posted on December 9, 2000 07:28:22 PM
An auction is an auction..One places an item for bid for a few days..Treasure hunters watch their bid remain at the top or fall to a higher bid, (or "snipe"..and the winner takes all...WAL-MART is where I "BUY IT NOW"....this practice needs to end E-BAY...merry x-mas to all
posted on December 9, 2000 07:47:57 PM
I've purchased two items through BIN and love it! These happened to be items that I wanted to make sure I got before Christmas. One was won, paid for & received within 3 days.
I understand that it no longer makes it a true auction, but there is so much other stuff being listed the regular way, that this is just an alternative.
***********************
That's Flunky Gerbiltush to you!
posted on December 9, 2000 11:30:34 PM
I have heard this argument before many times. Should eBay be only an auction house, or be a retail store. Really, what difference does it make. The idea of this site is to SELL items. Why does it matter how they sell? I was under the impression that we were all here to either buy or sell items, why would the venue matter in any way?
just a simple question.
posted on December 10, 2000 04:39:46 AM
Ebay stopped being an auction site a long time ago. Two years ago you could start all of your auctions at a dollar and be confident you would receive a fair price. Those days are gone in most categories.
More than half of all Ebay listings end with no bids.
Most auctions are started at the price the seller is willing to accept. This is not an auction, it is a sale. An auction would require at least two competing bids. If the auction is going to end with a single bid/snipe, it might just as well end today instead of next week.
The "buy it now" has turned would-be snipers into buyers, which has helped to make Ebay a better place to sell. Of the 500 auctions we have run using BIN, not a single auction has been won by a single minimum bid. They either ended with "BIN" (which we set at 30% higher than the minimum bid) or received multiple bids throughout the auction period. To me, this is a good thing. We are able to sell more, which is the whole point of listing stuff.
To some, the concept of an auction may be fun or amusing. To those of us that are running a business, the bottom line is sales. If the "BIN" produces an increase in sales than it is a good feature. (of course when Ebay starts charging a fee, my opinion will most likely change)
Like many people, I am a buyer not a bidder. I don't have time to play games and wonder if I will win an auction. If I want something, I want it now. If I see something on Ebay that I like, I try to find it for sale somewhere. Only after I have exhausted all other options and I am certain it is worth the hassle, do I bid.
"Ebay, the worlds largest online mall and flea market"
posted on December 10, 2000 06:35:46 AM
while I usually like the fun of bidding and seeing if I will win, and get something at a great price, I just bought two items with Buy It Now. Both are Christmas presents and I wanted them badly enough to not play the bidding game.
One of the sellers also had it set up on Billpoint so I just completed the entire transaction...no waiting for email (good thing, I'm leaving on a business trip), no happy hoohaa..just bought an item I wanted at a fair price with a simple payment.
It would be a shame if ALL auctions became like that, but in these instances, it was great. As a buyer, I like the mix of bidding on things I like but am not emotionally attached to, and also being able to immediately purchase those "gotta haves".
posted on December 10, 2000 07:20:47 AM
I wonder why EBay doesn't leave the BIN option on all the time.... instead of removing it after the 1st person bids. If you can't be at your computer all the time ...you miss out on being the 1st person to see the item. If Ebay left the BIN in place do you think it would spur more bidding or perhaps more enthusiastic bidding ? or would it matter?
posted on December 10, 2000 07:32:53 AM
Yahoo has had a BIN type choice for a long time and it hasn't interfered at all with the regular auctions, and most sellers still use standard auctions.
I have checked eBay and 99% of all auctions are still Straight Auctions, so I don't see it turning eBay into a retail store - GREED will stop that - too many sellers still want to get that extra buck via a standard auction.
BUT, it will hurt the stupid WATCH system, and hopefully, in time, it will teach buyers to be as aware of auctions opening as those closing.
posted on December 10, 2000 10:10:19 AM
I have a high priced item that didn't sell the first time. I had a reserve of $150 and a starting price of $50. I would like to relist using BIN, but I'm not sure what prices to put.
Should I still use a reserve? If so should it be the same as the BIN? Should I drop the reserve and if bidding starts instead of a buy take my chances and hope I get a good price?
posted on December 10, 2000 08:22:36 PM
Oh Gawd! Lookit it lookit it! There's one of them effin little scotties now! At least that little booger isn't peeing!
posted on December 10, 2000 08:36:51 PM
AnnieJean, you're cracking me up with the peeing dog thing, both here and the thread you started, best laugh I've had in days, LOL!
posted on December 10, 2000 08:49:29 PM
Red*dearest! You're off your crock! They're everywhere. We are being overtaken by them. AW is being overtaken by them. I don't need to click anything to see them. They leap out at me everywhere I go! KILL! KILL!]
