I'm wondering if Ebay buyers have a hurd mentality. Do they bid because others are bidding? Are they scared to pull the trigger on a buy it now, because they are unsure what they want? I recently place 24.3 Grams 14k jewlery for sale (buy it now) at a price of 650.00. Market value is about 680.00. I have strong feedback of selling gold. However, after recieveing about 30 best offers ranging from 450.00 to 600.00 I decided to send it to an auction. With an hour left its up to 670.00. No takers at 650.00 but people bid like crazy to get it to 670.00. I always start my auctions at .99 cents no reserve, and it seems to generate a ton of bids. Do others experience problems with buy it now
I think a lot of eBay buyers won't even look at Buy It Now items because they falsely assume that the item must be over-priced. I see it all the time. I'll bid on an coin in a pure auction, get outbid when I hit my max, then I turn around and buy the same coin in the same condition on a buy it now, and actually pay less than the coin I was just bidding on just sold for. I think the herd mentality, and ego have a lot to do with this phenomenon. Some people become psychologically attached to the item they are bidding on, as more bidders join the auction, they will increase their bid amount, and some have an ego that says "I'm not going to let anyone outbid me." Some BIN items are obviously over-priced, but you can find a lot that are right in the grey-sheet bid range or even lower if you look hard enough. Some dealers may be clearing out inventory. If you do your home-work, it's been my experience that you can find great deals on BIN items. I also really like BIN with the best offer option, that's on line haggling, pure and simple.
I think most ebays don't care for BIN's because they are usually close to the full market price. In the auction format they feel more like they have a chance at getting a bargin if they get lucky. This encourages bidding. Then once the bidding begins they continue bidding even if the price is at or above where they could have gotten it with a BIN because most people don't like to feel they "lost out" to someone else for just a small amount. "another $5 and it could be mine!" (bidding fever)
I've had many items w/ b.i.n. option and many sold that way. Sometimes, I think, a bidding war occurs. I watch quite a few things on Ebay and I'll wait until last day (or minute) to bid hoping that zero bids will keep others away. When I bid, I know what I want at the price I am willing to pay. PERIOD. I don't mess around with "creeping" my bid up a little at a time.
Ebay BIN's When I do a search on ebay for whatever, on items ending soonest, I check the box with Buy it Now's and eliminate them from my search. I do this because most BIN's are overpriced and I see the same stuff all the time.I have bought a few BIN's but only on newly listed item searches. Reasonably priced BIN's items, like your gold listing, are few and far between.
With gold its pretty cut and dry what its worth. they could of had it 30.00 under melt. Now the bid is almost at melt. Its like they were to concentrated on getting a better deal, they didnt see the actual deal in front of them
BIN Buyer Mentality Through test listings on various sites, I've found eBay BIN buyers to be the most responsive buyers when the BIN price is slightly less than market pricing, and free S/H is offered. Most BIN offerings that I've seen on eBay and other sites appear to be directed towards the unenlightened buyer. I believe that most eBay buyers are of the opinion that they can find a better auction price, and like the norm occasionally get enveloped in the bidding process by not placing a reasonable cap on their bid. I've found eBid buyers to be the worst at accepting a fantastic BIN price, but continue to list there because of the site affiliation with Google searches. I have placed PCGS certified gold on the site at less than melt, for an extended period, without receiving a bid, subsequently listing on eBay at 110% without free S/H, to promptly sell. A current example is that I've a desirable Gold item, eBid BIN w/free S/H, listed at 20% less than recent eBay sales prices, which I believe will ultimately be sold on eBay for at least 15% greater than the price offered, with the buyer paying S/I. My normal NET gain expected by selling the aforementioned example on eBay will be ~$175. Just my humble opinion. Rich
I agree with the people who said that BIN is usually overpriced, and if you use eBay a lot, you come to expect that. I still buy coins with it, but only when the price is low enough. I do think that buyers often succumb to the urge to go just a little higher to win that item. I know most of what I lose out on, I'm only outbid by 25 cents, but of course I have to remember that the winner's max was probably still higher. EBay is weird though. I've listed coins three or four times and gotten no bids at all, then the next time I get three bids. It's the same coin, same listing, so what is different now? Sometimes it just needs to be seen by the right people. Combined shipping is a good way to get people to bid higher and on things they otherwise wouldn't too. Something you wouldn't normally bid on, you do because it's going to be a great deal.
