posted on May 5, 2000 09:57:15 PM new
I've had several of my auctions "sniped" for the buy price. It has all been by newbies so I'm guessing they think it is a reserve.
My problem is I feel a little guilty at charging them the buy price when they could have won the auction for the bid price. It's not much money (only a couple dollars) so I haven't worried too much about it and I do get a chuckle out of it but still feel bad. If it was on a higher price item with more of a difference I would offer them a discount or explain what the buy price is.
Am I just a softy or what? Anyone else have this "problem"?
Not ljbannan on Yahoo! In fact I doubt there is a ljbannan on Yahoo!
posted on May 5, 2000 10:12:15 PM new
When I run a Buy price ad I explain in the first lines of the ad:
This item has a Buy Price, what that means is as soon as that bid amount is entered the auction
closes and the Bidder instantly wins, NO waiting and NO competition from other bidders!!!
I also explain in detail when I run a Dutch ad. It doesn't seem like people read or understand
the rules so I try to make everything as clear as possible in the description.
If your bidders don't understand they could have won it cheaper I wouldn't be offering any discounts
but you might try using my above descrip in future ads if you really feel guilty
posted on May 6, 2000 06:24:25 AM new
I always just assumed that they wanted it "right now" I never thought that they didn't understand. But maybe they don't. I guess I just assume that if I understand it then ANYONE can !! LOL
Oh well, it is something to think about. Now I am feeling a little quilty..... I hope all my bidders knew the difference.
posted on May 6, 2000 07:35:11 AM new
jwoods - I'm sure that's what most buyers want. The only ones I "worry" about are the ones that snipe at the buy price. Doesn't change how soon they get it then. The one I had last nite was true snipe! She nailed it in the last minute of the auction as I shook my head.
I just hope these newbie buy price snipers don't get upset with me later when they realize they could have gotten it cheaper!
posted on May 6, 2000 09:03:04 AM new
Interesting - I run a couple of hundred "BUY PRICE" auctions, but my buy price and bid price are the same, so have never had this happen - BUT have had some bidders amazed that they had "automatically" WON the auction, apparently many don't know or understand the "Buy Price" auction.
posted on May 7, 2000 12:22:00 PM new
I put right in my add that meeting the buy prices close the auction now for an instant winn or you can bid the start bid and hope not to be out bid.
most are more then happy to bid the buy price and have it done yahoo is getting many many new bidders and seller from yahoo who are sprised about this feature and love it .
un fortunately once again my yahoo sales and veiws are down to near nothing again yahoo is a good place to sell but the only stable sales there I find are merchant accounts maybe some day ill sign up and pay the monthly fee but for now i have started selling some items that just been listed to long there on ebay and see what happens for me .
posted on May 7, 2000 05:47:25 PM new
What i Hate is when someone bids the buy price and then dosent follow through with the auction..ALWAYS seems to be one i had featured too.
posted on May 13, 2000 06:44:52 PM new
I post all my auctions with a buy price,and don't feel quilty when people buy. I figure people spend a couple extra dollors to buy outright. and not have to worry about other bidders or waiting 9 -10 days for the auction to close. But yes most all items baught at buy price are from newbies, live and learn and they will do both..And oh ya,
and what are people suposed to think a buy price means. Dah...
[ edited by wired1 on May 13, 2000 06:47 PM ]
posted on June 24, 2000 08:31:58 PM new
radh - We morphed to "one bid wins". Initially we did what most do, put the buy price fairly high, figuring the person should (and would) pay a premium to end the auction early, at their convenience and without competition. A fair # of people did this, but I got to wondering if I would have more sales if I just blew off that extra dollar, two, or few, and went one bid buys. Answer is yes with a bullet.
They see it, buy it, pay for it (paypal) and I ship it (stamps.com) within a little as 20 minutes. What's not to like? No sniper or shilling concerns - a buyer knows before they even bid that I am not playing games and clearly this appeals to them.
posted on June 25, 2000 11:15:00 AM new
Thanks for sharing your strategies and experiences. After reading alot of posts here, I've come to the conclusion that the *ONE~BID~WINS* must eliminate the random shill bidders by maybe a full 88%, an interesting find.
I'd still prefer to use a simplified trading system like the one that used to be offered by Half.com, and I hope that some one else develops a similar system.
I thought I'd heard something about the Yahoo re-listing system changing substantially, but all I could find was advice to make sure that you re-list all your mdse every 90 days, and close immediately, if necessary, to keep them live and in the system.
Is there any thing about re-lists that I should be aware of?
posted on June 25, 2000 12:36:36 PM new
radh - 1st bid wins eliminates all risk of shilling, I don't know understand where 88% comes from???
