Did you know that Yahoo is FREE now?

Hi - yes Yahoo is totally FREE. But - many technical problems there, and although they're working on them - seems their top priority is the advertising that shows up all around auction listings. I have sold NOTHING since they went free. I've noticed people get maybe 1 bid or none. It's still worth trying, but record-keeping is nightmare right now. The seller's records are usually messed up. Best wishes, Laura

You are right. There are bugs. They tried to roll out a new version a week or so ago and had to unroll it. Too many glitches. I was personally in email contact with one of their tech support personnel. She actively monitored the Yauction Sellers Yahoo email group. That group has been instrumental in getting a lot of changes made just because we asked for them. So, yes, there are problems but I am glad they are at least working on them. This person's last day is today, though, so I don't know if we'll have another techie monitoring our discussion group or not, but she has told us there are some big things in the works. It will take a while, but I think Yahoo could eventually take eBay on...if they stay committed to the auction platform.

Yahoo Auctions are working much better this past week. I often buy items from a couple of sellers there, and occasionally will try to sell stuff too. Wish there was a way to get word out about Yahoo Auctions. In talking to others, I discovered that many people think eBay is the only auction site available. Probably due to their television advertisements. Best wishes to you & thanks for your reply!!

Free is good-but I haven't heard anything from anyone about sales over there? Besides eBay, I sell on Overstock quite a bit. I do pretty well there.

I am a member of a yahoo groups email list call Yauction Sellers. Some of the members seem to be doing quite well selling on Yahoo, others have not sold anything. It must depend on what you are selling.

Yahoo seems to be plagued by scams and fraud attempts, but so is every other auction site that I've heard of.

I'm not necessarily promoting Yahoo. I am just trying to get the word out to other sellers that there is an alternative.

I've also heard iOffer is doing well for some people.

Best of luck wherever you sell!
~Lisa

Is it my imagination or is the appearance and flow of the site worst than it was before. I also tried The Yahoo selling manager and it is like my dog programmed it. When I used it a couple of years ago I remember it more robust than this. Didn’t it let you preview your listing before submitting? When Yahoo Auction first started they had features superior to eBay. They just did not market or commit themselves to it. They blew it.

quote:

Originally posted by hgmartin:
Is it my imagination or is the appearance and flow of the site worst than it was before. I also tried The Yahoo selling manager and it is like my dog programmed it. When I used it a couple of years ago I remember it more robust than this. Didn’t it let you preview your listing before submitting? When Yahoo Auction first started they had features superior to eBay. They just did not market or commit themselves to it. They blew it.

I didn't list there before, so I can't answer this accurately. I do know that a lot of people on the Yauction Sellers email group don't use the selling manager. It seems to be trouble-plagued. I can never get Turbo-Lister to work for me, so I don't think Yahoo has a corner on the troubles market. However, I have listed a few things on Yahoo this morning and I was able to preview them. Be careful if you go back to edit it, though. Your selections may not all be there, or may be chaged.
Good luck!

It use to be much smoother before. At least they are free and I can park some of my unsold eBay items there.

Found this amusing for yahoo auctions UK

http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/auctions/notice/



Helllloooo every one (My first post here)

Yeah, pretty funny. 'We suggest you try using eBay!' Ha! I should have pointed out in my first post that Yahoo right now is only functioning in the US. International users have not been able to sell, though of course they keep trying to send money orders for high-priced items that they need immediately for their dying child in Nigeria.

Welcome, Mark!

I am trying out Yahoo and have some auctions for Movies and Puppets over there

Well, I've got stuff up there but it might as well be invisible because nothing's happening over there LOL

Yahoo! Auction is like a graveyard. And all the sellers over there think they can rip off people by jacking up their prices, even though they pay nothing to put their listings there. The problem with free listing is that sellers don't have to pay, so they are not worry that their things are not going to sell and they'll still end up having to pay a listing fee. So they develop the scammer mentality: they jack up their prices, wait around long enough for some idiots to come along to buy their stuff. I look around a bit, and I see most their prices are way much higher than eBay. Why would anyone want to go to Yahoo! Auction?

I sell on Yahoo and I don't think I "rip off people" or have a "scammer mentality" and my buyers are not "idiots".

Hi everybody - Yahoo seems to have corrected many of the technical problems they had with auctions. I wish the word would get out that there are some great buys there! In fact, most of what I have to sell came from Yahoo! sellers. I'm disabled and can't get out to tag sales or that kind of thing. Hope Yahoo! sellers have a great year - including me. My eBay stuff is hardly worth the fees

Of course, every person differs, but I just sold a darling, sparkly holiday dress on Yahoo. I charged $2.99 + $4 s/h. Both my daughters really loved that dress and it is still in excellent condition. Someone just got a steal of a deal! And I got a little money for the dress. I belong to and help moderate a yahoo group for yahoo auction sellers. Generally, we tell people that if they are not selling things on Yahoo it is because their prices are too high. It is true that you cannot expect to get the same prices on Yahoo as you would on eBay. Yahoo shoppers want a good deal! Among the members of the seller's group, I don't see anyone jacking up their prices or scamming anyone, but that is just my experience in one little neck of the woods.
~Lisa

quote:

Originally posted by olyguy:
I sell on Yahoo and I don't think I "rip off people" or have a "scammer mentality" and my buyers are not "idiots".

I'm not referring to olyguy specifically. LOL. Well, I saw few sellers who were decent enough to list their prices accordingly. However, they are the minority. Sellers who overprice their items are overwhelming Yahoo Auction. Being an avid online shopper and buyer myself, when I saw how much people were overpricing their things on Yahoo, I was immediately turned off and decided I was not going to waste my time shopping there.

