For all of you who have tried selling anything on Ebay...I have been frustrated when I put something up for sale and I can see there are lots of people watching the item but no one bids til the last hour so I am trying something different and I hope it works. I am selling my OEM Mini holey's w/Cont stock tires and I set the price at $199 to start. I already have 5 people "watching" so I added something into my description...I stated that if I have no bids after 3 days I will increase the price $25. If there are still no bids, I will increase it another $25 after another 3 days. I'm hoping this will encourage people to bid early instead of poaching it at the end. I don't think anyone on ebay does this. Any thoughts? good, bad, stupid? Regardless, it will be interesting to see what happens.

 

So all one has to do to "freeze" the opening price is to place a bid? I don't see how you, the seller, are ahead. If you are concerned about someone ending up with your item for way under what you think it is worth, use the reserve to protect yourself.

 

I understand what you are thinking about and it's really not a bad idea. The problem with the watchers is that a lot of times that's all they are and you have no indication of the interest of your item. It's ofter helpful to have early bids, it gives others that are watching an indication that someone else actually wants the item and they have to pay closer attention if they hope to submit a winning bid. You're still going to get the last minute bidders also, but that's ok.

I like the idea. I would suggest however, that you make your stipulation in fairly bold text at the beginning of the listing so people acutally see it.

Good luck with your idea.

 

As one who uses Auction Sniper, this would not change my bidding at all. I bid what I am willing to pay for the item. Increasing the opening bid from $200 to $250 over the course of the auction will not change this.

When I go to live auctions, the auctioneer will lower the opening bid to induce bidding. If he lowers it to a predetermined price and still doesn't ge a bid, the item goes unsold - which I've personally never seen happen. Granted, the auctions I've been to (mostly estate sales) are "everything must go!" auctions.

 

I would recommend that you start your auction price low to get some action and a lot of watchers going.

Last minute bidding is a fact of Ebay life. Don't try to change it because you can't. Putting all kinds of restrictions on it will just send the message that you are hard to deal with. It will decrease your ending price for sure!

Some recommendations are:
- end the auction during peak hours (afternoon, early evening weekdays)
- need tons of big pictures
- have great description, nice story, and make it clear you're a great person to do a transaction with.

regards,
francois

 

Some people like me watch the item so that I get an Idea of what things are going for at this time.

So I know in the future what items are going for if I'm planning to buy in the near future.



Paul

 

haven't you ever heard of making fake bids yourself with another fake account in order to drum up some interest???

 

If all you want is "bid action" start the bidding at 1 cent with a reserve of $150 or whatever your minimum asking price is. Most people wait to the end to bid to ensure that they get a good price unless it is a really hot or rare item. Good luck!

 

Please don't hate me because I am an E-Bay sniper

 

Which is a major ebay violation. :impatient

As an earlier poster have said. Start your items low and set a reserve. I usually start my items at $10 regardless of what I think it is worth. You can always do a "Buy It Now", but those actually tend to scare people of.

 

Ive sold 2 Minis on ebay.There is much more action on the sight than in Autotrader or other mags or regular ads.I set a secret reserve did not use "buy Now" sold MCS ).Make sure you get good pics .Spring is best time to sell if summer tires.Good luck

 

I still suspect that it happens a lot. I check the bid history of someone's previous auctions and it is pretty easy to find that fake account if it seems to bid on many of their auctions. . . That's when I usually stop bidding. . .

 

People will just wait until after the auction is over and then low ball you.

 

Having sold many things on eBay, I can say ... who cares when they bid. Put it up for $1 and let it be an auction. If the market bears out, it will sell for what the market will bear. Let it be a true auction, no reserve. Starting with a high price scares ppl away. If someone really wants it, they will buy it

 

I didn't say it doesn't happen.... a lot....

