posted on May 10, 2000 11:56:02 PM new
I am having a dutch auction of 4 items (with a $10 buy price and a $4 startup price). There was already one person bidding one the buy price, and I got an email from Yahoo stating I have a new winner. My question is: Can this person be outbid by others? Or is this person already a winner and I have to send him/her the information to start paying? Thanks for helping.
posted on May 11, 2000 12:52:56 AM new
I've never heard of using a buy price on a Dutch. Buy price is meant to close the auction immediately. A bidder at the buy price cannot be outbid and Dutch rules state you have to sell ALL items at the amount of the LOWEST successful bid so they shouldn't even allowed a buy price Dutch.
Dutch is confusing, here's an example: 4 items open for $4.00 each, if the bids are for 1 each at $10,9,8 and 4 you have to sell ALL for 4.00.
If the bids were for 2 each at $10 & $8 you'd have to sell ALL for $8.00. You use the bid history top bids for all 4 then all must sell for that price line. Confused yet, I am
Do you still have an open ad for 3? Or did the whole ad move to your closed list and you have to re-submit for 3. I'd definitely leave off the buy price on re-sub. I assume it's OK to charge the one bidder $10, he prob doesn't understand the rules and wouldn't look at the new ad anyway. Hopefully he understood he could have bid lower but chose to pay the higher amount to close the ad.
posted on May 11, 2000 09:13:51 AM new
I have run dutch auctions at the buy price.
If I have 3 items for $9 each (and I always start my min. at the buy price also) one bidder may bid for just one and I am able to get his email address off the auction page and send him an EOA notice, yet the auction will continue to run because there are 2 items left to sell. I also always check the "can close auction early" option so I can stop it from running and resubmit to keep things a litte bit less confusing but it can be done and does work.
posted on May 11, 2000 09:58:08 AM new
Hello Kasmoon,
I'm not sure (maybe at Ebay) but I've seen a dutch auction in which all 4 bidders were on the buy price yet the auction still remained open for other bidders to bid.
And I was a buyer in a dutch auction on Yahoo just a few days ago. There was a buy price on that one, too. The quantity was 8 and all 8 high bids did not meet buy price. According to your explanation, I only had to pay $75 because the lowerest bid in the 8 high bids was $75. But I payed $79 insead. So are you 100% sure about this? I just want to make sure.
posted on May 11, 2000 10:01:12 AM new
Oh Kasmoon, there is one more. The dutch auction I'm having did not end for me to resubmit. I stayed on Yahoo. There is only 1 notification sent to me by Yahoo stating 1 new winner who bid on the buy price.
posted on May 11, 2000 10:05:47 AM new
Hello Kimbo, I'm not smart; could you tell me what is EOA? Thanks.
So if the buy price is met by one buyer and even there is chance some bidders in the future will bid higher, I still have to send this buyer a note right now?
posted on May 11, 2000 12:01:41 PM new
All I know about Dutch rules I learned from eBay therefore I've never looked it up on Yahoo assuming it was the same.
Since you asked I've look all over Yahoo for their specific Dutch rules and I can't find ANY!! All I found was "if you have a quantity of the same item enter that quantity on the submit an item page." Nothing else, not even searching using the term "Dutch".
eBay does not have buy prices and their Dutch rules say ALL items must be sold at the amount of the lowest successful bid. I guess we need to write Yahoo a letter to find out more.
posted on May 11, 2000 12:01:43 PM new
Now I really need help. This dutch auction with 4 item now has 5 bidders biddig AT the buy price. The auction seems to keeping running without closing. If it ends in this manner, which 4 bidders should I sell to? The early ones?
posted on May 11, 2000 12:07:36 PM new
Jacklin : if the buyers bid the buy price, you can email them right away an EOA (end of auction) notice. Of course if you aren't constantly monitioring your auctions you may wait until it ends, but if they bid the buy price that is all they pay.
If you only had one item and the buy price was met, it would end and show up in your closed auction but when you have more than one it does keep going, but that does't mean the price should be changed.
It's only going until all available units are sold. I hope this explains it.
posted on May 11, 2000 12:10:48 PM new
eBay Dutch rules say in the case of tie bids those who bid earliest win the # they requested until all items are gone.
I don't understand why the auct hasn't closed, can you post the auct # for me to look at?
