What happens when I run an auction on an item?

[randysauto01]

As many of you have read since my post yesterday about my boss closing down the salvage/used auto parts side of the business, I have a question about auctions.

At our other location, the bigger yard that we are selling/consigning parts to, has picked through all the transmissions at that location that they want.

This leaves us with just over 300 left at that location alone.

I've tried running 20 or 30 auctions over the last couple of years, only ever managed to sell a radio.

But the boss wanted to know if there was a way that I could set up an auction for all of them, with them all starting at the same price (my general response was no, no way to bulk auction).

While tedious, I could go in and start an auction for each and every one individually. But my train of thought would be to bump up the promoted listing amount significantly in hopes of boosting visibility. Also lowering the prices at the same time.

If I start an auction on an item that is currently a BIN item, does it disappear from my listings as a BIN item?

Thanks in advance

Travis

[coastaltechsolution]

Maybe make an auction for x amount of transmissions? say 12 at a time

I guess you could do more but I just don't see that as a good Idea

If wanting to list once and get rid of that many many a local classified? 

[eleanor*rigby]

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@randysauto01 wrote:

If I start an auction on an item that is currently a BIN item, does it disappear from my listings as a BIN item?

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Just want to clarify the lingo, here. 

There are two types of listings on eBay:

1. Auction listings
2. Fixed-price listings

"BIN" stands for "Buy It Now." Both auctions and fixed-price listings can offer the BIN feature. Note that the BIN feature will disappear if an auction listing receives a bid.

I'm not sure whether this is part of what you're asking, but auction listings cannot be revised to a fixed-price listing (or vice versa).

Keep in mind that you or your company will be responsible for any sold items for at least 180 days. If your customers buy with PayPal or with a credit card, they have varying time limits to file payment disputes to which your company would have to be responsive, often without recourse.

[randysauto01]

Not a bad idea, but if these transmissions haven't already sold locally, I don't see how anyone would want to buy them in bulk. We've kinda had the corner of this market in our area for quite sometime. I'm leaning towards just boosting PL %, but would also like to be able to give an accurate answer to the boss as to whether when its on an auction, does the ability for it to be seen as a regular BIN item go away.

[bimm_corp]

@randysauto01 

>While tedious, I could go in and start an auction for each and every one individually.

A tough nut to crack. Don't expect you will get much action. Trannys are heavy and generally get shipped via freight on a pallet. Even if you dropped the price considerably, the freight cost is going to kill the deal unless you sell pickup only. From my experience a lot of the units will have no market. Might be best to just blow the lot out for scrap.

[coastaltechsolution]

@randysauto01 

Yes the BIN will go away once a bid has been placed  

[randysauto01]

We already offer free flat rate shipping to a business with a way to unload. So the shipping cost is already factored into the price they see.

Even with scrap prices being up a bit right now, its tough to justify letting a $1000 transmission head to the big scrap yard in the sky 😁

[randysauto01]

So as long as their is no bid, it will remain as an active BIN item. At this point if I went the auction route (which I don't think would see much action) we would start it at an amount that I know would cover our cost of shipping, plus a little extra.

Some of these transmissions in that case would be selling for as much as $800 less than current asking price that other sellers have them listed for.

[a_c_green]

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@randysauto01 wrote:

I'm leaning towards just boosting PL %, but would also like to be able to give an accurate answer to the boss as to whether when its on an auction, does the ability for it to be seen as a regular BIN item go away.

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Okay, first of all, when you're going to sell any item (or group of items for one purchase), your first decision is whether to make it a Fixed Price listing (which can run indefinitely, renewing each month) or an auction (with a predetermined end point of 1, 3, 7 or 10 days from the exact starting time).

If an auction, you can add a BuyItNow price (preferably with the Immediate Payment Required option set) which will allow a buyer to grab it immediately at the BIN price and just forego the auction. However, in most categories, the BIN price will disappear once bids are received. I hope that answers the boss's question.

I'd say that in your project of selling used transmissions, for the first time each one is shown on-line, you might want to try an auction listing (with or without the BIN as well), in case it's a desirable model for which multiple bidders might compete. Set your opening price to the minimum that you would accept to sell it for if you only ever got one bid.

If the auction goes nowhere, consider a Fixed Price listing for your next go-round instead, since someone may be looking for that part in the future when their old transmission fails next month or the month after that. (When you re-list, you can choose to go from auction to Fixed Price or back again.) Transmissions are in that category of items only bought when they are needed, not as status items or collectibles, so you will be waiting for the buyer who needs that transmission right there, and not the one next to it. He might be searching now, or maybe in the future.

As for a bulk sale, I can't quite picture anyone wanting multiple used transmissions all at once, other than maybe a metal recycler or a franchise transmission repair chain wanting to rebuild them as future replacement stock. Those customers should be buying them on the assumption that they will need rebuilding; I assume you're not able to test these out of the car. I think the odds of getting a few individual sales will be better than selling a lot all at once. Good luck.

[postingid7659]

Nobody is going to bid on 300 random transmissions unless the starting bid is like a dollar per.   Then they're going to load them up and drive right to the nearest scrap yard. 

[randysauto01]

I'm not trying to auction off all of the transmissions as one lot. If I wanted to for example change every transmission to 10% PL.

I can go into listings, type in the prefix 400 (that is the beginning part number for any transmission I have in inventory, set my PL to 10% and they all change)

It appears I can do the same thing for auctions, select all the transmissions I want to switch to auction, have our starting price be $1 than our current BIN price, say $449.99, and our BIN price be what ever the percentage required is for the mark up (10% or 15% above, I don't remember at this time what the requirement is)

If someone bids $450 and thats the only bid I get...great, its more than we were going to get by having it crushed with the other cars. If someone takes it up to the BIN price, well thats just icing on the cake.

[randysauto01]

What I am doing right now, is bumping up the PL to above the suggested rate. If the boss wants me to run them as an auction, and when its set up for auction, it "ends the BIN" listing, then there is no sense in my changing the PL percentage.

[eleanor*rigby]

Again, I'm just not sure you're using the same terminology the rest of us are. Please reread my Message #3 and confirm that you are using "BIN" in the same way others are using it.

[soh.maryl]

If/when you are fortunate enough to sell these and you ship them out, what's your plan when you get requests for returns, given that eBay gives buyers 30 days to open an item not as described case and that a buyer can do a charge back on his credit card usually for up to six months?  

Have you considered locating businesses similar to yours that are located in the area and offering them the trannies at a good price?  

[randysauto01]

I guess I should have clarified it better now that you point it out. All of our listings are fixed-price listings, and all have BIN option picked, no offers. Which doesn't really mean anything, customers will still send messages asking if we will accept certain amounts.

Both the towing and salvage yard bank accounts are tied to the same bank account, and the towing will remain active after I'm gone.

I really only have to worry about it until January I guess, then he will be on his own for warranty claims etc. after that.