BTW: To keep this post on topic - I LOVE Buy it Now - Just wish eBay would remove the listing from the search engine once the auction ended, as it would save a LOT of time for buyers like me who are having a hard time coping with effin scottie dogs and auctions that have ended due to some creep who has bought the dang thang right out from under my nose!
chococake: If you want $150 for your item them your Buy It Now price should be $150.00 Am I missing something here? Besides Reddeer's Scotties that is?
posted on December 10, 2000 09:30:59 PM
G'day Soldbyj,
When I sell at ANY Auction, I don't want someone with a retail store setting up on the same premises and creating an UPPER price limit in the minds of bidders. If I wish to sell retail, I will sell by that means but I do not wish to have the impact of auction diluted by the creation of upper price limits by fools and idiots who don't understand the auction process.
G'day JWPC,
I am encountering closer to 10% of the auctions that I am looking at that are using "Buy It Now".
Certainly in one area, there are inept fools (the polite term) that are listing a particular collectible at $5.00 with a $7.00 buy it now on items that 2 months ago were worth $20.00 consistantly on Ebay. Because a search for the items still produces a result that shows the item has sold for $7.00 this DOES revalue the item in the eyes of the purchaser and affects every seller reliant on the auction system.
Take a look at the last thread I started on this subject and you will see a person that wishes to sell items quicker using "Buy It Now" at $60.00 (as he had been on Yahoo) rather than waiting out the auctions and getting the $90 plus he had previously been getting on Ebay. Again this will revalue the item for every other seller that is selling similar items on Ebay.
Auction and retail formats are not compatible when mixed. Each person who is inept at valuing is damaging the dynamics of similar auctions every time they make an incompetent valuation when listing Buy It Now. If Ebay wishes to go retail then set up an adjacent retail site. Meg's last two quarterly statements have claimed that Ebay's aim is to increase the average value of items being sold on Ebay. This manouvre only stands to lower the values on sales on Ebay.
and to quote soldbyj
[quote]The idea of this site is to SELL items. Why does it matter how they sell?[/quote]
I choose to sell through auction because it allows the bidders to decide through demand and competition how HIGH they shall pay. I don't wish to sell retail because I don't want incompetent sellers determining the lowest price that the market will bear. It does matter and there is a huge difference. Some of us are selling through auction as a livelihood. This mixture of selling is destroying a once dynamic market place.
posted on December 10, 2000 10:12:19 PM
as a seller I really don't like it. I run 2 dutch auctions a week and 4 regular auctions, all for the same item. in the past year I have had 3 auctions end without a bid,it was very rare. since bin started I have had 4 auctions end without bids and the price of the items In this catagory have fallen by 20%.I sell $10.00 items and haven't tried bin yet. I guess as a buyer I would love it. as a seller it will force me to find a new product to sell. after 3 years and over 1000 auctions this is killing my business.
posted on December 11, 2000 01:03:19 AM
AnnieJean - If someone bids it becomes a regular auction and cancels out the BIN. My concern is it could go to low.
So my question's are:
Should you have a reserve?
Should the reserve be the same as the BIN?
As a buyer I like BIN for lower priced items and see that sellers seem to be doing pretty well with them. But, I'm not sure about a higher priced item.
posted on December 11, 2000 03:02:00 AM
BIN kind of takes the fun and thrill out of the auction. Tonight a 45 record of mine ended, after 6 bids, $20 higher than I had expected. The minimum bid I had set was $5.99. If I had set a BIN of $10, the item would never have achieved this unexpected climb. At $10 I would have been happy; but at $26, I'm ecstatic! I'd rather be ecstatic than merely happy!
posted on December 11, 2000 06:36:08 AM
HI Chococake: Sorry if I seemed a bit abrupt. I think in your case the best bet would be to have the reserve the same as the buy price. You know what price you need to get for your item. If the reserve price is the same as the buy price then at least the auction can progress and you can see what level of interest is there from the bidding activity.
However, as a buyer, the the Buy It Now price is great in that it allows me to determine if I want to pay the sellers asking price. If I do, then it's great not to have to wait for the auction to end. That's why I like it so much.
But if the buy price is not "a bit of a bargain" then I usually just pass on by.
I admit, it does take the fun and suspense out of the auction to have a buy price posted, so there are pros and con's both ways, I guess, as with most things in life.
posted on December 11, 2000 07:22:28 AM
Your BIN now cannot be the same as your reserve. The BIN must be higher. That is just the way it is set up. No problems, though. Make the reserve a penny less. For example, reserve $9.99 and BIN, $10.00.
I have BIN in all my auctions. Funny thing is, some of them are not purchased at the BIN price, but because the BIN price disappears after the first bid, I have had items sell for MORE than the BIN price. For example, I had an item with a BIN of $42.00, something that I would have been happy with. But, it SOLD for $57.00. Same with a similar item now. BIN was $42.00, but the first bidder thought he'd get a bargain, I guess. It is a popular item, and the bidding is now up to $46.00, with 48 hours to go. What ARE these people thinking?
posted on December 11, 2000 08:16:56 AM
I'm stunned at how well BIN is working. I just started using it on 5 days ago. Since then I've had 18 BIN sales. Every day I have BIN sales.
