posted on June 7, 2005 05:41:54 AM new
I know what eBay says about Dutch auctions (i.e., how the price determination works), but I have never run one and don't know if it is wise with what I have.
I have 8 place settings of Wild Oats china. I haven't seen any sell as a set (in the US), but wonder whether I can do a Dutch auction with them.
In your collective experience, do bidders understand Dutch auctions? Do they bid on them? Do you think that this is an appropriate item for one? Any tips on setting the opening bid (I usually start auctions at $1, but wonder if I'm going to be giving this away at $1 if I get "real" bids on only 7 place settings)?
As always, this forum's collective wisdom and experience trumps the bejeezus out of whatever any one seller can know. Thanks in advance.
posted on June 7, 2005 07:07:59 AM new
Hiya Claude ... I would do those by place setting groupings .. (not Dutch) ... too confusing otherwise ... and, if your pattern is that Wedgwood Wintersomething Wild Oats, those seem to do "okay" on ebay ...
posted on June 7, 2005 07:03:42 PM new
Claude...I've sold a lot of china and dinnerware, but I've never been in a situation where I could see an advantage in using a dutch auction. If you've never run a dutch auction before, you might want to check with Stonecold first. I believe he runs them and can probably steer you in the right direction.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on June 7, 2005 07:49:06 PM new
Be careful if listing a dutch auction at a low starting price. If 7 people each bid on 1 each, even though all of their bids might be a high value, the items would still sell for $1 each. (all 8 items would need to be bidded on for the price to increase).
However, I've had some good results listing 2 (or more) items in a dutch auction. If a person wants multiple items, the price will increase to the amount of their bid, even though there may not be other bidders.
posted on June 8, 2005 05:59:57 PM new
I am un-sure of what you have for sale. I will give two answers for what I think you have.
I think you have one set of place settings of china for 8 people. Or do you have 8 sets of china? I will assume you have one set for 8 people.
China really isn't my cup of tea, (no pun intended) but it would seem to me that you should try to sell them as a complete set first, unless that isn't your goal. Let's assume that you are going to break up the set and sell them off as replacements.
First thing is to know what the "Ebay" value is. If your item is going to be super popular, then I would go ahead and list a number like two or three in the auction venue. Only list then this way if you know for sure there will be people wanting to knock down your doors to get them.
I would list dinner plates, seperate from salad plate and seperate from desert plates.
If you are trying to get maximum value for these though, I wouldn't list them dutch.
If the china might be a little more difficult to sell, (meaning only a few people will be in the market to buy them) which I suspect will be the case, you will be best off using the Fixed Price option. In fixed price, you will want to list the china at a realistic value and I would go ahead and list them all. Also within your listing, make sure to point out that they can purchase other pieces in other listings. You can link those if you like. Again, just like before, you will want to list dinner plates in one listing, salad plates in another, saucers, cups, desert plate and so forth.
I hope that helps.
If I am wrong in my assumptions, please let me know and make it more clear to me what you have exactly and your goals for sales.
SC
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Alive in 2005
