posted on November 9, 2000 06:44:45 AM new
Hi! This is my first visit here. i have been selling on Ebay for quite some time. So many ludicrious happenings lately. It seems Ebay relly doesn't care at all what goes on? I am interested in listing on other auction sites. So many people have told me that they are very unproductive. Does anyone know this to be true?
posted on November 9, 2000 07:06:53 AM new
The only one that I've found that is worthwhile for me is Yahoo.
However, Yahoo is quite different from Ebay, and requires different techniques to be successful. Fortunately, there's lots of great info available right here at AW on the Yahoo forum.
posted on November 9, 2000 08:12:41 AM new
I will second A....2000's comments.
While I understand others are having some success on a range of sites, YAHOO is the only location that is consistently working for me at the present time.
I've had to take a completely different approach than that used on eBay. I use the 1st Bid Wins format and consider the listings more of a fixed price web page rather than fixed duration auctions. Others do use the traditional auction format on YAHOO and you may need to explore both options or some combination of the two for your own best results.
I have previously used Amazon, will list several items I have in duplicate on that site for possible Christmas sales and have also just started listing books/tapes on their new Marketplace.
I have some listings at Half.com, which is limited in the type of items that can be sold and has a similar fixed price format to the new Marketplace and the manner in which I'm using YAHOO.
The combined sales at other sites are usually only a portion of my eBay sales and I consider them a supplement and not presently an alternative to eBay. I have had weeks on YAHOO where sales exceeds eBay but they have been rare.
For me YAHOO holds the greatest promise of becoming a substancial market in the future and has recently shown very rapid growth in the number of listings and sales volume. They are still a distant second to eBay in sales and you should be willing to sell internationally as they have a large percentage of non-US customers.
What has become an important bonus for me in using other sites is the ability to do productive and profitable work elsewhere when eBay is having problems. Rather than getting caught-up in the frenzy of eBay "functionally", which was my previous norm, I now just leave it all behind and move on to doing listing elsewhere.
It's difficult to give an exact dollar total to sanity but is not without value.
posted on November 9, 2000 08:48:52 AM newWhat has become an important bonus for me in using other sites is the ability to do productive and profitable work elsewhere when eBay is having problems.
That's a great point. And the cool part is that it's not wasted work -- when Ebay is down, it seems that a lot of bidders do turn to Yahoo, and maybe other sites as well.
posted on November 9, 2000 09:00:13 PM new
IMHO, it dependa on what you are selling....I recently checked Yahoo for some of the items I BUY regularly, and found the prices WAY high, and about 85% of the auctions with no bids....also checked for some of the items I SELL regularly, and had the same type of result.
Keith
I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
posted on November 9, 2000 09:14:57 PM newKeith: I think the "no-bid" on Yahoo observation is not really valid. Since a huge majority of items on Yahoo are sold as FIRST BID WINS, you aren't going to see many bids! But that doesn't tell you much!
I keep about 30 items on Yahoo all the time & sell about 5/week! Hey, it's free & not much work & so far, my winners have been great!
I's love to be able to move more & more stuff over. If I sell a $30.00 item on eBay & the winner paid with Pay-Hell, there's not much left. But that same item sold on Yahoo & all the profit goes into my pocket (where it belongs!)!
posted on November 9, 2000 09:40:43 PM new
Good for you and congrats!!! but I still say it depends on your category. What are you selling that has so many great bida?
I sell (usually) "limited" items, or "hard to find"....and have looked at my "Straight Razor" search, and seen item GROSSLY overpriced...
Keith
I assume full responsibility for my actions, except
the ones that are someone else's fault.
posted on November 9, 2000 09:45:09 PM new
The Observation of a huge number of auction with no bidsis very valid.
There are sellers on YaHoo with hundereds and thousands of auctions listed I see with 1 to 0 bids many of these seller with one bid win auctions and buy3=free shipping in there decriptions and listing with no bids these seller auction I have looked at have very nice items reasonably shipping rates the feed back they do have is all fine still no bids.
when you check out there closed auctions some of these buyer havent had a auction with a win close in month or only 1 or 2 in monthly since august.
all the buyer Repeat buyers who were buying from me last year on YaHoo simply vanished
between June to august.
many buyers wrote me to say they loved bidding on yahoo but have no intention of verify with there Creditcard to bid.
Even though I have been selling on YaHoo for a year and had many many sucessfull sales there I only have a 28 feed back on yahoo Due to the way they list High feed back frist in search and in catagory none of my auctions includeing ending auction ever make it to the top of the saturated catagories.
Even my OneBid win auction dont get seen and get no bids.
due to this new listing method Feature price in many catagory to get in the top 20 can be as much as .40 to .50 per day.
I still list lots of Items on yahoo but in May I registered to sell on ebay and I am manageing to sell and Most of my listing fees and FVF on sales end up being less then featureing in the top 20 for 5 to 7 days on yahoo in many catagories.
Sellers with 1000 or more feed back on yahoo have absolutely very little competition and get 85% of the bids.
posted on November 10, 2000 01:59:45 AM new
I DO YAHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I sell lots and lots on Yahoo & I LOVE IT!!!!! Yahoo is unbelievably seller-friendly. There are so many good things about it: You can leave feedback for your customer when their check arrives, knowing that if the check bounces, you can always go back & add feedback that says the check bounced. You have the opportunity for 24-hour (or faster!) turnaround when you list "First bid wins". You can blacklist anyone you wish so that they cannot bid on your auctions. You have lots &lots of space to work with when writing the titles of your items and also when leaving feedback. Plus a FREE integrated online payment service and FREE listings. Additionally, featuring items on Yahoo is a BARGAIN- you will pay a minimum of 10¢ per day to be featured, and you get a 50% rebate of the amount you paid if your item sells.
Having said all that, Yahoo IS better for some categories than it is for others. To speak in very vague generalities, I think that Yahoo's client base is younger & "hipper" in many ways than Ebay's is. While both sites have many seasoned collectors as clients, I think that Yahoo's customers are more on the cutting edge. If you have the latest fad in games, clothes, CD's, or toys for sale, you will do well selling at Yahoo. If your items are more "niche" it really depends on your niche. I do sell in one category that is very "niche" and for that one category, Yahoo sucks.
One other note about Yahoo: the international client base is HUGE!!! If you sell internationally it will be a huge plus for you on Yahoo.
posted on November 10, 2000 02:11:25 AM new
HI, I like yahoo, nice people but i need to Feature every item to get any hits.Happily were nice enough to let us MATCH our EBAY FEEDBACK AMOUNT TO DOLLARS TO SPEND TO FEATURE.the link is on their main auction page takes about 2 days.pretty nice of them.
good luck,pam
posted on November 10, 2000 05:33:18 AM new
On eBay I can and do list $500 items with starting bids of $1.00 and no reserve. I would never try that on any other auction service. As a seller I wouldn't dare use that tactic anywhere else. Most of the other auctions sites are 'retail' which isn't a lot of fun for buyers.
