posted on January 14, 2005 09:21:35 PM new
Here is timely article, it was written on the eve of the last round of eBay Fee Increases: Lean eBaying: Surviving & Thriving on eBay Fee Increases and Lower Sale Thru Rates http://desktop-wealth.com/articles/35.shtml
This strategy has worked very well for us in the past, I expect we will study again and implement more Lean eBaying, especially the part of putting eBay Fees on a Budget!
[ edited by usmarines on Jan 14, 2005 09:24 PM ]
posted on January 14, 2005 09:50:11 PM new
Hi! Tom just posted this at the end of your other thread. After reading the article, I posted this:
He suggests listing first for 1 day, changing to 3 if it doesn't sell, then 5, then 7. I'm assuming that would have to be done right before the auction ends that first day, and so on, so as not to incur relisting fees. Have you or anyone done this successfully? Seems like you'd have to sit at your computer a lot more, to change those losers every couple of days. . . .
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Is it true that the only difference between a yard sale and a trash pickup is how close to the road the stuff is placed?
posted on January 15, 2005 12:14:57 AM new
I've tried it. Usually most end up going on the 5th or 7th day hardly ever the 1st or 3rd day. Yes...it is a lot of sitting down revising things. Not really worth my time. My time is better spent listing new items.
posted on January 15, 2005 01:42:29 AM new
We often will list BIN items for 3 days and if they don't sell, then change it outside the last 12 hours remaining to 5, then 7. Or alternately list three items, one each on day 3, 5 and 7, but with staggered higher prices to promote early sales i.e. £99.95 for day 3, £109.95 for day 5 and £129.95 for day 7. If an earlier closing item sells we bump all the remaining down one price notch. We usually sell at least one item that way... YMMV
posted on January 15, 2005 06:01:18 AM new
If you have only a few items it might be worthwhile, but it would be a real mess trying to manage more than a dozen auctions.
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Replay Media - The best source for board games, card games and miniatures on the web! http://www.replaymedia.com
posted on January 15, 2005 08:33:22 AM new
Okay, then. To be sure I get this right, changing from 3 to 5 days *at least 12 hours before end of auction* is treated as just another revision and doesn't incur an additional fee?
If I were to list an item for 1 day, then, halfway through that day I'd need to be sure to revise upwards. If that's true, that's a LOT of work. The 3-day or 5-day start makes more sense to me, and I might try it.
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Is it true that the only difference between a yard sale and a trash pickup is how close to the road the stuff is placed?
posted on January 15, 2005 09:10:38 AM new
As far, as the 1, 3, 5, 7 day strategy can be best accomplished automatically using a php, cgi or Perl program. The program checks all our listings that have less than 24 hours to run and sometime on the 13th hour left of the listing the program checks if there are any bids on each of our item, if not, it increases the listing to the next period. We also
noticed that most of our bids are received during the last 24 hours of the listing.
Since we did not created that program, we can't tell you exactly how to code such a
program, we can only tell you - our understanding of how the program works. All it requires is to leave your computer on during the time your listing need to be revised.
I am sure that we have very smart programmers among the eBay sellers and they will be able to figure out how to code such a program and chose the best language to implement such a program. I believe, some are already using such a program. That is all we can tell you at this time.
We have noticed many dealers using this strategy, we started realizing the number of dealers using this method when we marked Watch this Item and later would show up on our Watch list with more than two days left. I imagine some are doing manually, while others are using an automated program such as these mentioned above. We certainly hope, that whoever perfects the program, will offer as freeware, since it is based on open-source languages.
As far as putting eBay on a budget is concerned, since over 50% of our eBay Fees are made up of Listing Fees (LF) and the balance is made up of Final Value Fees (FVF), since we do not
use Gallery, or other for pay options on our auction Listings. The only for pay option we use is the Gallery option on eBay Store $0.01, which is negligible.
