posted on November 8, 2000 10:03:56 AM new
I had an item that got absolutely no bids the other night even though I had the same opening bid as someone else's auction on the same thing that did well.
I was sure the item would get a bid, so I did a white knuckle relist for just a buck and now it's already past my previous opening bid.
I am wondering if I would do better overall by using lower opening bids if I know that the item is highly desirable. Seems some items need an edge to prevent a flat open bid closing amount. I don't feel comfortable using this for every item. I usually price stuff at a safe, "reasonable" minimum.
Most of my items sell for under $10. What do you all think?
posted on November 8, 2000 10:58:06 AM new
Most of my sales are $10 or less to and I thought hard about listing with start of $1 or $2 on all but when your selling these $10 or less Items my number show even if all your inventory cost was 40% of this $10 item my margin for profit is so small that if 4 of every 10 sales ended with a winning bid of just the 1 bid I would come up negitive $$$ everytime.
I am how ever looking closely at ebays buy it now price I have used this on yahoo in the past yahoo sales really to slow to make any comparison to ebay.
take my items that usually end like $10 or so and put a buyit now price of like $13.50 to $14.00 and offer free shipping inside USA
if you bid the buy it now price.
I know $14 take it now free shipping is about the same as $10 winning bid add add $400 for shipping inside the USA is the same but what the Buyer sees is
[u] FREE SHIPPING [/u]
if they take it though for $14 you ship free Parcel post there will likely be enough to cover listing fvf and even billpoint or paypals fee if your cost was $2 to $4 on this item you make $6 to $8 clear.
and it my exspearnce the happy buyer is one that got the item for what they paid with free shipping and no aditional handleing fees.
you make your money free and clear if you list start at $1 sell at one bid you lose all in this sale but postage charged.
posted on November 8, 2000 02:09:47 PM new
I sell a variety of items that average 10-30 dollars each. Until this past year, I started every single auction at $1 no reserve, and was constantly thrilled and amazed with the results. I would loose money on perhaps 1 in 20 items I listed, but the big winners really made up for it.
Lately, I had to change my strategy just a little, with the fad over, and the bidding activity being somewhat weaker. I have mostly settled in on $4 as the opener with no reserve, although I'll still start an item that I know is hot for $1, and an item I consider to be weak at $9.95.
You do not hear me complaining in this forum about lack of bids. My margin is not what it was in the early days, but who would have ever expected that kind of thing to last anyway? Even so, I would still say that my profits are excellent - well worth every minute I put into it.
I am convinced through my experience that if you start items well below market value, your chances of receiving well above market value increase dramatically. Simple psychcology - people don't like to be outbid, and will come back and bid again. Also - people are much more likely to bid on something that several other people have already bid on.
But if you're going to do this you must have items to sell that are actually in demand, along with a gambling type personality and an iron gut.
You must also resign yourself to the fact that if an eBay crash causes you to loose snipe bids, you'll have to work a little harder the next week to make up for it. My good experiences on eBay far outweigh the bad, so I hope to stay with $4 openers for a long time to come.
