What is Yahoo! Auctions?
Yahoo! Auctions is an online auction website that was launched in 1999 by the American web services provider Yahoo!. It operates as a subsidiary of Yahoo! Japan, which is a joint venture between Yahoo! and the Japanese company SoftBank.
The Yahoo! Auctions platform allows individuals and businesses in Japan to buy and sell new and used items through a bidding process. It is one of the largest auction sites focused specifically on serving the Japanese market. As of 2022, it had over 118 million product listings and averaged 23 billion page views per month.
Some key features of Yahoo! Auctions include:
- Buyers can search product listings, view seller information, and place bids on items they would like to purchase.
- Sellers can create listings that detail item descriptions, photos, starting bid prices, shipping details, returns policies, and more.
- Automated proxy bidding allows buyers to set the highest price they are willing to pay, with bids increasing automatically up to that maximum bid.
- Various product categories including antiques, books, cameras, toys, vehicles, art, music, home electronics, computers, phones, and fashion.
- Escrow services hold buyer payments until the item has been received and confirmed before releasing funds to the seller.
Since its launch over 20 years ago, Yahoo! Auctions has become a major e-commerce site and an important platform for C2C online retail in Japan. The majority of its users are based in Japan, though the site accepts some international users as well. Its localized operations, combined with the popularity of Yahoo! in Japan, has allowed Yahoo! Auctions to compete effectively against other online auction sites in Japan and establish significant market share in the country.