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.
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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”
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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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Christer
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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 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
Selling expensive items on eBay is really not different from selling low cost items. Essentially, regardless what you are selling, it all comes down to how you market the item. This does not mean you have to surf around the Internet placing ads everywhere. When it comes to eBay auctions, the marketing is all done at the eBay website. When you set up your auction, you are beasically setting up an automated marketing campaign.
First, you must determine the value of your item(s) in three different ways. This will help you determine what your reserve price is. On eBay, the reserve price is the lowest price that you are willing to accept for your item.
First, have your high priced item evaluated to determine what the actual market value is. Next, research similar items from past auctions at eBay to see what price those items were sold for. Finally, determine what the value of the item is to you. With this information, you should be able to determine the lowest amount you are willing to sell the item for.
Set your reserve price, and then set your opening bid price lower than $50, regardless how high your reserve price is. This is marketing tactic. It will be hard to attract potential buyers to an auction for an item selling for hundreds or thousands of dollars. However, brining them to an auction where the opening bid is only $50 is quite simple. Remember, you donot have to sell the item to anyone who bids less than your reserve price, unless you choose to do so at the close of the auction. This method of price setting resembles marketing gimmicks often used by offline businesses that are simply designed to ‘get customers in the door.’
Work hard on the description for your listing. Use words that really describe your item(s) well. Provide as many details as possible, including details that prove the authenticity of collectible items. Include pictures of the item(s) as well. Please, do not try to deceive potential buyers! If the item has marks or scratches, simply be honest about it, and make sure that the pictures convey this as well. State how the item will be packed and shipped. Also let potential buyers know that shipping insurance must be purchased as well – in case the item(s) gets damaged once it leaves your possession.
For higher priced items, most eBay buyers feel more comfortable using an escrow service. Offer this as an option in your auction, with the understanding that the buyer must pay for the service. This protects both parties from fraud, and it makes many buyers more open spending the money in order to obtain the item.
eBay has partnered with an escrow service that is commonly used for high ticket items.
* * * * *
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”
* * * * *
For additional information on said subject, please read the post
eBay – Useful Tips on Making, Not Losing Money on eBay
Also browse the ‘eBay’ category for additional eBay postings
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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
Many people who are trying to start an eBay business spend a great deal of time trying to figure out which items are the best to sell on eBay. Many of these people have elaborate systems for determining this information, and many others purchase expensive courses that teach them how to find this information as well. None of that is necessary. Everything you need to know is right in front of you – on the eBay website!
Take a look at any category, and you will see the word ‘hot’ beside some items. These items are not marked as hot sellers randomly – there is a method to all the madness! Items only get marked as hot when there has been more than thirty bids placed on
the item. All you have to do is surf around the eBay website for a while to find an item that will do well.
However, most power sellers will agree that there is more to figuring out which items are best to sell than this. In fact, they claim that it is a science. A great way to start your search for items that might result in a successful future auction is to do research on the auctions that were successful in the past. You can view old listings that have completed at: http://listings.ebay.com .
A new way to determine what items sell best on eBay is ‘eBay Marketplace Research’. Marketplace Research will allow you to view important statistical
information regarding buying trends at eBay. This product contains all of the data one could possibly ever need to determine how well – or how poorly – an item will do in an eBay auction. However, there is a small fee for using the eBay Marketplace Research tools.
Another tool that might be very useful in your quest for finding hot selling items for your eBay auctions is the listing of popular eBay search terms that is found on the site. This list can be found at: http://popular.ebay.com/. This list is divided into
categories, which will make it easier to determine how popular your potential item may be.
Please do not make the mistake of thinking that an item will do poorly, or that it will do well without first doing your homework on the item. Some of the strangest things sell for the highest prices, while items that would sell quickly in any other environment just sit there. Almost any eBay Power Seller will tell you that the key to a successful auction rests in the amount of research you put into the items you hope to sell.
* * * * *
If you seriously thinking of earning 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
Many new sellers don’t fully realise how important pricing is when it comes to eBay auctions. Many don’t even realise that ‘pricing’ needs to be done. After all, eBay is an auction site! But eBay auctions are not quite the same as the auctions you attend in the offline world. In fact, quite a bit of work goes into determining and setting prices on eBay.
Essentially, there are only three prices that can beset for an eBay auction:
- the ‘buy it now’ price
- the reserve price
- the starting bid price.
Of these three, the starting bid price is the only one that is required for an eBay auction. The reserve price and the ‘buy it now’ price are optional. The starting bid
price is fairly simple – never set it higher than $50 or so – no matter what your item is really worth. This low opening price will get bidders to your auction.
Setting low starting bid prices creates the need for a reserve price. A reserve price is the absolute lowest price that you want to get for your item. You may sell the item below the reserve price, but you will not be required to. In other words, if you set your reserve price at $100, and your highest bid is only $50, you do not have to sell the item to the highest bidder. You can close the auction without any negative feedback or repercussions. Set your reserve price at the absolute lowest price you are willing to sell your item for. Keep what the item is worth, as well as what it cost you in mind.
The ‘buy it now’ option will allow you to set a price and buyers can buy the item immediately, without bidding, for that set price. This option can be used for any type of item, and it should be set to match your reserve, give or take a few dollars. This option is great if you have multiple identical items to sell.
Shipping has a price, and potential buyers take this into consideration when they are looking at an auction. If you can see your way clear to offer free shipping, you will find that people are placing more bids. Make sure that your potential buyers realise that you are offering free shipping!
Before setting any prices, you need to determine what the item is really worth. The value of the item in different markets might be quite high. However, you are selling on eBay and eBay is a different world altogether! Find out the price that similar items are sold for on eBay before setting any prices. If it is a collectable, or a high ticket item, have the item evaluated to ensure that you are not going to lose money!
* * * * *
If you seriously thinking of earning 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 – 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