posted on December 7, 2000 08:51:21 AM new
I've listed a few NON-"First Bid Wins" auctions to try to get more exposure and move my auctions up the list (assuming they move up when a bid is placed, since Yahoo has told several people that listing placement is now determined NOT by seller feedback number, but only by sell-through rate AND NUMBER OF BIDS).
I sorted my list of open auctions to see if any had bids. Three of them have one bid each, so I went to the categories they're in to SEE IF THEY HAD MOVED UP THE LIST, since each has a bid.
******Was I disappointed.******
A listing DOES NOT move up the list when a bid is placed on it. Not even when MULTIPLE bids are placed on it. And multiple bids are NO GUARANTEE of being "featured" as "hot" on a category home page.
Go look for yourselves.
One of my auctions with bids is on page 18 of 22, one is on page 13 of 16, and one is on page 20 of 21. My auctions are no longer GROUPED TOGETHER within a category listing, but are scattered all over the place (everywhere EXCEPT NEAR THE TOP, I might add). My auctions even *follow* listings from Great Britain.
Several things are clear to me now:
1) I have fallen *greatly* out of favor with Yahoo, since my feedback and sell-through rate mean absolute NOTHING to them anymore.
2) Featuring does little-to-no good.
3) My only hope of bidders finding my listings is through keyword "search".
4) From what I can tell, THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO RHYME NOR REASON TO THE DEFAULT LISTING ORDER. Not time-ending, not seller feedback, not seller sell-through-rate, not number of bids, not alphabetically, not opening price. It appears to be TOTALLY RANDOM.
posted on December 7, 2000 09:34:38 AM new
Hi granee, I feel your pain.
It was my understanding that your present auctions don't move up in the listings as they are bid on, but your overall "worthiness" rating improves so that the NEXT batch of items that you list will be higher in the listings.
posted on December 7, 2000 09:35:04 AM new
Well, if it's any comfort, when I am browsing through Yahoo's categories, I always choose to sort by number of bids to see what items are getting the action. Perhaps others do as well.
posted on December 7, 2000 01:09:10 PM new
Hmmmm, my items are still grouped together BUT the ones ending Monday are on page 11 and the ones ending Tuesday are on page 39.
Even worse, half of them are not showing up under the keyword search
No wonder page views are so low.
posted on December 7, 2000 03:13:15 PM new
I believe that the fact that featuring makes little difference even for page views shows that the nonsensical listing order is very effective in totally driving away lookers.
I have never seen anyone having anything the least bit positive to say about the nutty order.
I'd like to request that everyone reading PLEASE go and submit a recommendation to return default listing order to by soonest close. A "contact us" form can be found at the bottom of the auctions help page.
Hard telling how persistent they can be in the idiocy but increased quantities of complaints about it certainly can't hurt.
posted on December 7, 2000 03:36:51 PM newBeen there, done that...got this reply first:
Hello,
Thank you for your email.
The default view for Yahoo! Auctions category listings is based on the
quality of the items listed. Quality is determined by the seller's
rating, sell-through-rate and the number of bids placed on the item.
You are still able to change the view of the listings to suit your
needs. When viewing Yahoo! Auctions listings, you have the option to
sort auctions by a number of different methods. Simply click on one of
the following links, located just above the auctions listed on any
listings page, to view auctions based on that criteria:
Photo - Sort auctions based on whether or not they have a photo.
Title - Sort auctions alphabetically by their titles.
Current Bid - Sort auctions based on their Current Bid price.
Bids - Sort auctions based on the number of bids they have received.
Time Left - Sort auctions based on how much time they have left.
Thanks for using Yahoo!.
Regards,
Karin
Yahoo! Auctions Customer Care
***********
Then, figuring that it couldn't hurt to send a little reminder that I was not looking for ideas on how to search for myself, I sent this:
Thank you. I understand that if we know how to change the order, the
options are available. However, when new people come to Yahoo and see
what
appears to be chaos, it looks very bad and they do not wish to stay. It
also hurts the seller's sell through. Please reconsider the random
order
which looks like chaos.
Thank you.
*********
So, Yahoo very kindly agreed to put my suggestions where they would help the most with this...
Hello,
Thank you for your email.
Thank you for your comments and suggestions. We are always looking for
ways to make Yahoo! Auctions more useful and enjoyable to our users, and
we will be sure to keep your comments in mind as we continue to make
improvements to our service.
posted on December 7, 2000 06:28:17 PM new
Hey Labbie! Don't feel too special there! Guess what you get if you email them everyday about the listing order like I do.
