9 identical staplers, how to list them?

[greg30043]

I have 9 identical collectible clocks, brand new, never opened, and I want to give buyers the ability to purchase just 1, or perhaps 2, or 3, or 4, or 5, etc., or if they want they can purchase all 9 of them.

What is the best way to do this?

The many options are a little bit confusing. There is an option for "lot" and an option for "quantity". I don't know the difference. Also, I noticed that I can only specify the number of the quantity if I select "fixed price" for the sell type; in other words, the quantity is set to 1 and grayed out (where I cannot make it jigher than 1 quantity) if I select "auction type". Why is this?

I am confused and would appreciate someone holding my hand to explain this exciting new hobby to me. I am ready to make some profit!

[partial*eclipse]

If you list them as a" Lot" then that means you are offering them as a group of all 9.

If you want to offer them individually so that a buyer can choose how many they want, then you need to use fixed price format so you can get the option to enter a "Quantity available."  And for the price, you show the price for one item.

[7606dennis]

You have several options:

1) List as a lot of nine and sell all for one price.

2) List in various lot sizes that equal up to nine.

3) List individually and auction them off one at a time.  This works best if the items are truly collectible and in demand.  If that is the case it might bring you the best return.

4) List as fixed price with a quantity of nine available.

Of course, the first two options could be listed as either an auction or fixed price, so that actually gives you more choices.  The third could also be listed as fixed price, but if you choose to list as an auction, I would not mention anything about having more available.  When one sells simply list another.  If you have several bidders that are reasonably close, you could send them second chance offers.

[nowthatsjustducky]

If doing them multi quantity fixed price, I would recommend trying by listing no more than 3 at a time in order to give an unspoken air of scarcity.  Then when one sells, up the quantity back to 3 until there are 2 or fewer remaining.

[chrysylys]

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@greg30043wrote:

9 identical staplers, how to list them?  

I have 9 identical collectible clocks, brand new,

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Are these staplers that keep time or clocks that bind papers together?

[lookng2015]

Beat me. My first response was going to be a. do NOT list them as clocks.

[lovtaco0]

@greg30043 If the clock (or stapler) is a collectible item and you are unsure of what price to ask, list one as an auction and see what happens. If it sells then you'll get a better idea of value. After that you can create a new fixed price listing with multiple quantities available. Do what another poster said above and list a quantity of 2-3 then add one each time you sell one.

[nowthatsjustducky]

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@lovtaco0wrote:

@greg30043 If the clock (or stapler) is a collectible item and you are unsure of what price to ask, list one as an auction and see what happens. If it sells then you'll get a better idea of value. After that you can create a new fixed price listing with multiple quantities available. Do what another poster said above and list a quantity of 2-3 then add one each time you sell one.

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If it sells, all that means is that the right person came along and was willing to pay at least the minimum opening bid.

If doing items auction format as a test to see what they should be listed at, I would advise giving it 10 five day listing cycles at whatever price you are comfortable with.  If no takers, or it only goes for the minimum bid or a tad higher, then that likely means that there just wasn't anyone shopping for it during that time period and the research results can be deemed inconclusive.

After that, then you can go fixed price at a worth your time price (aka higher than what your opening bid was), and it will eventually sell.  Like if your auctions started at $10, then perhaps try listing at $20 for a few 30 day listing cycles.  You can always adjust the price later.

But all in all, auctions are rarely ever a good indicator of an item's value nowadays.  It was great before Buy It Now and Fixed Price listings, when auctions were the only format.  But nowadays buyers are more concerned with getting it now instead of waiting 5 to 7 days to see if they won the privilege of buying the item.