a bit and changed to that format. The results have been dramatic. Very positive.
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posted on September 24, 2000 10:28:52 PM new
Clevergirl
The only way I know to view "New today" Yahoo ads is here on AW's Universal Search. Choose show results for Yahoo only. A stumbling block to that though is that you can only select new today from a keyword search, not a general category.
You can view Ending today on Yahoo. Under the thumbnail photos you click time left to show ads in order of ending soonest
Sort by: Photo | Title | Price | Bids | Time Left
AW's Yahoo search automatically shows ads by ending soonest order. Hopefully we will convince Yahoo to return to that, it changed about a month ago and no one likes it.
Unfortunately "show only photos" search cannot be put in any kind of order, it's a jumbled mess with no option to change.
To judge the actual sales in your category click (under the thumbnail photos) "show closed auctions". That will bring up pages of only the successfully closed ads for the past 90 days from that category.
You can also do a keyword search (instead of category) for closed results by choosing that option on "Advanced Search".
posted on September 25, 2000 04:37:28 AM new
dialinfordollars - as a former eBay Power Seller, I understand, it took me a couple of months to learn how to properly use Yahoo, I'd post, I'd get discouraged and go back to eBay. BUT what kept me trying was my elder son (in his 30's) was running over a 1,000 auctions on yahoo and doing fantastic - I have always been able to out sell him, so I had to keep trying - I did, and I am now VERY satisfied at Yahoo.
It definitely takes a change of attitude, but I still post on eBay also, and have found since the "Watch" was instituted on eBay the bidding has changed dramatically - and the runs I saw on auctions a few years ago on eBay just aren't there very often now.
It takes patience at Yahoo, I put it up, and relist till it sells - and it does, just not always at the speed it might at eBay - But it is FREE.
On the other hand I use "First Bid Wins," and often turn an item 3 or 4 times in a week, when the same item is sitting on eBay waiting to close.
Ebay and Yahoo are like apples & oranges, and you just can't really compare them - they both work, but completely differently.
posted on September 25, 2000 04:48:19 AM new
I have tryed everything to get bids on Yahoo. I have been listing for well over a year, and your right, the only thing they have going for them is the fact that it is free.
I do sell something every once in a while, but I cannot even begin to compare it to Ebay.
I have done the first bid wins, set a buy price, featured, you name it, I've done it, but it has always been slow. At least at Ebay when you pay 25 cents it can run up to 10 days if you want it to. Its 25 cents a day at yahoo. So again, can't compare with Ebay.
I list and will continue to as long as it doesn't cost anything, but if I had to pay for it, I would have to stop listing. It just wouldn't pay for itself.
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."---Mark Twain
[ edited by jwoodcrafts on Sep 25, 2000 04:50 AM ]
posted on September 25, 2000 06:07:49 AM new
Here we go again.
Many of us sell very successfully on Yahoo. If you want to see how we do it, read deeper on this board because many of us have outlined out strategies again and again.
If you want to know if your stuff CAN sell, do a search of ended auctions (under advanced) and take a peek at the prices people are getting for their stuff and that will tell you right there if Yahoo is worth your trouble.
You CANNOT judge by looking at the ongoing auctions because a large percentage of what sells - sells at the buy price and so is GONE in an instant.
This said, these last 2 weeks since the listings have been jumbled have been the slowest have seen in almost 10 months.
posted on September 25, 2000 06:15:23 AM new
I, too, have migrated from eBay to Yahoo. I bought a few items, listed a couple (zero bids), then when I tried to bid on another item yesterday, I got a message stating that I cannot bid! Also, when I resubmitted a couple of my bidless items, they don't show up in the listings.
I'm running out of options
PS - I did provide my credit card info to Yahoo when I registered and it hasn't changed ....
posted on September 25, 2000 06:33:00 AM new
I bid 2 auctions without any trouble in the last 2 days, but I do not doubt your experience. Our sales are off by 75-80%, last 2 weeks and that tells me that *something* has clearly gone wrong.
posted on September 25, 2000 07:08:24 AM new
You are right: Yahoo is screwed up. I've been on for about a year and was having at least
moderate success. Then they went to this
system they are now using, hardly a look.
It's a pretty transparent attempt to get you to pay for listing by doing away with the closing soon advantage. Look out ebay here I come. I wouldn't mind paying to list if they
have a better site. Yahoo has lost winning bidders for me, dumped my listings, closed new listings, allowed minors to bid not only
minors in age but repeated deadbeats.
posted on September 25, 2000 08:41:30 AM new
Kasmoon: Thanks, I found of it (Closing Soon). Clever of them to hide it right under my nose, dontcha think?
Everyone: thanks for all the comments. Very helpful and very interesting. And yes, I will read thru more of the threads here.
Amalgamated, Kasmoon, JWPC, Jwoodcrafts: what items or categories are you selling?
I took a QUICK look closed auctions (will go back for a little more study later) in my category (Depression glass, mainly) and was not all that impressed. The prices looked decent, but there's no way to know what percentages of total auctions closed.
