cmsspu
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posted on January 18, 2002 07:58:00 PM new
Buy It Now Fee
A $0.05 Feature Fee will be charged for all auction-style items listed with the Buy It Now feature. The new fee will not apply to eBay Stores Buy It Now items.
Why in the world would you charge a fee for something that would make the auction sell faster and the seller would then relist another item quickly.
The Answer!
It won't be long before Ebay is gonning to charge for a 3 Day - 5 day - 7 day auction time limit.
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bidsbids
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posted on January 18, 2002 09:14:33 PM new
I don't think so. The 10 day option costing an additional nickel sorta made sense because the item is on the system longer and all of that.
I think the reason for charging the nickel on the BIN optional feature is to try to somewhat curtail its use as the auction aspect of eBay was turning into a fixed price venue too much. A lot of people complain about the BIN option taking away from the "auction" expierence. In the future I can see eBay raising the BIN fee to further lessen the number of BIN items on its auction.
Just my offbeat opinion.
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quickdraw29
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posted on January 19, 2002 12:06:25 AM new
A most likely reason for the fee on BIN is to encourage sellers to have a more realistic BIN price. Now a seller has nothing to lose by having the too high BIN. With the fee, seller's won't waste a nickel when they know it probably won't sell for a too high of a BIN. If you noticed, ebay charges a BIN fee whether the auction closes with or without it. An indication they want realistic BINS set by sellers.
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rarriffle
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posted on January 19, 2002 04:12:50 AM new
IMHO, if they are going to charge for BIN then the BIN option should stay in place until that price is met or surpassed, not disappear with the first bid. I am speaking of auctions without a reserve.
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bidsbids
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posted on January 19, 2002 04:27:41 AM new
That makes a lot of sense.
Also a lot of sellers use the BIN almost like a Any Bid Wins with $9.99 start price and a BIN price of $10. Many sellers have both Reserve Auctions and BIN prices. You can sort of gauge the value of the item with a Reserve Auction and a $1 start price by the BIN price.
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quickdraw29
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posted on January 19, 2002 09:28:57 AM new
rarriffle, the reason they don't refund a BIN after a bid is placed is because that would punish the sellers who had a high BIN. Although, ebay's idea of a high BIN and mine are two different things.
I've been practicing a higher BIN, in anticipation of the fee, by a $1 and it hasn't hurt my BIN sales, so I pay 5¢ extra but I net 91¢, over and beyond what I normally make.
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rarriffle
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posted on January 19, 2002 09:54:44 AM new
quickdraw29, I think you misread my post. I didn't mention anything about having the BIN fee refunded. I want the BIN to stay in place until the bid reaches or surpasses the BIN price. That would make it an up front reserve price in a way, but the item would still sell regardless of whether it were met or not.
This would make a lot of newbies stop putting a $1.00 bid on an item instead of using the BIN.
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quickdraw29
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posted on January 19, 2002 10:09:27 AM new
sorry, I didn't word it correctly. The BIN is removed to punish the sellers who have a high BIN. Ebay is trying to encourage BIN sales, so they want lower BINS.
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bkmunroe
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posted on January 19, 2002 11:50:13 AM new
The BIN is removed to punish the sellers who have a high BIN. Ebay is trying to encourage BIN sales, so they want lower BINS.
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Just because the first bidder didn't match the BIN price, that doesn't mean it was too high. The first bidder could simply be a bargain hunter.
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Suppose I have an item with a $10 starting price and a reasonable $50 BIN.
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Bidder #1 bid $30 and makes the BIN disappear.
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Bidder #2 bids $50. No one else bids and #2 wins it for $31.
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But switch the order and see what happens.
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Bidder #1 bids $50 and wins.
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The seller makes an extra $19 and Ebay gets additional FVF on that $19 difference.
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If the BIN remains the whole auction it doesn't matter what order the bidders bid. Either way it sells for $50 and Ebay and the seller benefit.
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If the BIN disappears, both the seller and Ebay are hurt.
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[ edited by bkmunroe on Jan 19, 2002 11:51 AM ]
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bkmunroe
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posted on January 19, 2002 11:53:25 AM new
OK, how come editing made all those <br/> appear. I didn't put them there.
