posted on February 21, 2006 09:09:35 AM new
Just wanted to update you guys on how the live Ebay sale went a few weeks ago. I can also warn you what NOT to do if you ever try one of these!
The catalog took much longer than I had ever expected it would. I ended up having about 1/2 the lots I thought I had - about 150, when I really thought I would be listing about 300!
I had about 300 people registered for the sale, and didn't have as many left bids as I thought I would - my fault for not having the catalog done sooner.
My other huge mistake was setting the bidding increments incorrectly. So stupid of me! Every time an item went over $150, instead of the next bid being like $160 it was $161. Bidding came to a screeching halt every time. (Instead of setting the increment 0-99 $5; 100-199 $10 - I put 1-100 $5; 101 - 200 $10). I couldn't fix it during the sale.
I also had a few computer problems during the sale. I kept getting a stacking error and the online bids wouldn't show. We had a 2nd computer set up though, so we were OK with that.
Ebay Live does have great support - there is one account manager for all Live Sellers, and she is spectacular. There is also a top secret tech support phone number you can call if you crash during your live sale.
All in all, I'm glad I tried it. Rome wasn't built in a day, and I will try 1 maybe 2 more before I decide whether they are worthwhile - still crunching numbers from the first sale to figure out my profit and profit margin.
I ended up selling 40+ lots online for about $8,000 - more than 1/2 of it to a bidder in CA. I thought he was a deadbeat bidder - I hadn't heard ANYTHING from him and was about to start reoffering his items when I received his check today. Needless to say, I will be holding his items until the check clears!
Top selling lot was a pair of painted wood headboards that went for $2,100 - which was a big surprise - had estimated them at about $1,000.
Thanks to all who gave feedback on the catalog and listings, etc. and not to mention the much needed moral support.
I'm trying the second sale this Sunday night and hopefully it will go a bit smoother!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on February 21, 2006 09:31:58 AM new
Thanks for letting us know of your experiene.
One question-why is it so important that your pc holds up well on your end??
I thought all the biddings are done on Ebay live auction site??
When you talk about your catalog,do you upload it to the auction site?
/ lets all stop whining !! /
posted on February 21, 2006 10:11:17 AM newI had about 300 people registered for the sale, and didn't have as many left bids as I thought I would - my fault for not having the catalog done sooner.
How far in advance of the sale date can you start compiling the catalog?
Other than the $1500 fee for the catalog, what other costs are there?
posted on February 21, 2006 10:58:35 AM new
How to Open Your Auction Floor to the Internet
eBay Live Auctions is the easiest and most effective way to bring the Internet to your auction floor. Here's what you'll need to do to use the power of live Internet auctions to increase your sales:
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During the auction
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Fees
There are two types of Live Auction seller fees. First, there is a $1,500 insertion fee associated with listing a catalog. You can list up to 10,000 lots in each catalog. Second, there is a final value fee due only on lots sold to Internet bidders. This fee is calculated as 5% of the final sale price (not including the Buyer's Premium) for each successful lot.
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For Sellers
• Selling on eBay Live Auctions
• How to open your auction floor to the Internet
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posted on February 21, 2006 11:02:06 AM new
I still dont undestand-
so you prepare a catalog with up to 10,000 items ,upload it to Ebay site and pay 1500 dollars .
Then get an auction house to handle your auction,
but where are the items?are they on the floor of the auction or at home with you??
and where is the auctioneer who works for you??
/ lets all stop whining !! /
posted on February 21, 2006 02:14:38 PM new
so if I understand all these-
-first you pay 1500 to load the catalog.
-then you find a local auctioneer and take your 10,000 items to his auction floor.
-then while the auction is in process,the staff assigned to you will take the bids from internet and shout it loud for every one to hear and post them on the site.
-if the final bid comes from internet,then Ebay gets 5% of the final value fee.
-then the auction house gets a cut (whatever you agree to pay them,say 15% )
-then you pick up all your remaining stuff ,say 9999 items and go home POORER and EXHAUSTED !!
