posted on July 18, 2003 06:16:12 PM new
I decided to try to use 3 days auctions just over the weekend- starting at the the mininimum amount I would take for the item The rationale is that with 7 day auctions buyers have to too much time to think and wonder whether anyone else will bid- Has anyone out there tried this and how did it work?
posted on July 18, 2003 06:19:06 PM new
I've been thinking of giving it a go. I get plenty of people watching my auctions, but I think by the time it's close to close, they've forgotten about them or found something else. I think the listing fees should be lower for 3 day auctions like they are higher for 10.
posted on July 18, 2003 07:21:46 PM new
You can even carrot-on-a-stick them by starting the auction at 3 days and just before the 12 hour mark, change it to a 5 day auction if you have no bids and then just before the 12 hour mark change it to a 7 day auction if you have no bids and then pay a dime and move to to a 10 day auction is you have no bids. The sniping programs will have to hit a moving target.
----------------------------------
-------------- sig file ----------------------------
"Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error."
- Andrew Jackson
posted on July 18, 2003 07:55:28 PM new
If you hit the lottery big I'll marry you.
You can change the duration as much as you want as long as there are no bids and it's not under 12 hours to close. Start at 5 move to 10 move to 3 back to 10 again then 7 and then 5 again, etc. Some sellers move their auction thing from category to category throughout the auction duration.
----------------------------------
-------------- sig file ----------------------------
"Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error."
- Andrew Jackson
posted on July 18, 2003 08:22:16 PM new
I,,,,,,,,,just realized that TODAY,,,,,myself,,,,,,,dropped the price and the thing,,,,,SOLD!!!!!!! you can play with it all day long,,,,,,,,as LONG as no bids are placed........
posted on July 18, 2003 08:24:54 PM new
I have found I get almost all of my sales or hits on the 1st day of the auction and on the last day of the auction So I figure why mess with all those other days. I wish ebay had a 2 day auction.
posted on July 18, 2003 08:55:59 PM new
Whenever I need to list a 3-day or 5-day auction, I go in and make sure the first line of the auction description says something like
THIS IS A THREE-DAY AUCTION! I've had good success; I think that message gets their attention.
I also think most of us are too timid to try the shorter auctions. I almost never use the 10-day any more, mostly 7-day.
AuctionAce: I do have one question! If I start an auction at 3 days, go to 5, go to 10, back to 3, at some point isn't there an additional listing fee? Otherwise, we could just keep an auction going forever until it's sold?!! I don't quite see how that would work.
posted on July 18, 2003 09:06:39 PM new
Today,,,,,,,,I backed of the original $19.99 price to $14.99 there was a message from e bay,,,,they reduced the listing fee........
posted on July 18, 2003 09:08:25 PM new
If you go to a 3 day auction format, just make sure you don't start it on a Thursday night. Ebay's (and Vendio's) scheduled maintenance are for early Friday a.m. The downtime can cause a logjam in the indexing of new auctions. There have been many instances reported on this board of Thursday night listings not showing up in search until Saturday morning. You will in effect have a two day auction for those who search instead of browse by category. Of course, this phenomena may actually be desireable for some sellers and they can develop a business plan from it. Just be aware of it when you pick a listing day.
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
posted on July 18, 2003 09:09:08 PM new
Actually they said there is a refund,,,,of blah, blah,,,,,point is,,,when I ,,,,,,,,,reduced they,,,,,,,,,,,,did too......unvelievable ,,,,,,but!!!!! true!!!!!!
posted on July 18, 2003 11:36:08 PM new
You can only do a maximum 10 day duration. ( and an extra dime goes in Meg's tip jar ). The seller is not extending the maximum duration only a shorter duration auction gets extended a bit. The seller runs out of highway at Day 10.
As Jack just said, a lot of stuff is changable on an auction when no bids have been placed. Heck, you can even change the duration and price at the same time. That really ought to mess up a snipe.
----------------------------------
-------------- sig file ----------------------------
"Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error."
- Andrew Jackson
posted on July 19, 2003 06:15:44 AM new
I think what is missing on EBAY is "Auction Fever"-If you a re at a live auction you have to be ready to bid on the spot or lose the item-I would love to see a 2 day auction on EBAy where the 1 st day is ia "viewing" and you can't bid-= only look- Day 2 is the auction- that should wake them up- It's a buyers market out there now and something needs to be done to get some bidder compettion going- competition
posted on July 19, 2003 12:07:09 PM new
AuctionAce- I am new to the discussions here.
I just changed my BIN auction from 10 days to 7 days ( 18 hours before running out and they refunded my .10 and ended the auction
and dated the ending of it 07/17/03.
Does your idea of changing from 10 days- 7 days-5d-10 etc. work only on auctions and not on BIN? Was my problem that I did it 18 hours before ending without any bids verses 12 hour mark? I would appreciate any help with this- as I too am having slow sells and tired of paying Ebay all these relisting fees. Thanks
posted on July 19, 2003 12:54:40 PM new
I think you were at Day 8.5 on a 10 day BIN and when you selected 7 days it defaulted to to closing the auction since you were past the 7 day mark. I didn't know it even gave you the option of chosing a duration that had already elapsed. At least you got your extra dime out of Meg's Tip Jar.