Its a herd mentality, a lot of them are really too ignorant or lazy to price the material themselves. However, starting something at 99c is dangerous bc you could end up giving away a nice item for peanuts. Frankly with their high fees and the way they butt in to a sellers business, I wish ebay was like TTR where the seller could bid without it being known by the buyers they are bidding against the seller. I do pick up a lot of nice buys on the Bay during the slow summer months below bid I can retail down the line. Many of them I have made good money on like 50-100% profit or more from either show, shop, or Ebay Store BIN sales. Every now and then I will catch that whale with a BIN in my ebay store and bag a nice profit on something I bought cheap under my buying account.
It's rare to find a really great deal in the BIN format because they go fast. So the inventory of BIN items is less attractive.
This. The good deals go in less than two minutes (there's still a small delay between "auction start" and the time it starts showing up in searches). What's left is the stuff that's overpriced, "merely" fairly priced, or poorly described. I've missed 1 ounce gold eagles for $900, 77 Mercs for $60, a long run of respectable (G+ to F-) Barber quarters at $3.99 each. I've landed one (of six) 1 oz silver rounds for $20 (plus $2.50 shared shipping), a Peace dollar for $21 (plus $4 shipping), a Jamestown gold $5 for $350 shipped -- all in the last week, all by camping on the BIN listings. It doesn't always work out. I landed a 9-ounce lot of miscellaneous silver for $110 shipped, but it turned out the seller meant to list that as the starting bid, not BIN. I've had people say that they made a mistake on the listing price, and weren't willing to sell at that price; I haven't forced the issue, because I've been known to make mistakes, too. I've even begged out of one or two auctions where I misunderstood the description and jumped too soon -- and gone through with a couple even though I realized afterward they weren't the good deal I first thought. But overall, the BIN-vulture strategy is working out very well for me. I still bid on traditional eBay auctions sometimes, too. It's hard to find real deals there, though, and I haven't yet figured out a reliable strategy for doing so. Finding the good scores just takes too much time and luck.
???eBay 90% of bidder don't think seller has to pay a fee. but this is 2 fee's Pay Pal/loan sharks of the internet/then eBay. now eBay even adding shipping fee to final sale fee. Only thing that FREE is a hard TIME
/agree. Unless I am trying to camp new BIN I assume they have already been seen and not worth popping for. If I do a regular search I exclude all fixed price auctions from my search. I think many are the same. FWIW I don't buy a tremendou amount on Ebay, but place about 80 snipes a week, of which I might catch a couple. I don't chase single coins often unless gold or I really just want it because shipping on a single coin really eats into any kind of profit you might be able to make.
I use BIN quite often, and for two reasons. First, it eliminates me having to sit in front of the computer for hours on end to make sure I win what I want, because I buy and it's done. And second, I'm not out to always find a deal on everything I buy. I buy it because I want it, I know the fair price of what I want, and am willing to pay that fair price out of convenience. Deals, especially online, often aren't what they appear to be. Guy
That's why I snipe Guy. I won't camp an auction. I place a snipe at a price I would be happy at, lose 99% and win a few. Same idea, and I don't get PO'ed when I get outbid with 2 seconds to go. If I win, great I get an email, if not, there are always other coins. Especially collecting ancients and some world coins, the cold hard truth is that there is ALWAYS another deal you love just as much as one you might have missed. Whenever I feel I just lost the greatest lot I will ever see in my life, a few weeks later there is an even better one. This is just for general buys. If the collecting bug is strangling me that I HAVE to have something, I know I am going to overpay but will still buy it. My weakness on Ebay is my penchant for gambling. On Ebay I love out of focus lots I think aren't intentional, or group lots with not all coins showing. I have made some serious money on some of these, and unfortunately that is always in my mind when I see another. Yeah, I have lost on a few dog lots too, but you tend to remember the wins more than the losses, right?
