posted on July 26, 2001 05:31:13 PM new
This afternoon I bid on, and won, a "vintage" postcard on eBay for two dollars. It occurred to me that the seller had paid a listing fee of thirty cents and will be paying a final value fee of ten cents, for total fees of forty cents, so they will end up with $1.60 on the postcard.
Now that begs the question.
When I browse through the postcard categories at Bidville, ePier, or any of the "other" auctionsites, there's nothing but page after page of relisted "common" postcards that run two dollars, three dollars, even as high as ten dollars.
Why are postcard sellers listing items on the freebies at such inflated prices? Are sales so few and far between on their "common" postcards that they set absurdly high opening bid prices in the hope of offsetting pathetic sell-through rates? Still other sellers are playing the reserve game with low opening bid prices but a sky-high reserve prices in an unsuccessful effort to get a bidder to enter ever higher bids on their "common" postcards?
And its not confined to the postcard categories. Multiply this "effect" over a couple thousand categories and then you wonder why there's few pageviewers and even fewer bidders.
eBay has little to worry about.
typo.
[ edited by dimview on Jul 26, 2001 05:51 PM ]
posted on July 26, 2001 05:52:43 PM new
The Prices are not so inflated they are set at what the seller is willing to let it go for.
Ebay is getting that way these days too most auction are likely to end with just one bid, The biger question is why arent seller just useing the buy it now Priceing and setting there starting bid the same as buy price.
I don't hardly think online auctions will ever become a thing of the past but over the next year or so there will be more fix price selling on all these sites then there are actual auctions.
Fixed price and B2B is the next wave This is why everyone is hopping on that band wangon includeing AOL and ebay Now.
There is less hastle, waiting and chance of dead beats for sellers in fixed price selling and instant payments.
The whole industry is going to shift includeing tighter rules on seller to have return policies and money back garentees and shipping with 24 to 36 hours after purchases.
when some one starts a auction with a high starting bid its because they know if it gets a bid it will be just one they need to set it at what they are willing to take.
penny and $1 auctions were fun but the day of penny and $1 auction are long long over.
as just a small seller It costs me nearly $4 for every $1 to $12 in sales I make and there is no cheap alturnatives left even when you use a site offering free listing.
posted on July 26, 2001 07:18:48 PM new
One $2.00 book languished on epier (listed and relisted 30-40 times) for over a year. I finely gave in, I raised the already small price by a whopping .50c, stuck it on ebay for $2.50, and it sold with one bid.
Also intesting to note that a very nice beer tray got NO BIDS on ebay at $2.85, yet sold on YAHOO at 12.50 with 7 bids.
Not sure what my point here is...perhaps that there may be no rhyme or reason to how and why items sell and for how much?
There is a rhyme and reason for why things sell for what they do.
your item need to be where the buyer Really looking for it is at the time they are looking for it.
Not all buyers from ebay also go to yahoo or the other way around, inless you are a fortune teller there is no way to know when or where the buyer for your Item will be or when they will be there but there is pretty nearly a buyer for every thing ever made for sale http://www.Dman-N-Company.com
Email [email protected]
posted on July 27, 2001 05:35:26 AM new
The only advantage that the free auctionsites offer is that sellers can offer items at lower opening bids because there are no fees, and the only advantage of sellers for attracting buyers from eBay, Yahoo or any of the fee auctionsites is for them to offer items at lower opening bids because there are no fees.
Sellers for the most part have failed to seize this opportunity, however, and buyers from eBay (and elsewhere) come for a visit, click around a little while, discover the lack of competitive pricing, and promptly leave.
posted on July 27, 2001 09:48:12 AM new
rustybore I had found that Yahoo was a very good site for breweriana. I don't list there much since the fees though.
posted on July 27, 2001 02:28:33 PM new
In theory that theory sounds perfectly sensible Dim. But the wharehouser mentality may be different, the sellers know that 2 bids on an items almost never happens. The wharehousers may manage their wares with pricing caution because they do not have to sell the items 'right now' like they have to on E or Y and lose the listing fee. I've got a couple offbeat theories on why the wharehousers have such high opening prices in comparison to E or Y.
#1 ... the spider and his web theory. The wharehouser waits and waits for an inscet to enter it's web. The insect being a newby auction buyer that hasn't yet learned the fine points of getting the best deal on the web.
#2 ... the praying for the return of the glory days at Y theory. Extreme longshot but Y could come to it's senses and offer a 7% FVF or similar and no little or listing fee and a reverse exodus could transpire.
Oh, oh ... I hear the "It's medication time" announcement on the public address system here at the Cuckoo's Nest Treament Center ......... Juicy Fruit gum anyone?
