In my humble opinion, another SOLID move by eBay. No wonder they dominate the online auction market. This is a great way to get rid of the annoying sellers using eBay as a listing service. They post the same stuff week after week - the stuff never sells. Folks, this is an auction company. Remember? Anyway, I find reserve auctions annoying. Let’s get rid of the clutter, shall we?
Good move Meg!
Dave
Always looking for original, better date VF20-VF35 Barber quarters and halves, and a quality beer.
I can live with reserve auctions. It is the ACG sellers or overgrading morons who list their coins at full retail, right along with the wrong grade on the slab, or the grade they have given their cleaned, problematic, overgraded shi**y coins that really bug me!
Dave just wants that seller who finally lists a nice F12 1901-S barber quarter to be stuck selling it to him at 20% back of bid because he couldn't put a reserve on it!!
" I haven't used ebay to sell things in quite some time so I think I might not be clear on something so I would appreciate it if someone would help me with this. You can still list a coin for a $10,000 opening bid without the extra reserve charge, right? If so, it would seem to me that this is a fairly moot argument."
Being able to offer an item with a reserve allows you to get people's competitive juices flowing. Multiple bids confirm to potential bidders that others are interested in the piece. And, say for example an eBayer with a handle of "jim.halperin", bids on a coin....you might take that as a sign that the coin is a good coin at that level and that you would be willing to pay a pinch more.
Also, sellers like to test the water with extremely high reserves to see what interest there is in a coin.
There are also many other reasons and most experienced eBay sellers would not think it is moot. I for one like to offer things in a myriad of ways. It blankets the marketplace.
I can understand what you are writing about, Adrian. For me, I would think that if a seller is testing the waters to see what the value of the coins are that are for sale then that seller is getting real value out of the auction, even if the item doesn't sell. It's like having an independent group of consultants working with you and, in that sense, the 1% fee is nothing compared to the objective opinions rendered. As for the competitive juices, well, it might work for many people, but I just brush it aside.
Speaking for myself, I'm not about to risk putting nice coins that are worthy of strong bids at the mercy of the bottom feeding public whose idea of the best coin is the one that is bought at the lowest price. And I'm not going to pay prohibitive fees to ebay in hopes of finding a needle in the haystack.
This new structure will work great for Centsless, TNFC and all the other ACG and NTC sellers who start their insider graded, doctored, misrepresented crap at $9.99 and let the suckers have at it. The only coins that will be left on ebay are going to be what's left after you scrape out the bottom of the barrel, as if it's not bad enough already.
OK, I did start 5 coins tonight at less than $9.99 with no reserve. They all bite the big one and I'm sure the buyers will be more than happy with their low priced triumphs. Thank the Lord they aren't nice coins with a reserve or high starting price. I expect 5 fully glowing feedback coments when all is said and done. Got to love ebay!
<< <i>Speaking for myself, I'm not about to risk putting nice coins that are worthy of strong bids at the mercy of the bottom feeding public whose idea of the best coin is the one that is bought at the lowest price. And I'm not going to pay prohibitive fees to ebay in hopes of finding a needle in the haystack.
This new structure will work great for Centsless, TNFC and all the other ACG and NTC sellers who start their insider graded, doctored, misrepresented crap at $9.99 and let the suckers have at it. The only coins that will be left on ebay are going to be what's left after you scrape out the bottom of the barrel, as if it's not bad enough already.
OK, I did start 5 coins tonight at less than $9.99 with no reserve. They all bite the big one and I'm sure the buyers will be more than happy with their low priced triumphs. Thank the Lord they aren't nice coins with a reserve or high starting price. I expect 5 fully glowing feedback coments when all is said and done. Got to love ebay! >>
I guess I am the only seller on here who lists items starting at 1 cent and is still profitable. I have to agree with Barracuda about the whole fee structure.
If a 3000 dollar coin is listed properly on Ebay using featured auction as well and good photos and descriptions, and let run for 10 days then there is no reason it should not reach its maximum market value. I am primarily a sportscard dealer and all the talk of book value and stuff is BS if your intentions are to sell in any collectibles field you have to learn that book value means nothing. A collectible is only worth what someone will pay you.
