AUCTION VS GTC !!??

[5kazam]

Currently, I am more than pleased that all BINS are now GTC.  I have sold more pieces on AUCTION in the last few weeks than I think I sold the previous 12 months.  (Australian Pottery for those who don’t have a need to take a squiz at what I have listed.)

It seems that Auctions are now getting a look in.  I list for 7 days, no auto relist (to take advantage of the $1 weekend promotion – how long that goes for is anyone’s guess!!)

The whole GTC thing reminds me of when I was super naïve about how eBay worked (now I’m only naïve). 

I used to have FREIGHT on all my listings, as I didn’t know which part of Australia my items would be going to, so figured I couldn’t put a post cost up there, as they were all different shapes, sizes and weights.  (eg. Vic cheap, WA dear, NT horrendous, and I’ve sent to all those places, still do). 

One day I bored myself stupid by going through all the listings on Australian Pottery – and hey! FINALLY found my listings on pages 98-99 of 100 pages.  (Instant learning curve there!!)

So I’m wondering if my former FREIGHT option is now effectively the same as GTC.

It’s the only thing I can think of as to why I’ve suddenly sold so many ‘stale’ items recently, and why a lot of you are saying sales are dead.

Just putting a thought out there.

(I hope I haven’t put the mozz on myself with this post)

[5kazam]

Personally, I don't care one bit if there is only 1 bid.  I only list with a price I'm happy with, so the 1 bid is enough

Just so nice to see those green numbers!!

[chameleon54]

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@5kazam wrote:

Personally, I don't care one bit if there is only 1 bid.  I only list with a price I'm happy with, so the 1 bid is enough

Just so nice to see those green numbers!!

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I,m the same. The items I sold where specialist collectable tools that are becoming very hard to find. I priced them at " fair value " so any sale is a good sale. One did have 7 watchers on it, another 5 watchers and many others had multiple watchers, so there was some interest in them, just not the buyer support I hoped for. Its possible many buyers are being much more cautious at the moment and will only purchase if an item is a bargain.

I have got a bit of money tied up in the tools, but I,m not worried as they will eventually sell at my price and the five sold so far have nearly covered my buy in price for the 28 items listed. When investing larger $$$ in stock I am always keen to at least get my money back as quickly as possible. I,m quite happy to let the profit sit there after that, as it sells over time giving a steady flow of income over extended time frames.

[springyzone]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

@ springyzone - The items I put to auctions where rare collectables in a specialist ( and popular ) field. I did an advanced search of completed listings before listing mine and did note that very few had been offered or sold recently. I,m not sure what all that means, but its trying to tell us something.

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That's disappointing, chameleon.

Bang goes my theory then.

Ebay can be a funny place though. I have sometimes seen interesting items go without any bids at all over a couple of relistings, then the next time around, there will be a bidding war break out & I think-hey, they're paying $200 more than they could have had it for last week!

And when my sister & I used to sell, we sometimes had items that were the same or better than others that had sold at top prices just weeks earlier & then ours would only go for about half that.

[casbit33]

I ran 28 auctions in the last few days. Only 3 sales, all at the starting bid. Listed the items as BINS once auctions had finished and sold 2 more immediately. All up it was a fairly disappointing result, as these should have been red hot sellers.

My regular store sales are still going very well, but I suspect buyers are becoming very shy about discretionary spending, which could account for the disappointing auction results.

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when you did the auctions did you add the buy-it-now option.

I find quite a few people are using that option.

[chameleon54]

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@casbit33 wrote:

I ran 28 auctions in the last few days. Only 3 sales, all at the starting bid. Listed the items as BINS once auctions had finished and sold 2 more immediately. All up it was a fairly disappointing result, as these should have been red hot sellers.

My regular store sales are still going very well, but I suspect buyers are becoming very shy about discretionary spending, which could account for the disappointing auction results.

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when you did the auctions did you add the buy-it-now option.

I find quite a few people are using that option.

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No I have never used it, but you may well be right. The couple of items that had 5 & 7 watchers, may have sold with a BIN option. ( and who knows, some of the others as well ) I might give it a try next time.

The biggest problem with specialist items is I dont always know exactly what they are worth. If there have not been any of that exact specification sold or even viewable in a general google search, they are worth whatever two people are willing to pay. I still occasionally get bidding wars on items with them selling for two or three times the starting price. This is getting rarer all the time though.

The tools where all different with minor changes that seemed to make a big difference. All of the ones that sold looked identical to others, except that they had a groove that holds things, where the others where smooth. 

With a question from a buyer, I did also learn something I had sort of known, but hadnt quite clicked to. During WW1, many of the items issued to soldiers had one or two upward pointing arrows, stamped alongside the manufacturers name. Something to look out for when looking at items that may be of interest to military collectors.

[chameleon54]

Its faint and a bit hard o photograph, but the upward pointing arrow is visible in between a couple of stamped letters above the number 40. I have seen this before on other WW1 military items. The info might help other forum users.

[casbit33]

Its faint and a bit hard o photograph, but the upward pointing arrow is visible in between a couple of stamped letters above the number 40. I have seen this before on other WW1 military items. The info might help other forum users.

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Yes I see what you mean.

Maybe just put the Buy-it-now on the items you know what they are usually sold for.

somethings do surprise us with bidding war prices. I would imagine WW1 military items would be well sort after and good prices.

You get collectors of all sorts of things and you just don't know what they are willing to pay until they do.