posted on November 14, 2002 10:40:23 PM new
Hi, all: I need an explanation for how this works in plain English! A neighbor has some very nice art exhibit posters she'd like me to sell for her.
If I start a Dutch Auction and have 50 items and only 6 people bid, I assume I sell just six items? But for how much? The highest bid price? Or does everyone get it for what he bid? (I suppose it'd be smart for me to BUY something in a Dutch auction so I know a little more, right?) ~Adele
[ edited by Roadsmith on Nov 18, 2002 11:22 PM ]
posted on November 14, 2002 11:15:55 PM new
You list 50 items.
You list a starting price.
People enter the number of items the want.
Then they enter the amount they are willing to pay per item.
Some people will bid higher to ensure that they will get the number of items they want.
When the auction is over they will all pay the lowest bidding/starting price.
Assuming the total items do not go over 50.
If the total number goes over 50 the higher bidders will take away from the lower bidders.
And they will all then pay the lowest qualifing bid.
It is a little confusing till you've done it a few times.
The best thing to do is list your items with the minimum you will take.
And wait till it's over Ebay will send you the EOA email stating what each of the buyers owe you.
[ edited by dadofstickboy on Nov 14, 2002 11:20 PM ]
posted on November 15, 2002 12:02:57 AM new
Here's a tasty tibit about dutch auctions!
Lets say you list 50 items at 5.00 start.
One person comes and bids 10.00 on all 50 items.
If no one bids against him at the end of auction he will have to pay 10.00 for all 50.
But say 1 person comes along and only wants 1 item and they bid 15.00 on it,well they will get it but at the end they will only pay 10.00 because that's the lowest qualifing bid.
Now comes the kicker, The person who wanted all 50! Well he only has 49 now, so if he wants he doesn't have to buy any!
SO in the end you only end up selling 1 item for 10.00
It can get confusing that's why it's best to wait for the EOA email from the auction house.
posted on November 15, 2002 08:55:43 AM new
Thanks, DAd! You've come through for me again. Wish you lived next door. I'd even babysit your stick boy.
* Have you done a Dutch auction yourself? Do all the bidders pay up or are there some duds in the group?
* Does Ebay's EOA spell it all out for the seller, who owes what? And for the buyers, so they know exactly what they owe?
* Last question: If there are, say, 100 of these posters, is there any conventional wisdom about Dutch auctions that says I should offer 50, or 25, or 10? Is there a "best number" that works for these?
* Getting there! I'm beginning to understand. But honestly, aren't there tons of buyers out there, like me, who'd never mess with a DA because we don't understand it? The Ebay explanation isn't very helpful--at least to me.
I've researched a bit, last night, on posters, and there are gazillions of them out there! Gazillions!
posted on November 15, 2002 10:33:12 AM new
This is Deja vue. I just finished setting up a Dutch Auction on 10 wrist watches. Startoing bid @ $2.29 with a fresh Energizer battery. I hope there is a buyer who will take all of them. I will do it again next week & the week after that.
posted on November 15, 2002 10:59:27 AM new
Hi:
I've done lot of these and so far everyone has paid. No problems there!
And YES Ebay spells it out for both of you in the EOA mail.
Like I said to avoid confusion wait for the EOA to proceed.
Also are these posters all the same?
For a dutch auction to work all items or (lots) of items have to be the same.
People can't bid on which ones they want only how many they want!
posted on November 15, 2002 11:21:32 AM new
I've done a few Durch Auctions. The amount of items in the Dutch Auction depends on how common the items are on ebay. If you have 50 art posters in a Dutuch Auction then you probably won't sell all 50 and your start price is very important because that is the price that all bidders will probably pay. If the art poster is uncommon on ebay you may want to set a low number of items on the first auction, maybe 5 items. Let's say you have a start bid of $2. After the lowest bid passes $2 the "current bid" value in the auction raises to the current lowest value acceptable to enter the bidding. It's exciting to see the "current bid" rise higher and higher. A good idea to get multiple item bidders is to state how much the s/h is for either 1,2,3,4, or all 5 items. Try to sell as many extra posters on this first auction as you can. ( side deals outside of ebay ) The next Dutch Auction you run of the same posters will probably go for less as they are no longer uncommon on ebay due to your first auction.
You can try to use the Buy It Now Format but watch the number of items as that is a big part of the ebay fee. When they had the free Buy It Now listing day that was a tremendous value as you could have placed all 50 posters in one auction for free. The Buy It Now auctions are like ebay stores of mutiple items that accidently wandered out into the auction segment of ebay.
posted on November 15, 2002 01:37:24 PM new
I always though that the person who bid on 50 items and only got 49 would still be responsible for 49 items. At least on ebay. Can anyone else confirm that if you bid on a lot of items, and don't get them all, you are off the hook?
posted on November 15, 2002 02:36:32 PM newYou have the right to refuse partial quantities. This means, for example, that if you bid for 10 items and are offered only eight when the auction ends, you don't have to buy any of them
from: ( Dutch Auction hyperlink part way down the page )