While the new structure may kill the high end auctions some it will not dent ebays pockets one little bit. The part I see hurting ebay more is the new Dutch Home Page Featured price of 199.95. Lets see a power seller runs 10 auctions of one item for 10 days 3 X a month That is $6000.00 and chances are they have different variations of that title so they can get over the 10 auction limit. Or just say they sell 5 different products doing them the same way. That means ebay gets $30,000 plus a month off lising fees. So you think the relativly small market of High end coins through Ebay is going to be missed by thir pockets.
If you look at sellers like OnecentCds@aol.com and Smedlock(even though they have slowed way down recently). You will see that they are highly profitable without high costs. Smedlock sometimes runs over 1000 auctions a week all starting at 1 penny and free shipping and handling. They have to be profitable or they would not still be on Ebay.
Typically my sportscard auctions start at 1 cent with a 2.00 shipping and handling for the first and 50 cents for each additional item. I generally sell 95% on the first attempt many times for more than I could have gotten at a fixed price. The other 5% I usually sell on the first relist and then get my listing fees refunded. If not I build a lot of the non selling cards and sell them as a lot or put them into a large storage box to later auction in one big lot.
Everytime though Ebay changes their price structure someone cries foul like it is only affecting them, you just have to learn how to be more creative and make Ebay work for you.
Do you have the balls (or boo%s for lucy) to list a $3000 coin with no reserve? I for one would like to see you do it. I am not talking about baseball cards but coins where at $3000 retail you will have $2600-$2700 (or more) in the coin. Boy the look on your face if it sells for less than what you paid for it would be great.
Someone said earlier " let the market decide the value". eBay is not the market. eBay is mostly low end junk sellers and bottom feeder buyers. (please notice I said mostly, not all). eBay does not set the coin market values by any stretch of the imagination. When a seller puts a coin up that is truly spectacular, like anaconda, he would be a fool not to use a reserve.
Do you have the balls (or boo%s for lucy) to list a $3000 coin with no reserve? I for one would like to see you do it. I am not talking about baseball cards but coins where at $3000 retail you will have $2600-$2700 (or more) in the coin. Boy the look on your face if it sells for less than what you paid for it would be great.
With all due respect, if a coin retails for $3000 and you have 2600-2700 in it, this coin is not a candidate for eBay.
eBay is not RETAIL, it is supposed to be an auction. If you want retail put it in fixed price.
Your $3000. is based on retail or what you think it is "worth".
I don't think people look at eBay as retail or paying what a coin is "worth". Therefore if you are working with a 10% margin, an eBay auction is not the right avenue to sell IMO.
I would say somewhere between wholesale and retail but definitely not retail.
For myself, my bid is at least 10% below what I consider retail. If I want to pay retail without the additional risks that eBay presents then I will go to a show and purchase sight seen and in-hand.
So, now we are blessed with experts in profit origin analysis. The expertise here is bottomless.
And what "expert analysis" are you providing? please don't assume that because you're rich you know more about economics than i, or i WILL embarass you in this thread. ebay's profits come from sellers, not only BIG sellers. for every one person listing $1,000 items there are 1000 people listing $5 items. Your coins that consistently go unsold over and over and over with high reserves - ebay couldn't care less if you leave.
eBay is not the market. eBay is mostly low end junk sellers and bottom feeder buyers. When a seller puts a coin up that is truly spectacular, like anaconda, he would be a fool not to use a reserve.
Then why is he trying to sell in such a place? I acknowledge that coins sold on ebay are for the most part "less than spectacular" and prices reflect that. i buy most of my coins at shops where i can see them first.
eBay just raised the price on all those coins by $10 and that will get passed right on to the buyer.
This is total fallacy. I explained the forces that determine who "pays" shipping fees on ebay a while ago. Ebay fees are governed by the same dynamics. it's the market elasticity that determines who will eat the new costs - and it's NEVER all buyer or seller, except in extreme conditions of monopoly, oligopoly etc. In general sellers pay most of the shipping fees. The extra cost of $10 on a $1000 coin will mostly be eaten by the sellers as the market for such an item is fairly small (and substitutes are everywhere).
With all due respect, if a coin retails for $3000 and you have 2600-2700 in it, this coin is not a candidate for eBay.
eBay is not RETAIL, it is supposed to be an auction. If you want retail put it in fixed price.
Joe. >>
Joe, with all due respect, who died and made you Meg. Who are you to decide that ebay material should only sell at wholesale levels. The crap will sell at wholesale or below. But I, for one, would like to see the bar raised on eBay, and see more dealers with Anacondas quality of coins on there. If you don't like the start price, or if you have not met the rserve, DON'T BID ON IT. Its really that simple.