I am not sure what your are referring to, but the other change Yahoo made recently re: relisting is to reduce automatic re-listing from 5 times to 2 times before you need to re-list manually.
I have heard a lot of complaints but as it turns out things change so rapidly it is not so terrible a thing to rethink your listing every 30 days (if you list for 10). Seems I have to alter something each time. Most recently I took the payplace link out I used to put in. In another case, I removed the auctionrover link in my auctions after experimenting and finding out I lost the thumbnail. The 30 days vs 60 gives you more control over your inventory. I simply relist about 40% of what fails to sell, but adjust at least the price (both up and down) on the better half.
Also --- When you start having pages of listings and you are selling a variety of things, it makes good sense to group them so when someone click "see other auctions" items like the one they are shopping pop up handy rather than 7 pages / screens away. This means when I get something new that I have more of similar, I can add it to the mix when that chunk of our inventory comes up for renewal. Hope this makes sense.
posted on June 25, 2000 01:05:01 PM new
typo - meant 99%, i'll leave a percentage in there for the determined auction saboteur.
Thank you very much for sharing all these ideas.
It may interest you, that in this, my initial foray into Yahoo!, since last December, when I decided, 'no', well, it may well amuse you that for me, the most interesting useful info I've acquired reading posts here, is that it might (?) be exceptionally easy to sell via the one bid thingee IF one makes sure that one's own listings contain ONLY quality merchandise, and really attempts to make sure that none of one's listings contain anything that could even remotely be described as an "the eBay reject."
I have a book devoted exclusively to Yahoo! Auctions, but I'm kinda afraid to read it, as I imagine the info contained therein would prolly be defunct...
posted on June 25, 2000 02:28:10 PM new
Nothing to feel guilty about if you use the SAME price on bid,reserve and buy...that way the minute they click - they won it. It is only when you put a lower bid price than the buy price that they could've got it cheaper. I use the 3 method -- why mess with a dollar or two and have the auction close unsold?? JMHO
posted on June 25, 2000 08:26:54 PM new
I have to admit that I stopped selling on Yahoo because of people bidding the buy price to stop the bids and then changing their minds and not following through. I actually only got paid for just a few of my Yahoo auctions. I didn't feel like it was doing me any good so I quit.
I still buy on Yahoo though. It never hurts to compare prices. Quite often the buy prices on Yahoo auctions a lot less than the bidding on Ebay goes and you don't have to worry about snippers.
posted on June 30, 2000 09:58:40 PM new
ljbannan, you say that a lot of the buy-prices seem to be hit by "newbies" who may not understand they could pay less for the item if they waited for it to end.
Well, let's see. Last night I decided to re-register with Yahoo. My old account has the ONLY retaliatory negative feedback (yep, even I have a skeleton in my closet, LOL) I have ever received, and I didn't like the name very well, either. Anyway, I was thinking that I sometimes hesitate when it comes to buying from someone with no feedback, even though I do normally go ahead and bid, so decided I should find a few things to buy. Well, that "buy price" feature is great for that! So, I wound up "buying" a couple of collector spoons from Saskatchewan (need those real bad, ya know, LOL) and a necklace, and a wedding dress for one of my trolls, and a couple of lapel pins for Christmas gifts. So, you see, even though it would look like I was a "newbie" I knew exactly what I was doing. Now, so far, though I've only heard from two of the sellers so I can see this isn't going to happen very fast, LOL.
posted on July 1, 2000 07:49:30 AM new
wallypog - I think most of the buy price buyers know what they're doing. It's the newbies that bid the buy price within minutes of the auction closing. Heck, I check my auctions in the morning and at nite so I don't think a few minutes or a couple hours is going to get them their item quicker. I was guessing that they had "reserve" and "buy price" confused. I haven't had one complain yet though!
posted on July 1, 2000 08:02:30 AM new
We run many "Buy Price" auctions, but our bid price and "Buy Price" are always the same so there is no conflict -
BUT, many folks still do not understand, although most of ours are thrilled that they had immediately won.
posted on July 1, 2000 08:40:27 AM new
ljbannan, point well taken! Sorry, I was a little confused there. That's what happens when I read several posts and try to remember them all.
Although something else popped into mind just now, too, about that--not to say they aren't confusing the buy price with a reserve. If I was looking through the ending auctions, even with only a couple of hours to go, I might very well bid a buy price if there was one--it would sure keep it from being sniped right at the end, LOL.
On eBay I bid by proxy and get sniped (most of the time) or snipe myself. But I've noticed Yahoo takes a whole different mentality.
