posted on August 7, 2005 08:38:31 AM new
Rant! I am just in shock at how much it now costs to list on Ebay - I used to pay $200 or so each month for Ebay fees when I first started out, listing much more than I do now. Now I pay over $400 per month!
Last night I listed a pair of huge Imari vases, I had been running no reserve auctions but decided to 'protect my investment' with a reserve of $750, since they have potential with the right bidders. After the reserve, bold, subtitle and 2 categories - over $27 in just listing fees for this pair!
I sure hope they sell, at least I'll recoup about $15 of it in the reserve fees.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on August 7, 2005 09:59:05 AM new
Hello,
I don't have much use for reserve myself. I would just list what I wanted for them and see what happens, especially if first time listed and rather unusual. Second time around I might lower a little and use a buy it now. As said I have never understood the value of a reserve, unless you want to see a bunch of unacceptable bids, have to answer a lot of emails and receive private low offers.
Of course what you do is your business. The only way to reduce Ebay etc fees is better targeting ie; Listing day, time, postal costs,pictures, and anything else you can control. We have to spend money to make money but insure is spend wisely.
Good luck
David
posted on August 7, 2005 10:10:53 AM new
stopwhining
A very good point. No buyer I ever heard of searches by category or at least very rarely. They search by key word usually, or favorite seller. I have even listed things in the wrong category and they sold just as well.
posted on August 7, 2005 10:17:11 AM new
I agree to a point regarding the 2 categories, I do see a difference in the selling prices for some items when I list in 2 vs 1 category - but for others I do not. Mainly the more decorative items seem to sell better when in 2 categories.
The imari vases are more of a collectors' item, probably would have been better to use 1 category at that price!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on August 7, 2005 10:33:05 AM new
Dacreson - the point of a reserve is to get bidders involved in a high priced auction. If you start something out at $400 many will be intimidated and won't even look. If you start an item at $10 with a $400 reserve you get the wishful thinkers as well as the serious bidders and by end day you have an auction that may have 10 or 20 bids on which gives the auction more credence and brings in more bidders. I use reserves on pretty much anything over $100 and I'd say my sell thru is between 90-95%.
Out of curiosity ago I listed a litho I have for $200 a couple weeks ago - got a ton of lookers but no bidders. Relisted it at $9.95 with a $200 reserve, had 5 bids in the first two hours and ended up closing at nearly $250.
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No, I'm saying -- I'm merely -- I'm saying what I'm saying. I don't know why I'm always having people say, are you trying to say -- you know what you can do if you want to know what I'm saying is listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is what I said ...
posted on August 7, 2005 12:51:08 PM new
Ann,
I am glad the reserve works for you. it has never been very useful for me and drew a lot of unnecessary work. But then we likely don't sell the same thing. Reserves seem to work well on automobiles in Ebay motors but not on my 10-200 dollar lots. You obviously have done you homework. I was advocating not just throwing money at a sale as some sellers seem to do. Kind regards,
posted on August 7, 2005 01:59:55 PM new
I get my arm twisted into using a reserve every 6 months or so, and it's a miserable failure every time... for me, anyway.
posted on August 7, 2005 05:26:45 PM new
For those that do use reserves - do you reveal them if requested? I usually do, but realize that the person is just going to wait until the last minute to try to snipe at the reserve. I'm considering not revealing it unless it's a repeat customer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on August 7, 2005 05:44:02 PM new
I don't put the reserve in the auction (nor do I see the point) but if someone emails me, I do reveal the reserve. On that Litho I mentioned I had one person ask what the reserve was, I told him and 5 minutes later he put a bid in for that amount.
~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~ • ~~~
No, I'm saying -- I'm merely -- I'm saying what I'm saying. I don't know why I'm always having people say, are you trying to say -- you know what you can do if you want to know what I'm saying is listen to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is what I said ...
posted on August 7, 2005 07:19:55 PM new
Reserves are for the week in mind. I run high dollar auctions quite a bit and never ever do I put a reserve. What a reserve does is bring out the bottom feeders that really don't want the item, just bid. If you don't have a reserve, the bottom feeders tend to stay away as they don't want to get locked in with a legite bid. Then the serious bidders are all that is left and I would much rather deal with real bidders.
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Alive in 2005
posted on August 8, 2005 01:33:24 AM new
I personally do not like “auction style” auctions to begin with. When I want something, I want it now, and I want to know what it is going to cost me. I seldom buy on eBay, because basically I am a seller, and know where to get most items I want wholesale.
I have bid on a few “auction style” auctions when it is a unique item that I collect, but I use an auction sniper, put in my price, and forget it. I found years ago, not to be caught up in bidding wars.
Before “Buy It Now” came into being obviously I had to run regular auctions and found that they took much more time, and work, and now using “Buy It Now,” I can sell more, for the price I want, and with much less work.
Basically, the days on eBay when you could sell a broken McCoy Cookie Jar for a fortune are gone – the internet via eBay let people know that there are tons of such items available. For instance, when I started on eBay, the McCoy “Bobby Baker,” cookie jar usually sold for $125 and up. Today, I have seen them as cheap as $25.00.
The internet has let people know that what they thought they had was extremely rare, just is not true (in most cases). I guess the most unique piece I ever purchased on eBay was a Jewish Shiva stool. (That is a stool used to sit on, during what one would refer to as a Jewish wake).
COST OF LISTING on eBay is outrageous. I sell ONLY “Buy It Now,” but use to use extras like “gift item,” “express shipping,” etc. I use nothing now but the gallery. I still use the gallery because I personally do not normally look at an ad that does not have a gallery picture. It is my opinion that if the item is not worth the $.35 gallery cost, I probably would not be interested. Occasionally, when I have time to just peruse items I collect, I do so via the gallery only.
Bold, etc., has never attracted me to an item and I think are such is a waste of money. I never look at eBay’s “home” page, so items advertised there are moot to me.
I am not even running auctions on eBay during this time of year. We keep our eBay store open, and make sales via the store, but we aren't running auctions.
We are running auctions on Yahoo, certainly it takes more time to sell something on Yahoo, but it doesn't cost me anything. We are also running over a hundred auctions on a niche site we use, and sell a good bit on. But we aren't posting on eBay, not till the season is really hot, it is just not worth the cost.
~"It does not matter what I think, it does not matter what you think. The only thing which matters is: What is the TRUTH!"~
[ edited by jwpc on Aug 8, 2005 01:36 AM ]
Caroline 