Selling on E-bay

[boomtown]

Alright, it's been 3 or 4 years since I actively sold on e-bay. I'm getting ready to start up again. Anyone have any input as far as how well "Buy it nows" work? Combined with "Best Offer"? I'm not even sure if these features were available last time I was selling. Is it worthwhile to go ahead & price something pretty high with the "Best Offer" tab, knowing that your going to receive offers 25-50% lower? As a lazy bidder, many times I'm just looking for the "best offfer" tab so I can get it now at a reasonable deal. E-bay vets? Thoughts? What works for you?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Mark

[Johnny G]

I think the "Best Offer" combined with a higher than anticipated BIN works best. From experience, things will sell without an offer even being placed... I can't understand people's logic.

 

But then again, I'm not complaining either!

 

John

[BRNebraska]

Best bet with the "Best Offer" is to use the feature that automatically rejects any offers below a certain amount. Then the only ones that come through will be ones high enough to bother with. Very handy feature with "Best Offers".

[AbsoluteCarnage]

I agree with John on that one. Say you want 60 USD for a book put a BIN of 75 and someone will likely best offer it at around 60-65 thinking they are getting a deal but really hitting your original target anyway. That's if it doesn't go on a BIN first.

[Heresy]

Also with "Best Offer" you have 48 hours to respond so you can wait for better offers or a BIN before agreeing to the offer.

[Rob]

I agree with John on that one. Say you want 60 USD for a book put a BIN of 75 and someone will likely best offer it at around 60-65 thinking they are getting a deal but really hitting your original target anyway. That's if it doesn't go on a BIN first.

 

I had an X-men 94 CGC 3.0 in my store for $75 BIN with Best Offer. GPA is around $60, and a 3.0 sold on eBay just days ago for $65. So I considered lowering the price, or adding free shipping. However yesterday, someone popped by $75 BIN with no counteroffer.

[sterlingcomics]

I agree with everyone here...eBay's best offer feature looks safer (and probably cheaper) than using Reserves...which based on my experience tends to work against the seller.

 

In fact, unless it's a high price item (or scarce).....best offer seems the way to go to maximize return...cheaper items still sell best with low starting prices and no reserve in the traditional auction format.

 

Store fronts have become cost prohibitive for a lot of comic sellers, and typically can't be justified..but your situation may vary. I think this has helped increase activity on other comic consignment sites, as the best isn't always on the bay.

[KEY ISSUES Comics]

I think the "Best Offer" combined with a higher than anticipated BIN works best. From experience, things will sell without an offer even being placed... I can't understand people's logic.

 

But then again, I'm not complaining either!

 

John

I think that is because some people are afraid the item will sell by the time the seller replies to the offer, so they simply BUY IT NOW instead if the price is reasonable.

[Calamerica]

Just be careful. Lots of insane, unreasonable bidders out there.

 

They want EVERYTHING.

 

jaded CAL

[Jeffro.]

When we talk about using BIN with Best Offer are we talking CGC books, raw books, or both?

 

I'm leery of trying to sell raw books on ebay because I don't think I will get even close to guide for most things. I'm not talking modern drek or common copper stuff. I'm talking older books.

 

How do ebay sellers do with accurately graded, reasonably priced raw SA and BA books using BIN with best offer?

[boomtown]

Alright, after test running auctions for the last couple of weeks with the BIN & Best Offer features I gotta say I like it. I threw some stuff up that i had previously tried to move on these boards. I got a few lowball offers here but very little real interest. I put them up on ebay with a BIN priced higher than I expected to get but 70% of the stuff moved at BIN prices! Everything went for more than I was asking for from board members. I really expected to get a bunch of silly offers, but even the ones I refused weren't that far out of line. Out of the 10 or so auctions, all payments were made within a day or 2. Just wanted to report a experience with this method on ebay. I think by giving the buyer the opportunity to make an immediate purchase, it really helps in selling the item. Plus, at least in my case, most people didn't make silly low offers.

[Johnny G]

Alright, after test running auctions for the last couple of weeks with the BIN & Best Offer features I gotta say I like it. I threw some stuff up that i had previously tried to move on these boards. I got a few lowball offers here but very little real interest. I put them up on ebay with a BIN priced higher than I expected to get but 70% of the stuff moved at BIN prices! Everything went for more than I was asking for from board members. I really expected to get a bunch of silly offers, but even the ones I refused weren't that far out of line. Out of the 10 or so auctions, all payments were made within a day or 2. Just wanted to report a experience with this method on ebay. I think by giving the buyer the opportunity to make an immediate purchase, it really helps in selling the item. Plus, at least in my case, most people didn't make silly low offers.

 

Congratulations!

 

Glad to hear all worked out for you... and not one bit surprised that you got more than asking prices here!

 

John