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Are 0.99 starting bid auctions considered gambling or smart marketing?

Started by Aweandlorder,

99 posts in this topic

1Cool

1Cool

Posted
Posted

In todays market on E-Bay you will almost always (90% or so by my estimates) do better with a BIN compared to going with the auction. You can start your auction a little less then your BIN and hope for a bidding war but that rarely happens today. And then you will miss out on a sale from a person willing to hit your BIN. Auctions are a great way to sell a ton of books that you got really cheap but you will almost always get more money if you hold out for a reasonable BIN. 2c

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RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

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Auctions are the very worst way to sell on eBay.

 

eBay itself doesn't want auctions anymore, and has been trying to get rid of them since Donahoe took over in 08. So, you're fighting a losing platform to start with.

 

And while, yes, you may get a "bidding war", 99 times out of 100, you won't, and your listing will end for less than what someone was willing to pay for it. And if you have a "bidding war", the higher the price goes, the greater the chance the high bidder decides not to pay.

 

Unless you're shilling your own listings with "protection bids" (aka, "private" reserves), you're almost always going to give stuff away. I stopped using auctions in 2008, with a very few exceptions, and haven't looked back.

 

Watching items sell for less than you paid, and, in fact, less than what others on eBay were getting for the same books in LOWER physical condition (but, of course, the same stated "grades", natch!) was far too much stress.

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Aweandlorder

Aweandlorder

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When it comes to .99 auctions the only thing one can do is list accurately, take great accurate pics and hope for the best.

I believe that date and time are CRUCIAL in listing, but no one can predict what day will work better, and that's really where the gamble part comes to play. One can assume that listing on the weekend brings better results than weekday, but sometime the market gets so over saturated that that works against the seller. Or sometimes its a holiday where everyone goes away as opposed to stay at home and shop, sometimes the snipers are away and sometimes they are busy online

I purchase often on eBay... And there are days that I go on and I can't find deals, then there are days that I get craaaaazy deals on auctions.

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Gotham Kid

Gotham Kid

Posted
Posted
Auctions are the very worst way to sell on eBay.

 

And while, yes, you may get a "bidding war", 99 times out of 100, you won't, and your listing will end for less than what someone was willing to pay for it. And if you have a "bidding war", the higher the price goes, the greater the chance the high bidder decides not to pay.

 

Unless you're shilling your own listings with "protection bids" (aka, "private" reserves), you're almost always going to give stuff away. I stopped using auctions in 2008, with a very few exceptions, and haven't looked back.

 

 

this

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BlowUpTheMoon

BlowUpTheMoon

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At this point I think very little sneaks by on ebay. There are rarely steals. So I don't see much risk. Perhaps you get a bit less than you were expecting, but I think the chances of getting significantly less are slim (of course this is assuming you have a realistic price in mind to start with).

 

This isn't true at all

 

For once, darkstar and I agree on something. :for you:

 

Many non-hot, non-key books with absolutely great content and artists in HG slip through the cracks every day - you can't buy them all. lol

 

See that $1.00 sale? That was me starting an auction at 99 cents.

 

FF366_zpsaeb0c65d.jpg

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jimbo_707

jimbo_707

Posted
Posted
At this point I think very little sneaks by on ebay. There are rarely steals. So I don't see much risk. Perhaps you get a bit less than you were expecting, but I think the chances of getting significantly less are slim (of course this is assuming you have a realistic price in mind to start with).

I disagree. There is quite a bit of risk with low-opening-bid auctions. I've tried listing books that way & had them sell for less than half of what I would have been willing to accept as an offer. Needless to say, eBay promotes that method because they only make money on things that sell, and most items with low opening bids do sell for something.

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The Madness

The Madness

Posted
Posted
In todays market on E-Bay you will almost always (90% or so by my estimates) do better with a BIN compared to going with the auction. You can start your auction a little less then your BIN and hope for a bidding war but that rarely happens today. And then you will miss out on a sale from a person willing to hit your BIN. Auctions are a great way to sell a ton of books that you got really cheap but you will almost always get more money if you hold out for a reasonable BIN. 2c

 

+1

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Jaydogrules

Jaydogrules

Posted
Posted
Auctions are the very worst way to sell on eBay.

 

eBay itself doesn't want auctions anymore, and has been trying to get rid of them since Donahoe took over in 08. So, you're fighting a losing platform to start with.

 

And while, yes, you may get a "bidding war", 99 times out of 100, you won't, and your listing will end for less than what someone was willing to pay for it. And if you have a "bidding war", the higher the price goes, the greater the chance the high bidder decides not to pay.

 

Unless you're shilling your own listings with "protection bids" (aka, "private" reserves), you're almost always going to give stuff away. I stopped using auctions in 2008, with a very few exceptions, and haven't looked back.

 

Watching items sell for less than you paid, and, in fact, less than what others on eBay were getting for the same books in LOWER physical condition (but, of course, the same stated "grades", natch!) was far too much stress.

 

+1

 

Why anyone would do and auction of even a semi-hot book, let alone a key, on ebay anymore is a mystery to me. They are fine if you just want to liquidate a book right away, or if you suspect a book is cooling, but if I was a seller I would stick to reasonably priced BINs, or aggressively priced BINs on the hotter or rarer books with a "best offer" option.

 

-J.

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slym2none

slym2none

Posted
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Perhaps some of those books that "sneak through" are being overvalued by the seller? :baiting:

 

Kidding aside, I guess I wasn't really thinking about "cold" books when I made that comment. Something in much less demand I am probably wrong with my comment.

 

Like I mentioned a few times elsewhere - I will start an auction at 99¢ for a book I have seen sell for $10-12, and mine will sell for $1.04 - I run the same book in an auction, starting bid of $9.99, and no takers, even though the book still will sell elsewhere for $10-12.

 

It may have the largest customer-base to choose from, but I hate eBay. I am beginning to think eBay hates me just as much.

 

 

 

-slym

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kav

kav

Posted
Posted

Smart marketing. If it's a book that is in demand, it's not gonna go for way less than value. The 99c starting bid gets bidders involved, and once they've already bid the psychology of not wanting to lose to someone else kicks in. I've had great luck with the 99c starting bid.

Now if it's something that's not in big demand, say a lot of Demon books, you might end up selling it for 99c.

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AmazingComics413

AmazingComics413

Posted
Posted
Auctions are the very worst way to sell on eBay.

 

And while, yes, you may get a "bidding war", 99 times out of 100, you won't, and your listing will end for less than what someone was willing to pay for it. And if you have a "bidding war", the higher the price goes, the greater the chance the high bidder decides not to pay.

 

Unless you're shilling your own listings with "protection bids" (aka, "private" reserves), you're almost always going to give stuff away. I stopped using auctions in 2008, with a very few exceptions, and haven't looked back.

 

 

this

 

+2

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kav

kav

Posted
Posted

There's no way say ASM 5 will undersell with a 99c starting bid.

No way.

It depends on what you're selling.

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RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

Posted
Posted
At this point I think very little sneaks by on ebay. There are rarely steals. So I don't see much risk. Perhaps you get a bit less than you were expecting, but I think the chances of getting significantly less are slim (of course this is assuming you have a realistic price in mind to start with).

 

This isn't true at all

 

For once, darkstar and I agree on something. :for you:

 

Many non-hot, non-key books with absolutely great content and artists in HG slip through the cracks every day - you can't buy them all. lol

 

See that $1.00 sale? That was me starting an auction at 99 cents.

 

FF366_zpsaeb0c65d.jpg

 

That's your own fault for slabbing a worthless piece of drek.

 

:shy:

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