Even so, judging from the bids on active auctions (very, very few), the overwhelming initial impression is that there are just too few buyers over there. (Is that why it's free? If that changes, will it remain free? Just thinking out loud.)
I LOVE the Buy Price feature, but I saw it on only 1 auction I looked at. Maybe that would increase sales -- esp. if it's a "First Bidder Wins" auction. Very cool tip.
The bottom line for me is that I KNOW I have to branch out from ebay. Unlike Yahoo (or so it seems), things do get bid on at ebay (60 - 80% or more, it looks like), so they do have buyers. But there's SO much going on on any given day on ebay that many things get overlooked completely. I've got a gob of things I got listed over the weekend -- some very attractive things, I might add and priced right, and haven't had a single bid on any of them. That just doesn't seem right to me. So all I know at this point is that I've spent a bundle on listing fees. And unless people do searches for the specific items I'm offering, my only other best chance of getting bids is when these auctions are ready to close.
Unless there's a glitch in Yahoo's system, the ONLY reasons you would get the "not allowed to bid" message are:
1) The seller has blacklisted you from bidding on his items.
2) Your bidding status on Yahoo is not FULLY registered. You may have given them your CC numbers in the past, but the information may have been lost or dropped from your registration, or somehow incomplete.
After logging in under your user name, click "Account Info" (upper right), give your password again, make sure your email addresses don't say "unverified", then click "Wallet", sign in with your security password, and check all the information including your credit card number (and the card verification number) to see that it's all correct.
When you resubmitted your listings, did you get the confirmation that your auctions were listed? Are they not showing up on your "selling" list, or on keyword searches? If there's some kind of problem with your CC registration you aren't allowed to sell on Yahoo, so that could be why your listings aren't showing up.
Overall sales are slow right now (including ebay), unless the item is rare, very desirable, or dirt cheap....but the jumbled listings on Yahoo aren't helping anything (I think they're DISTURBING and UNSETTLING to the viewer). The new CC registration to bid isn't hurting MY sales since I'm selling to book buyers (a different breed), but many others are reporting very poor sales this month. It's hard to tell just what's impacting Yahoo sales---the jumbled listings, the bidder CC verification, waning interest in online auctions, or the overall economy (whether seasonal slump, election year doldrums, high oil prices, or the beginning of a recession).
I do know that Yahoo is advertising their site on radio and TV, though not specifically the auction. I wish they would put the auction listings back in ending order ASAP so that all the new people they're attracting with their ads could FIND our listings as they close.
posted on September 26, 2000 12:08:02 AM new
There certainly is a glitch. I've posted in another thread that I too have migrated from eBay and wanted to switch some of my 150 auctions per week to Yahoo.
I decided to browse the site & do some bidding first but atfer 2 weeks, 5 phone calls to customer service and repeating my problem to about 15-20 people at Yahoo, and being told that they'd work on it and keep in touch via email, I STILL CANNOT BID.
All the info in "my account" is correct and they've sent about 25-30 confirmations to my correct email address but still I cannot bid.
It's no wonder some sellers are complaining about slow sales, some bidders cannot bid on auctions they want to. I've lost out on the opportunity to bid in about 10-15 auctions and am rapidly getting discouraged.
I'm not sure this is where I want to waste my time listing my auctions if 1.) bidders that see my stuff and want to bid are going to have half the trouble I've had because I'm sure they won't be as persistant and 2.) customer service is as pitiful as my first experience with it has been.
posted on September 26, 2000 02:58:00 PM new
Okay! Knock wood, things seem to be picking up. I closed only 8-10 auctions in the last 2 weeks, and now have 6 sales in the last 12 hours. Here is to hoping it is a trend to back on track.
A note to anyone who does not put their email in their listings, you should. I get someone posting about the credit card thing once a day at least. I either sell to them, or in a couple of cases, reassure them and they sign on. Whatever. A sale is a sale, and I'll take it.
posted on September 26, 2000 02:59:28 PM new
Oh. And another good sign. I put a widget up yesterday and had 8 views and 4 bids on it within 2 hours. Everyone hang in, by God she's got a pulse!
posted on September 26, 2000 09:24:17 PM new
I have around 200 auctions running on yahoo, some of them have been there a month. to do the same sort of thing on eBay would cost significant money. once a listing is there it is pretty easy to maintain it, and the odd one sells every few days.
I still sell on ebay. When I ship I send a canned shipping notice that contains the URLs of my category and my booth on Yahoo, encouraging the buyer to 'check yahoo auctions too!'
I encourage others to take the time to do this - acting together we can help expand the marketplace ourselves.
posted on September 26, 2000 10:37:47 PM new
Excellent point, Dave. Have you had many repeat customers who intially bought on eBay but later bought on Yahoo?
Even if not, I still think it's a great idea.
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That just doesn't seem right to me. So all I know at this point is that I've spent a bundle on listing fees. And unless people do searches for the specific items I'm offering, my only other best chance of getting bids is when these auctions are ready to close.
