posted on September 26, 2000 06:54:40 PM new
I was just wondering, of any of you who pay for featuring your auctions. Can you tell if the more you pay, the closer you get to the top of the page?
Here is my thoughts on the scrambled mess we currently see on Yahoo, as to scrambled listings being the default setting on all auctions, (which really hurts last minute bidders, and sellers). The default setting is by auction number? What kind of sense does that make? Who cares about the auction number enough to want to see that more than any other option? No one, of course.
Yahoo may be doing this because the date ending does not apply to featured auctions. If you pay for that, your at the top all of the time. By scrambling all of the auction listings, those that don't feature will never get to the top, even near the close. In other words, if you don't feature, you are getting punished for not doing so.
I would love to see the statistics on the increased numbers of featured auctions, as a result of this tactic. Sure, you can select closing first option when viewing, but how many really know that, and use it? If this is intentional by Yahoo, what a low trick to just get more people to pay for featuring their auctions. Featuring is getting to be a joke anyway, there are so many that feature, where is the advantage anymore. There are pages and pages, of featured, in every category listing anyway. To try to force more to use it, will just negate the advantage of doing it. Basically, shooting your own foot off.
posted on September 26, 2000 07:13:03 PM new
I have not verified, but someone wrote that if you shop "show pics only" that the featured auctions are lost in the jumble. If this is the case, it makes the theory less plausible because so many people (I think?) shop that way.
Whatever the reason, it is horrible. Can't say that I have heard even one person write favorably about it.
posted on September 26, 2000 08:15:26 PM new
CharlieOne,
Actually, I suspect the same thing. And yes, if you pay more, you get close to the top of the page. I just checked on the "Show pics only" view, and the featured auctions are still presented first.
I totally disagree that the increase in featured auctions causes them to lose their value. To me, the value is relative. Sure, featured auctions may not be as good a deal as they once were, but now you can feature auctions for as little as 10 cents per day, and half of that is refunded if the item sells.
Dollar for dollar, it's still a MUCH better deal than regular listings at eBay.
Again, it's a question of value. And it seems that with now Yahoo's free auctions, you now get just about what you pay for.
But your mileage may vary...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
All rights reserved. All wrongs reversed.
posted on September 26, 2000 09:15:46 PM new
The Photos Only feature has been a jumbled mess and all the featured auctions do not show up first as they should! They sometimes appear they do but after watching them for almost a month now, I know that is not true since the end of August!
Maybe in some categories they do?
I have browsed through forty plus pages when I listed just to find my Auctions (not featured) and they never even advanced in the page sequence ten days later when the auctions had under an hour remaining!
From the shot gunned order they have, there is no way I would pay to feature an auction at present!
The one place the featured do show is the photos at the top of the list search!
I hope enough folks complain about it! I have a folder of E-mails and responses from Yahoo since the end of August!
Every reply is a different reason!
Should just go back the way it was if they know how??
posted on September 27, 2000 01:56:18 AM new
When Yahoo first jumbled the listings a few weeks ago, the CATEGORY LISTINGS pages were jumbled but KEYWORD SEARCH page results were still in "time left" order as the default. Now they've screwed up the search results pages, too, and they're jumbled just like the rest of the auction.
The featured items are listed first (by amount paid), and the rest of the listings are jumbled by an UNKNOWN order. They're NOT ordered by listing number (as someone here speculated), not ordered by price, not by "time left" or "number of bids"....so what order does that LEAVE as a LOGICAL REASON for the chaos---LUCK?????????
When you sort the page by "time left", the featured items ARE NO LONGER FEATURED---they are mixed in with all the rest by ending order (one reason I refuse to feature anything until Yahoo FIXES THIS MESS).
When you sort by "show only photos", the featured items are still at the top, but the rest of the listings are jumbled, EVEN IF YOU'VE ALREADY SORTED THE PAGE BY "TIME LEFT". The "time left" ordered list REVERTS BACK to the jumbled mess when you view it as "show only photos".
So it's impossible for someone to view a page by "show only photos" AND by "time left" at the same time. It's a wonder anyone's selling ANYTHING now.
Whoever thought this up at Yahoo should have his computer taken away from him.
[ edited by granee on Sep 27, 2000 02:35 PM ]
posted on September 27, 2000 09:54:25 AM new
Looks like granee and the rest of us are on the same ship (TITANIC) together!
