I have been always wondering about this....How can they do it?.... There are many sellers which start high priced jewelry/watch items with $1 minimum bid or below, with "no reserve"!! and they receive many bids and the item sells at reasonably good price...how can you do that??? what is the gimmic? This is absolutely puzzling.......I have tested starting auctions at $1 minimum bid (however I did not have the guts to do it without reserve), with all the bids i received, the price never even got close to my cost....anyone know this $1 technique? How do they do it???.....Thanks
posted on November 6, 2002 10:03:19 AM new
savvy bidders will bid whatver they think the jewelry item is worth,competition will drive the price up,this is the case if you have vintage jewelry such as art nouveau,victorian pieces or hell,just any good piece like diamond,platinum .
also dont count out shill bidding,lots of that going on.
posted on November 6, 2002 10:46:14 AM new
There is an outfit down in FL that starts auctions at 99 cents. I collect Dolphins & about a month ago they had a beautiful sculpture on starting at 99 cents. I bought it for $157.00 & am tickled pink with it. I guess it really depends on what you are selling.
posted on November 6, 2002 11:53:58 AM new
The $1.00 listings entice people to participate in the auction. It's the theoretical opportunity to pickup an expensive item for next to nothing that endulges bidders to bid. When this occurs, it draws attention to the listing, which futher encourages participation.
It's a straight forward fair market approach of supply and demand. The market dictates the value of the item and the sellers usually come out ahead. Jewelry are high markup items. Sellers are often able to sell at a 5-7 time markup on cost at full retail. With this much margin built into a product, it's not taking as big a chance as you think on the part of a seller to begin their auction listings at $1.00. Most of the time the ending auction price will allow for a fair profit on the item that are being offered. If this wasn't the case, you'd see these types of offerings disappear.
posted on November 6, 2002 11:56:00 AM new
Your auctions may have been unsuccessful because some people just *won't* bid on an auction with a reserve.
I've listed plenty of CDs for a penny and they nearly always go at higher amounts. I've sold some for $20 and some actually do sell for a penny (But few).
The trick is doing it with items that actually have a known value and are comparable to other items. Do it with something that people are not completely sure about, and you will end up giving it away. CDs, common books, and commodity items are fine starting cheap, while collectible are not.
posted on November 6, 2002 12:43:39 PM new
How about Marie and her one cent music CD auctions with a one cent starting bid with no reserve. That's guts but she does alright on most auctions.
posted on November 6, 2002 12:57:55 PM new
I've never started an auction that low, but am considering trying it. I have some jewelry items that didn't sell I'm considering starting out at $1.00. What could it hurt? They're just sitting around doing nothing anyway and at this point, getting a couple of dollars for them is better than getting nothing. Maybe you should try it with something you couldn't sell previously? I have noticed that when I put a reserve price on something I get very little in the way of bids. But, if I list it at the price I want in the first place I can generally sell it. Reserves tend to scare me off when I'm looking at something to buy especially if it's starting out at $1.00. "Reserve" usually means expensive. I think I'd rather know the price right off the bat.
posted on November 6, 2002 01:04:46 PM new
One of my selling ID's was set up exclusively for me to empty my closets ~ selling primarily gently used clothing.
ID started 9 months ago.
All items start at $3 with no reserve.
So far I've sold about 200 items.
Sellthrough rate is 95%.
After free re-list, 100% sell through.
Maybe 5 items have ended at $3.
Averaging over $25 an auction to empty my closets!
yippee!
Not sure if I would recommend it on items that actually cost *real* money.
It can be stressful.
For me it just puts excitement in the auction!
posted on November 6, 2002 03:33:43 PM new
Some sellers take a gamble, but by starting the price low with no reserve, they do save the listing fee. The Gamble is if the item closes less then you paid for it, then you are stuck shipping it anyway. If they are not doing that, then there is the fraudsters out there. New account, starting Laptops and other high end items at a low price, collecting the money, and the either shipping a box of rocks or not shipping at all
posted on November 6, 2002 03:52:13 PM new
my opinion, be that as it may, is people used to be willing to pay a decent price for an item but now want it basically free with no handling fee and very little shipping. We sell shoes and have for four years. We used to get aroung $60.00 average for a pair of $140 (retail) Birkenstocks. Now we have sellers out there who start all their auctions at $.99 and are killing the rest of us. I mean who really blames them, I'd much rather get a pair of shoes for nothing......but I agree, how do they stay in business????
posted on November 6, 2002 04:26:33 PM new
It's not always a gamble if they have done their research and know what it sells for on ebay.
Sometimes it's just a matter of averages. If your cost is $100, and sometime it sells for $150 and other times for $80, you're coming out ahead.
