Issues w/ posting fair and reasonably
Summary: melbear7 expressed frustrations with selling on eBay, particularly with auctions and setting opening bids. Other participants advised against starting at low bids and suggested using Buy It Now or setting minimum bids they're willing to accept. Some mentioned the difficulties with auctions due to a lack of interest from buyers, emphasizing the importance of understanding item value and market demand. The discussion also touched on the challenges of shipping costs and taxes, with participants offering strategies for better selling practices.
How does anyone successfully run a business selling on E-bay when you're unable to list a realistic and fair opening bid plus a reasonable and fair Buy It Now? Each time I started with an opening bid I KNEW was too low, my item sold for that low amount, causing me to take a significant loss, particularly after E-bay fees were deducted. Why can't sellers provide a reasonable opening bid and Buy It Now amount? As it is now, if I post a reasonable opening bid, I'm forced to put an insanely, unrealistically high Buy It Now amount! What am I missing here?
kensgiftshop
·2 weeks ago"Each time I started with an opening bid I KNEW was too low, my item sold for that low amount"
Stop doing that.
Start the auction at a price you're willing to accept.
inhawaii
·2 weeks agoAre you specifically talking about auctions -or- are you talking about selling on eBay in general?
luckythewinner
·2 weeks ago · EditedThen why in the world do you starting auctions with amn opening bid that is too low?
Patient: "Doctor, my arm hurts when I do this."
Doctor: "Then stop doing that."
eze-right1
·2 weeks agoYou're absolutely right. They probably remember how eBay used to be, you know, start with a low bid, then you get a slew of bidders. Not anymore. I think since eBay started to go away from the auctions to more Buy It Now listings, that moved all the exposure. Now it seems that there's too many sellers and not enough buyers, plus a lot of scammers as well but that's another coin.
albertabrightalberta
·2 weeks ago@melbear7
As a seller, you can start your auction at ANY price you choose. Ebay makes (often too low) suggested opening bid prices but there's no rule that forces you to start at that price.
And you can make your BIN price ANY amount as long as it's at least 30% over the opening bid amount.
authentic*vintage
·2 weeks agoI haven't sold anything at auction in a while and can't imagine a scenario where I would. it used to be the thing but not so much anymore. feeld weird to say that but there it is. Not even gold. I think I would put a scrap lot up as a buy it now.
tools*
·2 weeks agoI would never list gold or any other precious metal on eBay. It's too easy for a buyer to return it, at your expense, for a full refund when the market price craters.
gurlcat
·2 weeks agoI know that seems a huge risk but it has literally never happened to me, nor do I recall ever seeing a post about it happening to a seller. Have you?
gurlcat
·2 weeks ago · EditedAlso if it sells for $500^ it automatically goes to AG, and this is the only situation where I would have no returns on the listing, because with AG once the piece is authenticated, the buyer cannot return it, period.
EDIT: I think maybe they can do an 'arrived damaged' return, but that would have to be damage that occurred sometime after leaving the authenticator's hands, so the item would go back to them for inspection, and if they verified the damage, eBay would refund the buyer from their own revenue.
grann-4629
·2 weeks agoThey could do the arrived damaged thing right after they scape a few slivers off each bar to compensate them for their expertise.
authentic*vintage
·2 weeks agoNever happened. I have sold thousands of dollars worth of scrap gold and silver here and never had a problem.
tools*
·2 weeks agoWas it before or after gold reached $4,000+ an ounce?
gurlcat
·2 weeks agoI know I have sold several gold pieces (scrap and wearable) since that increase, and no I haven't had any scammers. For some reason silver seems to attract more bee ess (see my 1 neg, but that's not the only example). But gold .... honestly I don't understand it; it never ceases to amaze me how trouble-free it is here, because yeah it WOULD BE so easy to scam sellers for it!
Funny little recent case in point, which I'll share even though it's slightly embarrassing: This ring's color looked like 10k to me but was clearly handmade and not marked, so I tested it like 3 times to make "sure," and then offered it for pretty well beneath melt, because I knew the lack of marks could drop the confidence level. -BTW this was the fastest sale I have ever made, I don't even understand how it happened because literally seconds after posting I tried to find the listing to review it, and it was already gone. I think the scrap hounds use search result push notifications or something.
