Auctions - a dinosaurus of the past!

[melinachristina]

We decided to ‘give a little bit back’ with our final listings for 2018 and put a handful up with no reserve. Part of the decision though, was a little experiment, and we played it safe with less expensive items.

The results thus far clearly indicate for us and our items at least, along with many other opinions here, that the day of the auction on eBay is truly done and dusted. Oh, you might get the odd item that attracts a small bid war, but small is the operative word, and it’s rare enough to almost be unique. No reserve listings these days, will I think generally return no profit, and may even bring the colour to your cheeks with a loss. We certainly wouldn’t last very long.

Cover thy bum, or it will be exfoliated most painfully ... lol.

Interestingly though for us, is that if we list as BIN there’s very little interest, as opposed to still listing in the auction format and creating a reserve with the starting price, which goes then hops along okay. This has intrigued me since our return to eBay, and so far I cannot understand any tangible reason for it. Ah! The convoluted, intricate and evasive psychology of the eBay buyer. I’d so love to know what makes this tick the way it does.

It seems to me these days that in many cases you need to match an item up with a buyer and in some instances be very patient. Using two or three platforms now seems to be almost requisite as well. Online selling has changed so much. These days it’s so much more important to realise your profit when you buy, rather than trying to make it when you sell. The world of shopping has become so small and accessible for buyers.

Melina.

[melinachristina]

Some good points raised. All food for thought 🙂

Good luck to you Crow. That’s good selling. The experiment? Well, that was just a small part of it really, but the good thing is that it confirmed what we already knew, really, and dovetailed with a lot of what others are saying, depending on the type of items they sell. Interestingly too, I forgot to mention that we have a couple of friendly competitors in the US who always list with no reserve. They kill it compared with us. The US of course is a much bigger market, it doesn’t have the same ‘Nanny State’ regulations about it, and even though we sell into it quite well I’m sure postage costs inhibit sales substantially.

Its wrong to do so, but the comparisons I make are all with a time 10-15 years ago. I honestly wish we had carried on then. Thankfully though, we’re not over burdened with inventory anymore, and by God that makes a big difference.

Onwards and upwards 🙂

Melina.

[chameleon54]

I still use auctions from time to time and find they have a place.

A couple of months ago I purchased a complete collection of sought after items that would interest a specific field of collectors. I did some research and had a bit of an idea what the items where worth, but it was out of my usual comfort zone. I listed around 20 items at a time on 3 day auctions, with the next lot of 20 auctions starting one day before the previous lot finished. ( the auctions overlapped )This went on for a couple of weeks and worked very well.

The items where listed free of listing fees in the collectables catagory. I set solid starting prices ( reserves ) so that nothing was given away and over the two week period sold around half of the items at prices equel to BIN prices. A few of the items attracted strong bidding duels and sold much better than expected. The stratedy attracted a group of collectors who hung around for the duration of the auctions with a number of unsold items selling soon after as BINS set at the auction start price.

A large part of the collection has now been sold with the remainder still selling as BINS in dribs and drabs. I doubt that I would have cleared the collection as quickly ( and got my original purchase money back quickly ) if I just listed them as BINS. Auctions do create a sense of urgency and finality that is not so evident with watchers and BINS.

Another use for auctions is with very rare collectables that are worth whatever two people are willing to pay. If auction starting prices are set at the sellers usual BIN price, an auction premium is often obtained that leaves the estimated BIN way behind and the sale is concluded quickly, without having to wait for some-one to click the BIN button on an expensive item. ie. cash flow is improved.

Auctions are not the best option for generic everyday items, but they still have a use for rare and unusual collectables.

[springyzone]

I was chatting this over with a friend who sells on ebay reasonably regularly. He uses both auction & buy it now format, I think he said.

He mentioned that he thought one of the problems with today's ebay is it doesn't have enough auctions & that people love auctions & love the feeling of maybe catching a bargain. Ebay is not as exciting as it used to be. So he regularly starts his auctions at 99c, sometimes sells at a loss, but more often his auctions go well, and people who buy one of his items often buy more at the same time.