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rebelguns
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posted on January 19, 2002 12:05:45 PM new
The best answer I've found yet for myself is to establish an account on one of the free auction sites, post some good lead-ins on Ebay, then send your customers to the free site via e-mail during the transaction.
Probably violates some eBay "regulation," but frankly my dear....
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bidsbids
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posted on January 19, 2002 01:43:53 PM new
The <BR> < BR > stuff started not long after credit card verification to use message boards at AW. Some kind of a programming change?
Doesn't Yahoo let the BIN price stay till it is met? I believe they also allow a BIN on Dutch Auctions and it also stays till it is met. I wish eBay would adopt the same setup.
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joettesantiques
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posted on January 19, 2002 04:24:22 PM new
REPLY TO BKMUNROE...............I believe you are using the BIN feature like it was a Reserve feature. If you need $50 for an item but want to start it at $10, you'll need to do it with a Reserve of $50, or it could legally sell for $10, if nobody bids past the first bidder. So if you need to sell it quickly and get $50 for it, start it at $49 with a $50 BIN.
That's the way I use it.
Joette
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barparts
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posted on January 19, 2002 06:45:10 PM new
Lets face it. All it really boils down to is ebay is greedy and with the monopoly they have, they can get away with it. Until the government goes after them like they did with AT&T and Microsoft, they will continue to rip us all off.
JMHO
bp
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springmoon
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posted on January 19, 2002 07:10:33 PM new
Now that I think about it, Yahoo does allow BIN to stay through the auction. Gee!...what will eBay think of next?..a fee to login?
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peiklk
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posted on January 19, 2002 08:33:04 PM new
COmmon senses says there is NO reason to charge for Buy-It-Now. This is just stupidity on Ebay's part.
High, low, fair, unfair -- the BIN price is the BIN price. It's not up to ebay to charge a nickel in order to keep BIN prices LOWER. Ebay gets a CUT of the BIN price and as such it is in their best interest to have a HIGHER BIN price than a low one. A low BIN hurts ebay far more than a nickel.
Sellers should receive a nickel CREDIT for offering BIN. A buy-it-now closes the auction SOONER and therefore requires LESS services from ebay than a full 3,5,7, or 10 day auction. Sure the auctions still reside on the server, but only those who look at closed auctions will see them -- drastically reducing the drain on ebays server.
I will still keep BIN and just look at it like the listing fee went up to $0.35.
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bidsbids
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posted on January 19, 2002 10:20:30 PM new
I sell a heck of alot of items with the BIN price. I have a feeling that a lot of those items would have gone unsold without the BIN price. It that regard it helps eBay make money.
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quickdraw29
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posted on January 19, 2002 10:27:13 PM new
"All it really boils down to is ebay is greedy and with the monopoly they have, they can get away with it. Until the government goes after them like they did with AT&T and Microsoft, they will continue to rip us all off."
Let's not exagerrate here. Ebay is not shutting out competitors like Microsoft, and they don't have a monoploy like At&T had. The only one's who are shutting out the competitors are the buyers and sellers. There's nothing that ebay offers that is unique. Yahoo, Bidbay, Bidville and so on have nearly identical operations.
Unfortunately, the other sites can't move a mountain with a bulldozer, it takes a major marketing effort to make them the cool place to hang out and buy/sell on.
So don't wait for the government to step in, we don't need the government when we have a free market place. Move your auctions elswhere and if enough people follow ebay will be pressured to keep their fees competitive. Right now ebay should create further fees because it is called demand for services. Demand causes prices to rise, just like what happens to our collectibles.
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springmoon
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posted on January 20, 2002 08:03:44 AM new
quickdraw29, there is always high demand for milk and there are only a couple of milk producing states in USA. Do you pay $10 a gallon for milk?
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quickdraw29
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posted on January 20, 2002 08:20:30 AM new
Milk is a commodity, competitive advantage with commodities is lower prices. Ebay is not a commodity, it is brand driven.
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springmoon
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posted on January 20, 2002 08:48:16 AM new
Brand? Do you sell on eBay because of the name "eBay"? or because you are likely to get more buyers. The goods you sell are yours, and eBay doesn't own any buyer or seller (although it likes to think that way). So why keep on increasing fees which may ruin their "product" (the market you and I created)?
With the milk analogy, I think it will be possible for milk to be $10 except there are regulations and regulators which affect prices.
