Buy it now, best offer, or auction? What are your thoughts regarding these selling options?

[bert.05]

Hello,

As the title indicates, I am interested as to whether a particuolar selling option is more likely to increase sales, such as the auction option, and as to whether certain categories are better suited with certain selling options, e.g., antiques are usually associated with auctions.

In other words, from your experience, what criteria do you use to determine whether to use the Buy it now, Best Offer option, or auction?

Thanks.

[disneyshopper]

I use fixed price so I can list for a duration of 30 days.  Most of my items are priced 20% below the original sales price, but I do use Best Offer on those items I have had for a long time and would like them sold.

I don't use auction format on too many items.  Years ago when all my items were auction style, I was spending beau coup bucks on listing fees.

[siamdao]

We use fixed price and accept offers on our vintage and collectible watches.  Generally the offers we accept are within 10% of the fixed price.   We don't have paper thin margins that require us to sell in volume and we set our prices to reflect trends in the market and provide us with a fair return.    We don't use auctions as each of our products are unique and are generally buyer specific.  That is, a watch we might sell for $100.00 USD on a fixed price listing, might only of had that particular buyer as a bidder were it set up as an auction with bidding results potentially much lower.     I think it really depends on the demand of the items you are listing and the risks or loss you are willing to take should the bidding not meet your expectations.   We generally list for 7 or 10 days, but have listed some items for good til cancelled.  The problem with using list til cancelled fixed pricing is that some buyers sort items by choosing to look at those that are ending soonest.  

[lja440]

I sell mainly in the media catagory, some glass and pottery thoughI am not buying any items to replace my stock of glass. And clothing. 

I usually do auctions with an option to BIN.

I start my bidding at a point I am happy with if the item only gets an opening bid. BIN is usually 30 to 50% added onto that depending on trending prices. 

I don't know if it is my selling format or the fact I try my best to have clear photos and complete descriptions. My sell through is around 80%. 

I also don't bother listing if the completed listings show no interest in the item.

[reallynicestamps]

Across my four selling IDs, I use Fixed Price consistently.

This gives me 30 days of exposure.

There has been some twiddling on eBay Canada and I have been using 30 day listings for most of 2018 but am now switching back to Good Til Cancelled because I have a deadline on my novel to meet. Less labour.

Auctions are a bust for me, even though my items are collectible. It may make a difference that on my philatelic IDs, every stamp ever printed is catalogued, described and priced by grade.

[juststuffisell]

Like the others here, across my selling ID's I use predominantly fixed priced listings. Despite it being a bad move with eBays CTR/STR many are listed as GTC just so I don't have to mess with them every month. I am happy with the pricing I set, so I'm not so worried about what ebay thinks (999+ in my dashboard recommended changes...lol) or the buyer most of the time. I research sales history on everything I list and I try to be somewhere in the middle on the final price I set.

I do run auctions. The important thing with auctions is setting a minimum bid that you can stomach to ship the item out. Some items, no matter how unique or interesting, may only get one bid.... My policy change was due specifically to one auction run where I had a very unique item with an opening bid of 1.99 - over 30 watchers by the close of auction day - I got two bids with the highest bid less than 10 dollars - I lost money on an item that I would normally have listed fixed price. Auction with caution. When I run auctions, it is to turn over inventory that I think will bring a few bucks before I send it to the local auction house. I do this because auctions will bring eyes to your fixed priced listings; i.e. many people interested in an auction item will check out other items you have for sale. Auction runs can be treated like loss-leaders and usually result in an uptick in sales of your fixed priced listing.

I do not typically use the best offer except in one niche store. The reason is really, I get tired of 100 dollar offers on 300.00 listings kind of thing. Yes, you can use auto decline, but I just prefer not to attract those buyers. I get offers all the time without using the BO option. When I do, I know they are serious buyers and the quality of those offers are significantly better. A example from last week was a 325.00 offer (with shipping) on a 350.00 ring. I had another sale this week - same thing item listed for 55.00, emailed offer was 50.00 plus shipping. A reasonable offer.

I am of the opinion that using the BO to much suggests a desperation and invites unreasonable offers. Nothing wrong with saying in your listing "I know markets are fluid and if you think my price is a little off, feel free to email me with an offer".

Cheers

[lewisburggold]

Buy it now is the way to go.  Save the auctions for the really rare items.  Best regards

[fuzzface50]

If it is a new item readily available in a regular B/M store or other well known  internet sites then i use buy it now. Also on saturated items here because the prices most likely won't change much. Or if i am sitting on a large lot of the item and would like to move them. 

