My personal experience says fixed rate withe separated ship & handling is better. Auctions were a disappointment - I did auctions with a minimum acceptable bid amount for acceptance and a bid amount that I would automatically accept. Sold preowned denims (7 for all man kind and up, hand bags, wallets Levi denim jacketsjeans, jackets, footwear, including work boots and western style - in men's and women's style, 35mm film cameras - - all in good or better condition all brands you never see at Walmart or Ross or the like. Never used the term excellent or like new or other puffery,even if they were - buyer's like receive something more than they expected - made all the profit I wanted = 2 people happy - -Plus did 1 day shipping and would often do same day our USPS carrier would pick it up Mondays thru Saturdays. Shipped USPS Priority only - most items were 1 lb or over
That's my story in a nutshell - it worked for me. Customers and their $$ are always my friend - even though they can be a PITA at times (always deal with it professionally. When in doubt do what is right.
You already have good input from others the only thing I will add is I use the auction format almost exclusively for time management reasons. I do not use OBO or BIN on my auctions. I simply list items on Sunday on 7 day auctions and I am pretty much free for the rest of the week to do what I wish without having to worry about eBay orders, shipping or offers. But I am not a huge volume seller.
Some are rare, well known and have some level of demand. It may not be enough demand to generate two bidders in seven days.
Lots are rare, obscure and need demand created. Buy It Now has more options for creating demand, and may take a greater period of time.
We all have had that feeling after we have made a sale, that we have left "money on the table" some of us more than others.
Unless we know the value of an item, many of us will find that the auction sale on Ebay generates a wholesale price result, not a retail result.
Some of us with experience selling a class of item trust our own judgement more than the results of an Ebay auction to identify an appropriate price.
Worthpoint has Ebay auction prices going back a long time which have never represented fair market value. Often they only serve to tell an owner not to choose Ebay to offer an item for auction. Terapeak data often shows rapidly decaying results some items because there were 2 bidders the first time an example was offered and one or none during the rest of the measurement period.
I have often priced above Ebay auction prices, and eventually sold at that price. I ceased using Make An Offer for many reasons, but they included offers which reflected previous failed Ebay auctions.
If you are going to sell valuable items using an Ebay auction, you should know the value, or what you want to realize, and make appropriate use of proper starting bids and reserves.
Too many idiots list items for auction with no clue as to what it should bring. Some get results which surprise and gratify them. Others get bupkis.
A reviewer for an auction magazine, reviewed an auction by a now-deceased NH auctioneer. The auctioneer had a reputation for high prices. One of the highest priced lots at his auction was a collection of French publications on posters which included loose high quality lithos of the posters.
The lot sold for over $3,000 and the entire audience oohed and awed. The reviewer noted that similar lots in big city auctions brought several times that price.
I usually attended that auctioneers auctions but skipped this one because I did not see anything worth the trip that I was likely to win. Had I been there, the lot would have sold for more. I was certain it was going to exceed my budget.
It is going to depend on what you are selling and in what category. You will need to do some research of your own. Some categories do very well with auctions, but most don't. Ebay is only around 15% auctions now and the rest are fixed price listings.
But I encourage you to do your own research in active listings and what they have sold for.
That 15% Auction number has been kicked around for a very long time, at least since 2013 and perhaps earlier. My gut tells me it has to be considerably lower now. On the other hand they may have declined through the teens and then jumped during Covid when there was a huge influx of new casual sellers.
eBay has included comments a few times in their year end reports about the ratio, I don't remember when the last one was, probably a long time ago.
Maybe @valueaddedresource has some insights about when the last comment was and how much was claimed.
I gave up on Auctions around 2010-2012, the listing fees were killing me. Of course If if I have a high value rarity I'll do an Auction.
it use to be 25%, then dropped to 20% a couple of years ago, now what I see when I search the internet for the info is it is at about 15%. But it may be lower now. Either way, auctions work well in some categories and doesn't in most.
I list for DH and sometimes he insists on an Auction, having run live auctions with catalogues, viewing, live floors, etc for some 40 years. Then the item doesn't sell and I put it out at a slightly higher Fixed Price with Best Offer. It then sells (although it may be months later) for more than we started with in auction.