Baccaruda, Anaconda is very much an exception on eBay. Although I don't buy his coins ( oh yeah, I did buy one), I would like to see more sellers on eBay with his type of material. Coins like his are not easy to find, and are not had at wholesale levels. So why shouldn't he, or anyone else selling that type of material protect his/her investment form the bottomfeeders.
Bustman, Hopefully no one has died and I don't know what Meg. means.
However, what I wrote was my observation of eBay, my opinion.
You may want the bar raised and by writing that you want the bar raised I think you are actually agreeing with me that eBay at this time is not the best place to sell quality retail coins.
Joe, I absolutely agree that it is not the best place to sell high end coins. But that does not mean that a few people can't try. But I thing it would be real dumb to try and do it without a reserve to protect your investment. Meg Whitman, ceo of eBay.
he absolutely can protect them with a reserve. i don't use reserves but i understand that if it meets the reserve you don't pay the reserve fee - correct? then if you place even a reasonable reserve then you should only be paying the fee a small percentage of the time. $30 for a $3,000 coin is not unreasonable. that's like someone paying a 30¢ listing fee for a $30 item - and how many complaints do we hear about that?
if items are listed over and over and over and not meeting the reserve then obviously the seller should rethink the price levels of what he sells. if it takes him 8 months to finally find a buyer who's willing to pay a price far above market, then his reserve money was well spent, correct?
no one can say what the market "should" bear. he doesn't decide what a coin is worth, buyers do. if he isn't getting the caliber of buyers he wants, maybe he should consider a more upscale venue to showcase his wares (and pay the 15% fees). the average ebay user is not interested in $135,000 coins, and certainly not interested in paying more than retail for a $135,000 coin.
to find that crowd you should be using a major auction house.
I believe the 1% reserve fee stands each time you list the item wheter it sells or not. Yes I know it is refunded if sold but what happens when you list a $3000 coin 5 times? $150 plus all the other fees (3% to sell) to sell a coin is steep.
listing a $100,000 item (with reserve) without it selling.
30¢ listing fee. $100 reserve fee (capped at $100). $100.30 total fees (0.1% of the value).
listing a $100,000 item (with reserve) and selling it.
30¢ listing fee. $1,378 final value fee. $1,378.42 total fees (1.38% of the sale)
or
listing a $5 item (with no reserve)
30¢ listing fee. 26¢ final value fee. 56¢ total fees (or a whopping 11% of the sale)
so ebay fees RIDICULOUSLY favor the big ticket seller. not only that but i noticed that reserve fees are capped at $100 and floored at 50¢ - which further favors the big-ticket seller. it's hard to shed a tear because the big-time seller has to pay out a slightly less than 1% fee when small sellers routinely pay 5%-20% fees for their listings.
I see your side but one thing about low ticket items it that a $5.00 item can go proportunately higher with just $1.00 higher in selling price. I used a $3000 item as a refernce because of the reality of a $3000 coin being sold is much higher than a $100,000 coin being sold. Also on the same point it is much more likely that a $5.00 item will sell compared to a $3000 item. The risk of losing a no reserve $5.00 item with a $1.00 bid is much better than a no reserve $3000 item selling for $2000.
My opinion is still that Ebay is taking too much of a cut from the seller, especially when a credit card through paypal is involved. Why else would ebay buy Paypal? To raise the % they get off of every sale. Do you think the ebay and paypal fees will increase.........you bet they will because they have a monopoly (for the most part becuase of market acceptability of paypal)
well you got me there. between ebay fees and paypal i think the costs are very high. for a small time seller like me who only sells parts of his collection to raise money to buy new parts - there is no better option. a dealer would only give me a tiny fraction of what the items on ebay sold for, and the other auction sites are ghosttowns.
the prices i realized on my last round of selloffs were significantly higher than expected thanks to ebay. even after i paid all the fees i still had more than i expected them to sell for.
ebay may have a monopoly but there are still competing substitutes. the cost of substitutes is high (newspaper listings, selling to a coin shop etc.). whether or not ebay can raise prices is up to the demanding market - and demand for ebay's services has been great.
higher prices are ALWAYS unpopular but necessary - it weeds out the people who don't want/need the service as bad as the ones who are willing to pay the price. i can complain all day that it's obscene to pay $18 to park my car downtown yet the garage is always full. if they lowered the price to $5 there would be a glut of cars and the ones who really want the service wouldn't necessarily get it.
