You will often find yourself facing the choice of whether to pay a fixed price or keep on bidding. This choice might be presented to you in a single auction, or you might be choosing between different auctions of the different types.
So should you use that ‘Buy it Now’ button or keep on trying to outbid everyone else? It is all a question of weighing up the advantages and disadvantages.
Buy it Now.
- The Advantages.
When you use Buy it Now, you know the asking price and you can take some time to decide whether to pay it or not – you can even negotiate. You do not have to keeping your eye on the auction, or get caught up in the last-minute bidding frenzy that is now inevitable on any popular item. Not only that, but the seller will be happy to get a fixed price for their item, and they are likely to nicer to you than usual. Some sellers can be a little resentful when they feel that you got a little too much of a bargain on their item.
- The Disadvantages.
You will almost certainly pay more for the item, especially with more expensive items. Also, it takes some of the fun out of eBay. Are you not there for an auction, after all? If you want to pay a fixed price then there are thousands of online stores you could be visiting. It is like pressing ‘collect’ instead of ‘gamble’ on a fruit machine. It is the boring option. But anyway, maybe that is what you want.
These rules are relatively constant. There are few instances when using ‘Buy it Now’ would allow you to get something cheaper or when bidding would be an easier way to do it. In the end, as with so many things in life, it is a simple question of price versus convenience. It is up to you.
There are those times, though, when the strategic use of the ‘Buy it Now’ button can be a useful tool to help you outwit your competition. If the current bid is almost as high as the Buy it Now price, then why bid higher and keep the contest going? Clicking that button is a no-brainer. The same goes for times when a seller has, for some reason, set the Buy it Now price only slightly higher than their starting price for bids. Why bother to go through all the hassle of bidding?
You might also find that there are times when you should leave the ‘Buy it Now ‘ button as a last resort. It can be a useful way of ending last-minute contests with a decisive ‘this is mine’ gesture.
In fact, there are all sorts of tricks you can use on eBay, if you want to get ahead of the game. Remember that most buyers on eBay are casual, and do not know what they are doing. A little knowledge can go a long way in getting you an advantage. Our next email will have a few tips and tricks for you.
* * * * *
If you seriously thinking of earning, not losing BIG money on eBay, I definitely recommend a very successful product how to market eBay(R) auctions
eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches -
as a successful eBay Seller, you will need it!
Take Action – Click Here to Download “eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches”
* * * * *
Another viable and most recommendable option, when starting up an eBay business, is to make use of the drop shipping concept, which you can read about in the post – eBay and Drop shipping – What Is It All About?
Click here to find out more about drop shipping.
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Stay tuned,
Christer
BTW
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If you find the information useful, don’t hesitate to Tweet or email the post to your friends and colleagues and set up a link on your own blog!
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Over the years, eBay has introduced all sorts of different auction types, in an effort to give people more options when they buy and sell their things on eBay.
There are many people who do not like the idea that their item might sell for a much lower price than they intend. Equally, there are people who have hundreds of the same item and do not want to sell them individually. This email gives you an overview of the different kinds of auctions and how to spot them.
Normal Auctions.
These are the bread-and-butter of eBay, the auctions everyone knows. You bid, others outbid you, you outbid them, and the winner gets the item. Quite simple.
Reserve Auctions.
Reserve auctions are for sellers who do not want their items to sell for less than a certain price, a concept you will know about if you are familiar with real auctions. They work just like normal auctions on eBay, except that you will be told if your bid has not met the reserve price set by the seller. If no one is willing to meet this price, then the auction is cancelled, and the seller keeps the item.
You can spot these auctions by looking out for ‘Reserve not met’ or ‘Reserve met’ written next to the current bid on an item’s description page.
Fixed Price (’Buy it Now’) Auctions.
‘Buy it Now’ auctions can work in one of two ways. A seller might add a Buy it Now button to a normal auction, meaning that you can choose either to bid normally or to simply pay the asking price and avoid the whole bidding process. Some sellers, though, now cut out the auction process altogether and simply list all their items at fixed price. Recently, eBay added a twist to fixed price auctions. They introduced the ‘best offer’. This implies that you can negotiate a price to someone who offers their items using ‘Buy it Now’, which could be a great way to get a bargain on things that don’t seem to be selling.
Fixed price auctions are easy to spot, as they have a little ‘Buy it Now’ logo either next to or instead of the current number of bids on the search listings page.
Multiple Item (’Dutch’) Auctions.
