neglus
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posted on January 30, 2004 05:44:38 AM new
I have seen many sellers list items with a BIN that is one cent above the starting price. What is the benefit of this? Why don't they use Fixed Price (which is free) as opposed to BIN (which costs 5 cents)? Am I missing something?
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stopwhining
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posted on January 30, 2004 06:56:24 AM new
it makes the bidder feel like they must act fast as it is such a bargain-just one penny more than the open price.
-sig file -------the lobster in the boiling pot of water who tries to prevent the others from climbing out.
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auctionACE
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posted on January 30, 2004 08:00:05 AM new
Some sellers may have trouble using the fixed price format and may prefer the BIN format.
-------------- sig file ----------- *There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
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kimlittle
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posted on January 30, 2004 02:19:51 PM new
Another reason is the ebay listing fee structure. ($10-24.99 $25-49.99 ect) If you start something at $49.99 instead of $50.00 it will be in the lower price range (55 cent savings) this adds up to a substantial savings after several items
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neglus
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posted on January 30, 2004 02:32:24 PM new
i can understand listing at $ 49.99 but why spend five cents to make one cent more?
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gousainc-07
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posted on January 30, 2004 02:48:48 PM new
Possible explanations
1. Listing Tool limitation.
2. Unfamiliarity with listing tool correct operation.
3. As a strategy, listing with a monetarily close start, and BIN price allows the seller to change the auction later to allow bidding if the Buy It Now does not look like it is going to work.
In other words, if we had something we thought people would snatch up at a fair Buy it Now price, we might put the start and buy it now in close proximity. After running for a few days with no takers at the expected price, we might like to lower the starting price and let it get bid up.
If we had started the initial lower to start, it might have gotten a bid, and the BIN would go away. If we let the BIN run for a few days, and there are no takers, we might be tempted to lower the starting price and let it get bid up.
If we had chosen a straight Buy It Now and decided to lower the price, we are stuck with the lower price we set it to, and there is no chance to bid it back up to the price we think it should be selling for.
I hope that helps provide some sanity to the strategy.
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tonimar1
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posted on January 30, 2004 03:31:45 PM new
gousainc, What you say does make sense, but I have also noticed that starting something at a low starting price is not always good idea unless, what your selling is sort after by many, because lately what I have noticed here at ebay is only one bid on something that does have a much higher value but sells just too cheep because we list it low in the hopes of attracting interest.
Years back you could have done that and still received a fair price for your item, but not with todays Ebay.
Neglus......what your saying I can't understand why sellers do that either, it just dont make sense to me but this is not as bad as trying to understand how sellers are making money with listing items for 1 penny..........lol
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sanmar
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posted on January 30, 2004 08:00:43 PM new
I use BIN on many sought (not sort) after items. Why because many times I can turn over the $$ much faster. I listed a rare piece last night & it sold this morning. I dodn't have to wait 10 days to collect. I sell a lot of very collectible china & I price according to what Replacements Ltd is asking for a piece. Of course I am always below their price. One of the rules of marketing is rapid turnover of inventory. The faster you sell something\, the faster you can purchase another item to replace that one. It is the same on ebay as in a B&M store.
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giftsforall
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posted on January 30, 2004 10:26:14 PM new
I have always wondered about that too. Starting bid $4.99 or BIN $5.00. What is the point? Another mystery! You are setting yourself up to get one bid on all your auctions! Duplicate items that is!
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auctionACE
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posted on January 31, 2004 12:41:25 AM new
How about a $5 start price and a $5 BIN price? It's a seller that doesn't like or know how to use the Fixed Price format?
-------------- sig file ----------- *There is no conclusive evidence that life is serious*
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ferretbee
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posted on January 31, 2004 04:47:40 AM new
To me, the main reason to list with an opening bid and BIN 1 cent apart is the way the item shows up in searches. There's 3 tabs:
All Items, Auctions, Buy it Now
Listing using Fixed Price the item will only show up on the 'All Items' and 'BIN' pages.
Listing an Auction with a 1 cent higher BIN is like lisitng a Fixed Price item that shows up on all three tabs, for the cost of a nickel. It's a listing strategy that gives you a shot at buyers that only look at auctions when you want to sell at a fixed price.
Auction Management limitation could also be a valid reason.
[ edited by ferretbee on Jan 31, 2004 04:50 AM ]
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rarriffle
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posted on January 31, 2004 05:50:13 AM new
ferretbee, now that is an explanation that makes perfect sense to me...more bang for the buck.
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neglus
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posted on January 31, 2004 11:22:42 AM new
Makes sense to me too!! Well worth the extra 5 cents! Thanks for the clarification!
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kimlittle
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posted on February 1, 2004 09:09:19 PM new
The reason I use a buy it now for 5 cents more (when doing this) is I can sell allot more of the listed item. I can close 8 items like it a day instead of waiting a week to get a little out of it. I have several thousand of these. The saving on listing fees is substantial starting 1 cent lower. Also the 49.99 checks suck to ad up when making a deposit.
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