To control that part of the eBay fees - - Listing Fees (LF), we set a budget of how much we want to spend on listing fees each day, and when we reach that amount, we stop listing for that day. That is the greatest gamble, since we do not know if our listing will receive any bids, presently only 29% of listings are receiving bids. This also makes you select the items you have for sale with the greatest potential to receive bids. The rest of the items, we list on the eBay Store, since that there you can list 100 items for $3.00 including the Gallery option.
eBay stores are still a viable alternative, even after the fee increases. Since that the greatest fee increase was the hidden drop on Sales Thru Rates on our case over 16% of overall fee.
posted on January 26, 2005 09:19:42 PM new
If anyone would be interested in software to extend your listings, email me.
It will check your listings every 10 minutes and extend 1 day listings 3 day, 3 to 5, 5 to 7. It has other options too. Email me for details if you are serious about getting this.
I can provide a personalized program for you with free updates for $150
I found I can save hundreds of dollars in listing fees with this program. If you can't see how this pays for itself it probly isn't for you.
posted on January 27, 2005 12:21:15 AM new
I kind of got confused midway through the article, as I don't understand their math calculations.
They say, "Under the Current Fee Schedule, items selling between $1.00 and under $10.00, the selling costs are between 85% and 17.6%, of selling price."
OK, I sell books mainly. Numerous of them which I start at $9.99 do indeed end up selling at that price.
So my eBay INSERTION FEE is 35 cents, and my 5.25% closing value fee is 52 cents.
The total selling cost from eBay then is 87 cents, which by my calculation is 8.7% selling cost on a $9.99 sale.
I have factored in other costs such as Vendio and Paypal, and have previously figured that overall, my actual Cost of Selling items averages 10% to 12%. This continues to be less than consigning them to any local auction service, or selling in any retail outlet I know of.
Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones, my eBay sell-thru rate continues to hover right around 70%, sometimes a bit lower, other weeks higher ~ last week was 78% of the 130 items I had listed, and of the non-eBay-sale books, over half will sell elsewhere locally within a short time period.
Anyway, I'm rambling, but the article was confusing as I could not understand how they figured out the costs, and also, I think some of their time=consuming ways of supposedly conserving costs, budgeting, making up lenthy flow-charts etc, may turn out to actually be counter=productive for some people.
posted on January 27, 2005 01:12:32 AM new
What i surmize from everthing i have read, here there and everywhere,,,the BUYERS care less about our fees, the SELLERS are impacted.
The sellers, those really savvy computer types, are going to make MEG, OUR Queen, squirm from all the ways AROUND all these increases. Good for the Sellers!!!!! More beat ebays fees programs will come out. GREAT! Serious sellers will use the tools. Those that don't will suffer and eventually just go away.
The selling population will dwindle, better for the LONG haul sellers. maybe it will turn back into what it was in 2000,,,BID wars?? Like USMarines said some where, he NEVER really thought about any of this UNTIL these fees were going to go UP. Then,,,he started Thinking.(thinking,pondering, is the Most Dangerous weapon ebay seems to have overlooked)
Thanks USMarines you woke a sleeping giant up(the sellers)...all for the BEST....You have done alot of detailed information for those who have taken the time to read your anaylises (sp)and such. i know i have, word for word, An MBA speaks, I,listen. Semper Fi. It's late. 2cents. GN.ZZZZZZZ.
and the Beat Goes On,,,,,,
[ edited by jackswebb on Jan 27, 2005 01:13 AM ]
posted on January 27, 2005 08:25:55 AM new
Here is the most recent article about Lean eBaying based on the current eBay Fee Increase to go into effect on 02/18/05.
Thank you eagleedc, for offering the software to automatically increment the auction duration if the item has not received bids yet. However, you should rethink your price structure and make it more affordable. I know many more programs will appear that gives the seller a greater advantage in selling their eBay auction listings.
The software we are using and being tested by us and a few other dealers, works great. You are right, it saves a lot on listing fees and increases the Sale Thru Rate, since most items are bid on the last 24 hours. The developer originally planed to sell it for $24.95. We have been asking him to make it an open source and the license under GPL or free.
There is always a place for good all competition!