If i have very little competition here, have an item not easily found then i like using auctions starting at my minimum acceptable price just in case i get just the one bid. but if you can get at least 2 very interested parties then you can hit a homerun and not short change yourself by setting a too low of a  buy it now price.  For example i watched an old car ash tray that i thought was worth around $100 go for $2,000 in auction style. Lots of money would have been left on the table with a $100 buy it now price tag.  Even if i have a large lot and see very little competition i tend to auction them off 1 at a time to maximize my profit. Yes, it can take longer to sell them all but i can wait longer time when it comes to making a bigger profit.

Some items you just list buy it now to make a quick flip and others you list auction style to pull the most profit.  i think it works best when you have listings of both groups up at the same time.  use the quick flips to keep the lights on and use the bigger profit items for reinvesting and toys.

Since they changed the best offer to let people make more than just their ONE BEST OFFER, i quit using it. as stated above, i already start my auctions at the least amount i am willing to sell the items at. I leave the best offers for the swap meets where i have a bigger markup built  on my stuff and we can do it face to face with cash readily available in hand. then i might deal but not when i have my items already at rock bottom prices already here and never know how serious they actually are or if they even have the money available, i don't need those added games here. 

[mudshark61369]

@bert.05,

Since you are located in Cyprus and selling on ebay.com, your best option for the items you are selling will be Buy It Now.  You can add the Best Offer option and set Automatic accept and decline prices.  You can leave a gap between your lowest acceptable price, and the automatically declined price to allow for some negotiation.

I disagree with many of the others about using auctions. About 75% of my listings are auctions and I do well using the format.  My items are mostly vintage, rare, collectible or out of production.  My sell through rate is about 80% for the first week an auction runs, and climbs higher if I relist items a second time.   The fixed price items I list are mostly ones I have multiples of.  If they sell well, I have changed the format to an auction for the last one or two, and gotten more than what I was asking. 

I have alway been of two minds about listing auctions with a buy it now (BIN) price.  On the one hand a buyer may not want to wait until an auction ends to see if they win or not, and use BIN.  On the other hand some buyers see the buy it now price, and think the seller may cancel bids or not complete a sale if the BIN price isn't met, wasting their time.

There are variables a seller needs to consider when deciding on which format to use. Using an Advanced search of completed listings is one way to determine the average price an item brings. You can do the search and switch between the BIN and Auction boxes at the top of the results page to see which format sold the item for more.  Then go back to the Advanced search page and check the title and description box, to see how many of the item are currently listed and the asking or starting prices of them.

[softersilk · Accepted solution]

There is one answer and it applies to selling in general.  "Think like your buyer".

• You found a rare [thing] that is in high demand.  Buyer may not ever see another.  AUCTION, 10 days, using every possible keyword so it can be found.  Put it out there on social media, too.
• You have gigantic inventory in a product and your cost was pretty low. You have a fixed price listing going for it.  In order to move some, you run an auction at a low price (at which you are happy to sell it), with a link inside to your fixed price one. You say something like "don't wait for the auction to end! Click here and buy it now!"  I have a ton of those going for products we are liquidating.  You end up selling at auction and your fixed price one gets more watchers and sale.
• You have something a little odd or different that you need to stand out from the rest of the stuff you sell and you know that demand is high (so people will find it in the x number of days it runs).  You list it for auction with a BIN price.
• Cool thing that maybe not a lot of people are looking for so an auction will not necessary find a buyer.  Not real sure of the price because it's odd but it's not really rare.  List on the high side and add OBO (or best offer).  Set up auto-decline to reject the ones at a price you would not consider.
• Everything else: fixed price.  GTC (good til cancelled).  IPR (immediate payment required).  Think about it - what's what every other site has.  You list something on Amazon and it's out there for sale til it sells or you close it.  Same with a website.  There is no reason to list a FP item at less than GTC unless you are going to dispose of it.  Relisting takes work and it loses all the watchers.

Never do straight auctions with no BIN price for commodity stuff that's cheap.  Remember that your buyer wanted it enough that he/she entered the search terms that led him/her to the listing.  If it's easy to find, he/she wants to buy it now.  It's painful to see sellers wasting time and money on a thing that might sell for 5 bucks and they start it at a penny and hope a bidding war happens for it to reach $5. Lose/lose.  THINK like your buyer.  She's gonna just buy it elsewhere for the $5 and move on.  

