posted on October 25, 2000 07:33:35 PM new
I think I like this new feature, since the first bidder can effectively cancel it out (unless the start and buy prices are the same I guess) it somewhat prevents eBay from being totally retail.
The only way I can see them charging for this feature though is if the auction actually closes at a Buy It Now price since the 1st bidder really determines that, not the seller.
posted on October 25, 2000 07:34:01 PM new
Well, I read the announcement on the BUY PRICE and I'll give it a whirl - I use it exclusively on Yahoo, and LOVE IT, don't have to wait endlessly for auctions to close, I post my price, first bid wins, the auction closes and off we go to another auction. I have a Wal-Mart Attitude, I'd rather turn tons of items fast than a few at extremely high prices. I take less but sell more and make more in less time.
Sounds good to me. Depends on how it works on eBay and how well the bidders understand it. I'll certainly be out there testing it, that is if they can keep the system up long enough
posted on October 25, 2000 07:42:18 PM new
I am strickly a seller, and I use the BUY PRICE on Yahoo for a beautiful piece at $59; when I post the same item on eBay it usually goes upwards of $100 to $125, but I'm quite happy at the $59, and when the BUY IT NOW price opens on eBay, the first person to bid in my auctions will have bought it! My opening bid level will be my "buy price," just as it is on Yahoo. No, I don't make as much, but I am happy and my buyers are too, and I hate these endless, drawn out auctions.
I'm all for "BUY IT NOW," it benefits both the buyer and the seller.
posted on October 25, 2000 07:51:34 PM new
JWPC...for items that are new, retail I can see the buy price being a good thing. And it looks like you are selling that type of merchandise. For me, I can't see it. I sell a variety of used, vintage items (what ever I can get my hands on). I can't know everything about every thing and I would hate to buy something and put it up for a low amount (even though I'm making a profit at that amount) only to find out later it was worth much more than I sold it for.
With the current auction format I stand a better chance of getting a price that is closer to the actual value of an item.
posted on October 25, 2000 07:54:26 PM new
For me I think it is good. I have many items that I would sell for one bid. What will happen is that bidders will come to ebay more to check the auctions. I put on items that start at what I would like to get so when I get the bid the auction is over and that will get their item to them faster. Can't wait to try it.
posted on October 25, 2000 08:02:29 PM new
Oh gosh it works so well on Yahoo, but then again its FREE there. I see this as a problem for ebay sellers. The deadbeats will have great fun now, and no doubt there will no fee refunds either.
posted on October 25, 2000 08:02:34 PM new
Amy-They are not taking away the auctions. You can still do what you are doing but, if you happen to get something that you know the price then you can do one bid. Also even if you put one bid on an item and someone comes in at a lower bid than the one bid price it then turns out to be a regular auction and the one bid goes away and then buyers can continue to bid until auction ends.
posted on October 25, 2000 08:51:06 PM new
I personally like to start bidding at .01 or 1.00 and let all my items be a true auction. If too many people selling the same thing as me use the "buy it now" feature my bids will never go above their price. That stinks and takes the fun out of it, but I will just have to put my competitive glasses on and try to sell more items at a lower "buy it now" price! $$$coyote$$$
posted on October 25, 2000 09:22:15 PM new
Libra63..I realize that there will still be auctions. What I was trying to say was that for me I can't see to many times I will use this feature.
From what I hear others who sell on Yahoo saying, the buy price strategy is "THE" way to sell over there...which is one of the reasons I don't sell there...so I can't see to many times I would use it on ebay.
I start my items at a low price..enough to give me a tiny profit, but with the hopes that I have quessed right and it will go higher...buy price doesn't seem compatable with my strategy. But I can see where others would like it.
VeryModern: Earlier in this thread, WEDNESDAY mentioned, that the proposed eBay system of BUY-IT-NOW "also will promote a lot of 'play around buyers' to bid on everyone's auctions just to ruin the 'buy it now' feature for sellers...."
I agree with you and Wednesday - as this is NOT truly a BUY-IT-NOW Feature.
NO way!
And just as Wednesday predicts, this will be yet another way for auction saboteurs to target eBay sellers.
Now, that said, I did hear on another board tonight that eBay is about to do something about the Deadbeats and their continual re-re-re-registrations.
However, as it now stands, and since I have NO idea what eBay's "solution" for deadbeats is, I am left with the impression that the people who design these things are CLUELESS as to what virtual TARGETS the sellers are.
This type of BUY-IT-NOW, I'd never ever ever ever ever use.
WHY in the world should I?