Another problem was disorganization. As a shopper, when I searched for an item or keyword, I would like to see the engine return an organized, shopper-friendly, easy-to-browse listings. Instead, Yahoo Auction kept returning listings of high-priced items. I'm sure I could have found some great bargains and gems in there, but then it would take a long time for me to sort through all those overpriced messes.

By the way, I do not love eBay. In fact, I somewhat despise eBay's monopolistic practices and non-responsive attitude. Everyday I keep hoping that a new auction website would come out of nowhere and kick eBay's ass bad so eBay will have to learn to behave. Unfortunately, I just have not come across any website that could stand up to eBay.

Amazon and Yahoo used to be very good but not anymore. I especially like Amazon, easy to use and reasonable fees but somehow they decided not to focus their resources there and lost the momentum.
There is no competition for ebay right now that's why they can do whatever they want.
I wish Google will take them on.
Google is coming out with an online payment system that will compete with paypal. I hope auction site is next in their radar.

Amazon is very shopper-friendly but not seller-friendly. Has anyone ever tried to put a listing and sell on Amazon? Yikes!

I have sold many books on Amazon and it is also my favorite place to buy. No problems here except for the expenses associated with selling.
~Lisa

I somehow don't think Yahoo is committed to auctions .. just advertising .. see whst they did in the UK last year ... and guess which auction site they asre sending us to!
http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/auctions/notice/

I sold a couple of books on Amazon, but my advice is don't do it for profit, their costs are huge (even compared with PayPal). They charge the buyer a standard postage cost (from which they also deduct a %) which did not even cover my actual cost even though I used the original Amazon packaging.

quote:

Originally posted by tooninterior:
There is no competition for ebay right now that's why they can do whatever they want.
I wish Google will take them on.
Google is coming out with an online payment system that will compete with paypal. I hope auction site is next in their radar.

I tried putting items up on Google Base.

Nada!

I do receive ALOT of sales from Froogle marketing (Google/Froogle) through my ecrater stores. Those are all fee free sales. I'm hoping the same will happen when I open my oscommerce store.

I've always recommended to others that they establish a free ecrater store. I've stopped though since Dimitri opted in the feedback issue and I'm not alone if you go to the eBay communities for Stores. The issues for fraud are broad and he will have to deal with how those issues are going to be handled.

Best of luck,
Donna

quote:

Originally posted by Gooner:
I sold a couple of books on Amazon, but my advice is don't do it for profit, their costs are huge (even compared with PayPal). They charge the buyer a standard postage cost (from which they also deduct a %) which did not even cover my actual cost even though I used the original Amazon packaging.

I thought last time I did research that Amazon was a flat fee for forty dollars a month for a store...hmmmmmmmmmmmm?

I've seen other avenues for online book-selling. I think I can dig those up for you if you're a big book seller. If you'd like to have them..email me Suthrnjewl@Suthrnjewl.com

Peace, Donna

Dear Sade - your auctions look great on eBay and Overstock!! Was going to list on Yahoo today - due to disability that causes fatigue and cognitive difficulty, I have no choice but go slowly.

Just downloaded Yahoos seller manager - again - and was going to list here, but now not sure. Alas ... will decide soon. Mostly I've accummulated vintage costume jewelry - hard to photograph and lots of it being sold.

Best wishes - Laura

quote:

Originally posted by rockfish325:
Dear Sade - your auctions look great on eBay and Overstock!! Was going to list on Yahoo today - due to disability that causes fatigue and cognitive difficulty, I have no choice but go slowly.

Just downloaded Yahoos seller manager - again - and was going to list here, but now not sure. Alas ... will decide soon. Mostly I've accummulated vintage costume jewelry - hard to photograph and lots of it being sold.

Best wishes - Laura

Laura,

Have you used the milkjug tip for taking pics of jewelry? It's easy and the pics are great!

The milk jug diffuses the light. I don't have this fellow's setup..but it's similar.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/essays/vanRiper/020809.htm

Hope this helps you to have better photo's of that vintage jewelry. Cause better pics make better $$$$.

Peace, Donna

I help moderate a forum for Yahoo sellers. The general agreement is to NOT use seller's manager right now. It's too buggy. Just list them manually and you'll have better luck.
~Lisa

quote:

I thought last time I did research that Amazon was a flat fee for forty dollars a month for a store...hmmmmmmmmmmmm?

I am in the UK so as with everything else there are differences, there is some sort of monthly deal ( think at about £29 which roughly equates), but to be honest all I was doing was re-selling a couple of books that I had bought from Amazon that I thought were really good and deserved to be read by others rather than just sit on my shelves.

Have to admit the books on Amazon went really quickly but then I was offering them at about 15/20% of Retail so I guessed they would. If I put them nearer to Amazon's prices I don't think I would have got the sale.

To be honest there does not seem to be a real market for fiction in the UK, I have noticed in the past when I tried to sell several sets of about 10 books in different genres (Crime/Sci-Fi/Adventure/What If etcc..). I started them at 99p just to cover Ebay fees and sold only 1 lot out of 5 and even that was on a re-listing. If I could find something like that I would snap it up but I was just spending good money and not even breaking even so I stopped.

Amazon does offer a monthly package, or you can just sell on an individual book basis and pay higher commissions. What is best for any one seller will depend on their volume.

Based on my selling experience there, the 'suggested price' that Amazon gives you during the listing process is a joke. If you plan on listing a book there, list it at a price that will make sure it shows up in one of the first few pages of listings, preferably the first.

~Lisa