posted on November 24, 2004 05:31:57 PM new
I was wondering if anyone has come up with a theory, rule, concept etc for setting a buy-it-now price for items on ebay. The particular item I am selling is a very limited edition Family History book (less than 500 were vanity printed about 25 years ago) I own all the remaining copies that were not sold at time of issue. My cost is negligible. I have listed them one at a time on ebay for a while I think they sell a little better than 50% of the time for various prices ranging from the opening price to about double that amount. I am wondering if anyone had any thoughts on how best to set the buy it now price for such an item.
posted on November 24, 2004 06:59:18 PM new
I hardly ever use buy it now. But if you're purpose is chiefly to unload the rest of the books and get *something* for them, you could set the BIN for your for a slightly higher opening bid.
The trick seems to be setting the BIN high enough but not so high that it discourages buyers who will think they can't afford even to bid on something that may go that high.
posted on November 24, 2004 07:16:53 PM new
I would never use BIN on something you think is rare, you never know who will bid. I often find I get no bids at all on one of my books listed at a low price like $3.99, then I relist, and it can go up to $20 or more, it depends who is looking at that particular time. I only do BIN on things I am pretty sure would not be of interest to a lot of people. There is no reason why you can't put a high BIN price, if someone wants it badly they will take it, otherwise, someone can bid the listing price.
posted on November 24, 2004 07:19:13 PM new
On a lot of the stuff that I sell I use Buy It Now. Most of what I sell is definitely "Impulse Buys" so the BIN is set for just a few dollars higher than the auction start price. I have played with this over time and decided that it increases my sell through rate. Most people say "aw, what the heck, for a couple of extra dollars I can get this now."
I have had a couple of auctions that just blew me away. One a couple of months ago that started for under $10 and ended up at almost $50. All for a piece that I had a BIN of $11.
Kevin
posted on November 24, 2004 07:25:17 PM new
I've had some fun watching people bid higher than I set the BIN for. They could've had it for less--BUT NOOOOOOOO they wanted to bid low. HA!
posted on November 25, 2004 01:03:32 PM new
BINs are a great seller tool. You probably want to wait until a few books have sold so you can determine their average selling price (or market price) then set the BIN at or slightly above it.
posted on November 27, 2004 11:37:28 AM new
Oh yeah that's the best! watching the bidders fight during the last few days as the item sat there for 5-7 days with no bids only to have it go mucho higher than the original bin.
I'd figure up your average and list the books a tad bit higher. Although I wouldn't do them all at the same time. You may get better bidding at differnt times of the year too.
