Bidding, do buyers still bid?
Do buyers still bid? I used to be able to put up something for $10 and some would sell for several hundred dollars. I know the bidding services took away a lot of that, but not all sellers know this.
I put up a very rare 1950's lighter for $75 that was worth a lot more than $100 and only got 1 bid. There's a large lighter community here. I used all the key words, nice pictures. Win some, loose some I guess, but do sellers still put up items for bid?
Maybe less people on here now and more items just go unseen? Promoted costs me 25%. (13.6 fvf + 12%).
41 comments
firesteel_surplus
·10 months agoI think I bid on my first auction in ages...for a computer for a friend's grandson. I got it for about $40 under BIN prices on ebay. I put my top price in that I was willing to pay and I was kind of surprised that I won it.
Otherwise....it is BIN for me. I'm too impatient waiting around for auctions to end anymore.
Mike
Firesteel Surplus
momtoabeautifuldaughter
·10 months agoI gave up on auctions a long time ago. I myself as a buyer prefer to purchase an item out right instead of waiting a week or more to know if I win the auction.
babyers88
·10 months agoAuctions went out the window well over a decade ago as far as I am concerned, even if you have a pretty rare or even extremely rare item you can do your research and get as much as you would have if left to auction with buy it now. You might have to babysit it a bit longer but eventually it sells, if not then you need to re-research and change the price accordingly or just wait longer.
when ebay first started auctions worked very well, because there was a now a worldwide offering of items that in real life were or could be extremely hard to find, but as time went on people completed there collections and even a generation has passed on which means some things that sold well 20 years ago no longer do. Times change.
meme6253
·10 months agoAuctions do not do as well as in the past, Myself I stay away from them & just offer buy it now.
mozartbach1971
·10 months agoAuctions do not do as well as in the past, Myself I stay away from them & just offer buy it now.
I agree it seems like I've been getting fewer and fewer items that sell for very high amounts compared to over around the last year or so. I've tried promoting and that seemed to help a little, however prices still appear low compared to auctions in the past.
mam98031
·10 months agoI use to run about 500 auctions every couple of weeks. For me, in my categories I sell in, the auctions died in the early spring of 2014. But I do see other categories that do well with auctions, so you just have to test this out for a period of time to make sure you get a good variety of coverage. You can't test it for a couple of weeks and conclude accurately that it isn't working. It would take more time.
broto_64
·10 months agoMy experience, high starting bids throttle interest.
You want a bidding war then you have to garner lots of interest, and that means a 99 cent starting bid.
That, of course, assumes there is acute interest in the item put up for auction.
In your case a BIN sale may be the better answer.
You can even nowadays do a sort of reverse auction...
Start your BIN sale way higher than what you want to get, so for that $100 lighter start it at $200, then have ebay automatically reduce the price by $5 a day until sold (and you can set a bottom too so it doesn't sell for $0).
I would think that last strategy may actually accomplish your goal, set the bottom at $75 (your original starting bid).
ittybitnot
·10 months ago@max-list
As a buyer, most of the listings in my areas of interest are sold at auction. One of your issues may be that you retain the defaults eBay awarded you that serve to trigger the "auto-pay" system. With this in place, the payment options a buyer has are quite limited. They will be billed separately for each auction win (or offer you accept) at full shipping price with no opportunity for invoicing or combined shipping (one hour after auction end, or immediately if the offer is accepted).
Though touted by eBay as a means to get rid of non-paying buyers, this scenario did more to get rid of buyers that DO pay. Thus, less bids, less offers, and less money for you since there are plenty of buyers who refuse to comply.
Many sellers do not even know that these defaults exist, much less what they do. Others think they are wonderful because they get paid 'faster' and it is worth the extra fee money they have to pay eBay for separately billed/paid for listings. Unfortunately, they are likely paid LESS for their auctions, and offers due to lack of participation. You can see your settings here:
https://www.ebay.com/bmgt/buyerrequirements
Buyer Rules:
*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they place a bid.
*Require buyers to provide a payment method before they make an offer.
Click submit or save.
You will have to decide what is best for you. If you don't wish to combine items for one shipping price by all means keep them in place, as you are free to limit your buyer pool any way you like. If you wish to encourage multiple offers or bids you might try and turn them off. Eventually, buyers will find you again and appreciate a more enlightened and buyer friendly seller. Those that have turned them off will report an increase in bidding, offers, and thus sales.
max-list
OP10 months agoI think for a while I'll stick with inexpensive items for auction.
