Regards,
@debvor Perhaps a different view on your approach to Auctions is in order. I like this approach:
-The starting price should be set so that one bid is the same as if it were a fixed price listing whereby the price includes your profit, etc. More bids simply means you make more profit.
-With the correct starting price simply means your 5-7-10 day item ends sooner then say a 30 day fixed price listing but again, has the potential to sell for more
-We end Auctions on weekends ... eBay published the fact that Auctions have good success ending on Sundays.
-Raise your price on those high view-high watch count items
I prefer selling Auction style but acknowledge that some things sell better fixed price ... when you do a sold search also check how the items were sold (as fixed price or auction) ... granted some of this is subjective based on the type account the sellers have an home many listings they get BUT it can be an indication.
@moorfurn wrote:For some strange reason ebay has started moving my auctions to the very bottom of the best match search in the last hours of the auction listing. The most critical time of the auction. That is a deep kick to auctioneers. In the last 2 months I noticed the new traffic would just totally drop off toward the last 4 hrs. of the listing. I have bombarded the "Tell Us What You Think" link and called them several times and finally yesterday they gave me a real reply : Regarding your auction listings you stated that the items are now appearing on the last page of the best match search. At this time this is not a site issue, rather this has to do with eBay's new platform and the criteria the item is being searched/sorted.
Check and see if all of your auctions are falling to the very bottom of an unfiltered search. Everyone of mine does. Every day. If you see the same problem, complain, complain and complain some more. What a horrible idea by ebay.
Okay, you got my attention with this post for sure. I will definately complain X 10 if I can duplicate your results. May I ask you a few questions?
1. What type items do you mainly sell on Auction?
2. Do you know if they are in saturated categories?
3. When YOU search in the last 4 hours of an Auction are you logged in to your account or NOT logged in so you would be more like a potential Buyer?
4. When YOU search, do you type YOUR item's exact title or think like a Buyer looking for something like you have for sale and type in a close but no identical title?
@twobearstrekking wrote:Everyone, please stop selling using auctions. eBay doesn't have the traffic for auctions that it once had and as a result, selling prices have been consistently going down, which in turn erodes the prices for everyone else. Auctions are over and done.
Bad advice, sorry but that's my opinion but I respect yours. Auctions work just fine and are alive and well ... not sure where you get your info but if its from eBay's suggested starting price of $.99 then that is where the problem is. If one prices their starting auction price correctly and it gets 1 bid then its profitable ... more bids from 2 or more interested parties increases profit and Buyers are happy because they got the thing they wanted or needed for their collection. So when the $ 50 item bids to $ 200 or the $ 175 item bids to $ 500 or the $ 30 item bids to $ 800 we should what, give their money back?
And whether you know it or not some Buyers LIKE that excitement of Buying via Auction style listings ...
@twobearstrekking wrote: "If it works for you and you are happy with it, then more power to you. However, most people aren't employing your auction strategy, which is why it surpresses prices.
I had typed up a very detailed response regarding my strategy, but suffice to say that I regularly realize higher prices with BIN/BO listings than competing auction listings. It all comes down to reaching a wider audience and thus increasing the liklihood of a higher price. You have some great items. It is my opinion that you could realize higher prices by abandoning the auction strategy (unless you rely upon it for a quick sale). JMHO But hey, I've only been on eBay for 20 years this coming January."
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I am not really selling my concept here, just sharing what works based on my experience and more importatnly, the type of items I sell. The starting Auction price IS the Fixed Price equivilent, that's the point I may not have made clear. As to you "realizing higher prices compared to competing Auction listings", that's somewhat subjective if Sellers are being duped by eBay to start their Auctions at a lower price. I prefer Auctions but depending on what kind of listings I have available at the end of the month I may switch the Auctions to Fixed Price or vice versa ... you see the price is the same, its just that the Auction listings have the potential to bid higher thus increasing the profit that's already in the starting price. There is no difference between an auction that takes 7 days and sells on one bid or the FP listing that sells on day 7 at the listing cycle.
Here's one that worked out well, I had a piece that I researched and the highest it sold for was around $ 240 and many in the $ 175 - $ 200 range. My starting price that included my profit was $ 194.95, a price I was happy to get on one bid ... it wound up selling for $ 360 ... way OVER the average and WAY over the highest priced found in Sold search at the time. BUT, had it sold for the $ 194.95 I would have been happy as it was in the sweet spot price-wise for the piece.