If I want a FIXED PRICE SALE, this liddle so-called "Buy-It-Now" feature is NOT of any interest to me, and I foresee a lot of problems for sellers who use it.
posted on October 25, 2000 10:42:49 PM new
Amy- I understand your reasoning. I use to buy and sell vintage (did you mean clothes etc?) and sometimes there is an item that someone is looking for and will keep bidding until they get. It is hard to price vintage items as I found out. But I have gone to the more simplier and easier to price items that will probably only take one bid so I will go with that on those items. I still will auction as I do jewelry and some jewelry items can be one bid but mostly auctioned. Lately it has been that bidders don't bid until the last minute and then your item lies dorment until then. I don't like that either. Does anyone else have that problem?
posted on October 25, 2000 11:04:26 PM new
Libra63..I sell old and semi old china, glass, decorative items, collectibles and books. Everything I sell has been used and normally comes from estates.
The problem is that there is so much out there that is desirable that it is hard to know values.
I bought a box lot once for the old cream soup cups in it. At the bottom of the box were four hotel grade saucers (no cups) that had the Texaco logo on them. Now, I knew they were advertising items and would have value but I didn't know how much. I put them up for $20 for the four...sounded reasonable and would have given me back 25% of my investment in the total lot. The dang things sold for almost $300. But if I had used the buy price I would have lost out on $280 if the first person who saw them had bid the buy price.
I can see the value of buy price for a lot of items, and in some way my strategy is similar in that my first bid represents the minimum profit I'm willing to accept. But one of the reasons I like the auction format is the possibility that several people will want the item and will bid it up.
I just hope buy-price doesn't become the norm and by being the norm, depress prices.
But that is part of the fun of doing this..it is constantly changing and we as sellers have to be on our toes and ready to change with every shifting breeze! Keeps us alert!
posted on October 25, 2000 11:21:40 PM new
Amy ..... I sell in the same market as you, & I doubt very much that many sellers of those items will use the "buy it now" feature, even if it's free. Most sellers have grown accustomed to "some" items going FAR beyond their wildest dreams, and I believe that greed, [or whatever you want to call it] will keep most sellers from taking the quick one bid buys.
Just this month I had an item with a reserve of under $100, end at $700+. I knew it was a rather unusual example, but had no idea that 3 bidders would take it to such an extreme price.
It's not always the fair market value that dictates the prices on eBay, sometimes some folks just gotta have it, at any cost.
posted on October 26, 2000 12:39:08 AM new
Reddeer...I think your right about the sellers in our categories...I really can't see to many using the buy price.
I don't know if it's greed though. I know for me it's kind of like gambling. Can I find the item that everyone else overlooks, get it at a reasonable cost, put it up at a small profit and see if it goes to where I think it will. Can I judge the buying public's taste enough to buy what they will desire? It's almost a game
posted on October 26, 2000 03:04:20 AM new
I will try this feature out on SOME items, but not many..
I think ebay should limit it so that buyers MUST have a feedback of 10 or more to use it .
I will use it if the fee is charged ONLY if the feature generates a sale. that way I can add the fee to the price, without effecting my opening bid price.
When I use this feature, I will always set it above my opening bid. However I see that a lot of others will use this as a first bidder wins device.
if ebay sets this up right, then it should be a good feature - all depends on how it's set up
posted on October 26, 2000 07:22:40 AM new
I suppose the important thing is "IF" eBay can figure out how to properly set this type of auction up - if it operates like Yahoo it will be great - and Yahoo is not the only auction using a "buy now" price type of auction.
I know Yahoo has the reputation of lots of deadbeats, but in my almost one year experience with Yahoo I have not found that to be true, and I don't find that using the 1ST BID WINS, format has caused me to attract any more deadbeats - I LOVE it, as I like fast turn over.
BUT it will greatly depend on how eBay sets it up -
OF COURSE the 1ST problem is eBay stabilizing their site so anyone can bid in any type of an auction.
posted on October 26, 2000 11:54:47 AM new
According to [email protected] ......
"the buy it now feature will appear immediately when the item is listed. Buyers who are able to see other items first
(because they use view sellers other items) have an advantage over those that wait for the item to appear in search and
listings. Is this a bad thing or does it incent folks to check out the other auctions of the sellers they like?"
"We reserve the right to charge because we don't know how sellers will use it. There's one scenario where every
seller uses it but only to post absurd buy it now prices... for example putting $100,000 buy it now price on every item they
sell. If sellers start doing this then we'd contemplate a small fee to discourage random use by sellers who never intended to
actually use the feature."
