eBay

1nicebuy · ‎09-23-2024

I'm talking quality items that are new brands people are unfamiliar with. Items that sell in the $75-$200 range that I have no competition on.

Generally I first list for at least a week at a reasonable BIN that it about 35% off the MSRP and Make An Offer enabled with minimum and auto accept are the same amount about 10% below the BIN.

If after 7-14 days no bites, I end and relist as a 10-day auction with starting bid about 50% off MSRP and BIN minimum required above that (30% above). In many cases the BIN is now higher than before but I'm building expectation on value for potential bidders. No Make an Offer (don't think that's even an option on Auction+BIN - it's been a while since I've been selling took a few years hiatus.)

On the auctions that don't sell, I'm torn on best strategy. My thinking is, if I need the money, relist at 7-day with $1 starting bid. BUT because these items are high-end but fairly unknown I risk blowing a $400 MSRP item out for $25. But that point it's had at least 2-3 weeks exposure on Ebay so anyone remotely interested in the category of products has probably seen it.

BUT, I know from experience, sometimes the right buyer just happens to come along at the last minutes. So I'm thinking 3rd stage is one more 7-10 day auction with starting bid at what I consider the lowest price that it's worth my time and won't regret if it sells at that price. If no sale on that price I just keep relisting.

But the question is, do people in similar situations ever find it's better on things you are at your lowest price to just keep listing at that price as BIN (with coupon or markdown?) instead of auction or stick with auction just in case you get lucky and you get more than 1 interested buyer after a long time? (I'm not a store, the basic store subscription I estimate would be *maybe* breakeven for me in saved fees. I know the cheapest store give you a markdown feature. But I don't want to be treated like a store when it comes to high maintenance customers which is why I avoided a store subscription.)

itsjustasprain · ‎09-23-2024

You can do an auction with Make Offer or you can do an auction with a BuyItNow but you cannot do an auction with both of those extras simultaneously. They usually go away as soon as bid is received.

My first thought is that you should ditch the 10-day auctions. For someone who is mildly interested in bidding on the item that 10-day stretch can seem like an eternity. Unless it is some ungodly rare item (and on Ebay nothing is really all that rare - someone somewhere in the world probably has three more) then a 7-day auction should do just fine as a starting point. That way you give enough time for even people who only log in 1 day a week to find it.

My other thought is that your sequence of listing seems a little backwards to me. If I find something that I think has potential but am not sure of its value here I will first list it as an auction. That way if it turns out to be higher value than I thought then I will not be leaving money on the table and can instead just watch the price go higher and higher.

If the auction does not attract any bids then I will either relist as Fixed Price at something a bit lower or I will put it on the shelf for a few weeks and then try auctioning again. There is no point in immediately relisting an auction in front of the same people who did not want it last week. Give it a bit of time for people to move on and then try it again in a few weeks in front of a new audience.

Incidentally - if you are attempting a second go-round for an auction - use Sell Similar to create a new auction rather than hitting the Re-list button. That way your repeated auction will come up as a new listing. A repeat auction that is done with the Re-list button instead of as a Sell Similar will sort chronologically by its original listing date instead of its latest listing date so a Re-list auction will not appear as a fresh listing at the top of the Newly Listed search results.

1nicebuy · ‎09-23-2024

Thanks for the insights. I have a different perspective but I will take the advice on the 7-day versus 10-day.

I'm torn on the start with BIN or auction. To me on one hand, BIN with Make an Offer is sort of an auction. All the low bidders just get automatically rejected on their offer. To me, trying to put on a buyer hat, seeing something in auction format that didn't get one bid tells me (a) the seller is somewhat desperate to get rid of it since it's and auction, and more importantly (b) seeing it not get a bid tells me no one else wants it so I feel no urge to do an impulse buy for fear of missing out. Listing it second time in auction with low start but price I'm fine letting it go, much of the time it gets action and sometimes sells for more than BIN in the first go around. (I guess that sort of reinforces your strategy). My point is, in general, BIN seems less "desperate sale" looking to me from the buyer perspective. So that's why I go with that first.