The SAME 2 letters only Alternated Daily!I'm starting a collection. LOL!!
posted on December 7, 2000 07:25:09 PM new
Iz bad~ wonder if by virtue of being "free" it gives Yahoo the right to do literally anything they want with our listings? In a "fee based" service - it seems to me they would then be bordering on controlling our sales without our permission. Pondering this....
In other words, whatever they are doing, believe me, it's to make THEM $$ not US. By pushing high activity auctions at top and pushing YPD - is the only motivation I can figure.
I wrote and blew some steam- stating that this "russian roulette" with my listings has driven me to list my high ticket items on ebay and the stuff I'm willing to throw in the Yahoo blender gets the rest.
I'm about out of hat tricks to get item exposure here. Hope they'll soon realize that their reputation has become very tarnished now......
posted on December 7, 2000 07:45:52 PM new
Look on the bright side! It could be worse! We could be over at Amazon, who also has jumbled the listings. Only there we would have the priviledge of Paying for It!
posted on December 7, 2000 08:50:42 PM new
kasmoon, you said, "...half of them are not showing up under the keyword search."
I hadn't even *thought* to check to see if all my auctions come up on "keyword search". I don't think I can now. Just the THOUGHT of finding out they're not being brought up makes me depressed; if I actually DO find they're not coming up, I might get desperate enough to go list on ebay---HEAVEN FORBID.
The Yahoo email to labbie1, if it ever WAS true, no longer holds water ("The default view for Yahoo! Auctions category listings is based on the quality of the items listed. Quality is determined by the seller's rating, sell-through-rate and the number of bids placed on the item.").
Either they LIED, or they changed the "formula" since telling her that (and haven't yet revealed the NEW IMPROVED FORMULA to anyone). Seller rating, sell-through rate, and number of bids NO NOT determine the listing order at this point, and I challenge Yahoo to prove to me that they DO.
In fact, I'm fed up with Yahoo enough to challenge them to a FISTFIGHT, if the winner gets to determine the default listing order.
posted on December 7, 2000 08:55:31 PM new
I added,to my auction blurb.
Save Time, click on all my auctions above to see them all at once.
Or something like that.
Will see if it helps.
posted on December 8, 2000 06:48:50 AM new
Thank you, I will join in writing about daily and say the more the merrier.
Yahoo is stubbornly holding to an incredibly stupid position here, hope it will end sometime.
Does anyone, even with preferred listing position under the current regime, approve of the ordering?
posted on December 8, 2000 08:00:06 AM new
Point of fact: Last night I had four auctions close successfully with winners, (a big night lately). Here is where the mess of scrambled listings comes in. Two of the four winners have been searching for these two collectibles for a very long time, and wrote me rather lengthy e-mails as to how happy they both were. No, they were not related, nor were their locations.
These two collectibles have been listed in excess of SIX weeks. Both of these buyers have excellent feedback files, and both have made purchases regularly up until they bought my items. The point of fact being, they have been looking all of this time and just now found my items which have been listed for so long. I know, your thinking, why didn't they use the search engines? Why didn't they select the 'time closing' option? Or why didn't they do this, or that, etc? Yahoo! needs to realize that not all buyers are computer literate, and make items as easy to find as possible.
I would bet if the listing order was by closing time, they would have gotten these items many weeks ago. Why, because these colllectibles were in categories that had many, many pages, and they never came to the top at closing. Many buyers, as I said, are not computer literate and do not know how to bring them to the top, by closing time, or search for them. The auctions need to be set up so that anyone who knows how to get to Yahoo!, can find items easily, like before. We need a user friendly auction site, not a bunch of hurdles placed in the potential buyers way.
Why Yahoo! does not change back to the previous 'default' setting of 'first to close' is uncomprehensible to me? If there is any reasonable explanation as to why this makes any sense, I would sure like to see it on their new 'announcement' page.
I do like Yahoo!, do not get my complaining wrong, or a recommendation to go elsewhere. I feel it is still the best auction site we have available and I will always support it. However, when there is a definite problem which is affecting sellers abilities to get their items viewed. Also causing buyers like the ones mentioned from getting what they are seeking, and possibly having them bought out from under them by others. Why not make the change back to the way it was? Sellers have been mentioning this every since they made the change to the current mess. And yes, it is a mess with no logical reasoning. It has to be profiting Yahoo! somehow, because it definitely is not profiting their auctioneers.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[ edited by CharlieOne on Dec 8, 2000 08:01 AM ]
posted on December 8, 2000 09:00:17 AM newfigmente I am pretty well situated in my category, but I find it completely irritating.
