loosecannon
|
posted on August 17, 2001 07:16:36 PM
I don't usually do a lot of BIN auctions but have lately. I like them a lot better now than I did at first.
I almost like it better when they don't BIN though. A lot of times the price goes higher when they bid instead of BIN.
The seller wins either way usually. Either a quicker turnover with BIN, or a good chance of selling it at a higher-than-BIN price later.
It's going to hurt when eBay starts charging for BIN. I'll miss it.
Why couldn't I have been the guy that invented Bullsh*t Repellant?
|
gravid
|
posted on August 17, 2001 07:35:09 PM
LC - I have been selling a lot BIN and I am finding out I set the BIN price too low. I am thinking it should be close enough to the opening bid that they think - Why not? But not everyone is as cheap as I am. They will pay a lot for immediate gratification. Screw up your couage and name a BIG BIN.
|
loosecannon
|
posted on August 17, 2001 07:44:06 PM
Well, I have been naming a big BIN--big for what they are that is. Anywhere from $10 to $30 BIN with an average of $18 or $20 BIN.
Yes, I might have sold some a little cheap but I sold 'em fast anyway.
I've been starting them at 7.99 or 9.99 with the bin about 2 to 3 times as much as the opening bid. Been doing OK that way.
Why couldn't I have been the guy that invented Bullsh*t Repellant?
[ edited by loosecannon on Aug 17, 2001 07:48 PM ]
|
skeetypete
|
posted on August 17, 2001 07:45:52 PM
yes underestimating the value has hurt me a time or 2. maybe hurt is not the right word because they both brought tremendous profit but they sold very fast, within 6 hours of listing, that led me to think my BIN was too low. the greedy side of me wanted to get that extra 50 bucks i thought it could bring...after i saw how fast it sold on BIN
|
Eventer
|
posted on August 17, 2001 07:50:04 PM
I love BIN, have used it since it first came out. I like having the option of setting a BIN or letting it ride, especially since some things are better suited to being auctioned than sold outright.
For those things I have multiples of, then I like using BIN for the quick cash turnover.
|
loosecannon
|
posted on August 17, 2001 07:55:09 PM
One item I had maybe a $25 BIN price on, but it got an opening bid instead. It eventually went for $31.00. I listed an identical one right after the first one sold for a $30.00 BIN and it sold very fast. Cool!
Why couldn't I have been the guy that invented Bullsh*t Repellant?
[ edited by loosecannon on Aug 17, 2001 07:58 PM ]
|
NothingYouNeed
|
posted on August 17, 2001 08:07:10 PM
I am considering using BIN on some of my mid-range items, but I am going to put a premium price on the BIN in recognition of the buyer not having to go through 7 or 10 days of bidding and the whole last 30 minute drama.
I'd be interested to know if BIN prices (particularly high prices) turn some bidders off. In the past when I have done BINS most just languished with NO bids while similar non-BIN items were being bid on right and left. It made me wonder if a high BIN price was off-putting somehow.
Speaking selfishly, I don't like to use BIN a lot because you never know when the auction is going to end and I prefer to end my auctions once a week on the same evening so I can budget time for emails and packing. I am not always able to drop everything I am doing in the middle of the week to respond to a BIN bid (and these BIN winners pay FAST and want their item FAST).
Overall, though, I think it is a good thing for eBay, a nice option for both buyers and sellers, and I hope eBay is satisfied with the fees from these sales and doesn't turn around and whack us with yet another fee.
Gerald
"Oh but it's so hard to live by the rules/I never could and still never do."
|
tootsiepop
|
posted on August 17, 2001 08:15:36 PM
I love the BIN option - it's a great way to turn inventory over fast. I use it only for new items, esp. those I have multiples of.
I always research past prices and set my BIN a little higher than the average closing price but still less than the highest, seems to work pretty well.
I've had 8 BINs in the past 3 days which has been nice since bidding otherwise has been very slow this week.
|
loosecannon
|
posted on August 17, 2001 08:17:46 PM
I believe that you've got to have the bin price within reason. Perhaps an average price what the item usually sells for. Or maybe even toward the higher end of what the item usually sells for. You'll probably do OK if you set BIN prices like that. Not selling everything with BIN for sure, but a good percentage of them.
But I don't think it would get much action to have a $30 BIN price and a $24.99 opening bid. If it's a $30 BIN item I would start it at $9.99, just to get some action going one way or the other.
JMHO
Why couldn't I have been the guy that invented Bullsh*t Repellant?
|
sadie999
|
posted on August 17, 2001 08:26:39 PM
I usually only use bin if I'm absolutely positive it's not a hot item on eBay.