I hope these folks wake up?
You are right about the Featured being at the start of the Photos only! Over the past month of this change,I have seen where they have not been! Maybe a few but not all the ones closing that are featured (especially in time sequence)!
Photos only is the only way I look for items to add to my collection! So as a buyer I do not even look anymore as I am sure others have followed suit!
The first page stays almost identical with non featured and featured items for as long as ten days! Only Auctions that disappear are any that might close!
Pages also do not advance in any known order! As I stated earlier, I searched forty plus pages to find my thumbnails the day I listed and had to search forty plus pages the day they closed to find them! Ten days later!
posted on September 27, 2000 12:16:29 PM new
I just got a response to my complaint about the jumbled order
"Sorry for the inconvenience. For the time being please choose the 'Time Left' sort to view in soonest ending order."
Hmmm, "for the time being"-hope that means they are working on changing it back. I wish they would have said so clearly.
posted on September 27, 2000 12:25:29 PM new
granee
You're right, they aren't listed by auction number either. They were at one time, when they first started this mess. Now there is no sort of pattern at all!
Who knows what they are thinking? I know it is really hurting sales for many sellers, me in particular, as one of hundreds I'm sure!
Hey, Yahoo!, wake up! You trying to totally run all of the bidders, that are left, away from your site?
posted on September 27, 2000 04:56:45 PM new
Well WOW some one sold something on yahoo in the last two weeks good for you.
I have been surffing yahoo category by category since last friday. in categorys with 76 pages of sales when I sort by bid I find that out of the 76 pages 12 to 20 Items have the bids. in categorys with one or two pages there is 1 to 0 bid .
features are no more used now then before if anything there are less features the one shineing light I seen is that most auction that managed to be bid on nearly all had more then one bid and more then a fair share had 17 or more bids this is new for yahoo.
also I noticed that is is an unusually high number of auctions with reserves on them.this could be due to the glitch in the resubmit reserve is marked by default.
another thing glitch I have beard alot is that there is a problem with buyers being able to get there credit cards verified I wonder if yahoo was ready for the flood of users all at once
if the buyer cant register CC because of error messages they cant bid.
also ran another test on my auctions I featured half of my new listing and no feature on the other half the featued auction faired well with many hit no bids but I got hundereds of veiws the half I didnt feature got 3 to 0 bids.
yahoo needs to mend there ways very soon Things havent been good there for buyers or sellers in over two weeks now both have suffered many just frustrated and moved over to ebay to sell and buy and 30 days makes a habbit.
WWW.dman-n-company.com
posted on September 27, 2000 05:11:49 PM new
Regards,
Karin
Yahoo! Auctions Customer Care
I have sent a lot of e-mails to CC lately about many topics related to changes, etc. I notice this "Karen" works many hours a day, maybe 24/7? The high percentage, that are answered with a human name, are Karen or one other, that escapes my memory now. Either they work an awful lot of hours, or Yahoo, responding to 'canned' response complaints, has named their computers. Or added names to their canned replies. If there is a human "Karen", she has a very limited vocabulary.
posted on September 27, 2000 05:49:17 PM new
granee - thanks for clarifying this.
I clicked "order by time" and then "pics only" and I *thought* I was getting junk back. So repulsive to me, that I just walk away rather than try to figure it out.
posted on September 27, 2000 06:18:25 PM new
LOL Charlie, if Karin is a computer she needs rewiring. I've been getting letters from her over 6 months and they never address what I specifically asked. Some of her replies are not related to the issue in the slightest.
Todays email was signed by "Jay".
To your original question, when you click to feature you are shown a numbered list with the amount each seller is paying. About half only pay the 10 cent minimum so I only have to go 11 cents to stay mid page 1. Sometimes you see sellers who are paying up $5 a day to stay #1. I'm satisfied to be in the top 20 so I simply pay one cent more than whatever #21 is paying.
posted on September 27, 2000 06:34:55 PM new
kasmoon
Thanks for the info on featuring. I never have featured, wasn't sure how it worked. About 50% of my items, at all times, are $2 - $10.. Featuring them would not be practicle, over the long runs on Yahoo, for such items.
The higher priced items I sell, seem to do okay without featuring, in the long run. I'm very patient, and auctions are more of a hobby for me.