Thanks for the tip about requiring payment boxes. I'll uncheck them and see how it goes.
guildbrosantiques
·10 months agoYou can still use the auto pay as a seller and combine shipping. Most of the time when someone wants to bid on more than one of my listings they contact me and ask if I do combined shipping. I let them know how auto pay works and that once they pay I will immediately send (Monday morn because my auctions end Sun night) a shipping refund. You can also put that info in your item description. Auto pay has greatly reduced my late paying buyers and non-paying bidders.
ittybitnot
·10 months agothey pay I will immediately send (Monday morn because my auctions end Sun night) a shipping refund.
@guildbrosantiques
Yes, but don't you have to go through each listing and refund a part of the shipping, since you cannot just give a 'blanket' refund of the total amount? How long does a buyer have to wait for that refund to actually show up? Does eBay tell you how many potential buyers simply backed out due to you having that "pony up a payment source" first scenario going on?
The other "combined shipping killer" (besides their wacked out cart) eBay put into place was making all offers sent by sellers, or COUNTER offers accepted by sellers "immediate payment required". Again each has to be paid separately at full shipping price if you buy 2 or ten.
Now this one I did test. A seller sent me "offers" on five items. I asked the seller before I did anything if they would combine shipping for one cost, and of course they said yes. Well, they lied. I paid $5.95 for shipping each for those ($29.75). The seller put them in one box that weighed 6 ounces, and kept the rest of the money. Their attitude when asked was "you can't make me" (refund).
You have to do what is best for you, as does everyone be they a buyer or a seller.
Stupid me, I tried it again with a different seller, and got the same results. All the red donut reviews I posted for these transactions were removed, and not because of any inappropriate language.
My ID 27 years old with a few thousand feedbacks for both selling and buying. I have NEVER not paid. So if you don't trust me enough to pay you (fair enough), I don't trust you enough to think you refund after the fact. After all, eBay doesn't make you or say you have to if you say so.
reallynicestamps
·10 months agoThough touted by eBay as a means to get rid of non-paying buyers, this scenario did more to get rid of buyers that DO pay.
Thus, less bids, less offers, and less money for you since there are plenty of buyers who refuse to comply.
AutoPay is a great example of "be careful what you ask for , because you just might get it."
Auctioneers who were perfectly happy to make their bidders wait for seven days to learn if they had won, lost their minds when the bidder took 24 hours to pay. And went berserk when they were told the buyer actually had 96 hours to pay, just like buyers of Fixed Price items.
bonanza125
·10 months agoYes people still bid but as a seller you have to determine what you want to accomplish. If you want to just sell the item or don't really know the value then start an auction. If you are expecting market value as in $100 then have a fixed price listing of $100 or more with best offer. There is a risk if you place say $100 item up for auction at a lower amount of say $75 and only 1 person bids with the expectation of say many people bidding. There are a large amount of people who bid are people who want a deal on the item they are getting. A 25% discount is a deal if you compare it to say others similar going for $100.
guildbrosantiques
·10 months agoAbsolutely there's a lot of bidders out there. We have used auctions 99.9% of the time since 2000. We list 30 to 80 items per week 52 weeks a year with very good results. Not perfect but very good. Good enough to keep me at it for 25 years. Just list cool stuff that can't be price shopped. Good luck!
max-list
OP10 months agoThat's good to hear that people still bid.
Thanks.
mam98031
·10 months agoAgain, this is going to depend on the category and type of item you are selling. Because it works for one seller does not mean it will work for another. But testing it out is always a good idea to see where you fall.
max-list
OP10 months agoThanks for telling me this. I can see your items are auctions and many people bid, not just 1 or 2. And they still sell for a decent price. Good to know.
chapeau-noir
·10 months agoI tend to consider "immediate gratification" as buying things the old fashioned, tried and true way: Simply paying for them.
This site just got so stuck on auctions that maybe it forgets that it was online auctions that was the anomaly, rather than simple purchasing.
reallynicestamps
·10 months agoBuyers want immediate gratification.
So waiting seven days to learn they were outbid by a sniper means they ignore Auctions in favour of Fixed Price sales.
Buyers want to know how much they will be paying, so it is important that your shipping is clear . It's even more popular if you offer Free Shipping.
DON"T PANIC!
Free Shipping means you include your shipping and packaging costs in your Fixed Price.
If you want the buyer to have the thrill of an Auction, use Best Offer.
The buyer feels they get a bargain. You set the asking price a little higher than what you would be happy getting.
You can discourage lowball Best Offers by setting an automatic Reject/Accept price. You only see the BO when the item sells.
Promoted Listings, like most options recommended by eBay, are good for eBay, but not necessarily for sellers.
What rate do you pay?
2% with about 10% of my listings Promoted.
P L does increase Views, but not in my experience Sales.
The milkshake brings the boys to the yard, but they read the menu and order a root beer float.
mam98031
·10 months ago@max-list
Auctions work great for some types of things and not so much for others.
