Buy it Now vs auctions on eBay

[Oldtix]

Ebay changed their listing and selling fees earlier this year, and that has caused a huge shift away from auctions. They touted "free insertion fees" in all their news releases, but that only applies if your starting bid is less than $1.00 and you don't have a reserve...a pretty risky proposition for the seller. Any other auction listing costs from 25 cents to $2.00 per item, whether the item sells or not.

Ebay also provided greater incentive for sellers to open ebay stores which offer reduced listing fees. In my case, it only costs 5 cents to list a buy-it-now item regardless of the fixed price. I can list 40 fixed-price items for the price of one $200 item listed as an auction...and can ensure that I'm satisfied to sell at that price.

Anything sold under the auction format has a 9% final value fee regardless of price. Generally, fixed-price final value fees are higher if the item brings less than $100, but they are dramatically lower if it sells for more (and, if you have a good feedback record and maintain an ebay store, you earn additional discounts on final value fees).

A $100 ebay sale via a fixed price "buy-it-now" listing costs $9.00 in final value fees and a 5 cent insertion fee. If you sell the same item via auction, you also pay $9.00 in final value fees and a higher insertion fee (unless your start bid was less than a dollar).

If it brings more than $100, the fixed price selling fees are far, far less. On a $1,000 item, auction final value fee is $90 and fixed-price final value fee is $63. For a $2,000 item, auction costs $180 and fixed-price costs $83.

I only use the auction format for exceptional items when I'm unsure of the market value. The only advantage the auction format has under today's pricing is a listing has a better chance of being seen. Personally, it was more fun the way it used to be!