These are auctions where a seller is selling more than one of a certain item. Dutch auctions can be done by bidding. Buyers bid a price and say how many items they want, and then everyone pays the lowest price that was bid by one of the winning bidders. If you have trouble getting your head around that then do not worry, everyone else is having the same problem! These auctions are very rare.
What is more common is when a seller has a lot of one item, and lists it using a combination of two auction types. A multiple-item fixed price auction. This just means that they say how many they have, and offer them at a fixed price. You can enter how many you want and then just click ‘Buy it Now’ to get them.
After all this, you might find yourself facing a dilemma. When you have the option, should you bid, or should you just use ‘Buy it Now’ and save yourself the hassle?
This is what the next posting will be about.
* * * * *
If you seriously thinking of earning, not losing BIG money on eBay, I definitely recommend a very successful product how to market eBay(R) auctions
eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches -
as a successful eBay Seller, you will need it!
Take Action – Click Here to Download “eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches”
* * * * *
Another viable and most recommendable option, when starting up an eBay business, is to make use of the drop shipping concept, which you can read about in the post – eBay and Drop shipping – What Is It All About?
Click here to find out more about drop shipping.
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Stay tuned,
Christer
BTW
Do you also remember to FOLLOW ME on Twitter?
If you find the information useful, don’t hesitate to Tweet or email the post to your friends and colleagues and set up a link on your own blog!
http://twitter.com/christerfolke
Over the years, eBay has introduced all sorts of different auction types, in an effort to give people more options when they buy and sell their items on eBay.
For every seller who does not like the idea that their item might sell for a much lower price than they intend, there are others who want to shift hundreds of the same item as quickly as possible “over the counter”. eBay tries to cater for all tastes.
This posting will try to give you an overview of the different kinds of auctions and their advantages for you.
Normal Auctions.
These are the bread-and-butter of eBay, the auctions everyone knows. Buyers bid, others outbid them, they bid again, and the winner gets the item. Quite simple.
Reserve Auctions.
Reserve auctions are for sellers who do not want their items to sell for less than a certain price – a concept you must be acquainted with if you are familiar with real auctions. They work just like normal auctions on eBay, except that the buyer will be told if their bid does not meet the reserve price you set, and the buyer has to bid again if he or she really wants the item. If no one is willing to meet your price, then the auction is cancelled, and you keep (are stuck with) the item.
Fixed Price (’Buy it Now’) Auctions.
‘Buy it Now’ auctions can work in one of two ways. You can add a ‘Buy it Now’ button to a normal auction, meaning that buyers can choose either to bid normally or to simply pay the asking price and thereby avoiding the whole bidding process. Some sellers though, might now cut out the auction process altogether and simply list all their items at a fixed price. This lets you avoid all the complications (hassle) of the auction format and simply list your items for how much you want to have them sold for.
Recently, eBay added a twist to fixed price auctions: the ‘best offer’. This means that buyers can contact you to negotiate a price, which could be a good way to get to sell some extra stock at a small discount. The only downside to reserve and fixed price auctions is that you pay a small extra fee to use these formats. In general, it is more worthwhile using reserve auctions for higher-priced items and fixed price auctions for lower-priced ones – but remember that you can combine the two formats.
Multiple Item (’Dutch’) Auctions.
These are auctions where you can sell more than one piece of a certain item. Dutch auctions can be done through bidding. Buyers bid a price and say how many items they want, and then everyone pays the lowest price that was bid by one of the winning bidders. If you have trouble getting your head around that, then do not worry, everyone else has the same problem as you too! These auctions are therefore very rare.
What is more common is when a seller has a lot of one item, and lists it using a combination of two auction types, i.e. a multiple-item fixed price auction. This just means that you can just say how many of the item you then have, and offer them at a fixed price per unit. Buyers can enter how many they want and then just click ‘Buy it Now’ to get them.
Now that you know about the different types of auctions, you should make sure that the items you plan to sell do not violate eBay’s listing policies. The next posting will let you know what is allowed and what is a BIG no-no.
* * * * *
If you seriously thinking of earning, not losing BIG money on eBay, I definitely recommend a very successful product how to market eBay(R) auctions
- eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches -
as an eBay Seller, you will need it!
Take Action – Click Here to Download “eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches”
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Stay tuned,
Christer
BTW
Do you also remember to FOLLOW ME on Twitter?
My new content from all my web pages is also going there
If you find the information useful, don’t hesitate to Tweet or email the post to your friends and colleagues and set up a link on your own blog!
http://twitter.com/christerfolke