"I know the bidding services took away a lot of that, but not all sellers know this." What are "bidding services"?
Some collectable type items don't sell as well now as they did a decade or more ago. Things change and so do the characteristics of buyers. I don't see that you have run any recent auctions.
chapeau-noir
·10 months ago"bidding services" = sniping software.
max-list
OP10 months agoBidding services bid for you. You decide how many minutes before it ends, so you don't have to be there.
mam98031
·10 months agoMore commonly know as Sniping programs / services. Thank you.
max-list
OP10 months agoIf you knew what I meant, why would you ask "what are "bidding services"?
mam98031
·10 months agoBut I didn't know until you told me a little more. You clarified that these services "bid for you". I'm not trying to cause any issue. What you said clearly made perfect sense to you. But sometimes people call something one thing that is simply not what others may think it is for or they meant something else. I was only trying to be clear on your statement. NOTHING more. Please don't read more into it than was intended.
max-list
OP10 months agoFair enough.
mam98031
·10 months agoThank you. I meant no disrespect. I just wanted to make sure it was the same thing.
roccotacodad54
·10 months agoI still bid on items I am looking for because to get them I sometimes have to. Unusual/vintage things.
I recently had 5 of these items on my watchlist and all 5 sold for way more than I was willing to pay for them.
So in the genre I buy on eBay yes people still bid, and bid, and bid..............................
soh.maryl
·10 months agoYou are promoting at 12%. Your FVF is 13.6%. Promoting is optional. Paying the FVF is required.
simba6
·10 months agoMost buyers want it yesterday. They don't want to wait for an auction to end. Also with a buy it now, they know right away if they made a purchase or not.
loose_goose_garage
·10 months agoFrom what I've seen, items with lower starting bids tend to get more interest. One seller I purchase from regularly lists all of their auctions starting at $0.01 with No Reserve. Most of the items sell for over $100 with many of them well into the Thousands.
Meanwhile I will see sellers with similar items relisting month after month at a high starting bid, essentially the 'market price' of the item, with no bids being placed.
To me, those should just be put as a Buy it Now.
iamalwaysright
·10 months agoWow that's a high promo rate you had. Curious, what was ebay's suggested rate?
max-list
OP10 months agoThey suggest 9-12% usually. Not much difference.
What rate do you pay?
12345jamesstamps
·10 months agoI think unusual things are still good for auctions.
I am talking about items not sold on Amazon...LOL
With the right price and low or free shipping and good photos and a good description anything is possible.
Plus...USA potential buyers are currently not looking at items sold from outside the USA with tariffs.
That cut a lot of countries out from auctions market.
I stopped bidding on my favorite sellers and found some new USA sellers that I am happy with.
doc-holmes
·10 months agoThanks to Amazon, people are used to clicking one button to buy and having it delivered in under 24 hours. Fewer and fewer people are interested in a 7 day auction that will then take a week to get to them.
chapeau-noir
·10 months agoA lot of what is sold on eBay is not sold on Amazon, though, so I would say the uncertainty as to whether they would even win the widget they're bidding on factors into it as well.
tools*
·10 months agoI was recently looking for black granite sculpture bases, so I searched on eBay. Nothing. So I tried Etsy, a site I'd used twice. There were plenty of black granite sculpture bases available. So I bought some. Nothing on Amazon, where I buy most commodities.
tobaccocardyahoo
·10 months agoThere is no auction interest in many items because they are plentiful enough to have buy it now listings, and auctions require more time and effort and come with uncertainty.
I used auctions to clear some merchandise I was willing to sell at wholesale prices since I came back to Ebay a couple of years ago. Last month I began listing some desirable auctions every Sunday evening. I am getting a mixture of active and limited activity auctions, but my starting bids are lower than they would be if I listed BIN and had to wait for a buyer.
I have increased my traffic, improved my search placement, added 20 new followers to my store and had the best month I've had on Ebay since the pandemic lockdown. I have sold some items for 3x the Terapeak high sale of those items.
I expect that it will be hard to keep these bidders bidding and if I am lucky the nibblers who get sniped will hang around a while and keep bidding.
mozartbach1971
·10 months agoI've noticed in most of the collectible categories I sell in, there has been less and less people listing auctions than around a year ago.
carolynnq
·10 months agoFor an auction to work, the item has to be scarce and be in high demand. If the item is scare and demand is low, you'll likely get no bids or one bid. If the item is not scarce, people will purchase the item on a buy-it-now listing rather than wait for an auction to end (I'd rather pay a little more and get the item now than wait a week and not be sure I'll be the winning bidder).
For a successful auction, at least two people need to want the item at this particular point in time.