One example might be a recent best seller hard cover book. It's still in the stores for a mark down price of maybe $15.00. Well you know eBay - five people are going to have that same book starting at $1.99. For me, with summer and this type of item, a $2 auction is barely worth the time it takes to take a pic. So, I'll do a $4.49 opening bid with a $4.99 bin. It works pretty well.
I've been trying to do about a third of my auctions bin. I figure I'm getting the interest of the folks that like the auction format that way, and the folks that like the retail format.
I wouldn't pay for the feature. I'd just go back to auctions only for non-books, and list my non-collectable books at Amazon.
|
loosecannon
|
posted on August 17, 2001 08:34:19 PM
sadie
I could see possibilities with Hot items as well. Set the BIN at the max price the thing usually brings and setlle for that?
I kinda liked the Pet Rock too.
|
sadie999
|
posted on August 17, 2001 08:45:26 PM
loosecannon, I can see how that would work also. I'm just such a greedy guts that I have to let an auction on a collectible run through. 
I was looking through headvases one day, and saw one that usually sells for about $95-130 with a bin of $68. I freaked. It wasn't a new seller either, so I wasn't about to do any good deeds by sticking my nose in. I book marked it and bet myself it would be sold within 12 hours of when it listed. It sold in six. Considering how long eBay takes to index things, it probably sold about an hour after it showed up.
And as careful as I am to research, you just never know with a collectible. But if I needed the cash fast, I might go this route.
|
loosecannon
|
posted on August 17, 2001 08:57:45 PM
Hmmm...
I would have been tempted to buy it if I might have cleared $50 profit on it.
Which brings up something else.
Have you ever sold an item on ebay and then saw the buyer of that item selling it on ebay the next week or whatever?
It happened to me at least once. Probably more times that I don't know about.
I sold it for about $40, and he sold it for almost double. 
But he had a better pic and description, I guess.
Why couldn't I have been the guy that invented Bullsh*t Repellant?
|
AuctionPulse
|
posted on August 17, 2001 09:54:24 PM
Does anyone know if/when they are going to start charging for BIN?
|
Libra63
|
posted on August 17, 2001 10:05:12 PM
I hope they don't charge to soon. I use the BIN on almost everything I sell. I know what I want for a product and I set that price. I know that if I auctioned it, it wouldn't go any higher. It's like having a fixed price store front. with out all the extra's. I have used it for higher end items and if I start it at one price and put a reserve on it and then set the BIN price I always put the reserve price in my auction so that they can see how much more my BIN price is and if it is worth it to bid it. Now you might think that I am losing money by using the BIN and maybe I am but as I said I know what the product is worth and I just can't see it when the price goes to high. It just isn't in my blood. So far this month is really great..at least for me it is.
Another thing about the BIN, it gives the buyer an opportunity to buy a item that otherwise he/she wouldn't have a chance to.
Take for instance I did a BIN on a CD. I have bid on the same one many times and since it was an auction I always lost out on it. I just happened to catch it the day it was put on. That's another + for the BIN
|
Microbes
|
posted on August 17, 2001 10:31:04 PM
Does anyone know if/when they are going to start charging for BIN?
My guess is if / when they get the Storefronts to the point they really produce for sellers.
|
gravid
|
posted on August 18, 2001 05:09:17 AM
I would pay a small fee like the 10¢ for a 10 day but if they try to charge a buck they can keep it.
|
sadie999
|
posted on August 18, 2001 06:40:03 AM
Sadie's bettin' that old feeBay is gonna start charging for bin around Oct. 1. Think about it. This is when bin will do us the most good. So in my previous statement where I said I wouldn't pay for it, here's a mini retraction - I might toward the end of November, but like gravid said, maybe a dime, certainly not much more. Yeah yeah, I know businesses are in business to charge for services, but eBay does well w/bin because it gets listings off faster - i.e., you pay for seven days, but you might get the bin in a day. They also get their fvf's faster.
Loosecannon, I've never seen anything of mine resold, but I've never looked. I did buy something when I first started that was a two item lot - cost me $7.50 and maybe $4.00 shipping. I sold one of the items for $10.50 and the other for $42.00. A nice little mark-up for a newbie, I thought.
|
NothingYouNeed
|
posted on August 18, 2001 07:04:53 AM
About 75% of the stuff I buy on Ebay I buy to resell. I use different IDs but I suppose some of the members I have bought from have noticed the same item with the same flaws and made the connection. When I see a BIN bargain I grab it knowing I can resell it for more.
Gerald
"Oh but it's so hard to live by the rules/I never could and still never do."
|
nitrate
|
posted on August 19, 2001 02:07:06 AM
I will stop using BIN when they start charging fees for it.
|
