YAHOO! Auctions, an online auction-service platform popular with Singapore users, is closing down.
It will cease operations on Oct 6, announced the company in a statement on its website.
From now until Sept 8, users can only bid or buy items. The last day for listing an item was Tuesday.
When contacted by my paper, Yahoo! South-east Asia spokesman Jeremy Seow said Yahoo! Singapore is 'aligning its resources to focus on giving users the best overall experience on the Internet, via our other properties like e-mail and messenger, as well as our social media services like Flickr'.
He added: 'We realised we could provide more value to our customers through other properties and decided to close the Yahoo! Singapore auctions site.'
The closure, however, does not affect the remaining Yahoo! Auctions sites in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Mr Seow said there are 53 million Yahoo! users in Southeast Asia.
In a similar business move, competitor eBay recently announced that it is planning changes to its fee structure, which will emphasise fixed prices instead of bidding.
In a recent New York Times (NYT) report, the Internet giant acknowledged that most online shoppers cannot be bothered with auctions.
While still viable - eBay's auction business generated 57 per cent of its revenue in the most recent quarter - growth in the auction business has slowed, NYT reported.
eBay Marketplace president Lorrie Norrington said: 'Clearly, there's a strong buyer preference for fixed prices.'
But for loyal Yahoo! Auctions users here, like 28-year-old manager Tay Zhi Qi, the closure of the Singapore website is 'unfortunate'.
He said: 'It was a real treasure trove for second-hand items that were still in good condition.'