I can tell which ones started at auction, because FP has a 99c ending to the price, while the former Auctions have $.00.
I should also mention that stamps are all catalogued and priced and those catalogues are widely available. Most public libraries have copies.
Unless the item is very desirable & hard to find, fixed price is usually better. For normal stuff, buyers don't want to wait around for an auction
If you're unsure about an item it doesn't hurt to start off with an auction & see if it gets a good response. If it doesn't, you can always just end the auction (if there are no bids) & relist it fixed. On the flip side, there's no worse feeling for a seller than listing an item fixed, then it sells right away, & you're left thinking "darn, I sold that too cheap, maybe I should have tried an auction first...."
99.9% of my sales are fixed items, but some of my best sales came from auctions. Just depends on the item
For most items fixed price is best, which is why auctions are under 15% if Ebay listings and a great many of those do not get two bids.
Back in the day when Ebay was only auctions, the sell through rate was declining even though buyers were spending parts of every evening on the Ebay site. Ebay added Buy It Now to improve sell through, and it did.
Depends on what you are selling. If you have a rare item that everyone wants...then it makes sense to have an auction. Bear in mind, often customer bids on items and don't pay after they win the auction.
At least with Buy It Now...customer must pay when before they place their order.
sfau
·1 year agoI generally start with auction with offers and if it does not sell fixed price with offers....
johnrj1226
·1 year agoMy personal experience says fixed rate withe separated ship & handling is better. Auctions were a disappointment - I did auctions with a minimum acceptable bid amount for acceptance and a bid amount that I would automatically accept. Sold preowned denims (7 for all man kind and up, hand bags, wallets Levi denim jacketsjeans, jackets, footwear, including work boots and western style - in men's and women's style, 35mm film cameras - - all in good or better condition all brands you never see at Walmart or Ross or the like. Never used the term excellent or like new or other puffery,even if they were - buyer's like receive something more than they expected - made all the profit I wanted = 2 people happy - -Plus did 1 day shipping and would often do same day our USPS carrier would pick it up Mondays thru Saturdays. Shipped USPS Priority only - most items were 1 lb or over
That's my story in a nutshell - it worked for me. Customers and their $$ are always my friend - even though they can be a PITA at times (always deal with it professionally. When in doubt do what is right.
iamalwaysright
·1 year agoFixed price
dbfolks166mt
·1 year agoYou already have good input from others the only thing I will add is I use the auction format almost exclusively for time management reasons. I do not use OBO or BIN on my auctions. I simply list items on Sunday on 7 day auctions and I am pretty much free for the rest of the week to do what I wish without having to worry about eBay orders, shipping or offers. But I am not a huge volume seller.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agolet me focus on "Rare, hard to price" items.
Some are rare, well known and have some level of demand. It may not be enough demand to generate two bidders in seven days.
Lots are rare, obscure and need demand created. Buy It Now has more options for creating demand, and may take a greater period of time.
We all have had that feeling after we have made a sale, that we have left "money on the table" some of us more than others.
Unless we know the value of an item, many of us will find that the auction sale on Ebay generates a wholesale price result, not a retail result.
Some of us with experience selling a class of item trust our own judgement more than the results of an Ebay auction to identify an appropriate price.
Worthpoint has Ebay auction prices going back a long time which have never represented fair market value. Often they only serve to tell an owner not to choose Ebay to offer an item for auction. Terapeak data often shows rapidly decaying results some items because there were 2 bidders the first time an example was offered and one or none during the rest of the measurement period.
I have often priced above Ebay auction prices, and eventually sold at that price. I ceased using Make An Offer for many reasons, but they included offers which reflected previous failed Ebay auctions.
If you are going to sell valuable items using an Ebay auction, you should know the value, or what you want to realize, and make appropriate use of proper starting bids and reserves.
Too many idiots list items for auction with no clue as to what it should bring. Some get results which surprise and gratify them. Others get bupkis.
A reviewer for an auction magazine, reviewed an auction by a now-deceased NH auctioneer. The auctioneer had a reputation for high prices. One of the highest priced lots at his auction was a collection of French publications on posters which included loose high quality lithos of the posters.
The lot sold for over $3,000 and the entire audience oohed and awed. The reviewer noted that similar lots in big city auctions brought several times that price.