Anyway, the day it delivered to the buyer, he started a return, saying his XRF gun indicated it was only gold-filled. No he didn't show a photo of that or anything, so the scam hairs on my neck raised up a bit. But when the package reached me, it contained the ring (not a bottle cap or cockroach 😆) and I immediately issued the refund and an apology message to the buyer.
I don't know what it is, but there seems to be some unspoken trust/honor thing with gold folks.
authentic*vintage
·2 weeks agoI wouldn't hesitate to scrap gold here no matter the price.
Mar 13, 2025 was my last scrap gold sale and gold was $2,991/oz - I have never considered the price per ounce except as a means to set my price.
ryry-jj
·2 weeks agoAlthough they only get 3 days to return gold wit the MBG now for just that reason
tools*
·2 weeks agoWhat happens with a credit card chargeback on day 29 or 179?
ryry-jj
·2 weeks agoThat all depends on the case and the banks point of view as you present it to them. If the item is as advertised, the bank wont do a charge back just because you no longer want an item. Charge backs are for fraud or being misled, not for change of mind, remorse or speculation losses
mozartbach1971
·2 weeks agoIf I'm not mistaken I think they only give you a limited amount of time to return bullion.
tools*
·2 weeks agoeBay or credit card companies?
mozartbach1971
·1 week agoI don't know what the policy is with credit card companies, however I know Ebay has a shorter time for bullion.
grandmasjewelry123
·2 weeks agoAs a buyer, auctions are good. As a seller, not so much. When times are good, the economy feels healthy( I am not sure its been healthy for decades) auctions are good, but for now, buy it now works better. Don't forget the backend. If people can't find you, you won't have sales. It's very competitive and there are fewer buyers.
mam98031
·2 weeks agoSellers set the opening value on an Auction, so I'm not sure what you are talking about. YOU are responsible for that number and if YOU set it too low, that is on you, NOT Ebay. As for the BIN amount, as I remember it the rule is the price must be 30% higher than your starting bid price.
So in a nut shell, this is completely up to you. Ebay does NOT set pricing, the seller does. It is within your control to resolve this issue.
grann-4629
·2 weeks agoIf eBay doesn't set the pricing, where does that 30% rule come from?
mam98031
·2 weeks agoYou have to have a starting point. The seller SETS the starting price of an auction. Then IF the seller wants a Buy It Now on the same auction, the BIN price must be 30% higher than the starting bid price. It would make no sense to run an auction if you wanted to set the BIN price close to your starting price, rather defeats the purpose of an auction.
grann-4629
·2 weeks agoSo I'm breaking the rule if I set my BIN price to a very comfortable 20% higher than the starting price, and I am not allowed to be OK with a sale that I am completely satisfied with?
Seems like eBay is telling me what I am allowed to accept as a BIN price, even if it's 10 cents over a starting bid of $40 that I would gladly accept
mam98031
·2 weeks agoI'm surprised you were able to do that. Typically they will block a seller from setting a lower BIN price. But if you are getting around the rule, then I trust you are telling the truth.
The rules aren't there just to annoy people. There are good reason for them. Sellers use to abuse this function and just set a BIN 5 or 10% above what their starting price was on an auction. That made things bad for all sellers as things were selling for less money than they likely would have.
You have to make your own choices as to what works best for you and I suppose what you can get away with.
grann-4629
·2 weeks agolol ... No, I haven't done it ... I just buy things on eBay to support all those great sellers I have 'met'. It's just a scenario that shows eBay does set the prices in certain cases.
Maybe those unsatisfied sellers should skip the auction thing or raise their starting bids.
mam98031
·2 weeks agoThere is not "certain cases". Ebay does NOT set pricing at all. Price fixing is a bit on the illegal side anyway.
Ebay may recommend pricing, but they don't every set or force a seller to set pricing at a certain rate.
powell-collectibles
·2 weeks agoI’ll have to disagree with you here – guys that work at bookstores or for books sellers might not want to read on. On eBay, the buyers set the price.
onefootflipper
·2 weeks agoAlmost no one running a successful ebay business uses auction format at all. Auction format is largely the domain of brand new sellers who guess their prices and long veteran sellers who never, ever, ever change what they do.