I'm wondering, what price do you start out at? At you cost? You could be short changing yourself on profits because higher start bids draw less bidding. The only time I'd start bidding at my cost is when demand is low for that item.
posted on November 6, 2002 04:28:01 PM new
To answer your original question....which dealt with high ticket jewelry items, to me there is only one explanation for "how they do it". I know this field well, and I know Ebay well. I am a very successful offline seller and successful Ebay seller. They "do it" by cheating......... shill bidding, bid shielding, ending auctions early, and any other Ebay illegal activity that can goose up the price to something at least equal to wholesale. I have the means to have experimented with this concept a few times. It just does not work on high ticket items, which I define as $1000 plus. The Ebay community is not large enough or well informed enough to ensure that these items will end up at something over wholesale. It's ironic that these no reserve auctions attract some bidders who like the "openness and honesty" of a no reserve auction. Drives these naive bidders to deal with crooks, instead of dealing with the honest sellers running reserve auctions.
posted on November 6, 2002 05:00:34 PM new
pointy, you're spreading harmful information that may be untrue, and may cause people to think this is always the case.
I generally don't sell jewelry but I do know jewelry has a very high markup. If a seller buys wholesale an necklace for $25, and sells on ebay for $100, obviously it doesn't take illegal activety on behalf of the seller.
Also I start many auctions at $1 or far below my cost, and I have sold some at a loss knowing I was taking a gamble with low demand, which is fine to sell it for a loss and reinvest that money in a better selling product. Most of the time the time teh low start bids cause a bidding frenzy and I end up with a higher sell price than if I had started with a higher start bid.
posted on November 6, 2002 05:06:53 PM new
You failed because of the reserve. When I bid, I see an auction with a reserve, and I move on. I know others do as well. I can accept a high starting bid, but reserve auctions will NOT get my business...
posted on November 6, 2002 05:31:44 PM new
I know someone that has 99 cent auctions then puts a high S/H fee. Many only go for 99 cents but when you charge that for a video and do S/H media mail for either $5.50 or $6.00 that is where they get their profit and pay no eBay fees. Media Mail is probably $1.25 to mail a video.
posted on November 6, 2002 05:38:06 PM new
It depends on the item really -- with some items you can get a good price, with others you can't.
I have competitors (I sell Electronics) that sell the same items I do, but list the with a 0.01 opening bid --result is that they sometimes sell it for more then retail, but most of the time they sell it for under wholesale.
You can see the results in their feedback profile, very slow shipments, etc.
In the end, it's not a secret, it just depends on what you're selling. For some items, people will bid the price up on a 0.01 auction, on others, you're asking to lose money.
posted on November 6, 2002 05:47:36 PM new
Quickdraw.....I'm sorry that you feel that way but I feel that I'm speaking the truth. But remember I'm talking about high ticket($1000 plus) items. I will say that it's not happening "all the time". I've investigated about 350 cases over the years. 2 of the 350 were perfectly legitimate (as far as I could tell). Over 300 of the 350 are now NARU due in part to my efforts and Ebay investigations. >
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ahc3.....almost all of my auctions are the high opening bid no reserve variety. I've found that this works best, likely due in part to bidders who don't like that dreaded "hidden secret" reserve price....ooooohhhh. It's a shame though. When auctions are run this way it's not really an auction, it's a sale. No fun.
posted on November 6, 2002 06:49:06 PM new
Pointy, I'm not doubting it happens, and maybe more frequently than I realize, but you made it seem it happens with every seller.
posted on November 6, 2002 10:51:21 PM new
Thanks everyone for all the input and comments; you been most helpfull, it helped to gain a little more insight into this and also looks like I am not the only one puzzled with this $1 or lower starting bids that other sellers are supposedly having success with. This is for sure a "happening" thing on eBay and there are many users selling jewelry items, and we are talking fairly high priced items ($1000 and above). They start at $1 or below, and no reserve. Almost every single item they list, of course not only has lots of bids, but also it sells at reasonable price with some profit (my best guess on calculating the item based on description/image). Interesting thing is majority have high and good feedbacks, some are power sellers, ebay loves them, and everything at least "looks" legitimate from our point of view; but again, I am totally puzzled, How they can list starting at $1 or below and sit back; I personally do not have the guts to list a $3000 jewelry item (say that is my COST) starting at $1 or below and hope it goes beyond $3000. are there any promotional ebay things going on to increase traffic to their particular listings? other methods/gimmics/I don't know...kind of frustrating to watch and can't figure it out.
posted on November 6, 2002 11:14:28 PM newYou failed because of the reserve. When I bid, I see an auction with a reserve, and I move on. I know others do as well.
