Where do they get their info from?

[go-tazz]

I had two BIN listings drop off into unsold and eBay helpfull hints were to re-list them as auction format.

They are near identical and yet I was given different options for each.

We recommend changing the selling format to Auction. Similar items in auction format had starting prices around

$1.50 and sold for between $1.99-$5.00

If this sold for $5 I would have a nett profit of $1.72

We recommend changing the selling format to Auction. Similar items in auction format had starting prices

around $1.50 and sold for between $1.99-$2.95

If this sold for $2.95 I would have a nett loss of 6 cents.

If either sold for the $1.99 starting price I would have a nett loss of 90 cents

Seeing as they were so confident in the fact that the maximum profit I might make is $1.72 but I could end up

with a loss of 90 cents I decided not to re-list them,(thanks eBay for letting me know it's not worth it)

 I mean I sell for fun but there is no way that I would chance selling for a loss,

[imastawka]

Are they talking, maybe, Zimbabwean dollars?

[bsal6160]

so what was you BIN price?

[davidc4430]

thems is ebay dollers, very rare, very valuable.

just ask mr ebay.

[*tippy*toes*]

I love the ones where I'll list something for auction for $9.99 start price and they'll recommend I start it at 99c because similar items have sold for between $49 and $450. Really????

I followed their recommendation on one item, just to see what happened. Every time it dropped into unsold, the recommended starting price dropped. If I'd kept following their recommendation, it would have got to 1c start price. Although, maybe it would have gone into minus. In the end I relisted at above my original start price and it sold.

I wish they'd stick their recommendations where the sun don't shine.

[davewil1964]

The key is similar items, Tazz.

In other words, they have NFI. Even when they claim a sale price range of less than my BIN, for the exact item, I still sell them eventually. I have 1st edition hardcovers and the estimate is obviously for mass market paperbacks, so they are comparing titles not ISBNs. Makes you wonder why they insist on them.

I would relist them anyway, as that eBay estimate is not based on reality.

[digital*ghost]

Pity the fools who think eBay has any idea what they're "talking" about.   

I learned my lesson years ago, after seeing a memorabilia item I had (and paid peanuts for) go for about $30 - I'd never listed anything before and thought I'd get about the same, but of course even at peak times, auctions just don't work that way and it sold for 99c (I underquoted postage, too  ). Most of my other items suffered a similar fate, except for one (which went for a decent price and made the rest bearable). 

It was a good lesson to lear as a buyer, too, since I was mostly buying via auctions back then (i.e. don't get sucked into bidding wars, because chances are someone else is gonna list the same item sooner or later, and you'll grab it for a moderate price once (if) all the bidders who had to have it at any price, have all got theirs  ). 

[justajunk]

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@*tippy*toes* wrote:

I love the ones where I'll list something for auction for $9.99 start price and they'll recommend I start it at 99c because similar items have sold for between $49 and $450. Really????

I followed their recommendation on one item, just to see what happened. Every time it dropped into unsold, the recommended starting price dropped. If I'd kept following their recommendation, it would have got to 1c start price. Although, maybe it would have gone into minus. In the end I relisted at above my original start price and it sold.

I wish they'd stick their recommendations where the sun don't shine.

---

Actually, once the starting price goes below 99c, eBay finally stop recommending that you lower your starting price. I speak from experience; before I switched to free postage, I had items with starting prices between 49c and 99c. For these items, the only message that came up was 'Similar items sold between $xx.xx and $xx.xx; no more mention of lowering the price.

I think the recommendations are a good idea in theory. There are far too many novice sellers out there who keep relisting and relisting at the same excessive high price. I've also had friends who stopped selling on eBay because "nothing ever sold" and when queried, they said that they never really thought about changing the price.

Unfortunately the recommendations cannot be disabled. That's the one element of them that really is irksome

[go-tazz]

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@bsal6160 wrote:

so what was you BIN price?

---

$5.99,(I don't convey sarcasm all that well as that's what the last bit in my post was meant to be)

By listing them at $5.99 I still make a $2.50 per item and that allows me to buy other carp on here,

But I mainly list those items so that I have active items and then list bulk lots so that I get rid of more in one

hit,(it also allows me to "muck" around with them to try different things,eg: formats,price,postage,etc)

I use the 40 free listings and list the Caravan and 4WD DVD as something to do as I have a "few" of them

to sell.

The caravan DVD's aren't great sellers and there seems to always be another seller that comes around

and sells them for less,(hence why I have them in bulk listings at times).

[heihachi_73]

I recently removed Wii Sports from my listings as it had a scratch on the disc (going to get it resurfaced when I have the time, and if I can find someone who still has a machine that actually works and won't charge over the moon for it).

"Sell Tip: We recommend changing the selling format to Auction. Similar items in auction format had starting prices around $0.99 and sold for between $5.10-$8.48."

Really eBay? Where can you find Wii games in Australia for $5? Not even Cash Converters has dropped them that low yet. Why don't you suggest that I give out free express post too?