Most customers don't even look at auctions anymore.
tools*
·2 weeks agoYou can't actually know any of this, but it makes sense and I agree.
You especially can't know if most eBay browsers don't even look at auctions anymore, unless you work in IT for eBay.
onefootflipper
·2 weeks agoYes, I can know it, a ton of data is available to the public. The sales numbers are totally public information. Sure, theoretically there could be a huge number of customers who are looking at auctions and not buying them, but those people are not a useful part of the equation.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 weeks ago · EditedThere are successful Ebay sellers who use the auction format all of the time.
There are successful Ebay sellers who use the auction format some of the time.
They need to be knowledgeable of their items, the market for their items, and bidder psychology. A tough job in the 21st century, since there are fewer bidders and most of them are bottom feeders.
They also need to be able to source items which are in demand by collectors.
There are Ebay sellers who source their Ebay offerings on other seller's Ebay auctions. Obviously, those sellers do not have what it takes to succeed on Ebay but some of their buyers do.
onefootflipper
·2 weeks agoRunning something auction format is an expert level choice and every available statistic says that choice is made incorrectly for nearly every item ever listed auction format on ebay today.
My rule of thumb for auction format is that it has to be so rare and so in demand that merely posting the item for auction will cause news of the auction to spread in the online community related to the item. You don't auction a Pac-Man arcade game, ever. But if you have an original Japanese Namco Puck-Man that managed to make it from Japan to America then that goes on auction.
I acquired several prototype Activision cartridge for Atari 2600 games a couple of years ago. Those are the internal company cartridges that were used in game development in that era, usually just a plain black cartridge with a typed label, but the circuit board inside was different, had the game chips socketed instead of soldered in place, and were the of the type that could be erased and rewritten (EPROMS instead of roms). Cartridges like that often contain versions of the games that were previously totally lost to history. I STILL didn't auction them, because prototype Atari cartridges might be unicorns, but they don't create a buzz in the Atari world when they show up. However if it had been a Nintendo prototype cartridge then I absolutely would have auctioned it because those cartridges are unicorns that do create a buzz and I could count on bidders to actually show up to bid on it. Atari ones were much more likely to escape into the wild because they were all developed in America and sometimes loaned out to magazine writers before the game was finalized. While most Nintendo cartridges were developed by Japanese software houses, totally finished in that country and released there for months before they came out in America, and the Japanese companies kept tighter grips on things and didn't let stuff escape into the wild.
gurlcat
·2 weeks agoMixed lots of collectibles can do very well at auction too, or at least they do for me. And yes I have numerous times ended BIN listings for lots that didn't sell, relisted as auctions with low starting bids, and the winning bids were well above the BIN price that had failed before.
So now I just go with auctions every time. If nothing else I know the sale will occur in 7 days, not weeks or months.
And something that makes that^ even more beneficial: because the search algorithm includes the recency factor (even sorted by Best Match, not just Newly Listed), an auction has an automatic advantage because it's inherently "young." And once it has 5 bids, then it's "hot" which is another positive algorithmic factor.
1786davycrockett
·2 weeks ago@melbear7 Most sellers on eBay know that they should be researching the products which they wish to sell, comparing their items with other similar items on eBay, as well as the actual realized selling prices for those items, in order to come up with a sale price with which the seller is satisfied.
Don't use eBay's suggested starting prices for auctions, if you want to do auctions.
melbear7
OP2 weeks agoI have very carefully researched what similar items are being sold for, and have recently sold for. I never allow E-bay to suggest what price to use. If I did, I'd be better off donating my items. As it is, I've already donated numerous items in the past. However, when I've bought things I've never used, I believe I'd be a moron to give them away since I'm not exactly "rolling in the dough". I recall a time when buyers weren't charged tax on the sale of private party sales. Oddly, over the past several years, buyers have been charged tax on the sale price plus cost of shipping. That surely discourages buyers from buying; however, it's not cost effective for sellers to provide free shipping if they're already taking a hit on the sale price.
grann-4629
·2 weeks agoMakes me wonder how many times the same item is taxed throughout it's life ... government has to love it 😎
1786davycrockett
·2 weeks ago@grann-4629 "Makes me wonder how many times the same item is taxed throughout it's life ... government has to love it"
Depends upon how long the individual states have been charging sales tax on items -- such as houses, used cars, boats, trailers and so on, not to mention purchases at Goodwill Industries, Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul, etc.
