Question
Since Half.com proclamed for a year tht it was "Going Away" and has now changed and stated - Were still open -- Are there any buyers left ??
I had about 5000 items listed when the word came out that they were "Going Away" but with no details other than hints.
Rather than be left "holding the bag" - I started switching my items to other sites -
I had whittled down to about 250 items when the - "Were Staying" - Notice came out. I suspect it was a move to get sellers to commit to a store. But there was such a period of hints and innuendos and vagueness that I couldnt take the risk to have my inventory unavailable so I reduced to a minimum.
Before i take the time to now Rebuild my inventory, i just wondered if anyone who is still there would share information regarding site sales and traffic after the flip flop.
At one point it was a good selling venue. I have been watching some bigger sellers feedback rates and see slow increases compared to other sites but its really no indication since the rate of selleres who leave feedback varies so heavily with season and ??
Are you selling as much per 100 or 1000 items listed as you did before the Flip Flop ??
Has the Store replaced Half.com for many buyers ??
In Conversation i was always amazed at Ebay users who had no idea that Half.com even existed
Thanks MIKE
Answer
As a buyer I only ever bought a handful of things there -
but honestly, until a few weeks ago or so, after seeing a question here regarding Half.com - I thought they were already gone.
So I haven't even browsed it in a couple years prob'ly ....
~ gem ~
Answer
My daughter buys most of her CD's and books from Half because the prices are often cheaper and if the seller fails to send the item you don't have to jump through hoops to get a refund (only had to do this once in the 3 years we've been shopping there)
Answer
I got an email from them this week encouraging me to add to my wish list??
Anyway, looks like they are trying to get the word out that they are still open.
Answer
I'm not too sure that many buyers were aware it was even going away. It wasn't like ebay advertised that they were going away, and anyone I mentioned it too was completely surprised.
That being said, half.com used to be a major part of my business plan. It isn't anymore. Like you, when I first heard they were going away, I started exploring other options and methods to move inventory. I have to say I am quite happy that this has happened, as I now move a lot of my lower end stuff through ebay stores (and they get a lot less from me than the 15% half.com used to grab) and other items sell better on Amazon - I opened the merchant account there, I move enough stuff to justify the $40 monthly cost. Overall, except for bottom end stuff, prices are higher than half.com
I still will list on half, but instead of an inventory of 5000 items, it is more like 500 items. I'll lose my powerseller status on that account, but that is ok. The way that this whole thing was handled is really amazing considering the size of ebay. I suspect that half will never recover, as so many sellers either went away, or found other ways to sell.
Answer
They're on ADDALL, so they have some visibility to book buyers. The numbers of their listings are way down, however....
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I still have over 1000 books listed there, and I'm lucky to get 2 sales a month. I would definitely think that the ebay stores have taken a big chunk out of the sales at half, because where it used to say "look for this item on half.com" if you did an ebay search on a book, now it just lists the ones in the ebay stores.
One of these days I'm either going to delete them or reprice them... or something.
Answer
I liked Half.com because there was no listing fees. After 9-11 sales plummeted beyond my imagination but slowly started to gain ground after awhile.
Just as things seemed to be looking up, Half.com announces they are closing so since sales had been slow anyway I started to move my book sales to Amazon, liquidate my inventory through garage sales and eventually stopped listing on either site because Amazon was only so-so and Half.com couldn't seem to give its sellers any straight answers on the exact time line they would close.
Soon all my inventory was removed from the site, sold off and I moved on and am now selling autographs.
Its sad they did this because sales were brisk. I am sure they lost a lot of customers and sellers with the constant reminders they would be shutting down, leaving customers and sellers alike with nothing but questions that weren't being answered.
Now they are sticking around..... GREAT ! he said sarcastically