And, in point of fact, it is often the sellers who are doing a lot of buying as well, and if the sellers are unhappy with the chaos, then they won't be buying here either....
posted on December 8, 2000 01:05:28 PM newIn other words, whatever they are doing, believe me, it's to make THEM $$ not US
You have got to be kidding me. What do you think Yahoo is? The new welfare system? Hell yes they are in business to make money. And as a stock holder, I'm not too pleased at their success in doing so. Granted, the listing order is insane and benefits no one but I am so sick of people complaining that Yahoo actually has the gaul to want to try to make some money.
posted on December 8, 2000 01:23:38 PM new
I agree, and I've said it many times before here, and on the Sellers Zone. Yahoo! is a 'for profit' business, and they are entitled to make a profit for them and their shareholders. It would just seem to me by helping the site be more user friendly, therefore creating more sales and activity, they would profit also.
I'm sure their advertiser revenue on the site would increase appreciably. Especially if they took the number one ranking from eBay. If I was CEO that would be my goal, to top eBay in all areas. It could be done, I feel, very easily if Yahoo! would just apply themselves to it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[ edited by CharlieOne on Dec 8, 2000 01:24 PM ]
posted on December 8, 2000 02:49:24 PM new
Granee- I came to the same conclusion also. And I think I can (unfortunately) rule out Labbie's theory as well. I listed about 25-30 auctions last week & featured them all like crazy. I had 5 or 6 items that didn't sell but I sold everything else. Shouldn't I be at the top of the listings right now? Or at least close? I'm not. I listed a few things a couple days ago, without featuring, because I thought my position would be good- but ALL of those newly-listed items are on the LAST PAGES of the categories they're listed in.
posted on December 8, 2000 04:26:15 PM new
The problem we may all be having, is we are looking for a reasonable explanation, and there just isn't any. There is one person at Yahoo! who knows, but he isn't talking >
posted on December 8, 2000 06:22:43 PM new
As the result is so poor the only reasonable explanation would be sabotage. As I don't really suspect deliberate sabotage I expect that all true explanations are nonsense.
posted on December 8, 2000 06:53:16 PM new
HEygrape, thanks for the DUH picture.
Love it, Does it stand for Dumb Universal Hubbies ?
Only kidding, but love the picture.
.......
I don't feature EVERY item I list,
I only feature maybe one or two items ending different days in the different catagories.
Figure that if they like the one item they will look for more in my auctions...
........
I still say YAHOOOOOOO.
posted on December 8, 2000 07:39:55 PM newVM Why thank you!
CAgrrl Well cripes! I give up! I have to agree with CharlieOne then!
I really hope that Yahoo makes money hand over fist! I just think they would do better if they got rid of the chaos and got back to something resembling order to strengthen seller's sales. I think that would also make the buyers feel more comfortable as well.
posted on December 8, 2000 09:30:19 PM new
yes, I am unfortunately starting to think that Charlie is onto something.
I would even be all for Yahoo charging sellers a flat monthly fee to list auctions, if they'd just put the listings back in order. I have to agree with you, labbie, I think both the buyers & sellers would be more comfortable. This way is alienating to everyone- people spend more time trying to figure it out than they do bidding, listing, etc.
BTW Labbie your dog is GORGEOUS! What a sweetie! Even pouting!
posted on December 9, 2000 07:41:44 PM new
Yahoo has just about crunched my auctions into oblivion!
If I was a bidder----don't think I'd have the patience to figure out their nutty listing order....
If they think they can alienate this many sellers and make any money - they are cRaZy!! It appears we are another ship with a captain who rolls little metal balls in his hand......remember that movie?? LOL
posted on December 10, 2000 01:14:49 PM new
!! ! !....No wonder I haven't been getting any bids at all since I quit on Ebay and came to Yahoo. Us 'newbies' are totally unaware of this listing order unless we just happen to come across a Message like this one!.....I thought the Auto-resubmit was a great plus and time saver for me, but if customers can't even find our listings (the way it sounds here) what can we do but go find another auction outlet. Want to stay with Yahoo....Any suggestions from you veterans is greatly appreciated.........Dana71
Goingslow
![More bad news about Yahoo listing order [frown]](/img/header/logo/vendio_logo_tag_2009.gif){kind=logo}
with this...
I'm starting a collection. LOL!!
