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May 8, 2007

Yahoo has decided to permanently shut down its Yahoo Auctions site. This decision was taken in light of its ongoing restructuring which is focused on reducing the number of products which aren't directly contributing to Yahoo's bottom line.

Specifically, Yahoo said it will close its Yahoo Auctions Web site on June 16, in both the U.S. and Canada.

Yahoo said "we will continue to provide our sellers, bidders and buyers with quality customer care and a limited set of features and tools through October 29, 2007."

Please keep the following dates in mind when using the Yahoo U.S. and Canadian Auction sites:

One of the reasons Yahoo offered as to its closure was that a large number of people are using eBay. It also added that managing online auctions is a very time-consuming process.

Some observers also wonder if the closing of Yahoo Auctions has anything to do with the large Yahoo/eBay partnership which has Yahoo using Paypal as its online payment system, and eBay serving Yahoo Ads in its search results.

Overall, Yahoo can probably invest its money and manpower more wisely by focusing on social media vehicles and search-powered channels that could further expand the reach of their new sponsored search technology in its Yahoo Panama search platform.

At last check, Yahoo Shopping, Yahoo Classifieds and Yahoo Autos are still popular properties and will remain open the company said.

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Source: Search Engine Journal