posted on October 27, 2000 08:22:49 AM new
Good morning,
Like many sellers, I'm looking to expand away from eBay - not leave, just branch out.
I've seen great "technical" advice on how Yahoo and eBay differ, and learned a lot (thank you!), but I'm wondering more about presentation or category differences in the two sites.
What makes you successful on Yahoo? How are Yahoo bidders different than eBay bidders? Do you sell some types of items better at Yahoo than at eBay?
posted on October 27, 2000 11:31:59 AM new
sadie - I think that the two groups, ebay/yahoo buyers are so vast that they are impossible to characterize. Yahoo has less traffic than ebay, because there are still some ebay purists out there, but they are a dying breed. Point is - if it will sell *there, it will sell *here.
posted on October 27, 2000 04:01:06 PM new
I make my decisions as follows:
Ebay: If I don't know what the value of the item might be or think that this item might be of some worth if it had a venue that had a lot of viewers who would place multiple bids.
Yahoo: If I know the set price that I want for an item, or would be happy with the minimum price at which I have listed the item. You won't see a lot of bid wars on Yahoo.
posted on October 28, 2000 05:54:37 AM new
I sell both on Yahoo and eBay, and I am getting to like Yahoo better. Since there are no fees, I can experiment with the opening bid. For the last month I've made more $$ on my Yahoo auctions than my eBay auctions.
You certainly do not get the multiple bids on items that would normally occur on eBay's auctions, so you really need to make sure you will be happy if you only receive your opening bid.
Generally with my Yahoo auctions, I include the shipping charge in the opening bid. I specify that it is free if shipped within the USA only. Occassionally the winning bidder is outside the USA, and they pay actually shipping costs. I do a lot of first bid wins auctions, especially if I am relisting the item/
Have many success stories on Yahoo. I listed an item on eBay, $9.99 opening bid, no reserve, shipping $7. No bids. Listed it on Yahoo at $25, seller paying shipping, first bid wins, and it sold within 2 hours. Another item, I listed on eBay with a starting bid of $6, shipping $2, no bids. Listed it on Yahoo at $12 with free shipping, and sold it for $12 on the first listing. Another one was listed on eBay for $95, no reserve, $5 shipping, and received no bids. Listed it on Yahoo for $100, free shipping and sold it. This was sold on the 2nd Yahoo relist.
I do a lot of relists on Yahoo, and eventually everything sells. Really!
One other thing, when I first started selling on Yahoo and of course had no feedback there, I mentioned in the description that I was new to the Yahoo site, but had sold on another site and had XXXX feedbacks there, and invited bidders to email me for my feedback list. None did. In my Yahoo ME section (or whatever it's called there), I do mention that I sell on the largest auction site with the same userid.
posted on October 28, 2000 10:33:33 AM new
"One other thing, when I first started selling on Yahoo and of course had no feedback there, I mentioned in the description that I was new to the Yahoo site, but had sold on another site and had XXXX feedbacks there, and invited bidders to email me for my feedback list. None did. In my Yahoo ME section (or whatever it's called there), I do mention that I sell on the largest auction site with the same userid."
FYI - Yahoo does not have a problem with you linking to your e-bay feedback or mentioning the name....unlike "that other auction site".
posted on October 28, 2000 12:44:19 PM new
auctionee....Yes, you are right, but eBay does have a problem with it, although I guess I could have mentioned eBay by name without putting the link to my feedback.
posted on October 29, 2000 08:56:44 AM new
Thank you for the great tips! I guess I'll start designing a more generic template for my auctions so I can use both venues without a lot of cut'n'paste!
