posted on November 17, 2000 05:36:23 AM new
Do you think Ebay/'s new buy it now feature is going to hurt ebay sellers causing them a lower profit margin per item and requiring them to sell more to make the same profit. It looks to me that when someone has a buy it now for xxx price the bidding is not going to go much higher than that xxx price listed to buy it now. Also Ebay sellers are going to fight to have the best buy it now price to try to get the sale first. What do you think???
posted on November 17, 2000 05:46:43 AM new
I think it will bring eBay sales prices down to a reasonable point in those areas where competitive pieces are listed and someone is using a reasonable "BUY NOW" price.
posted on November 17, 2000 05:58:19 AM new
It is my understanding that once the bidding starts, the "buy now" price disappears, and is no longer available. So, subsequent bidders would not know if they are bidding higher than the buy now price.
I don't think it will hurt sales. But, I HAVE noticed that many of the buy now auctions have the buy now price the same as the starting bid.
I have tested it on one auction thusfar. No bites yet.
posted on November 17, 2000 06:12:11 AM new
Competition on common items (most everything) will be very intense. At the same time the "bidding" pool will shrink because some of the bidders will be "buying". Put up an "auction" (especially one with a reserve) and you will be waiting a good long while for a bid, lol!
posted on November 17, 2000 06:56:22 AM new
if something is collectible, hard to find, and someone wants it, then I don't see why they wouldn't still bid on a regular auction. If someone listed a particular ring I've been looking for for 10 years, to use a real life example, I would bid regardless. The only time you would be competing in collectibles is when there are two items which are basically the same in value to a bidder, and one has Buy it now on it. That will probably happen a lot,yes, because with the influx of sellers very few things are unique anymore. But there are a lot of variables here. maybe that seller has placed a Buy it now of 100 dollars and your opening bid is only 20? Methinks many bidders will just take their chances on the regular auction hoping to get a deal, and the regular auction may then go to 200!
I realize this doesn't apply to reserve auctions and I readily admit that there might well be a problem getting bids on them. Maybe it will reduce the higher end field (which I think of as mostly using reserve? sorry, have never used it myself) to the truly rare and collectible. i.e. the things people are willing to pay very high prices for. Maybe not. Haven't thought it out yet, still sipping my first cup of coffee.
posted on November 17, 2000 08:00:53 AM new
A lot of my auctions start at my selling price. Some of them are worth more, but I figure into the equation what I paid and the profit I would like to make. My profit on most items is not that large. (I remember what someone said in a thread a while back - if you sell 200 items and make 5$ an item, you have $1000 - something to think about) If there is multiple bidding, or course, my profit is a little more. (and of course that is what I hope for) So, I am testing the buy it on a few of these auctions. I am also recycling some items I have not been able to sell and are sitting on my shelves. Some are listed at what I purchased them for and a few of these I have placed the buy it now. My rationale in selling some of my items this way is that I would rather have 50% of something than 100% of nothing. I'm patiently waiting for the big splurge of bidding and spending to start, but so far have not seen much of it.
posted on November 17, 2000 08:14:20 AM new
The eBay Buy It Now feature is a possible godsend to us. We sell new, retail items online. I couldn't care a less if the process is bidding or buying, so long as it gets sold.
With eBay's Watch feature actively encouraging Buyers to place thier bids at the last possible minute, we are so used to only a single bid anymore on most items that we have been listing our items at what we want to get for them. It hasn't been anything near an auction since eBay started that Watch feature.
No, its been retail selling for us since that Watch feature was installed. Buyers wait until the last possible minute, then buy it. The only difference with this Buy It Now feature is that they no longer have to wait.
I think that it will be a boon for us.
Of course, once eBay starts to charge for it, we'll stop using it. It is ridiculous to charge anything for this feature.
posted on November 17, 2000 08:28:35 AM new
If you continue running your auctions just like you always have, yes, the new feature may hurt your sales.
If you make adjustments to your business practices to take advantage of this new opportunity, it will likely help your business. It's certainly helped mine at Yahoo.
posted on November 17, 2000 10:49:34 AM new
I believe that certain type of merchandise will most likely still be available only through the conventional auction.
The good news about Buy It Now is that I can see merchandise which did not sell after listing the "regular" way, may sell when using Buy It Now. Kind of like having a garage sale, after the real Estate Sale is over and lower end merchandise is left....
******************** Gosh Shosh!
posted on November 17, 2000 12:16:53 PM new
Well here are facts.
I am currently selling a widget on Yahoo along with 9-10 other sellers. My auctions are 1st bid wins and I have sold NINE of these in the last 2 weeks.
Meanwhile, not one of the sellers has sold even ONE. They are all waiting for a bid and saying "I can't sell anything on Yahoo."
posted on November 17, 2000 12:39:19 PM new(I posted this yesterday on another Buy It Now thread, but I think it's worth repeating here, since it's in keeping with the theme of this thread.)
I'm not trying to detract from any of the elation you guys are feeling for having made your sales, but as a bidder and collector I have to say that I don't like the idea of Buy It Now.
I collect from several categories for very specific items, so I have about twenty or so bookmarked title/description searches that I check once or twice a day. What I like about the auction format is that it gives me the opportunity to compete for an item, whether I see the listing on the first, fourth or last day of the auction.
Buy It Now could well deprive me of having an opportunity to bid on an item I might want -- heck, it could well keep me from ever seeing items that I want if they sell within the first couple hours of being posted.
As a bidder, it turns me off that I could be excluded from the possibility of getting items simply because I can't check my bookmarks every hour, while in the meantime somebody else grabs the item off the shelf because they happened to see it before me.
As a seller, I'm concerned that Buy It Now will turn off bidders for the exact reasons I stated above.
eBay has always been an AUCTION. It's my opinion that it should remain an auction and operate AS an auction. These fixed price sales should be conducted elsewhere.
posted on November 17, 2000 12:54:31 PM new
I just realized that even if I did check my bookmarked searches every hour, it would probably not help because items are being snatched up via Buy It Now before they even hit search.
I repeat: I think Buy It Now is bad business for both buyers and sellers in the long run, particularly those accustomed to selling via auction.
posted on November 17, 2000 04:13:58 PM new
spazmodeus - You could always go ahead and place the first bid on the items that you're interested in. That would get rid of the "Buy it Now" feature on those auctions.
I don't sell collectables, but I really like it so far. I've already sold my first item using it, making a couple of dollars more than I've made on the 2 others like it that I've sold recently.
posted on November 17, 2000 04:35:20 PM new
I think he is saying that he won't get a chance to place a bid since the stuff he's interested in may be snatched away by eager Buy It Now purchasers.
Definitely a possibility, but speaking generally, I don't think that possibility will permanently turn off bidder/buyers. Rather, I think it will spur them to search out auctions earlier---as in "Wow, i better check those auctions! something good might pop up and I don't want to miss it!" I know it's going to encourage *me* in that fashion.
If losing out on items made droves of people leave auctions altogether, then we would have lost *ninety-nine* percent of bidders a long time ago, since even the fastest sniper loses sometimes. Sure it's disappointing,but as far as I can see, people get over it and generally come back to snipe/bid/buy another day as long as there is stuff they want available. We may have lost customers from eBay for many reasons (too much bad press, deadbeats, fraud etc.) but I don't think the experience of losing out on something they wanted would have been a highly significant factor.