The only sad thing is that eBay says BIN is free for now. I wonder when they will start charging for using BIN, and how much.
posted on December 11, 2000 08:53:50 AM
I have had 2 BIN auctions close in the past 12 hours, auctions I just started last evening. I set my BIN price high enough that there are no regrets, and I'm only using it for items I KNOW won't go over a certain amount. Okay, so you never "know" anything on eBay, but I can certainly come up with a reasonable idea. Say I want to sell X brand of kid's jeans, size X, new with tags. I can search closed auctions to see that this item has closed for $10, 15, and $25 in the past but never more than $25. SO out of those amounts I pick what I am able to "live with" and set the BIN at that price.
If it were any other time (i.e. not right before Christmas) and I weren't desperate for money, I'd set the BIN at $25, or not use it at all. With Christmas coming and me broke and time running out, I'd set the BIN at a median price, say $15, and have my money that much quicker (albeit not as *much* money).
The way I see it, it's almost as fast as taking something to the pawn shop, and probably a bit more profitable! But, as the pawn shop is never as profitable as selling something slowly in a classified ad, so goes the BIN feature. It's a toss-up. I won't use it for ALL auctions, but it has it's place. Collectible things: almost never. Too much chance they'll go "sky high" for no apparent reason, so I don't use BIN on them.
But, having had 2 auctions close with it in the last 12 hours, I'm enjoying it quite a bit.
posted on December 11, 2000 08:59:38 AM
Thank you everyone for your answers. I think I'll just relist as a regular auction with a reserve. I'm chicken lol.
I think people are using BIN because they want to be sure and get things before Christmas. I wonder if that option will be used as much after the holidays.
posted on December 11, 2000 09:35:57 AM
There are several different factors involved here- the kind of item for sale, how many you have available, how often (and how many) are regularly listed, the range between the average sale price and the highest price that might be expected, how fast the items sell, etc. I'm sure you can think of more. For scarcer items, BIN may not be the best approach, but for those items that seem to have an auction closing every 15 minutes, BIN could make sense.
Suppose you have a supply of an item for which you paid $5, and it generally sells for $15 dollars or so, with an occasional sale for as much as $25. Suppose further, that you do not list more than one item at a time, in order to not be in competition with yourself. If you want to try for the $25 bidder, you might have to list the item for 10 days, in order for enough bidders to see it, and bid it up to that level. If you were satisfied with less profit, you could set a BIN price of $15, and maybe sell 3 items in that same 10 day period. So in a month...
3 sales in regular 10 day auctions = $75, less cost of $15 = profit of $60.
9 sales in BIN auctions = $135, less cost of $45 = profit of $90.
I'm sure you could come up with other scenarios, to prove different points of view. Depending on each seller's individual situation however, BIN may be a reasonable sales approach.
posted on December 11, 2000 11:10:16 AM
Mrpotatoehead...the better way to look at it is
Lot of 20 identical items purchased for $100.
On auction 20% sell for $25, 80% sell for average of $15. Therefore, total sales of $340 for the 20 items. Listing fees, including gallery, $10. FVF $17. Net profit $213.
List them as BIN for $15. Total sales $300. Listing fees same $10. FVF $15. total net profit $175.
Selling at auction netted $38 more. Doesn't matter how fast the money came in...$60 in 30 days vs $90 in 30 days is a poor comparison because the true picture is only seen when you figure the total profit from the investment on that particular purchase.
posted on December 11, 2000 11:29:10 AMDoesn't matter how fast the money came in...
It does if you're using the money to buy other things for sale.
Like I said before... I'm sure you could come up with other scenarios, to prove different points of view. Depending on each seller's individual situation however, BIN may be a reasonable sales approach.
posted on December 11, 2000 11:44:42 AM
Mrpotatoehead...yes it may depend on whether you need the money to buy more stock..but
We are assuming here that all items sell the first time out (for ease of comparison).
So at auction...3 day auctions means 10 a month or two months to recoup money..5 day auctions means 6 auctions a month or 3.5 months to recoup...7 day auctions means 4 per month or 5 months to recoup...10 day auctions means 3 per month or a little over 7 months to recoup.
On Bin you don't know if the sale will occur in the first hour or the last hour. So you could sell all items in 30 days (all sales first hour) or you could only have 4 sales per month (all at last day of seven day auction). Plus you could have some of the listings turn into auctions because the first bidder did not use BIN.
On the normal auctions, you could have all the $25 sales occurr the first month of seven day auctions giving you more to reinvest.
The fact that under either scenario you probably won't sell everything in one month means that the net profit comparison is the best because it gives a more accurate picture of how the business is doing.
..and the winner takes all...WAL-MART is where I "BUY IT NOW"....this practice needs to end E-BAY...merry x-mas to all
