|
Yahoo is making it free
for sellers to list items
on its auction platform.
Rob Solomon, Vice President
and General Manager of Yahoo
Shopping, said free auction
listings would benefit both
buyers and sellers by generating
more content of a higher
quality and would provide
diversification for sellers.
Solomon said Yahoo Shopping
currently has 60 million
product offerings with 250,000
sellers.
However, online-auction
sellers are likely to
be under-whelmed by Yahoo's
announcement. "Non-paying
bidders" are the
bane of auction sellers'
existence, and unless
Yahoo backs up its announcement
with a commitment to auctions,
sellers may not find "free"
worth it.
Yahoo Auctions first began
charging listing fees
in January 2001, causing
an outcry from its users.
Within several months
of the fee implementation,
Yahoo Auctions listings
dropped from 1.5 million
to approximately 350,000.
A spokesperson at the
time defended the fee,
saying the company believed
it would improve the quality
of the auction platform.
This week's news from
Yahoo comes on the heels
of eBay's announcement
it would acquire comparison-shopping
site Shopping.com, which
competes against Yahoo
Shopping. eBay's planned
acquisition of Shopping.com
signals an entry into
a highly competitive area.
Yahoo, Google and Amazon
all have shopping and
search services, and Yahoo
and Google have paid-search,
an increasingly popular
service that help etailers
drive traffic to their
offerings. eBay's Keyword
program is a paid search
service for its own sellers
exclusively on its own
sites, and it's likely
to expand the service
on Shopping.com.
|
Search & Shopping
Services from Major
Players |
|
. |
eBay |
Yahoo! |
Amazon |
Google |
|
Auction Marketplace |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
Fixed Price Marketplace |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
Shopping Multi-site
Search Service |
Shopping.com (in Q3
2005) |
Yahoo! Shopping/
Kelkoo in Europe |
Aside from its partner
retailers, no |
Froogle |
|
eCommerce Website
Hosting |
No
(acquired Kurant technology
in 2005) |
Yes |
No
(has solutions for
largest retailers) |
No |
|
Multi-site Search
Engine |
No |
Yes |
Yes
(A9) |
Yes |
|
Paid Search (contextual
advertising) Service |
eBay site only; Shopping.com
serves up its own
contextual ads |
Yahoo Search Marketing
(formerly Overture) |
No |
Google Adwords |
|
Online Auction Listing
Fees |
$.01-$0.99: $0.25
$1-$9.99: $0.35
$10-$24.99: $0.60
$25-$49.99: $1.20
$50-$199.99: $2.40
$200-$499.99: $3.60
$500+: $4.80 |
$.01-$9.99: $0.05
$10-$24.99: $0.15
$25-$49.99: $0.35
$50+: $0.75 |
$0.10 |
N/A |
|
After 6/6/05: Free |
Shopping.com, which agreed
to be acquired by eBay
in the third quarter subject
to regulatory and shareholder
approval, competes directly
with Yahoo Shopping. Both
Shopping.com and Yahoo
Shopping allow consumers
to enter a search for
a product, like "iPod
20GB," into their
engines and peruse a resulting
list of products offered
from thousands of online
retail sites.
eBay's core competence
is its ability to bring
buyers and sellers together.
With other major sites
aggregating product listings
and making it easier for
consumers to comparison
shop online, eBay is feeling
the heat. Some of its
largest sellers are leaping
into a multi-channel selling
strategy, with paid-search
and comparison shopping
sites aiding their marketing
efforts.
All four sites will be
hoping to dominate the
upcoming holiday shopping
season, and will spend
the summer doing their
homework. |
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