eBay are offering 10p insertion fees this Thursday for all auctions with a start price of under £15.
It’s a long time since eBay restricted a CLD to the cheaper end of the market, and the only conclusion I can draw from this is that conversion rates on eBay UK must be way down. Q2 figures are due in the next week or so, and while this CLD is too late to boost them, I think we might be in for some reading that’s less cheery than we’d like.
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12 Responses
Total carp,,, would someone with a brain please explain why limiting the listing price would be of any benefit to ebay? If they are tyring to stimulate auctions they need to do a lot better than that.
They want you to start your expensive baths at 99p, Whirly – coz you’re guaranteed a sale then. 🙁
Last time I listed a bath at 99p I pulled it 48 hours before the end because it had no bids,, the reserve was £300 below the RRP! no wonder 43% of ebay revenue is BIN or SIF.
So… Whirly sells big ticket things and doesn’t like auctions.
I sell little ticket items and don’t like auctions.
Please post here if you use auctions successfully… and give us an idea of what you sell. Seriously, I think eBay are five years behind the times here, but I’m prepared to be proved wrong.
I like auctions for products I *know* will sell and fetch reasonable prices. I don’t use them for products that *may* sell but have limited uptake. One bidder doesn’t make an auction, you need two (or preferably more!).
The only time I use auctions for DVD’s is when the DVD has been deleted by the studio, wait until there are only 2nd hand ones being sold on ebay, the Jersey companies are out of stock, and Amazon Market Place sellers are running low.
Due to the scarcity of that particular title you’ll get a good price, otherwise I give them a miss as I don’t like selling brand new DVD’s for 99p…
The biggest death knell for auctions was ebay setting the 12 hour deadline for pulling a poorly performing auction, as many people don’t want to gamble on there being sufficient interest in the closing period.
I’m wondering if eBay really are after the “cheap” end of the market, or if what they really want are the high cost products being listed on eBay to have low start prices.
It’s a shame they never do a promotion where say you start your item at 99p or less and it sells for over £30 then FVF are halved or similar.
the high cost products being listed on eBay to have low start prices
I’m sure that’s exactly right – however, my point about auctions is that the days of 99p start, three million quid finish seem to be largely behind us.
I used to do very very well with 99p start auctions and had a bad time if I didn’t fire off at least 2 2nd chance offers, I think the problem started when they started listing the lowest price items first instead of ending soonest, ending soonest means you are bidding to get something at a good price, lowest price means you are making silly bids to show interest in an item that might have another 7-10 days to run, in the meantime the buyer has got bored and purchased using a SIF or BIN, there is no excitement in the auctions anymore.
I use auctions for all collectable items. Because if two collectors want something they will bid each other up, and I can guess all I like, but I probably won’t believe the price they will be prepared to pay.
I start at the price I want to get, basically my reserve, although for very expensive items I often still use reserve auctions so I can see how close people are likely to want to get. The effect of this is rather like legally shilling my auctions if you like…. 🙂 since I can offer a Second Chance to the top bidder if they get anywhere near a price that gives me a profit.
I’ll only use the shop for things which have a definite market price.
I sell 2nd hand CDs and jewellery. Jewellery is absolutely a BIN market. It’s all about impulse buyer or wanting something for an occasion or a present for someone – auctions are a waste of time and anyway I know what price I want and what the market will bear.
CDs are a different kettle of fish – if it’s deleted/rare prices tend to be all over the place so I use auctions to try to get the best possible price. However CDs that would get me £5+ a year ago are often finishing now at the start price of £2 (I tend to start at the lowest price I will accept) and for current stuff it’s a waste of time listing at all when the supermarkets are selling new releases for £7 and back catalogue stuff for £3.99.
Besides 10p listing days are no use at all when CD listings are 5p/10p anyway.
Hi 🙂
Mark here from classic-quality-collectables.
Ebay need to understand that if there are 5 items with 2 buyers, then Auctions are not the way to go.
If there is one item with 5 buyers then auction is the way to go…
Bin and Auction should work in tandem with the seller deciding what is the best format for them.
Ebay should provide the formats and then let the sellers, choose which one is best and market accordingly.
Trying to force the market back to auctions is stultifying its natural growth and its inherent dynamics.
Low start prices on common items serve only one perspective…
Ebays.
Low start prices are free marketing for Ebay, of course they want you to start items low!
I would love to do a full article on this Chris, Sue, so if you want a guest post on this, I am here 🙂
Mark