And only a handful of states have NO sales taxes.
tools*
·2 weeks agoApparently, in the US anyway, state sales tax is a tax on the transaction rather than the item sold.
melbear7
OP2 weeks agoIf states were responsibly spending our tax dollars, they wouldn't need to keep raising taxes! Obviously alot of our state tax dollars are wasted suing the Trump administration to stop them from deporting people in America illegally, plus to try to protect those breaking long standing laws. If our state & local leaders were to only focus on doing things to keep their taxpaying citizens safe; secure; educated; healthy; etc. everything would be much better!
tools*
·2 weeks agoThe comments so far have been about state sales tax, not income tax.
And lawsuits seem to be one of the only ways to slow down the destruction of our democracy, at least until November.
grann-4629
·2 weeks agoI remember when my son got his first paycheque ... he was furious when he saw what the government took in income tax.
reallynicestamps
·2 weeks agowhen I've bought things I've never used, I believe I'd be a moron to give them away
No.
If you want to be fancy, this is the "sunk cost fallacy".
You have stuff but you want money.
Unless your grocery is into barter, sell it for what you can get.
1786davycrockett
·2 weeks ago@melbear7 " I recall a time when buyers weren't charged tax on the sale of private party sales."
If you're referring to the individual states collecting sales tax on internet sales, that was South Dakota Vs Wayfair, the Supreme Court case in 2018 that ruled that individual states can charge sales tax on internet purchases -- it was not an eBay decision, and eBay fought hard against it. But we're stuck with it now, so we live with it.
If you're referring instead to not being charged sales tax on private sales, that's still going on at garage sales. At many flea markets now, however, the promoters are requiring that sales tax be collected.
melbear7
OP2 weeks agoWhen I bought from an estate sale several years ago, I paid sales tax.
grann-4629
·2 weeks agoAnd every person that bought that item before you also paid sales tax on it. That is the thing I am talking about.
fabrics24
·2 weeks ago · EditedGenerally, you don't want to sell an item auction-style unless a.) it's highly sought after, but rare or exists in limited quantities b.) you definitively know the lower floor it goes for and are happy receiving at least that much c.) you have no idea what the price ceiling actually is, and want to see if it can go for more.
grann-4629
·2 weeks agoI don't bother with auctions ... I find the starting price, or reserve as we used to call it, is usually higher than I want to pay. With the cost of shipping now exceeding the cost of the items I am interested in, especially from my US friends that don't seem to know how much eIS is costing their buyers, I can't see my participation as a buyer lasting much longer on eBay.
glenvonnie
·2 weeks agoI know what EIS is costing buyers, and I know why too.
Many sellers used to ship internationally, but, those foreign Post Offices didn't, couldn't, or wouldn't scan items as delivered and lost or stole our items, so we got stuck paying INR refunds for items that had been delivered or stolen.
We also got countless INAD requests where the buyer knew that the return shipping was so high that we would issue refunds instead and they also knew that they could go to their country's eBay site to get special treatment because we Americans could afford to be cheated, they all hate us anyway and we deserved to be robbed.
We were easy prey.
We were being scammed out of shipping internationally, so we stopped shipping overseas, then we went to the eBay Global shipping program which was just a little better and gave up on that too until EIS came along.
We are not the problem, those international scammers were and still are to a certain extent, not to mention their postal systems, most of us just put a stop to them robbing us.
grann-4629
·2 weeks agoI'm not thinking about overseas type countries ... I am thinking about why it would cost me over $80 US to mail a DVD from New Jersey to Manitoba as a result of eIS. I have contacted a few sellers (friends) and asked them if they realized how much their shipping costs are for 'foreign' buyers when they use eIS and they had no idea they were so high.
Can sellers not see these costs on their own listings?
glenvonnie
·2 weeks ago · EditedShipping to Canada was no better than shipping overseas in the past, we had the same issues there.
What do you want sellers to do about the situation? they aren't responsible for the problem.
eBay is taking the risks we used to take and suffering the losses we did, that comes with a cost but not to us anymore, they have passed those costs onto buyers..
