BIN's and bids

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Posted By: jay behrens 

Just a note for new people out there. It's generally considered bad form to kill the BIN on someone's auction by placing a small bid. I've had it happen and I know a few other people have too. If the BIN is higher than you want to pay and are hoping to get it cheap, use the 'watch this tiem' feature instead.

Seeing your BIN wiped out in the first few hours of an auction really sucks, especially when it is another board member that did it.

Jay

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Posted By: Ben

Having BIN's killed early is a pain. Only solution (I guess) is higher starting bids or reserves to go along with your BIN's...

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Posted By: Marc S.

Sellers can very easily dissuade this happening by having higher BINs or reserves on their auctions. Especially if they are setting a very low opening bid simply to avoid Ebay listing fees.

I have often hit the starting bid on auctions where I had no clue what the final bid would be -- but in doing so, I ended up killing the BIN. Sometimes I win the auction at that initial bid.

This is not a required form of Ebay etiquette. In reality, sellers can easily manage around this happening if they so choose.

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

unfortunately there's not really an ebay 'etiquette'. Bidders snipe, renig, cancel and every other form of getting or not getting something they're bidding on. To eliminate quick bids on BIN items, just put the starting bid a little higher. When someone puts $10.00 opening bid and $200.00 BIN, odds are that someone will hit the $10.00 and not the $200.00. Don't know if I'm being to disparate in that example, but some people put totally unrealistic BINs on their items in relation to the opening bids.........(not you Jay......)

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Posted By: Hankron

Two Points.

I don't think it's a bright idea to disuade people from bidding in your auctions. Seems like common sense to me. To anyone who's reading this, you are more than welcome to bid in my auctions in your style of choice. Etiquette schmetiquette, place those bids!

Maybe it's me, but I don't understand BIN and eBay bidders sometimes. I put up an item with a minimum bid and BIN of $9.99 (with free shipping). I had thought it was obvious that I was trying to sell it for $9.99 to the first taker. The thing ended up going for $17!

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Posted By: jay behrens

The only problem with putting a reserve on your auction is that many people, including many here, hate reserve price auction and won't bid on them.

Low starting bids not help lower your listing cost, but also helps create ation for the auction. People are more inclined to bid on an auction that has a number of bids already.

And as I mentioned before, if you are looking to get the card on the cheap, why not put it on your watch list instead? you always place that cheap bid at the last minute rather than killing the BIN when the auction first appears.

Jay

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Posted By: Albie O'Hanian

I agree with Marc S. However, if the buy it now is fairly reasonable I will not place a bid if I was just bidding because I wanted to get a deal on the card. I would put it in my Watch This Item feature, but if the buy it now appears to be way too high, I usually put a bid in.

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

not much on the 'watch' feature from ebay. Because, invariably, I FORGET because I'm well over 30 years old now......(36 to be exact), so I generally go to my old standby, auctionsniper.com or another software and put a bid in there that might be below an unreasonable BIN or well above a current bid (around where I'd like to buy the item). If it hits, great, if not, so be it. Anyway, sometimes on ebay when someone you bid against regularly sees your i.d. that gets them pumped up a little and they'll bid more. I'm not fond of sniping but have given in to all the times I've been sniped and said screw it, I'm joining them.

Anyway, if someone REALLY wants an item and won't bid on it because there's a reserve, then they really didn't want it that bad to begin with. Many people put the reserves on to get the bidding started while protecting their investment. Some will even reveal the reserve. Some even put it in the auction itself. I use them occasionally for my protection and I've heard few complaints and most often they're hit. I know theres a few out there that won't bid but there's generally enough people bidding that those people probably would get outbid anyway.

Just my opinion, which, with $3.75 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks..........

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Posted By: Julie Vognar

I Bought it Now for $4,500--is that high enough for you? It was a Mayo Anson--Mayos, in case you haven't noticed, have become as scarce as hen's teeth.

If you don't want someone to Buy it Now, don't LIST a BIN price! I never heard of a seller complaining that someone Bought it Now for too little--who put the price there to begin with anyway?

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Posted By: JC

I think some people put a high "Buy it Now" price to set the tone of it being a nice lot. There are many people who can't wait or want to risk waiting, so they buy it now. Many times, the reserve may only be half the Buy it now price. Sorda like Hunt, they give you a rough estimate on the ending price when it could be half that. It makes the novice feel better when he sees a 1000 expectation or buy it now price and he's bidding 400.00