With the changing of auction duration during auctions the seller has to make sure they do not select a duration that has already passed. The ebay software shouldn't allow the seller to select an invalid duration but perhaps it does.
----------------------------------
-------------- sig file ----------------------------
"Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error."
- Andrew Jackson
posted on July 19, 2003 07:12:18 PM new
Clancy,,,,I,,,,,,,like that kind of thinking! Welcome aboard,,,,, and keep those kinds of ideas flowing,,,,,MAYBE,,,,Just,,,,Maybe e bay will read what you just said and ENHANCE,,,,,,their system!
Look one day and bids like nutso the next! Now THAT'S exactlty! What!,,,,,, needs to be done to get ebays economy MOVING! Not to even mention,,,,OURS!!!!!! Good Show! You are pure genius!!!!!!
E bay! Did you see this? This guy knows his auction stuff, fer sure! Pressure! is what makes auctions, auctions! otherwise,,,it's just ho hum buying...........
posted on July 19, 2003 07:18:54 PM new
I just HAVE to say it again,,,,,CLANCY is pure Genius!!!!!!!!!! screw the 7, 10, 3, whatevers,,,,,2 days! One day look and the NEXT! get on it!!!!!!!! and the hammer goes down!!!!!! boom! Sold!!!!!! Genius!!!!!! FRENZY to the MAX!!!!!!! A REAL auction.....
posted on July 19, 2003 07:34:20 PM new
Also if it is a dutch auction it is possible to reduce the insertion fee by altering the quantity offered up to 12 hours prior to close if it has no bids.
posted on July 19, 2003 07:44:57 PM new
That's good to know. A seller can partial reduce their listing fees rather than closing an auction or leaving the quantity or bid amount alone.
Bidz.com has one and three minute auctions if you want high speed auctions. The Bidz auctions that belong to Bidz itself start at a penny with no reserve and they start one about every 10 seconds so there are always about 30 active ones to bid on. If a bid occurs in the last few seconds they extend it for a few more seconds.
At least it was that way about a year ago when I went there.
----------------------------------
-------------- sig file ----------------------------
"Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error."
- Andrew Jackson
posted on July 20, 2003 10:16:58 PM new
SWEBB- Thanks for the kudos- From the replies
I got from others I thought I was the only one out there who thought that EBAY was getting to be a buyers delight and a sellers nightmare-So I am glad that there is someone else out there who realizes that something has to shake things up out there. As far as the antiques and collectibles field is concerned EBAY has leveled the playing field-and is not doing anything concrete to help sellers get back in the ballgame-
posted on July 21, 2003 11:08:27 AM new
Clancy, perhaps that will change come the fall and people are thinking about Christimas buying on ebay. Everything goes in cycles. If it was a constant sellers market, buyers would walk away.
Ace, I dont like biz.com. The stuff they sell for 1 cent is the cheapest looking stuff that nobody seems to want anyway! If they do have something worth-while, seems like they have some type of BOT running in there and you cant get it either! :-0
posted on July 21, 2003 11:17:12 AM newseems like they have some type of BOT running in
I would agree. I tried their auctions for a while and did get some good deals, but I could never get that last second bid in. Not ever! And I have cable Internet so it's not that I have a slow connection. I think whoever is bidding in the final seconds is not a legit bidder. JMO.
posted on July 21, 2003 01:01:11 PM new
The shipping at Bidz was the pits. You could buy 12 small jewelry items for $28 and then get a $56 s/h bill. Their customer service is very bad. I once asked them if the state tax was on the total amount of just the final bid amounts ( no s/h ) and they never wrote back after several letters so I defaulted on my order and never went back.
A lot of the stuff is unattractive and poorly set stones. They must get a lot of returns. My computer would need a reboot every 20 minutes on the 3 minute auctions and glitches were frequent there too.
----------------------------------
-------------- sig file ----------------------------
"Any man worth his salt will stick up for what he believes right, but it takes a slightly better man to acknowledge instantly and without reservation that he is in error."
- Andrew Jackson
posted on July 21, 2003 01:38:15 PM new
Ace thanks for the tip on changing auction length. I was getting sniped big time and did not know that it had a name. Do you have any other tips for me. Thanks again.
posted on July 21, 2003 04:51:16 PM new
Cheryl,
I'm glad it was not just my imagination with that!! I am on dial-up so I did consider that too, but...it was just too frequent.
And like ACE said always got hung up after even being on that site and had to reboot. Was so not worth the hassle.
posted on July 21, 2003 05:55:51 PM new
So does this mean we can have 9 day auctions for the price of a 7 day?? If we revise our 10 day auction to a 7 day 12 hours before they close...we get our dime back???? That would be cool.
