Auctions

[tweetystwades]

Is anyone making sales on auctions? I've been trying to run auctions for the last few weeks, and I have watchers but no bids. I just had an auction expire with 3 watchers.  

[mam98031]

I use to run auctions all the time.  I love running auctions.  But unfortunately with many of the changes over the past few  years on Ebay, for me, they have killed off the auctions for me.  I rarely run them anymore and just stick with BIN listings now.  I would love to have auctions become a viable option again.

[tweetystwades]

Yeah, I always sell BIN. I don't run auctions that often, but thought I could make more sales. I wonder what happened, this is bad. I guess things are so cheap on BIN, buyers don't waste time bidding. 

[lex-talon]

Back in April, I received a 100 free auction insertions. Listed 20 auctions and they all sold. I only use auctions as a last resort. Your starting prices might have been too high.

[slippinjimmy]

Auctions only work for items for which there is considerable demand and low availability.

The only other Auctions that generate any action are those that start at a ridiculously low price.

For my first 10 years on eBay I ran only Auctions, these days I only use that format for truly rare items.

I've been helping a friend get started on eBay, he is doing all auctions and having success but he is listing primo items that attract many bidders because his stuff is mostly things that only show up on eBay once every few years.

Of course he's burned through most of the choice items and is finding (no surprise) that the more common items are getting no bids.

[tamaralea]

I think it's good to switch between auctions and fixed, as you never know what will trigger a buy.  With the promo last month, I listed around 26 and sold 3.  For me, that is good.  They were all things I had listed as fixed for months.  I started the auction at the old fixed price.  

[7606dennis]

Not all items are suitable for sale by auction.  Usually only those that are rare or unique in nature are good candidates.

The number of watchers has very little correlation between actual bidders.  Often they are other sellers merely interested in seeing if the item sells or lookiloos.

[cherry*fizz]

The only time I watch auctions are if they are the only listing for an item. If there are BINs, for the most part I like to just get it, know it's mine and not have to wait for an auction to end. 99% of the time I forget about the auction because I lost interest by the time I get the reminder that a watched item is ending soon, or I didn't see the email in enough time. I can't remember the last time I was really doing a facepalm over missing the end of an auction, though. 

[coolections]

Clothes will never work with auctions. There are just too many to choose from.

[ymeagainlord]

I often run auctions just to use up the store "freebies" and free up some slots for FP. In my mind they're not really what I consider "true" auctions. When I DO run those I always get action.

But surprisingly I do also sell quite a few of the common stuff auctions each month so it's all good.

[ag47silver-us]

auctions at 99 cent, you better got the item for free
auctions at wanted price, 1 of 100 will sell, and 2/3 will be unpaid

[ymeagainlord]

I NEVER start an auction for less than I'd be happy with, even the "true" ones that end way higher.

[thecollegefund]

I just ran an auction with 11 watchers that ended with only 1 bid. These days, whenever I have auctions with watchers, I rarely get more than one bid. Another seller I know sees the same thing with their auctions that have several watchers.

[rolenboy01]

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@ymeagainlord wrote:
I NEVER start an auction for less than I'd be happy with, even the "true" ones that end way higher.

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It's just not worth the risk for most of us, a lot of these great ending auctions on common items are by people with huge followings and I think that lull's some smaller sellers into a false sense of security while they may have not recognized that it's mainly the big sellers succeeding on such auctions.

[d-k_treasures]

I love auctions.

If I listed FP, what would I have sold Olive Oyl for? There are very few comps, and none on ebay.