Reuters is reporting that Yahoo Auctions will shut down in the U.S. and Canada as of June 16, and new auctions will not be accepted after June 3. Auction sites in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan will stay live.
This is the second service closing announced this month for Yahoo – last week it was confirmed that Yahoo Photos was closing as well.
In the case of Yahoo Photos, users will be directed to Yahoo-owned Flickr as well as other third party services. The closure removed a product conflict and helps focus the company. Auctions is closing for a different reason – it just cannot get traction v. eBay and other competitors. It also shows Yahoo’s commitment to focus on key (growing and profitable) businesses as it streamlines its offerings.
Comscore sort of tells the whole story. Ebay simply dominates this market:
Yahoo Auctions joins Yahoo Photos in the TechCrunch DeadPool.