2700 in a coin you intend to sell for 3000 isn't that a little low for a profit margin. While there are many times I will buy a coin or a card for 100 dollars and turn around a few minutes later and sell it for 110, I do this only when I have the card or coin sold right away. But to purchase, hold onto and try to sell a coin for only 300 more than I paid just seems like a waste of time to me as well as too much of a risk.
Again Barracuda is right about Ebay being the only way small collectors and dealers have to sell their collectibles. The only storefront coin shop in my area bases his buy prices at what he can get for it on Ebay, which he will put it in his shop for 2 months then to turn it over he will put it on Ebay with what he paid as the starting price. He is like me he would rather turn over unmovable material at costs or even at a small loss just to get some of his cash freed up so he can purchase more. Unlike some dealers as well as collectors MOST are not rich and won't even look at the higher price auctions. Some of the big dealers need to step back and realize that they started the same way, while some didn't. This is easily shown by looking at some dealers stock. The high end stuff justs sits and sits and every once in a while something is changed usually moved by the dealer to increase lookers who may be potentional buyers. But look at they lesser valued stuff if you see something you want you better get it then or make some arrangments to get it because it will probaly be gone.
Ebay freely admits that 90% of their sales come from items ending less than 100 dollars and these items are also profit makers for the sellers not 10% like the coin mentioned earlier but many times 400 to 500% I am sorry but to me I would rather sell 100 of those items than 1 item at 10% markup. By Ebay admiting that that also means most of their revenue come from these small sellers, look at the power sellers most of them never list and item over 100 dollars. So who do you think Ebay cares more about the coin dealer who once or twice a month sells a 3000 dollar item or the seller who sells 3000 dollar items?? The dollar seller generates them far more revenue. Now there are exceptions like Anaconda but that is also one of the nice things about ebay it is a chance to see items offered for sell you may never actually see in your life.
As far as the question of listing a 3000 dollar item with no reserve. Yes I would, I would start it at 1.00 or maybe even a penny. I would feature it and make sure there are some great pics of it too. If it had not reached the desired price which would be my cost plus the listing fees with an hour or so left I would simply remove all bidders and end it early(which a seller has a right to do at anytime during the auction)
Way to go Ballparkdreams! That's the way to run an auction. The good sellers with nice coins know there are plenty of buyers waiting out there to pick up a nice coin.
Seems to me there are plenty of sellers out there that cancel good auctions, just as I'm about to win a good coin, with just a little bit of time left. Isn't that another way to avoid selling her too cheap?
<< <i>If it had not reached the desired price which would be my cost plus the listing fees with an hour or so left I would simply remove all bidders and end it early(which a seller has a right to do at anytime during the auction) >>
Not anymore. Since implementation of the new reserve fee schedule, that is now a violation of eBay policy and a NARU offense.
As far as the question of listing a 3000 dollar item with no reserve. Yes I would, I would start it at 1.00 or maybe even a penny. I would feature it and make sure there are some great pics of it too. If it had not reached the desired price which would be my cost plus the listing fees with an hour or so left I would simply remove all bidders and end it early(which a seller has a right to do at anytime during the auction) >>
I think buyers dislike auctions ending early, far worse than reserves on auctions. IMO
Comments
Good move Meg!
Dave
Dave just wants that seller who finally lists a nice F12 1901-S barber quarter to be stuck selling it to him at 20% back of bid because he couldn't put a reserve on it!!
Tyler
Being able to offer an item with a reserve allows you to get people's competitive juices flowing. Multiple bids confirm to potential bidders that others are interested in the piece. And, say for example an eBayer with a handle of "jim.halperin", bids on a coin....you might take that as a sign that the coin is a good coin at that level and that you would be willing to pay a pinch more.
Also, sellers like to test the water with extremely high reserves to see what interest there is in a coin.
There are also many other reasons and most experienced eBay sellers would not think it is moot. I for one like to offer things in a myriad of ways. It blankets the marketplace.
adrian
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
This new structure will work great for Centsless, TNFC and all the other ACG and NTC sellers who start their insider graded, doctored, misrepresented crap at $9.99 and let the suckers have at it. The only coins that will be left on ebay are going to be what's left after you scrape out the bottom of the barrel, as if it's not bad enough already.