I see this monthly when the next title is announced at my book club. I go to eBay to buy it.  Happened again this month.  A ton of people have it out there at $4-6 fixed price postpaid.  A few sellers are running 99 cent auctions.  Forget it.  As a buyer I have like 100 choices just on eBay, I want to order it and forget about it and move on.  

[mudshark61369]

@bert.05,

I had to make a call, and couldn't finish my last post.

There are some things you have to do no matter what selling format you use to be successful selling on ebay.  They are covered by the Unwritten golden rule for sellers.

"Describe all items like there are no photos, & Photograph them like there is no description".

Very short descriptions do not cut it when selling used items. Neither does writing "if you need more photos or have questions contact me" work.  You should not leave anything unsaid in the description, and have enough photos that no more are needed.  Even new in the box items should have all sides of the box photographed to show it has not been mishandled. 

Substituting the Item condition box for a description is not smart. Using the Mfr's specs is fine, but if an item is used make sure to say if the item lives up to the Mfr's claims.  Your description should be above the Mfr's information, since many people do not bother reading through the whole list of Mfr's specs.

[cherry*fizz]

I also use the fixed price BIN sales for the duration of 30 days. I have the kind of items that tend to sit for a while waiting for the right buyer, so that is the best value for me. I also prefer to use BIN when I buy things because I am too impatient to wait for an auction to end. TBH the only time I bid on auctions is when I am looking at a potential for a very good deal, and it's fun to just take a chance. I never utilize the best offer function when buying or selling. I am not a haggler by nature, I'd rather just find the best deal and be done with it, and I price my items competitively so I'd rather not entertain offers. 

[vintageantique77]

Basically,

If you have something unique and interesting - do a BIN first with a Best offer, and price it at the going rate.
If that fails, list it as an auction and hope for the best - Don't start the auction out too high - current buyers are looking for flips and deals, so you have to be really careful or they'll fly by y our listing while they're scanning the results....If you're really, really content with waiting, just put it on BIN and let it ride - eventually SOMEONE will come along to buy it - be prepared to wait a few weeks, though - seriously.
I had to break down a few days ago, and just list things separately at 1$ starting bid- and most of them already have watchers and bids! I try to list things later in the day on Thursdays - for 10 days - that way you get 2 weekend exposures...Works pretty good for me.

It's buyers market in the field right now, you have to attract them with low prices, and pray for a bidding war.

It's still out there.

Good luck!

[southern*sweet*tea]

It all depends on wh at you're selling and who you're selling it to.

I sell stuff that not many people are going to be interested in, and that has no real value outside what someone is willing to pay.  Auctions are useless for me. I use fixed price with best offer.  Most of my sales are actually at the fixed price, so it works well for me.

[softersilk]

---

@vintageantique77 wrote:
Basically,

If you have something unique and interesting - do a BIN first with a Best offer, and price it at the going rate.
If that fails, list it as an auction and hope for the best - Don't start the auction out too high - current buyers are looking for flips and deals, so you have to be really careful or they'll fly by y our listing while they're scanning the results....If you're really, really content with waiting, just put it on BIN and let it ride - eventually SOMEONE will come along to buy it - be prepared to wait a few weeks, though - seriously.
I had to break down a few days ago, and just list things separately at 1$ starting bid- and most of them already have watchers and bids! I try to list things later in the day on Thursdays - for 10 days - that way you get 2 weekend exposures...Works pretty good for me.

It's buyers market in the field right now, you have to attract them with low prices, and pray for a bidding war.

It's still out there.

Good luck!

---

Understand that auctions only work if you have an item that LOTS of people are actively seeking.  For oddball stuff, you may not get a even one bid.  Or, if you're lucky enough to get ONE, you probably will not get two.

This is what I was referencing in part with "think like your buyer".  

For instance, on my personal selling ID, I had a super-rare book that I took to Antiques Roadshow.  The appraiser told me about it with an estimated market value.  I had seen what other dealers were asking for it, but that doesn't tell you the true market value.

Auction? NO WAY! It's not a well-known book but it's valuable to the collector.  On any given week, there is likely nobody looking for it and certainly not 2 people to create a bidding war.

I set it at FP, GTC, OBO so it would sit there til the right collector found it.  Used the pricing guidance from the Antiques Roadshow appraiser.  After a couple months, a collector found it, made an offer and I accepted.  Paid, shipped.  Done.

Think like the buyer.  Auctions don't mean that something is going to sell fast.  They can be the most powerful way to list some things, but understand the market of people who might be seeking that thing.