I think he has a point, in that i do remember being quite enthused with some auctions & the thrill of winning.

But I do think so much depends on what is being sold. In the 'old' days, ebay was full of one-off items and private sellers, but it is just different now & the things i personally buy tend to be different, would not lend themselves too much to auction format.

But definitely a place for both, depending on what is being sold I guess.

One thing I dislike with a passion though is that ebay is flooded with Chinese stuff and I also dislike the ebay tendency to put 'international' items ahead of the Australian items at time, whether auction format or buy it now. I was looking up herbes de provence yesterday and the aussie items were way down the list. Off topic I know, just venting.

All the best with your sales, melina, whatever format they are in!

[go-tazz]

I still use auctions and start them at the minimum that I would accept and then let them run for about a month

and then change them to BIN's with that minimum price,(there has generally been watchers along the way and

they can then buy it at that price or I keep relisting it).

Out of the last 8 auction were someone has bid on them all of them only had the one bid,(one had

8 watchers),

I've sold more stuff on FB than eBay in the last few months,(don't use this account much for selling).

[zanadoo_56]

Auctions are still very much around when it comes to collectables - especially those that start with a price you'd really like to pay as a BIN but you know it's not going to happen.  😉

If the items are commonplace, practical etc then BIN saves time and (hopefully) money.

[pancaket52]

I agree - I recently moved out of my comfort zone (BIN only in Clothing & Shoes) and ( on another account) listed some collectable dolls and LEGO sets.

I was surprised that LEGO actually now sells by weight!!

I used the auction format  for 7 days with the lowest price being what I was happy to accept.

They all sold and sold well - the LEGO had over 90 views and quite a few watchers. For all the auctions the bids only started within the last few hours of auction.

I have tried auctions with clothing & shoes but I agree -  with these items - they want it yesterday! 

[chameleon54]

There are some serious collectors out there for LEGO sets, still in original boxes and it is suprising how much some of these are worth.

[zanadoo_56]

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@chameleon54 wrote:

There are some serious collectors out there for LEGO sets, still in original boxes and it is suprising how much some of these are worth.

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I'll bet - and on the other plus side, if they have to be kept in their boxes no one is going to suffer the agony of treading on a piece.

We had Lego before all the fancy kits and I once took part in a Lego building competition on the local TV channel.  I was one of the runners up in the final and was given a big box of bricks and various house etc pieces (base boards, roof tiles, windows etc).  I was also given a metal Lego logo pin.  I don't have the bricks but I still have the pin.  It is from the 1960s, red and sliver like the long stick pins but has a 'safety closure pin' on the back instead.  It's probably not worth much but it does seem to be uncommon compared to similar pins.  I wouldn't sell it though as it brings back a lot of (rather fuzzy) memories. 🙂

[chameleon54]

Just found another really good reason to list auctions.

 I had a bunch of collectables all the same. They cost me $11 each. I put the first one up for auction and it recieved multiple bids from multiple buyers, ( all based in Japan ) eventually selling for $70. I then offered second chance offers to the three underbidders at prices ranging from $60.00  to $69.00. All three accepted. So my one auction of an $11 item, netted four sales totalling over $260 for an outlay of $44 in stock. All four buyers have also gone on to purchase other similar items, showing the promotional effect of running auctions.

You would be hard pressed to achieve that result with BINS and it shows ebay is still alive and kicking as are ebay auctions if you offer items people are looking for.

I have just listed another 40 auctions to start tommorow night. All similar collectables in the same catagory and field. I have spaced the auction end times 1 - 2 minutes apart, 3 day auctions finishing Sunday evening. I dont expect to sell heaps as I have pushed the starting prices right up there. The items are slightly out of my normal field and are highly specialised.  I simply dont really know the value of some of them, so hopefully with auctions I wont give the good ones away..

It should be an interesting experiment.

[davewil1964]

It is totally dependent on what you sell. Collectables might work, but I doubt mass market paperbacks would realise the same return.