FYI
uesday September 14, 7:50 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Yahoo! Auctions Celebrates One-Year Anniversary
As Online Auction Usage Continues to Grow, Yahoo! Is Quickly
Becoming the World Marketplace of the New Millennium
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1999--Today marks the one-year anniversary of Yahoo! Auctions
(http://auctions.yahoo.com), a leading interactive commerce marketplace connecting buyers and sellers across the globe and
part of Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news).
By bringing together and fostering one of the largest online global communities of active buyers and sellers, Yahoo! Auctions
provides individuals and businesses of any size with a world marketplace to successfully sell their products, grow their
businesses, and reach a massive audience of interested buyers. At the same time, Yahoo! Auctions offers buyers a fun,
enjoyable and safe way to bargain hunt, find what they want, and enjoy the thrill of bidding against others.
''We have relentlessly continued to broaden our valuable auction services, both domestically and across our World properties,
and as a result, can deliver a compelling platform for buyers and sellers to find, connect and transact easily and effectively,'' said
Tim Brady, vice president and executive producer, Yahoo! Inc.
Powerful Presence -- At A Glance
Since the introduction of Yahoo!'s free auction service in September 1998, the number of simultaneous daily auctions has
dramatically increased from 20,000 to more than 725,000. Yahoo! Auctions now offers more than 3,500 diverse buying and
selling categories, up from 2,000 a year ago, and has recently expanded to offer new categories including Automobilia,
Pokemon, Swarovski, Britney Spears, First Day Covers, Lladro, Tapestries and Wall Coverings, and more than 1,000 other
categories.
Recognizing that auctions provide them with an excellent way to develop new and lasting customer relationships and build their
brand on the Web, Yahoo! Auctions' sellers gain immediate access Yahoo!'s 80 million unique users per month. Through
dedicated programs, sellers can establish a compelling Web presence and access a sales channel that is free, international, and
always open.
-- Welcome to "My Auction Booth" -- Launching with more than 200
participants, Yahoo! Auctions today introduced "My Auction
Booth," a new feature which enables any seller on Yahoo! Auctions
to co-brand their auctions and further customize the look and
feel of their online business. Using "My Auction Booth," sellers
can personalize their auction listings with their company logo,
information and a direct link to their Web site, empowering them
to market their auction offerings specifically and separately
from other Yahoo! Auctions listings. Sellers can set up a booth
by clicking on the "Options" link on the front page of Yahoo!
Auctions, and selecting "Customize My Auction Booth."
-- Express Yourself -- Yahoo! continues to roll out targeted
programs such as Yahoo! Auctions Express. Currently, more than
450 sellers -- from retirees and part-time students to small
businesses and established companies -- have chosen to use the
Yahoo! Auctions Express commerce solution, which launched in June
1999 with 60 seller participants. Designed to help sellers with a
large inventory of collectibles manage their auctions and sell
more on the Web, Yahoo! Auctions Express offers step-by-step
instructions on everything from getting started and managing
auctions to using marketing tools and building a loyal community.
''Yahoo! offers a high-quality auction service with the greatest exposure, all at zero cost to the seller. In addition to having the
technical ability to operate such as site, Yahoo! continues to expand the functionality and user-friendly nature of Yahoo!
Auctions to enable businesses, large or small, to reach customers all over the world,'' said Sean Wainwright, CEO and vice
president of Dynadirect.com, an Internet-based business offering brand name products from the manufacturer at wholesale
prices.
In addition to having a Yahoo! Store, Dynadirect.com currently offers hundreds of items through Yahoo! Auctions Express and
uses the ''My Auction Booth'' feature. ''By taking full advantage of all that Yahoo! has to offer, our company has grown
tremendously and we feel confident in saying that no other relationship would have yielded such success.''
Yahoo! Auction Action Heard 'Round The World
During the past year, Yahoo! also has gone even more global by broadening it's commerce offerings across eight World
properties to offer local and regional auctions content as well as global auctions to buyers and sellers. In addition to Yahoo!
Auctions, Yahoo! has rolled out auction services in Canada, Europe (France, Germany, Italy, and the UK & Ireland), and Asia
(Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore). Yahoo! Auctions' launch into Australia & New Zealand marked the first time a
globally-integrated online auction service had been introduced into these countries.
The Need for Speed
Among Yahoo!'s core strengths have been the company's ability to scale to serve a rapidly growing mass audience across
diverse platforms and devices on a worldwide basis. As reported by PC World Online, July 1999, when the gavel went down,
Yahoo! Auctions was rated the fastest auctions service in a recent study by Service Metrics that evaluated the site performance
of major auction sites. AuctionWatch.com also reported in August 1999, ''Yahoo! seems to have the Midas touch, turning
every one of its Internet ventures into gold...Now, you can add Yahoo! Auctions to the list. It's a bona fide destination for the
online auction community...''
How Suite E-Commerce Is
In addition to Yahoo! Auctions, Yahoo! has integrated and offers a full spectrum of commerce solutions to meet the needs of
all sellers and buyers that use the Web on a daily basis. With this suite of ever-expanding solutions, companies of any size can
cost-effectively get their business online and promote their products and services. Among these commerce offerings are:
Yahoo! Shopping, a popular one-stop Internet shopping service; the award-winning Yahoo! Store, used by more than 6,000
merchants; Yahoo! Classifieds, with more than 2.3 million listings; Yahoo! Autos, Yahoo! Real Estate, Yahoo! Careers,
Yahoo! Travel, and many more.
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