All, edited Looking for Pros and Cons on listing at .99/c vs fixed. .99/C Pro Ability to generate excitement on Auction Cheaper listing fees. Potentially get more money than setting at a low fixed. Con Potentially sell your coin for .99/c Lure lower feedback buyers who screw up your auction Fixed lower value (starting price maybe 30% lower than FMV) Pro Price set at acceptable price level from bid 1. Potentially get more money than setting at a .99/c worst case scenario. Con Pricing might be off and you end up with low traffic and your starting bid will probably win.
I have had better luck starting at .99 than a higher price. It is riskier but nothing beats a nice bidding war! TC
I've had hundreds of items listed at 99c start, and only once did an item sell for lower than market value. For example, I had 130+ certified Morgans listed at 99c start and all of them sold above market value. The same was true for my slabbed Classic Commems and my complete Ike & Franklin Danscos. Chris
Good point, but I'm still not sure that I would change the opening bid. I did have several hundred raw Morgans, but I sold the whole lot to a private collector. Even so, all of these were in BU condition and probably would have sold for fair prices at auction with good photos. That's another point to consider. If the photos are bad, you are less likely to attract more competitive bidding. Chris
It's not the pricing that really makes the difference, it's the number of interested bidders that will see your auction. If you have something that is valuable but only appeals to a very specialized collector, use a fixed price. If you list at $0.99, it's possible that only one of those collectors will notice your auction and there won't be anybody to bid against them. If you have something common or that has mass appeal, start it at $0.99 because there will be enough bidders to push it up to market value.
Jaelus has got it right - popular items with lots of potential bidding activity can be set at $0.99, niche items should be set at BIN or auction with a higher starting price (the minimum price you are willing to receive) in order to minimize risk.
