posted on August 16, 2002 07:49:28 PM
In this net article http://news.com.com/2100-1017-954181.html?tag=cd_mh there is this statement Somewhere between 40 to 60 percent of items listed on eBay sell the first time they are listed, analysts estimate.
Doesn't seem that hight to me. I thought it was about 25%.
posted on August 16, 2002 08:26:51 PM
you are much closer to the truth i am sure you are an honest seller,could be even less!remember they are including all the shill bidding rings sales in those figures ...just sickening isn't it..
posted on August 16, 2002 11:06:52 PM
Here's another article indicating sell-through for collectibles has gone from 72% to 55% in the last couple years:
posted on August 17, 2002 12:56:11 PM
All the figures I have seen over the years support the 40 to 60 percent figure in the categories I check regularly.
I generally sell better than half the items I offer, except at this time of year when traffic is at its lowest. When it gets to be holiday season, my sell through approaches 90% and I am hard pressed to keep my holiday items in stock.
To be fair, I do a lot of revising and fussing when something doesn't sell, and drop it like a hot potato after two tries.
This fall my average will drop below half when I try out a dozen new offerings (all items I can get in quantity) but that is par for the course when testing the waters. Out of 12 I am lucky to find two or three that are worth repeating.
posted on August 17, 2002 01:49:13 PM
There are close to 500,000 ebay book auctions and I think those run about a 15% sell rate. Many new sellers to eBay start with books and throw away a bundle in wasted listed fees.
posted on August 17, 2002 03:56:10 PM
I think i am in the 80 to 85 percent range, could possibly be a bit higher. I seem to do a lot better than the other guys that use reserves and whatnot.
posted on August 17, 2002 09:23:17 PM
It could be higher if sellers researched items before listing everything in their inventory. How many times have I seen twenty identical items, week after week, close with no bids? It's ridiculous.
posted on August 17, 2002 10:23:30 PM
I believe the 40-60% number. It is far below what it was just a couple of years ago when it was closer to 80%.
Some of the reasons I can think of is there are that many more auctions listed with close to the same amount of bidders. More items to choose from with the same amount of bidders will bring the % down.
Another reason I see is since there are basically the same amount of bidders, that means with all of the new bidders coming into the system, why are old veterans leaving the bidding ranks?
I have personally done some bidding in the past couple of months (for the first time) and I think I have a pretty good idea. The bidding process goes well, but the after sale part of the transaction has been anything but smooth. I have been receiving automated WBN's that absolutely tell the buyer nothing. None of them that I received from PayPal have even had the persons address or instructions on how to contact directly. As a buyer, I want to know who I am dealing with and where they are. Also, with an address, the chances of getting burned from fraud are reduced. In all of these cases, I e-mailed the person telling them that I won there auction and to send the info on purchasing. In only one case did a seller send an e-mail explaining the steps. In all the other cases, they stated see the auction. If this is becoming the standard, expect auction sales to drop even more as buyers will lose confidence in the system fast.
posted on August 18, 2002 02:53:22 AM
In the past there was a completed section to every category as well as the new today, current, ends today, and going, going, gone sections. When ebay did away with that there was no longer an easy way to see what actually sold in any given category.
In order to see what sells now you must look at the auctions that are about to close and see how many have bids. There may be a few last minute bids but for the most part that will be the amount of bids in that category. If ebay were to outlaw reserve auctions the number would drop even further as many auctions end with bids but do not reach the reserve price.
There may be a few categories with a 60% to 80% bidding rate but there are a lot in the 15% to 20% as well. I feel that ebay is very aware of the decline and that may be the reason for the conversion to the fixed price structure on their site.
posted on August 18, 2002 03:53:27 AM
a lot of people have been having problems in the last months,seeing pics,having a blank screen when going to ebay,stuff i have never heard of before.check out the tech board over there i was shocked.gotta be hurting sellers..good luck everyone