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holdenrex
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posted on January 20, 2002 09:54:37 AM new
I don't understand why people are acting so shocked about the BIN fee. When ebay introduced BIN just prior to the holiday shopping season of 2000, they stated that the BIN was free for an introductory period, which was originally through the holdiay season. They extended that through March, then they kept extending it. Everybody knows that they weren't going to keep on extending it indefinitely. What surprised me is that they didn't start charging for it earlier - I'm guessing that they would have started charging for it just before the '01 holiday season, but probably delayed that due to their AFA campaign.
What also surprised me is that they're only charging a nickel. I think they actually thought this increase through for a change (especially in light of their ridiculous AFA goal). Five cents is small enough of a a fee that sellers are likely to continue using BIN without too much moaning. And unlike an increase in the listing fee, it's not likely to cause many defections from ebay since the BIN is optional and sellers don't have to use it at all if they don't want to.
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juanfan19
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posted on January 20, 2002 10:24:06 AM new
I could live with the BIN charge, if they hadn't raised the FVF so high...
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springmoon
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posted on January 20, 2002 11:58:25 AM new
holdenrex, the only fee required to sell on eBay costs 30 cents. Are you trying to tell me every seller only spends 30 cents per item per listing?
eBay's auction market is designed so that sellers will have to *spend* additional $dineros in attempt to make a "profit". I am usually amazed by the power of addition when I get my monthly invoice. Due to that, every increase in fees is very problematic for me...including most sellers.
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holdenrex
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posted on January 20, 2002 12:25:59 PM new
springmoon, nowhere in my statement did I say that sellers only pay the bare minimum fee to list on ebay. Sellers do make use of the additional features in auctions. I make use of BIN, multi-category listings, and sometimes the gallery. But they are all *optional*.
I sold for years on ebay before there was a BIN option - I lived without it before, I can do so again. The fee for BIN will be no different than the multi-category fee or the gallery fee - if I feel the option will help sell the item or get more bids, I'll use it. Otherwise, there's no point in spending the money for the extra fees. Quite simply if you feel that the optional add-in features aren't helping your bottom line, then don't use them.
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quickdraw29
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posted on January 20, 2002 01:09:36 PM new
"Brand? Do you sell on eBay because of the name "eBay"? or because you are likely to get more buyers. The goods you sell are yours, and eBay doesn't own any buyer or seller."
Uhuh, in commodities buyers take whatever from whatever company because there's no difference. When you go to a restaurant to order a milk, do you order XY Brand or just say "MILK please" ?
I don't see people flocking around the different web sites that's because Ebay has built their brand and people want to be there. No one says there is any logic to the psychology of consumers minds.
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springmoon
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posted on January 20, 2002 01:11:27 PM new
This whole BIN fee doesn't make sense. eBay is charging the seller because a buyer wants to buy it immediately? What is the rationale behind it? On top of that, they get to take an addition 0.25% after it sells?
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[ edited by springmoon on Jan 20, 2002 01:13 PM ]
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auroranorth
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posted on January 20, 2002 01:22:40 PM new
Rebelguns ? Hi, I have the aclu address for your stae if you want to do something about the ban i'll sign on the suit too. find me at epier.com an auction site that does not charge a listing fee, and for the rest of you all, I thought that if a company posts record profits and still raises prices during this war that the bush adminsitration was goping to prosecute for profiterting. write your ongressman and find out why they are allowing this scam
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holdenrex
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posted on January 20, 2002 01:28:31 PM new
Charging for BIN makes a huge amount of sense from ebay's standpoint. They gave the buyers and sellers a feature that both like to have the option of using. After an extended period of free use, they started charging the sellers for it. What's not to understand? Even if half the BIN sellers revolted by not using BIN, ebay would still get nice chunk of change for an option that they were previously getting nothing.
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springmoon
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posted on January 20, 2002 01:40:19 PM new
quickdraw29, Ebay did not build any brand. You and I, including millions of users built it. Sure they first thought of the idea, and we all came selling and buyers buying.
Do you consider NASDAQ or NYSE to be a brand? I don't -- they're just market places, created by buyers and sellers. Their existence depends on them.
If a new feature is added to a marketplace, I am sure its purpose is to bring about more revenue for the seller...which in turns become more revenue for the "landlord". The landlord in this case is charging for the feature regardless of the final outcome.
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