OK, I did start 5 coins tonight at less than $9.99 with no reserve. They all bite the big one and I'm sure the buyers will be more than happy with their low priced triumphs. Thank the Lord they aren't nice coins with a reserve or high starting price. I expect 5 fully glowing feedback coments when all is said and done. Got to love ebay!
<< <i>Speaking for myself, I'm not about to risk putting nice coins that are worthy of strong bids at the mercy of the bottom feeding public whose idea of the best coin is the one that is bought at the lowest price. And I'm not going to pay prohibitive fees to ebay in hopes of finding a needle in the haystack.
This new structure will work great for Centsless, TNFC and all the other ACG and NTC sellers who start their insider graded, doctored, misrepresented crap at $9.99 and let the suckers have at it. The only coins that will be left on ebay are going to be what's left after you scrape out the bottom of the barrel, as if it's not bad enough already.
OK, I did start 5 coins tonight at less than $9.99 with no reserve. They all bite the big one and I'm sure the buyers will be more than happy with their low priced triumphs. Thank the Lord they aren't nice coins with a reserve or high starting price. I expect 5 fully glowing feedback coments when all is said and done. Got to love ebay!
See ya'!
If a 3000 dollar coin is listed properly on Ebay using featured auction as well and good photos and descriptions, and let run for 10 days then there is no reason it should not reach its maximum market value. I am primarily a sportscard dealer and all the talk of book value and stuff is BS if your intentions are to sell in any collectibles field you have to learn that book value means nothing. A collectible is only worth what someone will pay you.
While the new structure may kill the high end auctions some it will not dent ebays pockets one little bit. The part I see hurting ebay more is the new Dutch Home Page Featured price of 199.95. Lets see a power seller runs 10 auctions of one item for 10 days 3 X a month That is $6000.00 and chances are they have different variations of that title so they can get over the 10 auction limit. Or just say they sell 5 different products doing them the same way. That means ebay gets $30,000 plus a month off lising fees. So you think the relativly small market of High end coins through Ebay is going to be missed by thir pockets.
If you look at sellers like OnecentCds@aol.com and Smedlock(even though they have slowed way down recently). You will see that they are highly profitable without high costs. Smedlock sometimes runs over 1000 auctions a week all starting at 1 penny and free shipping and handling. They have to be profitable or they would not still be on Ebay.
Typically my sportscard auctions start at 1 cent with a 2.00 shipping and handling for the first and 50 cents for each additional item. I generally sell 95% on the first attempt many times for more than I could have gotten at a fixed price. The other 5% I usually sell on the first relist and then get my listing fees refunded. If not I build a lot of the non selling cards and sell them as a lot or put them into a large storage box to later auction in one big lot.
Everytime though Ebay changes their price structure someone cries foul like it is only affecting them,
you just have to learn how to be more creative and make Ebay work for you.
Do you have the balls (or boo%s for lucy) to list a $3000 coin with no reserve? I for one would like to see you do it. I am not talking about baseball cards but coins where at $3000 retail you will have $2600-$2700 (or more) in the coin. Boy the look on your face if it sells for less than what you paid for it would be great.
When a seller puts a coin up that is truly spectacular, like anaconda, he would be a fool not to use a reserve.
With all due respect, if a coin retails for $3000 and you have 2600-2700 in it, this coin is not a candidate for eBay.
eBay is not RETAIL, it is supposed to be an auction. If you want retail put it in fixed price.
Joe.
so a $3000 retail coin is for sale then what does the dealer have in it?
Aslo, I think you missed my point about having the balls (or boo%s) to list a $3000 coin without a reserve.
Your $3000. is based on retail or what you think it is "worth".
I don't think people look at eBay as retail or paying what a coin is "worth".
Therefore if you are working with a 10% margin, an eBay auction is not the right avenue to sell IMO.
Joe.
<< <i>I don't think people look at eBay as retail or paying what a coin is "worth". >>
So are you saying you believe that people selling on Ebay are mainly selling at wholesale prices?
For myself, my bid is at least 10% below what I consider retail. If I want to pay retail without the additional risks that eBay presents then I will go to a show and purchase sight seen and in-hand.
Joe.
And what "expert analysis" are you providing? please don't assume that because you're rich you know more about economics than i, or i WILL embarass you in this thread. ebay's profits come from sellers, not only BIG sellers. for every one person listing $1,000 items there are 1000 people listing $5 items. Your coins that consistently go unsold over and over and over with high reserves - ebay couldn't care less if you leave.
eBay is not the market. eBay is mostly low end junk sellers and bottom feeder buyers. When a seller puts a coin up that is truly spectacular, like anaconda, he would be a fool not to use a reserve.