"the listing fee is based on the lower start price not the buy it now price"
"Regarding Mr. Lister we will roll out a new version of Mr. Lister soon after we launch Buy It Now for those sellers who
want to use Mr. Lister and Buy It Now. The old version of Mr. Lister will continue to work normally but it will not support
Buy It Now listings."
"When you are on an item page you will have to either choose to bid or place the buy it now. If you are looking at a
$10 item and you place a proxy of $35 you will not buy the item even if bidding ultimately exceeds the buy it now price of
$30. We assume that while you were willing to pay $35 you really were hoping that it would sell for less. You were willing
to go with the uncertainty of the auction in order to have a chance of winning below your $35 proxy."
posted on October 26, 2000 02:20:07 PM new
Reddeer..very interesting. Seems they are not contemplating a fee unless it is excessivly abused. My question...are you still able to use a reserve along with the buy price?
posted on October 26, 2000 02:30:16 PM new
Red Deer - Let see if I am reading you right - now let us say I post an auction with an opening bid of $10, and a Buy Now Price of $10, why would some fool put in a proxy for $35?
Or am I misunderstanding you?
If I start my auction lets say at $10 to open and $10 to buy, the first bidder would immediately win and the auction and it would close, correct?
posted on October 26, 2000 02:50:46 PM new
I sell old and new...and I will use it most likely for everything I sell.
You see, I don't buy anything unless I know how much I can sell it for. Simple, but takes some discipline. Let other people gamble. My house is full of merchandise; I have over 6,000 items I will sell on eBay before Christmas.
The only problem I see with Buy It Now is that impatient people will be even more so with the after-sale process. They'll expect to have the item in their hands 30 minutes after they hit the Buy It Now button. Sellers had better be geared up for same-day shipping.
posted on October 26, 2000 03:40:36 PM new
I have mixed feelings about this but as a seller of unique and collectible items (and who has had decreasing returns over time), I am willing to suspend judgment until I've had a chance to try it out. I'd like to see how this affects bidder behavior.
The prevailing bidder mentality is usually to wait until the auction ends and of course that affects sellers. Especially since "Watch It" has been implemented, I have more buyers trying to negotiate an after-auction deal when they "forget" to bid. Perhaps a "buy it now" strategy will force buyers into "getting off the pot" so to speak, lest they miss out on something they truly want. I dunno, the proof will be in the pudding I guess.
I don't understand the rationale behind making the "buy it now" disappear after first bid -- BUT -- if that encourages even early token bids on some things, that would be a welcome trend. That is what draws more attention to our items, after all, and tips off potential competitors that some level of interest exists in the item for whatever reason.
My sales have shifted dramatically over the past year, to where most of my business is off my website and eBay is just a kind of front door. While I am glad I established a website that allows me to continue selling to the actual collectors at closer to retail prices, perhaps this new feature will help restore some of the balance on eBay.
posted on October 26, 2000 03:45:44 PM new
bettylou - you are exactly correct.
I have been selling 1st bid wins for 9 months now and buyers expect at the very least NEXT day shipping after they have paid via paypal or paydirect. Essentially, I get up in the morning and ship the solds from the night before.
Personally this is ideal to me, I like to moooooove the goods, but I expect some people are going to struggle.
posted on November 9, 2000 10:32:22 AM new
To buy an item for the Buy It Now price, you will follow the steps below:
Step 1: Click the "Buy It Now" button and enter your user name and password.
Step 2: If you do not have a credit card on file, you will be asked to complete a verification step by choosing either credit card verification (free) or ID Verify service ($5 fee). Note: Your credit card will not be charged and will only be used for verification purposes.
Step 3: Once you have been verified, the auction will end and you will receive a Buy It Now confirmation message. You will be prompted to choose your form of payment (e.g. credit card, Billpoint, contact seller)
Step 4: The item is yours - without waiting for the listing to end. See how easy that is!
posted on November 9, 2000 12:56:59 PM new
Oh wow! What a money-making scheme this is. Are they going to have us re-verify? Re-register, etc etc etc? Re-place a cc?
In my category everyone who bids knows what the item is worth. WHy would I even bother. It's just another way to collect fees that are never-ending. Sad really that it has come to this form of tactic. Although not at all surprising.
posted on November 9, 2000 01:11:27 PM new
if everyone in your category knows what items are worth, then what's the problem with putting the price that you say they know it is worth on it in the first place as a take-it-now, and then bidders can get it in one day instead of 7. OR, if they prefer to try to get it cheaper, they can enter a bid and do the auction the old fashioned way. don't you think it's nice to have a CHOICE? frankly, I can't see why you would assume because it's not useful in your case or in your opinion, then it's useless. I do not believe it's useless at all, and besides--NO ONE is forcing anyone to use this option.
