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Are 0.99 starting bid auctions considered gambling or smart marketing?

Started by Aweandlorder,

99 posts in this topic

darkstar

darkstar

Posted
Posted
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.

 

Not really. For example, Aquaman 35 has been hot. As a result quite a few copies have been recently listed with somewhere around 10-30 copies available at any given time. While the increased interest in the book is likely going to lead the buyer to having pay more than normal, its still possible to get a decent deal because for one reason or another some of the listings will be ignored. Similarly Aquaman 29 has been hot lately, except there are never more than 5 or so available on eBay, which makes it all but impossible to get one at a steal.

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RockMyAmadeus

RockMyAmadeus

Posted
Posted

And for those of you who search auctions only as buyers...you might be missing out on some really great deals that way. I don't buy much on eBay, but I have been able to buy some pretty good deals, sometimes about 25% off of GPA, using BINs.

 

I used to filter out BINs, too, but I realized I was doing myself a disservice. Yes, there's a lot of drek to wade through, but the new big pictures next to the listing have helped that a lot...I can "pass" a lot quicker, and don't have to click the link and load the page.

 

Conversely, there are a lot of really decent deals to be had amongst the (now relatively rare) suckers sellers who start stuff off at 99 cents or some other low number.

 

 

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slym2none

slym2none

Posted
Posted

I guess my auctions need some of this "smart marketing" - I mean, large front & back scans, title, issue #, writer/artist, publisher, a description of how I will ship the book, and offering 1st Class for 1 or 2 books as well as other options just doesn't cut it anymore, it seems.

 

 

 

-slym

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Dr. Balls

Dr. Balls

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

 

+2

 

When patience gets the best of me and I start out at a .99¢ auction, I almost always get hurt.

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slym2none

slym2none

Posted
Posted

We have a stickied thread for packing comics for shipping - why don't we get one going for "How to sell your comics on eBay?" All the heavy-hitters who have the system under their thumb can share their tips and pointers for us pleebs to use.

 

hm

 

 

 

-slym

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THE_BEYONDER

THE_BEYONDER

Posted
Posted
We have a stickied thread for packing comics for shipping - why don't we get one going for "How to sell your comics on eBay?" All the heavy-hitters who have the system under their thumb can share their tips and pointers for us pleebs to use.

 

hm

 

 

 

-slym

 

I see successful sellers lining up to share this information....

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Chip Cataldo

Chip Cataldo

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

 

+2

 

When patience gets the best of me and I start out at a .99¢ auction, I almost always get hurt.

Some of us aren't lucky enough to sit on a bunch of BIN listings. I need money every week to pay the bills.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

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mosconi

mosconi

Posted
Posted

Been away from EBay CGC comic buying for almost 8 years. I remember back then, most CGC books started at .99 and the market dictated the final price. When did it change to now only crazy $ BINS. I used to love the anticipation of CGC auctions ending with the hopes of snatching a great deal. Doesn't look like that happens anymore!

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slym2none

slym2none

Posted
Posted
We have a stickied thread for packing comics for shipping - why don't we get one going for "How to sell your comics on eBay?" All the heavy-hitters who have the system under their thumb can share their tips and pointers for us pleebs to use.

 

hm

 

I see successful sellers lining up to share this information....

 

Let me remove my tongue from inside my cheek now...

 

;)

 

 

 

-slym

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Aweandlorder

Aweandlorder

Posted
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I guess my auctions need some of this "smart marketing" - I mean, large front & back scans, title, issue #, writer/artist, publisher, a description of how I will ship the book, and offering 1st Class for 1 or 2 books as well as other options just doesn't cut it anymore, it seems.

 

 

 

-slym

 

The only smart marketing about 0.99 auctions is the part when you lure an unsuspected buyer to your listing. That's it. From then on its a gamble. If he/she's the only buyer, your listing will end up like that FF 366 9.8. Awhile back I listed here a Killing Joke #1 NM 1st print that closed at 1.04, it closed that way cause at the time the seller listed it there were 5-6 other listing for the same book the same day. You could be the first listing it, but because there are 5-6 other listing for the same book listed after you, and they happen to have a higher fb score than you, you'd end up sucking it up. No smart marketing will ever help you then

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Aweandlorder

Aweandlorder

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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

 

+2

 

When patience gets the best of me and I start out at a .99¢ auction, I almost always get hurt.

Some of us aren't lucky enough to sit on a bunch of BIN listings. I need money every week to pay the bills.

 

Peace,

 

Chip

 

You know your business better than anyone else.

To me, and this is just me, I was listing 50 -50 auctions and BINS, I found out that I ended up working more on auctions (listing and shipping books that ended up selling for 1-5 bucks) and spending more on eBay listing (relisting more for auctions w a higher starting price)

I ended up doing more Lots instead of 1-5 dollar drek and making more money. I think that most sellers hate to list Lots because the listing is more involved, but I much rather do that and wait for someone to bite than listing hundreds of listings that will close at close to nothing

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Chip Cataldo

Chip Cataldo

Posted
Posted
You know your business better than anyone else.

To me, and this is just me, I was listing 50 -50 auctions and BINS, I found out that I ended up working more on auctions (listing and shipping books that ended up selling for 1-5 bucks) and spending more on eBay listing (relisting more for auctions w a higher starting price)

I ended up doing more Lots instead of 1-5 dollar drek and making more money. I think that most sellers hate to list Lots because the listing is more involved, but I much rather do that and wait for someone to bite than listing hundreds of listings that will close at close to nothing

You're absolutely right there. I've started to tweak things recently and am now keeping a list of titles with corresponding grades where if a certain issue of a title is not a minimum grade it goes into a lot with a BIN and if it's a higher grade and of a certain title then it goes up as a $1.99 start for a week's auction. It's started to decrease my volume as far as workload, but I've been selling a LOT more lots of books.

 

Books that would go a whole week without a $1.99 bid are selling for the same $1.99 as part of a larger lot. Nearly all of the books I list that way were had for 25-35 cents each, so I'm much happier with the result.

 

Now, if only I had more motivation... :)

 

Peace,

 

Chip

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Aweandlorder

Aweandlorder

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You know your business better than anyone else.

To me, and this is just me, I was listing 50 -50 auctions and BINS, I found out that I ended up working more on auctions (listing and shipping books that ended up selling for 1-5 bucks) and spending more on eBay listing (relisting more for auctions w a higher starting price)

I ended up doing more Lots instead of 1-5 dollar drek and making more money. I think that most sellers hate to list Lots because the listing is more involved, but I much rather do that and wait for someone to bite than listing hundreds of listings that will close at close to nothing

You're absolutely right there. I've started to tweak things recently and am now keeping a list of titles with corresponding grades where if a certain issue of a title is not a minimum grade it goes into a lot with a BIN and if it's a higher grade and of a certain title then it goes up as a $1.99 start for a week's auction. It's started to decrease my volume as far as workload, but I've been selling a LOT more lots of books.

 

Books that would go a whole week without a $1.99 bid are selling for the same $1.99 as part of a larger lot. Nearly all of the books I list that way were had for 25-35 cents each, so I'm much happier with the result.

 

Now, if only I had more motivation... :)

 

Peace,

 

Chip

 

Get a better playlist on your phone :gossip:

 

I kidd

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kav

kav

Posted
Posted

Chip for me anyway the hardest thing to motivate is to get me started. Once I'm rolling it doesnt seem to be an issue.

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