Then why is he trying to sell in such a place? I acknowledge that coins sold on ebay are for the most part "less than spectacular" and prices reflect that. i buy most of my coins at shops where i can see them first.
eBay just raised the price on all those coins by $10 and that will get passed right on to the buyer.
This is total fallacy. I explained the forces that determine who "pays" shipping fees on ebay a while ago. Ebay fees are governed by the same dynamics. it's the market elasticity that determines who will eat the new costs - and it's NEVER all buyer or seller, except in extreme conditions of monopoly, oligopoly etc. In general sellers pay most of the shipping fees. The extra cost of $10 on a $1000 coin will mostly be eaten by the sellers as the market for such an item is fairly small (and substitutes are everywhere).
2 Cam-Slams!
1 Russ POTD!
exactly who goes to ebay (or any auction) with the intent to buy something at full retail cost? then why do you expect to sell at that level?
if you want full retail price then list with a major gallery and pay their 15%-20% juice. you can't expect the best of all worlds.
2 Cam-Slams!
1 Russ POTD!
With all due respect, if a coin retails for $3000 and you have 2600-2700 in it, this coin is not a candidate for eBay.
eBay is not RETAIL, it is supposed to be an auction. If you want retail put it in fixed price.
Joe. >>
Joe,
with all due respect, who died and made you Meg. Who are you to decide that ebay material should only sell at wholesale levels. The crap will sell at wholesale or below. But I, for one, would like to see the bar raised on eBay, and see more dealers with Anacondas quality of coins on there. If you don't like the start price, or if you have not met the rserve, DON'T BID ON IT. Its really that simple.
Baccaruda,
Anaconda is very much an exception on eBay. Although I don't buy his coins ( oh yeah, I did buy one), I would like to see more sellers on eBay with his type of material. Coins like his are not easy to find, and are not had at wholesale levels. So why shouldn't he, or anyone else selling that type of material protect his/her investment form the bottomfeeders.
However, what I wrote was my observation of eBay, my opinion.
You may want the bar raised and by writing that you want the bar raised I think you are actually agreeing with me that eBay at this time is not the best place to sell quality retail coins.
Joe.
I absolutely agree that it is not the best place to sell high end coins. But that does not mean that a few people can't try. But I thing it would be real dumb to try and do it without a reserve to protect your investment.
Meg Whitman, ceo of eBay.
if items are listed over and over and over and not meeting the reserve then obviously the seller should rethink the price levels of what he sells. if it takes him 8 months to finally find a buyer who's willing to pay a price far above market, then his reserve money was well spent, correct?
no one can say what the market "should" bear. he doesn't decide what a coin is worth, buyers do. if he isn't getting the caliber of buyers he wants, maybe he should consider a more upscale venue to showcase his wares (and pay the 15% fees). the average ebay user is not interested in $135,000 coins, and certainly not interested in paying more than retail for a $135,000 coin.
to find that crowd you should be using a major auction house.
2 Cam-Slams!
1 Russ POTD!
I believe the 1% reserve fee stands each time you list the item wheter it sells or not. Yes I know it is refunded if sold but what happens when you list a $3000 coin 5 times? $150 plus all the other fees (3% to sell) to sell a coin is steep.
look at it this way:
listing a $100,000 item (with reserve) without it selling.
30¢ listing fee. $100 reserve fee (capped at $100). $100.30 total fees (0.1% of the value).
listing a $100,000 item (with reserve) and selling it.
30¢ listing fee. $1,378 final value fee. $1,378.42 total fees (1.38% of the sale)
or
listing a $5 item (with no reserve)
30¢ listing fee. 26¢ final value fee. 56¢ total fees (or a whopping 11% of the sale)
so ebay fees RIDICULOUSLY favor the big ticket seller. not only that but i noticed that reserve fees are capped at $100 and floored at 50¢ - which further favors the big-ticket seller. it's hard to shed a tear because the big-time seller has to pay out a slightly less than 1% fee when small sellers routinely pay 5%-20% fees for their listings.
2 Cam-Slams!
1 Russ POTD!
I see your side but one thing about low ticket items it that a $5.00 item can go proportunately higher with just $1.00 higher in selling price. I used a $3000 item as a refernce because of the reality of a $3000 coin being sold is much higher than a $100,000 coin being sold. Also on the same point it is much more likely that a $5.00 item will sell compared to a $3000 item. The risk of losing a no reserve $5.00 item with a $1.00 bid is much better than a no reserve $3000 item selling for $2000.
