eBay

cindiwat · ‎10-27-2018

I'm thinking to put all my auctions as "Buy It Now," because then I will get immediate payment. How do you feel about this, and what has been your experience?

7606dennis · ‎10-29-2018

Quite frankly, I'm fond of auctions but being an auctioneer and auction business owner that isn't unusual. One must realize that not all items are suitable for sale at auction if you want to get a price for your item. Readily available items go better in a fixed price format. Remember though, IPR is not available when the item sells by a Best Offer being accepted.

"It is an intelligent man that is aware of his own ignorance."

goldguy22k · ‎10-30-2018

@tbm3fan wrote:
I think I will reply as a buyer. I have never sold anything on eBay only purchased items. Mostly buy film camera equipment and car parts. My feedback of 1624 is slightly under reported. My participation in eBay has dropped dramatically over the last 3-5 years due to BIN. I know my camera equipment. I know my cars and I mostly see prices totally unresasonable for what is being sold. There is one car parts seller who is very reasonable and I regularly buy from him. Everything else is off of RockAuto. Camera sellers however are way out of line but that is Ok as they can sit on the stuff forever unless the item is $25 or less. Film sellers are nuts since Adorama is way cheaper by a mile. So I only look ocassionally and have shifted to looking at Goodwill which uses auctions for interesting camera equipment if patient. Ebay's loss.

Might I make suggestion?

If you see something you are interested in, why not email the seller and engage a conversation and see if there is any price flexibility? I think the art of negotiating is dying with everyone wanting instant gratification and wishing the other guy doomed. Too bad. Sellers aren't robots, just people and often being friendly works magic.

As to Rock Auto - LOL! Just wait till you get sent the wrong part or have some other issue with delivery, etc. THEN you'll get to deal with their "lovely" customer service, which imho is no better than the average complaint on these boards. Oh and when I figure in the HIGH cost of shipping from Texas, the true cost of RA parts is no better than many sellers here on ebay. Me? I'd rather support the little guy seller than go with "the latest & greatest" tech thingie. all fwiw

turquoisetulips · ‎10-30-2018

@cindiwat wrote:
I'm thinking to put all my auctions as "Buy It Now," because then I will get immediate payment. How do you feel about this, and what has been your experience?

Almost all of my listings are ''Buy it now '' like 99 % I believe . I made 10 sales over this past weekend without a hitch . Everyone paid almost instantly . I've had very few problems with it as opposed to auction type listings . I found with auctions some buyers lose interest in the time it takes to wait it out or they have found something else they wanted meanwhile . Some just plum forget they had made a bid .'' Buy it now'' works the best for my business . Tulips

turquoisetulips · ‎10-30-2018

I want to sell my husband's mass collection of dvds which he's not using anymore. (with his permission, of course.) So it's getting frustrating for me to figure which dvds are going for good prices, but maybe i'll learn. It seems that fixed price is different than BIN, but I'm not sure how yet.cindiwat --- unquote

You can go to '' Advanced search '' up in the right hand corner of your summary page . Click on it and then type in what you are selling ,, then click on '' sold '' listings only . That will give you a much better idea at what other sellers have sold the same items for. It's also a good idea to sell in bulk ,, like put all the DVD's that are alike in theme or catogory . Good luck . Tulips

reallynicestamps · ‎10-30-2018

@chapeau-noir

Are you meaning DVDs or CDs?

Both DVDs and CDs actually. Only new and sealed because the selling prices on used ones are too low to be profitable.

If a CD doesn't move after 16 months (I'm a bookseller and most of my stuff takes time to find a buyer) I get the notice from eBay. Some CDs are then added to my iTunes library and all go in the 'donate' pile.

grneyedraven · ‎10-30-2018

I absoulty love BUY IT NOW (BIN) and all my listings are BIN and Best Offer. Only thing I wish eBay would catch up on (they are behind the times in some areas) is once buyer accepts seller's best offer, payment is made right away. The waiting for payment is at times frustrating. Sure they will get that up and running since so many online ecomm apps have it in place now (I sell on a few other platforms, too).

BIN is the way to go! I am always pleasantly surprised when I hear the CHA-CHING and it was at full asking price, no going back and forth on pricing. Love that!

Robyn Yednock - Haas (GrnEyedRaven)
San Jose eBay MeetUp Co-Leader
eBay SDA - Seller Diversity Advocate
Homeless Veteran Advocate

castlemagicmemories · ‎10-30-2018

@cherry*fizz wrote:
I put several things on my watch list that I want to buy when I have some extra money, so I don't forget, but sometimes life gets in the way. But I keep them on there just in case. And I do often buy things I'm watching, even if it happens to be months later.

I do the same. Some things are just possibilities for a later date, others may get more immediate action. And some never get any action at all, LOL!

tellmemama · ‎10-30-2018

If you see something you are interested in, why not email the seller and engage a conversation and see if there is any price flexibility? I think the art of negotiating is dying with everyone wanting instant gratification and wishing the other guy doomed. Too bad. Sellers aren't robots, just people and often being friendly works magic.

So you message sellers who have fixed price listings with no best offer option asking if they'll do better? It used to be a violation to solicit a best offer when it isn't included in the listing (gee I miss that) but there are some sellers who will immediately add you to their BBL.

