Yahoo! has announced it will be shutting down its auction service as of June 16th 2007. The closure affects Yahoo!'s U.S. and Canadian listings with auction sites in Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan to remain open.

The closure comes as little surprise with eBay commanding a huge 94% market share in the online auction segment. Hitwise research director LeeAnn Prescott noted that in the week ending 5th May, Yahoo! Auctions posted only a 0.19% share of the auction market:


The company stated the reason for closing the auction sites was "to better serve our valued customers through other Yahoo properties".

Online auction site eBid.net was quick to capitalize on the Yahoo! Auction news, announcing plans to offer U.S. and Canadian Yahoo! Auction customers a special offer to entice them to join. Yahoo Auction users can upgrade to a lifetime Platinum account membership on eBid.net for free, usually $99.99. The company will even allow users to import their Yahoo! feedback history. While somewhat sneaky, this is a great marketing effort on behalf of the company.