/ lets all stop whining !! /
posted on February 21, 2006 02:37:25 PM new
hwahwa - Have you ever been to a live auction?
I'd love to find an auction house that would take just 15%!
In our neck of the woods, they can take between 25-35% - but that's when they handle the promotion, advertising, prep, etc.
If you were going to do an estate and you ran the promotion (eBay + local ads) and you prepped and will handle the paperwork afterward - I'd think you'd just hire an auctioneer for the event.
Might be an interesting endeavor. There are a number of existing auction houses here (some pretty rural and others a bit more refined) who are just now getting into offering their items through eBay as well. Don't like that much, because they're a good source of nice old items that can be profitable to resell on eBay ourselves. Might be a few years though before more of them are eBay-enabled. Most are just thrilled that they get "so-so" quality pics up on their Web site each week.
[ edited by TheFamilyBiz on Feb 21, 2006 02:43 PM ]
posted on February 21, 2006 02:46:21 PM new
Yes,I attended HART GALLERY live auction several times,back then they have AMZN auction personnel taking bids from internet and shouut it out to the auctioneer.
There is a buyer premium of 15% and the auction is held in the morning and the auctioneer keeps yelling at us to WAKE UP AND BID and drink more coffee.
There are more auction staff than bidders.
posted on February 21, 2006 03:30:25 PM new
if you have a shop on GO ANTIQUE,you can drop items to live Ebay auction,in fact they encourage you to do so.
There must be special arrangement between Ebay and GO,i cant believe GO paying 1500 per catalog for its shopowners.
/ lets all stop whining !! /
posted on February 21, 2006 04:17:18 PM new
You should get out to more auctions --- where there are hundreds of people bidding. Things have changed a lot in the past 25 years, but rural auctions are still pretty interesting.
We were just able to get some great items in the past 2 weeks, but there are times you have to put up with chilly auction rooms or even tough it out in the rain - that hopefully keeps the competition down.
There's a major adrenaline rush when bidding at live auctions.
Wayne
Never explain -- Your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyway.
~ Elbert Hubbard
posted on February 21, 2006 04:31:57 PM new
Yes,I should go more often.
Hart Gallery charges for food and coffee,the only time they have a full house is their annual garage sale.
posted on February 26, 2006 10:40:00 AM new
Sorry - I got caught up in finishing my catalog - AGAIN! My problem is definitely not getting it started soon enough, but the other problem being getting consignments and additional items to include in the sale as the sale date draws closer.
I do not consign the items to an auction gallery, I am a licensed auction house. Ebay charges the $1,500 insertion fee for the catalog AND 5% of the selling price of each item sold online.
My laptop and a backup laptop are used during the sale, since I have everything bookmarked on here. Hope it goes OK with tonights sale....
Thanks for your input - it's always appreciated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
posted on February 26, 2006 10:48:15 AM new
Carol,
you said you are a licensed auction house,do you mean you have a store or a place to hold auctions where people can attend and look at the goods.
8000 dollars does not sound like a lot of money after paying 1500 for the catalog,how much is that 8000 is coming from Ebay??
and what other expenses are there??
/ lets all stop whining !! /
posted on February 26, 2006 10:56:25 AM new
The $8,000 were the online Ebay sales, of that I use part of the buyer's premium to pay for the catalog, so at least a little of that $1,500 expense is offset.
I do have a temporary storefront for the live sales that I rented. I'm looking for a commercial property to purchase to set up a permanent location - I haven't found anything that fits my needs yet.
I do have other expenses to consider, like advertising, additional Ebay features (bold, gallery, etc). But all-in-all the auction business is one of the less capital intensive businesses, since you don't have to buy inventory.
Right now though, since I am brand new, I am buying stuff for inventory - I wanted to get 2 sales under my belt and do a cost/benefit/profit analysis before I do a huge advertising push.
It's been a bit expensive so far - but you have that with any business endeavor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Caroline
Caroline