I've never used B/O because I research my prices thoroughly and will adjust them after each listing cycle. I also clearly state that no offers will be considered. Yet I still get a handful from prospective buyers who think I didn't mean offers from them.

Ebay is so desperate to lose its "online flea market" identity but it will never happen while they encourage all the haggling.

Joe

goldguy22k · ‎10-30-2018

I think the face of retail is changing - significantly.

There is a group of buyers that have the demographics and buying power and now expect a certain "buying experience" in order to gain loyalty and repeat business. The business schools are teaching "buyer experience" and if you listened to the eBay CEO today, the company is well focused on "buyer experience."

The hostility toward buyers that I see everyday on these boards is fine, if a seller wishes to engage such. But the winds of change are here.

I'm just saying.

shopperclub · ‎10-30-2018

@postype wrote:
Without getting into all the technical details, the bottom line is to do both. Items you know will sell at a good price, should be at a fixed price for what you think it's worth considering condition. However, there is nothing wrong with auctions. One thing to remember is that there is nothing wrong with waiting for an auction to end and waiting for payment. The question is, do you want to make a sale? If so then wait patiently for it to sell, then wait patiently for the buyer to pay. The buyer will do one of two things, pay for it or not pay for it. My personal rule is after waiting for 5 days, send a message to the buyer with a friendly reminder and do it again after a few more days if the buyer still doesn't respont. If after a certain point the buyer just isn't responding, then file an unpaid item case against the buyer.
Don't worry about being paid, the bottom line is making the sale, people are generally honest and 99% of the time they will pay. For instance a buyer after getting reminders to pay from you for let's say 3 weeks, finally gets back to you and says something like, "Oh I am so sorry, I was out of town and just wasn't aware, I will pay it today". So you made the sale and your buyer finally paid, all is good.
Don't take it personally, it's business, just be polite and professional, regardless what happens. There is always the rare instance you have to report a bad buyer, if so, then just report them.
Over time you will learn what to sell at auction and what to sell at fixed price. It's really not rocket science, it's just common sense. Remember don't ever have a starting price at auction for less than what you think the item is worth or less than the minimum you want. If the item is worth it, then someone will bid or you will get many bids.
If you know an item will sell at a profit for you or a big price, then start at 99 cents, high demand items you know will sell without a doubt, then start the auction at a high price you think it's worth at the minimum. But you have to know your stuff or do your research on an item beforehand. Knowledge is power.
Good Luck.

Thanks. Really I appreciate all the answers, you gave good advice. I'll try to be more patient and keep learning, since I have lots of junk (items) to sell. Books, dvds, and a few other things.

castlemagicmemories · ‎10-30-2018

I'm thinking to put all my auctions as "Buy It Now,

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I think you mean all your listings as Fixed Price, Immediate Payment Required.

cindiwat · ‎10-30-2018

@castlemagicmemories wrote:
I'm thinking to put all my auctions as "Buy It Now,
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I think you mean all your listings as Fixed Price, Immediate Payment Required.

OK, so now I am a bit confused (again). BIN only goes with auctions, or can it go by itself? Soon I will stop asking questions, lol, because I don't want to frustrate people on the forums who have been so helpful. Including you. 🙂

cindiwat · ‎10-30-2018

@goldguy22k wrote:
I think the face of retail is changing - significantly.

There is a group of buyers that have the demographics and buying power and now expect a certain "buying experience" in order to gain loyalty and repeat business. The business schools are teaching "buyer experience" and if you listened to the eBay CEO today, the company is well focused on "buyer experience."

The hostility toward buyers that I see everyday on these boards is fine, if a seller wishes to engage such. But the winds of change are here.

I'm just saying.

Makes sense, but not sure how. Can you be a little more specific? Although it is annoying about bidding, winning, and not paying. However, you're right, this is a mass endeavor on ebay and other venues to sell. I have bought a lot of stuff from Walmart online and otherwise, thinking I may return some items. Policies can be very liberal, and I tend to buy some things with my redcard from Target because their return policy is extended and is greater tahn Walmart's when it comes to electroics. Retail stores not online have a place since people can look at and try on items, which they cannot do online without paying to return something very often.

So yes, I agree that the experience on eBay is quite a bit different, and sellers (like me) should get used to it.

cherry*fizz · ‎10-30-2018

@vintageantique77 wrote:
Ditto. Auctions are so easily shilled and manipulated. I always try to use BIN when BUYING. Selling....I'll swing for an auction to get people looking at it. If you let your item sit too long on the BIN format, it will get lost in the depths of eBay after about a week. IMO

I haven't had that problem, luckily. Very rarely do my items sell in the first week of being listed. That said, most of my items are usually one of just a few, so if someone does a search for that particular product they will only get a couple of results. I know my items are of the "sit and wait for the person who is looking for this specific product" type, and they sometimes sit around for a while. So far I haven't had to relist anything more than 2x after the initial one, but having the short duration of an auction just wouldn't work for me. 🙂

cherry*fizz · ‎10-30-2018

Yes, you can list items without any bidding at all, just as a fixed price (Buy It Now or BIN) listing, which can stay up for up to 30 days at a time. This is what all my listings are. No auction at all. You can also put a BIN price on an auction (say start it for bidding at 9.99 but put a BIN of $15.99 for example) but I do believe the BIN goes away after the first bid is placed.