I usually attended that auctioneers auctions but skipped this one because I did not see anything worth the trip that I was likely to win. Had I been there, the lot would have sold for more. I was certain it was going to exceed my budget.
luckythewinner
·1 year agoThat is a bit like asking "Which vehicle should I buy? A bicycle or a dump truck"?
It depends upon what you are expecting to accomplish with it.
mam98031
·1 year agoIt is going to depend on what you are selling and in what category. You will need to do some research of your own. Some categories do very well with auctions, but most don't. Ebay is only around 15% auctions now and the rest are fixed price listings.
But I encourage you to do your own research in active listings and what they have sold for.
slippinjimmy
·1 year ago@femmefan1946
@mam98031
That 15% Auction number has been kicked around for a very long time, at least since 2013 and perhaps earlier. My gut tells me it has to be considerably lower now. On the other hand they may have declined through the teens and then jumped during Covid when there was a huge influx of new casual sellers.
eBay has included comments a few times in their year end reports about the ratio, I don't remember when the last one was, probably a long time ago.
Maybe @valueaddedresource has some insights about when the last comment was and how much was claimed.
I gave up on Auctions around 2010-2012, the listing fees were killing me. Of course If if I have a high value rarity I'll do an Auction.
mam98031
·1 year agoit use to be 25%, then dropped to 20% a couple of years ago, now what I see when I search the internet for the info is it is at about 15%. But it may be lower now. Either way, auctions work well in some categories and doesn't in most.
femmefan1946
·1 year agoI list for DH and sometimes he insists on an Auction, having run live auctions with catalogues, viewing, live floors, etc for some 40 years.
Then the item doesn't sell and I put it out at a slightly higher Fixed Price with Best Offer.
It then sells (although it may be months later) for more than we started with in auction.
I can tell which ones started at auction, because FP has a 99c ending to the price, while the former Auctions have $.00.
I should also mention that stamps are all catalogued and priced and those catalogues are widely available. Most public libraries have copies.
Other sellers may have different results.
femmefan1946
·1 year agoThese days 85% of transactions on eBay are Fixed Price.
The Auction listings also opt for Buy It Now or Best Offer, which end the Auction early if used.
annadryl
·1 year agoCan you give some examples of the types of items you'd like to sell?
anjofak
·1 year agoDo both and see..we usually see auctions succeed over bin's..no matter what it is.
mordecai8614
·1 year agoUnless the item is very desirable & hard to find, fixed price is usually better. For normal stuff, buyers don't want to wait around for an auction
If you're unsure about an item it doesn't hurt to start off with an auction & see if it gets a good response. If it doesn't, you can always just end the auction (if there are no bids) & relist it fixed. On the flip side, there's no worse feeling for a seller than listing an item fixed, then it sells right away, & you're left thinking "darn, I sold that too cheap, maybe I should have tried an auction first...."
99.9% of my sales are fixed items, but some of my best sales came from auctions. Just depends on the item
fashunu4eeuh
·1 year agoEveryday items, commodities, everybody is listing them—fixed price.
Rare, hard to price, in demand but hard to find goods— auction.
tobaccocardyahoo
·1 year agoFor most items fixed price is best, which is why auctions are under 15% if Ebay listings and a great many of those do not get two bids.
Back in the day when Ebay was only auctions, the sell through rate was declining even though buyers were spending parts of every evening on the Ebay site. Ebay added Buy It Now to improve sell through, and it did.
pastimpressions
·1 year agoEcho all of the above.
In general, a waste of time with one bid endings and long waits for payment (or potential order cancellations)
On the other hand, those items I sold that were rare or in demand showed some good bidding activity.
Years ago, the auction mojo was a lot better on this platform.
Perhaps a sign of the times or "tech" conditioning to time & patience levels in shoppers but people do seem to prefer BIN.
caldreamer
·1 year agoDepends on what you are selling. If you have a rare item that everyone wants...then it makes sense to have an auction. Bear in mind, often customer bids on items and don't pay after they win the auction.
At least with Buy It Now...customer must pay when before they place their order.
inhawaii
·1 year agoThere is no right/wrong answer.
I think auctions are better for SOME items.
Most buyers and sellers prefer buy it now/fixed price listings.