We can't see the cost unless we go to our own listing and change the ship to address to another country. I'm not going to do that on 1000+ items because there is nothing I can change and because I don't care.
On the Order details page for a recent Canada order all I see is a VAT tax of 5.01 that the buyer paid on a $25 item with free shipping, nothing about what the buyer paid for shipping.
That buyer filed an INAD and eBay paid them, I still made 13.62 on an item that cost me $2.00. I also didn't get a defect for that INAD.
jonathanbrightlight
·2 weeks agoAgreed, and if the buyer doesn't want to pay the cost for shipping and anything else, they can buy from someone else.
grann-4629
·2 weeks agoI fully understand why sellers use eIS ... it relieves them of any responsibility to make sure their item gets to the buyer after it has reached the hub in their own country ... no hassles with customs, duty, tariffs et al. If I were a seller on eBay, I would absolutely use it
I just wonder why the sellers I contact tell me that they have no idea of what their listing shipping costs are and some of them are shocked when they find out. So, I assume sellers cannot see what these costs are when they create a listing.
It's probably the main reason I don't buy from US sellers very often. I really want the stuff I see being listed, but the eIS cost just doesn't work for me.
mamacassidy
·2 weeks ago@grann-4629
You are correct, we sellers cannot see what the cost will be to overseas buyers.
The shipping costs will vary greatly depending on the country (and any import fees for the item). There's practically no way for ebay to show a seller on our listings what every possible charge might be. So they are shown to the BUYER based on their particular zip code/ country.
reallynicestamps
·2 weeks agoManitoba is in a sovereign nation and we can charge whatever dang import fees we want.
grann-4629
·2 weeks ago🤓 not a sovereign nation yet. We will think more about this option after we take over both Dakotas and Montana. There was a time when we thought acquiring California would be nice too, but that State is so messed up we no longer want it.
Let the revolution begin next Tuesday ....
😎
reallynicestamps
·2 weeks ago"IN" a sovereign nation. And containing several other nations if you ask the premier.
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DdSNfMeOY2K/
melbear7
OP2 weeks agoThe push to force everyone in the world to buy and sell with each other, IF they meet certain criteria set by "elites", must not be allowed to completely happen. Capitalism is the best way to go, not marxism; socialism nor communism.
melbear7
OP2 weeks agoI actually enjoy watching bidding wars. Apparently they have now become a thing of the past!
gone.c-33
·2 weeks agoIf you are dead set on running auctions but want to open it up to quick sales, set your minimum bid at the lowest you’d accept, accounting for fees and add Best Offer to your listings so people who want to buy your item out right can make an offer.
melbear7
OP2 weeks agoI find it odd that E-bay's software won't allow us to start bidding at the lowest price we're willing to accept and set up a Buy It Now for what we know our item is worth/has recently brought in when sold. Typically, if I list the amount I need to recoup as the starting bid, I'm forced to enter an insanely high amount for Buy It Now rather than a lower, more reasonable amount. When that happens, I only enter the starting auction price. It's frustrating since I'd love to also use a reasonable Buy It Now and know that when I'm buying, that's what I'd want!
gone.c-33
·2 weeks agoThe BIN needs to be 30% higher than your starting bid. It’s now that unreasonable. If your starting bid and BIN are too close, what’s the point?
My suggestion still stands: set your starting bid at your absolute minimum and add Best Offer (not Buy It Now, Best Offer). You can even set it so it will automatically accept any offer above a certain price.
dhbookds
·2 weeks ago · EditedWhat you are missing is that there isn't enough interest to spur real auction participation.......since most end with 1 bid. Can be not alot of interest in the item or buyers don't "want" to do auctions. The Buy It Now option doesn't/won't work if buyers don't participate.
If you insist on running auctions, best you can do is to list at the lowest price you find acceptable.......and then "hope" several people will participate.......
Fixed priced listings might work as well or better than auctions..........
tools*
·2 weeks agoAs a buyer, I like auctions because they usually end at a lower price than a Buy It Now listing. As a seller, I don't bother with auctions because they usually end at a lower price than a Buy It Now listing.
melbear7
OP2 weeks agoMiracle of miracles, for the first time, today I actually sold one of my Buy It Now listings! Needless to say, that has encouraged me greatly.