My opinion is still that Ebay is taking too much of a cut from the seller, especially when a credit card through paypal is involved. Why else would ebay buy Paypal? To raise the % they get off of every sale. Do you think the ebay and paypal fees will increase.........you bet they will because they have a monopoly (for the most part becuase of market acceptability of paypal)
the prices i realized on my last round of selloffs were significantly higher than expected thanks to ebay. even after i paid all the fees i still had more than i expected them to sell for.
ebay may have a monopoly but there are still competing substitutes. the cost of substitutes is high (newspaper listings, selling to a coin shop etc.). whether or not ebay can raise prices is up to the demanding market - and demand for ebay's services has been great.
higher prices are ALWAYS unpopular but necessary - it weeds out the people who don't want/need the service as bad as the ones who are willing to pay the price. i can complain all day that it's obscene to pay $18 to park my car downtown yet the garage is always full. if they lowered the price to $5 there would be a glut of cars and the ones who really want the service wouldn't necessarily get it.
2 Cam-Slams!
1 Russ POTD!
Again Barracuda is right about Ebay being the only way small collectors and dealers have to sell their collectibles. The only storefront coin shop in my area bases his buy prices at what he can get for it on Ebay, which he will put it in his shop for 2 months then to turn it over he will put it on Ebay with what he paid as the starting price. He is like me he would rather turn over unmovable material at costs or even at a small loss just to get some of his cash freed up so he can purchase more. Unlike some dealers as well as collectors MOST are not rich and won't even look at the higher price auctions. Some of the big dealers need to step back and realize that they started the same way, while some didn't. This is easily shown by looking at some dealers stock. The high end stuff justs sits and sits and every once in a while something is changed usually moved by the dealer to increase lookers who may be potentional buyers. But look at they lesser valued stuff if you see something you want you better get it then or make some arrangments to get it because it will probaly be gone.
Ebay freely admits that 90% of their sales come from items ending less than 100 dollars and these items are also profit makers for the sellers not 10% like the coin mentioned earlier but many times 400 to 500% I am sorry but to me I would rather sell 100 of those items than 1 item at 10% markup. By Ebay admiting that that also means most of their revenue come from these small sellers, look at the power sellers most of them never list and item over 100 dollars. So who do you think Ebay cares more about the coin dealer who once or twice a month sells a 3000 dollar item or the seller who sells 3000 dollar items?? The dollar seller generates them far more revenue. Now there are exceptions like Anaconda but that is also one of the nice things about ebay it is a chance to see items offered for sell you may never actually see in your life.
As far as the question of listing a 3000 dollar item with no reserve. Yes I would, I would start it at 1.00 or maybe even a penny. I would feature it and make sure there are some great pics of it too. If it had not reached the desired price which would be my cost plus the listing fees with an hour or so left I would simply remove all bidders and end it early(which a seller has a right to do at anytime during the auction)
<< <i>2700 in a coin you intend to sell for 3000 isn't that a little low for a profit margin. >>
You can't compare margins in coins to margins in paper and cardboard.
Russ, NCNE
Seems to me there are plenty of sellers out there that cancel good auctions, just as I'm about to win a good coin, with just a little bit of time left. Isn't that another way to avoid selling her too cheap?
Exactly what I was going to say. Seems like baseball cards and coins have a LITTLE different markup.
Do you own a $3000 coin?
If so would you list it with no reserve in a featured category and let us know about it so we can watch?
<< <i>If it had not reached the desired price which would be my cost plus the listing fees with an hour or so left I would simply remove all bidders and end it early(which a seller has a right to do at anytime during the auction) >>
Not anymore. Since implementation of the new reserve fee schedule, that is now a violation of eBay policy and a NARU offense.
Russ, NCNE
<< <i>Hit reply too soon
As far as the question of listing a 3000 dollar item with no reserve. Yes I would, I would start it at 1.00 or maybe even a penny. I would feature it and make sure there are some great pics of it too. If it had not reached the desired price which would be my cost plus the listing fees with an hour or so left I would simply remove all bidders and end it early(which a seller has a right to do at anytime during the auction) >>
I think buyers dislike auctions ending early, far worse than reserves on auctions. IMO