EOA is "end of auction" email notice. I've heard on Buy price auctions the email amounts differ from the amounts showing on your closed list so you have to go by bid history rather than the EOA letters.
posted on May 11, 2000 12:17:40 PM new
Here's yahoo's explanation of the Buy price: If a seller wishes to simply sell the item to the first person who meets their price, they can enter that amount here. For example, a seller wishes to sell an item for $100. However, the seller realizes that starting the auction at that price may not attract many bidders -- so the seller starts it at $1.00. Then the bidding begins and the first bidder to bid $100 will win the auction and the auction will close. Please note that an auction may close successfully if the Buy Price has not been met. If you are unwilling to accept less than the Buy Price for an item, you should set the Reserve Price at the same amount. taken from this page http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/auct/asell/asell-19.html
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posted on May 11, 2000 12:21:27 PM new
It's not quite as easy to find yahoo's explanation of the dutch auction but it does work the same as ebay's. If several identical items are won by different bidders for different amounts they all pay the lowest winning price.
Of course in this case, they are all biddig the buy price it seems before the auction ends so they all pay that price and yes who ever bids first will win if items run out of availibility.
If you had no reserve and none of them bid as high as the buy price, then you would HAVE to wait until the auction ended to figure out how much they all pay. Get it?
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So do you agree with Kasmoon (second colomn) that "when 4 items open for $4.00 each, if the bids are for 1 each at $10,9,8 and 4 you have to sell ALL for 4.00."? Or I should charge $10,9,8 and 4 on each?
posted on May 11, 2000 01:20:28 PM new
Yes, you are supposed to sell them all for $4.00, unless before the auction ends another
bidder comes along and knocks the 4.00 bidder out by bidding higher. Whichever the lowest winning bidder pays, they all pay, while supplies last.
Since you have the buy price, some might sell right away, so that does confuse things, but I think you got it now.
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posted on May 11, 2000 01:23:02 PM new
I just read your initial post again, and understand now that one bidder bid the buy price of $10 so you are able to charge him 10.00 and no, no one can bid higher on his item, as it is closed as far as the one bidder goes. The other 3bidders are bidding dutch unless they also go to $10 or somewhere under 10.00 when time runs out.
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posted on May 11, 2000 01:31:45 PM new
sorry to keep adding to my reply but the more I think about this, it's better when you use a buy price for more than one item, to start the min. bid at the same price as your buy price. At least that's how I do it, and it still can be confusing.
I also mention what the shipping is for one or multiples in case some bidders opt for more than one. In the case of light items, it usually reads, shipping within the usa is $3.55 whether you buy one or up to three.
To give you a better case in example, I was selling a box of pokemon a few days ago and 2 bidders had upped the price (only one was available) from 95.00 to 105 or 110.00 and like a dummy, I figured why not change the quanity to 2 so I could sell them both a box, I was thinking in a moment of foolishness, I would sell both for 105.00.
Well I was able to go into maintain this item and edit description, where I said I am changing the quanity to 2 to give both bidders a chance to win and it allowed me to change the one available to two available.
Well what happened seconds later..... I realized as I watch the auction change that I am NOW stuck selling both boxes for $95.00 each! Oh well, sometimes I am just 2 good to my bidders, but that's what happened and I thought I knew what I was doing around yahoo pretty well by now.
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[ edited by kimbo on May 11, 2000 01:33 PM ]
posted on May 11, 2000 02:24:33 PM new
Wow. I've been running dutch auctions with buy prices and never looked at it from that viewpoint!
Since there are no "rules" layed out by Yahoo! this is how I would understand it. If a buyer bids the buy price he/she wants the item soon and is paying extra for that reason. The dutch auction keeps going with one less item up for grabs.
I haven't had a problem so far but also haven't had more bidders than items.
jacklin I'd suggest checking the "seller can end auction early" button so you can avoid this problem. Actually, if your items are going so well (lucky you!) I wouldn't have the buy price at all!
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posted on May 11, 2000 02:42:47 PM new
ljbannan there are rules in Yahoo they just put them in really hard to find places. But yes you have it down, the buy price is in most cases for the bidder who wants to pay a little more and be assured of winning his item right away and no chance of being outbid. I use the can close early option for each and every auction I run on Yahoo just because sometimes its a drag to wait and believe it or not sometimes if I see an item getting 2 many bids, I feel guilty and close it, especially if the winner at the time has the best looking feedback profile.
Like I said, when I use the buy price I set the min. bid at the same price, so it is much less confusing for the bidders and me too! I also put in the description to further clarify it, no need to wait for auction to end, auction ends with your bid at the buy price. and if it is NOT a dutch auction, it is first bidder wins and takes all.
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posted on May 13, 2000 03:31:51 PM new
Thanks Kasmoon for explaining how 'Dutch Auctions' works. I've been selling online for some time now & I've never ever understood how the darn thing works. Never tried to use Dutch either.
