posted on November 30, 2001 11:09:20 AM new
I never use the Reserve Price feature (among the many things I don't do, like Gallery, Featured...) but I wonder if there's any reason to ever use a reserve price, if you're not selling a Guttenberg Bible or the like?
Other question is how to set the opening bid? Say you expect an item to sell for $20-30 - my thought is that it's much better to have some bid/any bid on the item so that browsers see it as "desirable" by other bidders.
Generally I sell used PB's (that's paperbacks to you non-bookies) from a carefully selected list of a gazillions of titles. I expect them to sell for at least $10 and hope to move that towards $15 with experience. I set the opening bid at between $1 and $3.50 normally.
Terry
posted on November 30, 2001 11:40:04 AM new
I have two opening bid strategies on ebay. First thing I do is a little research by checking the closed auctions for he same item or very similar items.
If the closed auctions show little or no bidding action, I post them at an opening bid whereby one bid would make me happy. Simply put, some items have little demand - starting them at a rock-bottom bid will not result in bidding wars if there's only one interested bidder who sees it over the course of the auction. That bidder may happily pay up to $XX for it, so it's pointless to put it at a buck when there's little chance of competition to drive up the price. The trick is to figure out how much that one bidder might pay for it and don't exceed it (kinda like playing the home version of "The Price is Right!" ).
OTOH, if I see closed auctions for the same item showing lots of pageviews and bids, then I start the auction at a buck for exactly the same reasons that you state - because active bidding on an item makes it look desirable. Another thing that attracting early bids can do is create a sense of "ownership" among the early bidders. In other words, they place a bid thinking that they WILL own it, so they take it personally when somebody beats their bid.
I don't use reserve auctions anymore because, if there's one thing that looking at closed auctions has taught me, it's that you can't force the market to pay what it doesn't want to pay. Most bidders hate the guessing game involved with reserves, so I'd rather start with a high opening bid or a lowball bid if I think that the bidding will catch fire - either way, I intend to sell the item. Reserves have their place, but I really think they're best used only for the really high-end stuff. Too many sellers put reserves on extremely common stuff.
posted on December 2, 2001 08:09:52 AM new
I have a different stragety. I go to Barnes and Noble and see what the out of print sells the book for. I look at the high and low and then figure out what I would like for a book. Depending on the price I pay also fits into that but normally I won't pay more than a buck for a book. Then I set my price at what I would like for my book and go from there. I recently listed a book I bought for a dollar, listed it and what I would want. Barnes and Noble say the high price of the book is $100.00 and the low is about $20.00 I started my auction at $19.99 and I have a bid at that. I would like to get the $100.00 but I know that is not realistic so I am settling for the $19.99, keeping my fingers crossed that I will get more. I don't like reserve price but sometimes you have to use it to protect your investment. I also list my reserve price in my auction and tell why I have a reserve. Makes it easier that way then I dont get the emails, but I do get bids.