 

I see we have lots of "Ebayers' here. As a few have suggested, having a reserve is a good idea but I've seen auctions start at a buck and never hit the reserve so I decided against that. I know what I am doing is really different but I'm going to do it and see what happens. If no one bids after 3 days, the starting price is going up, not down.:impatient It should not be effective. For some strange reason, I think it will be...we'll see...

 

If ebay finds it they will immediately delete the auction.
I started asking people to pay the paypal fees in my auctions if that's how they wanted to pay. I don't care how i get paid as long as I get paid, so why should I have to pay out of my pocket for your convenience? But as soon as ebay saw that paypal statement in my auction asking my bidders to pay the fee if that's how they chose to pay, it was deleted and i got an email saying i violated ebay rules.

 

Hi, I'm not asking anyone to pay the Paypal fee, nor do I state that in my auction. I'm just saying that the price goes up if I have no bids so it's better if they bid early. In other words, if they bid now, they pay the lowest price unless someone outbids them. If they wait to bid on the final day, the starting bid will be higher. It may backfire on me and no one will bid. We'll see.

 

Me too Actually, I haven't been on ebay as much since purchasing my MINI... a guy's got to have his priorities, right?

But from a bidders perspective, I'll watch several of the same items to gauge what the end price might be. If there are a couple of auctions ending at the same time, I'll snipe at the auction with the lowest bid. For me, the Seller's feeback rating is most important. If they're not at least 95, forget it. If the seller only wants a check, forget it.

Raising the price as the auction goes on will turn off would be bidders.. IMHO good luck with it

 

Well I have a different sniping style I snipe with the highest price I am willing to pay for an item (in case there are other snipers trying to outsnipe me ). Usually I get the item at the lower price but at least E-Bay will bump my snipe bid up if need be so I don't lose it. If someone else snipes higher then they get the item

 

You can always just search for completed items to determine an items market value. THis way you don't have to wait weeks you have results now.

What he wants to do is not an Ebay violation (IMHO). It is a marketing schem to get bidders, which is what makest the price go up. Its worth a shot, what is there to loose except a listing fee.

I gave the man (EBAY) ALOT of money in fees last year, anything to get the listing success rate up is worth trying!

GOOD LUCK!

 

That, in my experience works quite well. This business of raising prices if theres no bid would turn me of from the seller in a fast way. Its like the thing with coke machines where the price goes up if it's hotter. As the limeys put it ...It's just not cricket..

 

If I can rant on about this a little...If the laws of economics dictate that your item is not selling or is not in demand, you LOWER the price, not raise it. I understand the auction angle, but if I'm watching an item that I want to buy, I will not be motivated to bid because the SELLER raises the price due to disinterest. If there is interest by BUYERS, I may bid if the price is still a bargain (the gist behind any non-charity auction). If the SELLER raises the price due to low or no bids, that tells me there is either something wrong with the item, or the SELLER is trying to maximize profit at the cost of prospective BUYERS. If as a SELLER you have a pre-determined minimum that you have to meet, set your reserve; anything on top of that is butter. The nature of ebay and even live auctions is that your bids will always come at the end.That's how it works. We sniff out the competition, stick a toe in the water to check the temp and then we either sit on the beach or jump in.That's an auction. Live with it. That's the beauty of our capitalist system.

 

I thought you only pay fees if it is successful? No one wins the auction no charge, isn't that correct?


Paul

 

This strategy has worked well for me: Choose your actual minimum and set that as your reserve price. Pay the extra fee and set a Buy It Now fee about 25% above your reserve and start your bidding at 99 cents.

I learned this when I was selling my Alfa GTV after I bought my MINI. The first time I listed it, I started the bidding at my minimum and got no bids. I relisted it with a higher reserve than the previous minimum but starting at 99 cents. I then set a really high Buy It Now price. The bidding eventually went well above the reserve (but not as high as the BIN). Bottom line: I made 50% more by lowering the starting price.

As a frequent seller, I use the watch feature more to watch other auctions so I can no what prices to use myself than I do for my own purchases.

You probably don't want to bite the invisible hand....