I do the same but sometimes I bid on them when the prices are still super low just to see how they did at the end and it saves me from using one of my 30 Watchlist slots.
posted on November 7, 2002 11:26:02 AM new
When I list an item with a reserve I put the reserve price in my description. Why hide it. There is a reason for a reserve and that is so you don't lose money. What is the reason you don't list the reserve in the description? Why keep buyers guessing or writing to you. Saves me a lot of hassle.
Tooltimes- I have mailed a video for first class for $1.45 and it has bubblewrap and a DC on it.
posted on November 7, 2002 12:07:21 PM new
Some videos ( children's 30 minute videos oftentimes ) are very light and many videos ( 90 minutes videos ) are quite heavy. The very minimum anything can now go on Media Mail is $ 1.42 and the electronic Post Office Delivery Confimation is 13 cents. [ 55 cents for non electronic DC ].
I now see you're talking about First Class Mail. You must have had a very light video and electronic DC
[ edited by tooltimes on Nov 7, 2002 12:11 PM ]
posted on November 8, 2002 06:11:28 AM new
"When I list an item with a reserve I put the reserve price in my description. Why hide it. There is a reason for a reserve and that is so you don't lose money. What is the reason you don't list the reserve in the description? Why keep buyers guessing or writing to you. Saves me a lot of hassle.
"
Not to sound Daft, but wouldn't it be smarter to simply list the item with your itended reserve price as the Minimum Bid? The purpose of a reserve is to set a low minimum and keep the bidder's guessing at what the price is and to drive the price up --- but if you're just going to tell them, you lose that benefit -- so just list the item with your reserve as the minimum bid and save some money.
posted on November 8, 2002 06:42:06 AM newNot to sound Daft, but wouldn't it be smarter to simply list the item with your itended reserve price as the Minimum Bid? The purpose of a reserve is to set a low minimum and keep the bidder's guessing at what the price is and to drive the price up --- but if you're just going to tell them, you lose that benefit -- so just list the item with your reserve as the minimum bid and save some money
I agree, IMO the stupidest thing that ebay ever did was allowing reserve auctions. The online auction process is extremely complicated when compared to a realworld live auction so why add a confusing reserve to the already confusing process? To futher confuse bidders, sellers are allowed to place their reserve in the auction description. I wonder how many new ebay bidders have confronted the weird reserves and headed over to Amazon.com to simply buy the item where it's only a couple of clicks away from their ownership.
posted on November 8, 2002 08:00:18 AM new
I agree, IMO the stupidest thing that ebay ever did was allowing reserve auctions. The online auction process is extremely complicated when compared to a realworld live auction so why add a confusing reserve to the already confusing process?
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.tooltimes....have you ever been at a real life auction...not a teeny county one...I mean the big time, like at Sotheby's or Christie's in New York or London. Reserves(hidden) are routine. Most of the bidders aren't there, they use house bidders, or "bidders from the book", as it's known. 50-60% of the items go unsold(fail to meet reserve) though it appears that they sold. You don't find out until much later if the bid from the book was a real winning bid or a bid that failed to meet the reserve. Somehow this dastardly reserve system has worked quite well for over 200 years, in an arena where museum quality world treasures are auctioned, along with more humdrum stuff. Maybe you have to be a museum curator or a gazillionaire bidding on a Picasso to understand that reserves do have a place in auctions. Ebay has kept the reserve and removed a lot of the other confusing stuff. I think that everyone that professes to hate and avoid those reserve auctions would change their tune instantly if they somehow came into possession of a $1,000,000 Picasso. They wouldn't be so quick to throw it into an auction with no reserve, and take the chance that maybe the 3 potential highest bidders happened to be taking a piss while this one went off in auction...and it sold to the 4th highest.....
posted on November 8, 2002 10:11:00 AM new
I would not consider Sothbey's or Christie's average live auctions. The average real auction is found in most towns or cities with a decent population. They sell anything and everything. The autioneer asks the seller the minimum he is will to take for his auction item.
You'll never hear "I've got $45 here and now I've got $50 in the back. Now I've got $60 in the front row and $65 in the corner. All done, all through? Sorry folks the seller wants more than the $65 high bid".
Heck, half the bidders would probably call foul and get up and go get their deposit back on their paddle and never return ( and tell their friends what a scam the auction house was ).
posted on November 9, 2002 12:49:13 PM new
This should warm the hearts of low start price sellers because e-Bay is having a promotional beginning Nov 11 and ending Nov17. If you start your single item auctions at $.99 ( no reserve) you are only going to be charged a listing fee of $.20 instead of the usual $.30. Could they not afford to make it $.10 each listing? Realize that making it free would encourage the "clutter" that e-Bay wants to eliminate but .20 is like throwing a bone out to sellers.
buyhigh