[ edited by usmarines on Jan 27, 2005 08:27 AM ]
posted on January 27, 2005 12:16:46 PM new
HMM..well...I'll have to think about the changing the auction term concept ..
It seems to me that this could easily backfire. I have many repeat buyers and I think this would just tick them off if the end of my auctions were always being changed. They would eventually get tired of the game and go someplace else with their business. Psychology plays a role in the auction mentality. Buyers have to feel that they are WINNING something - as in getting a "DEAL". If a seller makes it too hard to play the game then they will find their fun elsewhere. Sellers that play this game could well end up shooting themselves in the foot trying to save a buck or two in listing fees.
I guess the store decision varies with the type of merchandise sold. For me, at least, the store is still a much better venue for the type of merchandise I carry there. I will use my own store as an example but have changed some of the numbers around a little to make it easier to work with( the names have been changed to protect the innocent) .
STORE FORMAT
Let's say I sell $1,800/month from my store. My average store item sells for $6.00 meaning I sell an average of 300 items out of the 4,000 listed. The items in my store have been listed and relisted and are not elgible for a free relist if sold.
Cost to run my store= $16.95 subscription fee and $120 TOTAL $137 month. FVF on the 300 items sold at 8%= $144.00. TOTAL cost to sell 300 items = $281.
AUCTION FORMAT
I have an average auction sell through rate of 30%. In order to sell my 300 items, I have to list 900 items at $.35 = $315.00 listing fees. FVF @ 5.25= $104.50 TOTAL COST TO SELL AT AUCTION= $ 419.
That is assuming that those 300 items WOULD sell at auction even though they have failed to sell in two previous attempts. If I ran items more than twice through the auction format, I expect that my sell through would be even worse than 30%!
I guess the supposition that I WOULD sell that many items cancels out the benefit of having those items appear in regular search and the fact that my average auction sale price is a couple of dollars higher than my store sale price. One also ought to consider the benefit of the "list it and forget it" of store inventory.
What also is hard to measure is the upsell benefit of having store inventory of interest to buyers who would like to take advantage of combined shipping.
I think each seller had better run his or her own numbers before making a decision to close the store. Ebay would probably like nothing better than to have many run the merchandise at auction again (and again and again) Closing a store as a gesture to show ebay you aren't happy with the fee increase makes absolutely no sense at all unless you fancy martyrdom.
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"Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting "...holy sh@#...what a ride!"
posted on January 27, 2005 12:33:21 PM new
My situations is similar to neglus.
I ran the numbers and there are an optimal number of auctions and store items to have based on several assumptions (such as sell-through rate, average sale, etc.).
I open a store based on neglus recomendation and it was one of the better business decisions made. Even with the increases I am happy with the business and return. Thanks again to neglus for all of her advice.
posted on January 28, 2005 08:18:49 AM new
Dear Rob:
Open source = disaster on eBay with any program that handles your PASSWORD. Think about it. That's my 2¢
Open source means that the code is freely available such as Apache Server, PHP, MySQL, etc. and that you are able to use it, modify, etc. without having to pay a license. As opposed to proprietory programs such as Microsoft's: Office, SQL, etc.
Our Apache Server, PHP, MySQL we have installed handles very safely our password and those open source software above mentioned also handles the password of millions of other users, including some of the largest databases in the world. Open source software programs are some of the safest available as opposed to proprietory software programs of Microsoft and other vendors.
Hopefully, the software we are using will be available freely or for a nominal fee this summer.
posted on January 28, 2005 02:48:04 PM new
"Open source = disaster on eBay with any program that handles your PASSWORD.
Think about it."
I just did think about it, and your statement makes no sense. The onlu explanation I can come up with is that you don't understand the basic concept of what open source is. It has nothing to do with seeing passwords or anything else on your system. In the simplest explanation, open source is only a method for programmers to freely share programming code.
If anything, open source is MORE secure than proprietary software.
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Replay Media - The best source for board games, card games and miniatures on the web! http://www.replaymedia.com
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