If you sell cards on eBay how do you decide between auction or fixed price?
 

If you sell cards on eBay how do you decide between auction or fixed price?

I always do buy it now OBO. That way I'm never unhappy with the selling price...

I .99 cent auction everything. I figure what it goes for is what it's worth.

If you need to sell an item, do auction, no reserve...if you have an item that you'd like to test the waters, but don't really need to sell, then do a BIN with a robust price.

I start mine at 99 cents with free shipping (since ebay started taking part of that too) and trusting the market...actually hoping for a 'feeding frenzy'.


I only use BIN if I want to make sure I don't loose any money.

Does anyone know if eBay is still automatically relisting fixed price items?

Auctions are dead. Extinct. When I see an auction listing I salivate. If you want to maximize your sell price, don't do auction. I do buy it now with best offer option. You can set to automatically relist. I do 30 day listings.

I use auctions for items that are mainstream enough that I expect people will be searching for them and it won't get overlooked. For more obscure pieces I do a BIN.

I believe that there are many people who will pay more in auction because of the reassurance that their max bid will always be only 1 increment over the second highest bid (which is the science behind the auction approach that nowadays has become almost standard) but won't risk an unusual item getting overlooked.

I always do BIO with the Best Offer option unless I need the money fast- then I try to pick cards that I won't care as much about letting go

It's not an either/or. You can start with a sale, then later switch it to auction. Many big sellers have tons of stuff up for sale, then have a weekly or whatever auction of some stuff.

I just sold off about 300 T206 cards in 20 card bursts over the past week or two on ebay. I did almost every one as a 1-day auction with a .99 cent starting price. The amount of attention was more than sufficient. I did pretty well. I do think I may have done slightly better with the 3-day auction format.

I don't like going more than 3 days because people forget about listings. They get the email in the morning that there is a listing. They check it out and realize it ends in a few hours, and they get to thinking. I like to find the buyers and keep them interested in bidding on the same day.

I often do better with the auction format than I was even asking for in the BIN format. E.g., a $200 BIN that doesn't sell will sometimes sell for $225 or $250. I think BINs get ignored, even if they're reasonable.

Edited to note: This works for T206s because there are SO many collectors. If you're talking about a rare item, you may take a different approach.

I once had a E98 Cobb ( ratty) up on a .99 cent auction or BIN of $800. It sold via the auction at $820- go figure

Depends on the individual card, whether it's a modern card or vintage.

Quite a few factors to consider on selling vintage cards on Ebay.

Modern cards can be completely different since most sellers fail to look at sold listings and don't understand that they are setting the market price. I don't sell much in the way of vintage on Ebay, but on modern cards, I always start them in a bid style auction at an opening bid I'm willing to accept or I do a Buy it Now/Best Offer. I've learned over years that I will never start an auction at .99 cents.

So to answer your question, I take into consideration the individual card and the factors that apply to it.

You must've had a reserve on the card.

Nope

Yeah, I think we take for granted that the market is aware of all of its options. Like when an item sells for more at Heritage than the BIN price of the same card on eBay.

Same thing happens to me here when I list something on BST that doesn't sell. Put it on the auction thread here and watch it sell for more. Doesn't always happen, but happens enough that you shake your head.

I love this...try to mix it up.

This is how I run my sports memorabilia side of the business on eBay. I try auctions first at an opening price I would be OK with if it sold. If it does not sell at auction, I put it in my store at a retail-ish price but with the Best Offer option. This strategy is fine if you don't need to sell anything immediately and have the patience to wait for a sale.

Jeff

Thanks for all the responses!

In my eBay store I usually start items as $6.99 auctions. If they don't sell after a few rounds, I will usually set them as fixed price sales at the minimum. I won't do that with something expensive or rare; those usually are set at fixed price sales.

This 7 day auction has less than 20 hours to go. Started at $.99, there it sits at $2.25. This is a painful selling experience. These things tend to sell for $50 to $150. So much for auctions. Predictions?

http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53...UAAOSwT75ZlI1L

now its 6.50!:)

I'm feeling better now.

Like I said...The auction format on Ebay is all but dead. When I see an auction listing, I know there's a good chance I'm getting a bargain. That said...the real bidding won't occur until the final 30 seconds.