If I'm at the "final closeout stage" I think relist may be better. As if I sell similar, all the people that were watching or viewed the original won't get an email it's been relisted. And I could have spent 2-3 weeks building an audience of viewers and watchlisters for the item. But I acknowledge if they are doing a manual or saved search they will see the new listing.

Both are tough calls but your input is respected and will definitely factor it into my final strategy.

1nicebuy · ‎09-23-2024

I did see some old information and AI info backing up the sell similar strategy. But here's the kicker, the discussions are mainly assuming you are relisting/sell similar AT THE SAME PRICE.

So then the question becomes, (and like most things here it's dependent on product category and competition), is relist at lower price and notify watchers, or sell similar at lower price. I assume if no one has it on their watch list then sell similar at lower price is best but if lots of watchers then relist?

mtgraves7984 · ‎09-23-2024

"... it's better on things you are at your lowest price to just keep listing at that price as BIN..."

@1nicebuy

I pick this strategy of the ones you offered. Yes, the right buyer will finally come along. Good luck to you.

tobaccocardyahoo · ‎09-23-2024

Your auction strategy is not working.

Most of your items are not selling.

Some sell on one bid, a few others on two.

I think I saw only one which had enough bids to be considered worth having an auction.

You need to give your items more time for an interested buyer to find them, and you need to price so that you profit and the buyer feels they are getting value.

When you buy for inventory, why do you believe that your item will sell at the price you plan to ask?

I do not need to know, but you need to consider your answer and whether that is correct enough of the time to be repeated with further purchases, in the context of your capital availability and the return on investment.

itsjustasprain · ‎09-23-2024

@1nicebuy wrote:
I'm torn on the start with BIN or auction. To me on one hand, BIN with Make an Offer is sort of an auction.

I see your point but I would say that it is kind of like an auction that is going down instead of up. I think if you want to do a Fixed Price listing then do that at the price that you genuinely want to get and leave it alone. Adding Make Offer to it is kind of like saying 'Do not pay full price because I actually will take less for it', and then you will be drawn into back-and-forth haggling while wondering to yourself whether you should hold out for a higher offer or just sell now. Your Fixed Price is not really fixed in other words.

@1nicebuy wrote:
To me, trying to put on a buyer hat, seeing something in auction format that didn't get one bid tells me (a) the seller is somewhat desperate to get rid of it since it's and auction, and more importantly (b) seeing it not get a bid tells me no one else wants it so I feel no urge to do an impulse buy for fear of missing out.

Mmmm... I am just not seeing your perception of an auction being an act of desperation. As I and others here have said many times - just set your opening bid to be whatever you would accept to sell it for if it only ever gets one bid. But if it gets more than one bidder then who knows where the final price will end up. Getting one bidder might be considered a victory for your auction but then other bidders may come along to push the price even higher - ESPECIALLY in the final minute of the auction.

You can use Fixed Price for long tail items that may go for months if not years before finding a buyer. You can play with discounts and coupons and offers to watchers and ect. What you are selling can determine what the best way is to sell it so you may need to research how others are doing it. Good luck. (I am a long-term seller - this is my buying account.)

1nicebuy · ‎09-23-2024

My auction strategy is working, I've gotten over the minimum price I would take on all closed auctions. Anything that hasn't sold or gotten a bid is because it's early in the cycle. I don't do this for a living and am not in a hurry so I gradually lower prices whether through BIN or auction format. I don't need to sell these things in a certain amount of time to pay my bills. With that said, I I've got other things to do than ship Ebay items week after week so I'll only wait so long.

I'm just always looking to optimize to get the maximum price, within a reasonable time period (a month or less.) Because many of these products are new models or new brands, much of the time I don't have a lot of historical data to base my pricing on so I have to "feels things out."