getting bids on ebay auctions?

lonelyp

I was reading "ebay do's and don'ts",

This thread had much good advice. The only two auctions I have listed on ebay turned out to be 1 bid auctions.
Correction, I listed 3 but 1 was a no sale.

Most Of the advice given in the thread mentioned, like being as honest as possible. I did. I'm NOT a salesman, I have no gile. (salesmenship) Pictures were a problem for me. I didn't even have my scanner at the time.

I did NOT start at .99 but one auction was for a 100 OZ silver bar.
And the other was fro 2 GOLD coins. And a 1 bid auction started at .99 would have been a disaster

On the 2 gold coins I lost money. Oh Well On the silver bar I made less than I would have liked, but did get profit. After holding it for about 18 years, inflation helped.

Any way, is there any good way to avoid a 1 bid auction?
I should mention I had watchers for the lenght of the auction.

pz

Sphinx357

with good pictures the item will sell itself

kryptonitecomics

If I read your post correctly...you did not have pictures....if that's the case then that or your opening bids could have been the main driver. In addition you say you are not a salemen...but if you are going to sell on Ebay or elsewhere...you are leaving money on the table if you don't at least attempt to talk about the item...maybe hype it a little...put some statistics behind the coins etc.....it's not difficult, just look at enough auctions and you will get an idea of what I am talking about.

If you do a search on Ebay for my ID: kryptonitecomics ....you will see some coins I have listed now........descriptions, pictures, hype..it's all there but I don't make up stuff. I didn't include a link since I am not here to advertise but rather provide you with the feedback you requested.

my3cents

1) Pics are a MUST

2) Always make opening bid 99 cents

3) Your item will get many bidders and you will end up with a higher final price.

lonelyp

I did have pictures of the coins. I used the ones from when I bought them. I should have gotten permission first, but no one complained.

On the silver bar, there are, were many listed without pics. and many with pics. I asked if I could use someones, but they said no.

I offered free shipping on the bar if the finished price went over $800.00 and $10.00 if not. I did not insist on innsurance but left it to the buyer. If they wanted it I would get it, and did. At no extra charge.

Thinking of another old thread,
I waited until the buyers told me they had the items in hand and were happy with them. And the transaction befor leaving feedback. But stayed in e-mail contact while the items were shipped.

As to starting at .99, the going prices, checking pages of auctions. was between $750.00 and uuuuum, I forget, over 800.00 Buy it now.
I started at $699.00
Still a bargin price but not CRAZY
pz

291fifth

If you are selling bullion expect that it will be discounted. Numismatic coins, especially "collector" coins, usually do well if you start low and let the market decide the price. You will need to have good photos. If you are serious about selling on eBay I suggest getting a digital SLR like the Nikon D70 or D100 and a speedlight that can be mounted off the camera.

ChangeIsGood

Check other auctions selling the same item, both present and completed. Pick the ones that have a lot of bidders and read their description. Copy it and revise it to fit your coin or item. You can learn a lot from someone else's successful auction. It also helps if there are other coins like yours with a lot of bidders. You come in with a lower fair starting price and you will attract those bidders.

lonelyp

My thanks to the replyers,

I have been meaning to ask what king of cameras you guys use. Most of the pics I see here are great. I have a digital camera but it wont focuss on anything that close.

I'm not looking to start an ebay store. But thought the thread would help if I made any future sales. And halp others trying it for the first time.

Keep the replys comming it's all good info.
and thanks again
pz
geeeeez, it might help if I leraned to type to.

mr1931S

I'd like to comment on the 99 cents starting bid thing.

Say I have an item that I would like to see $50 for on ebay. I'm "in" at $30. If I get the $50, we all know that I haven't "made" all of $20 for myself because of ebay fees, cost to package, gas to get me to the post office, etc.

Okay. I start my auction for 99 cents and I start to get some bids. The item is up to $30, ten people have bidded, and there are two days to go. True to ebay form, there is no more bidding activity for the last almost two days to auction end but now I expect some sniping activity in the closing seconds.

The only question my snipers should be trying to answer for themselves is, "How much is this item worth to ME?" Does the typical sniper who knows what he's looking at concern himself with the NUMBER of bids that have been made up to the closing seconds. I don't think so.

If I set a minimum opening bid of $30 for my $50 item, I've done something more sensible, in my opinion. Noone wants it for even $30? That's okay. I need more than $30 for it anyway. Win at $30 and I'm losing more money than if I don't sell it at all.

Prethen

This is an interesting thread that hits home with me. I put up several 3CN that were nice, original coins with decent pictures and descriptions. I'm also not a proverbial "salesman" and I don't believe in over-flowery descriptions or lying or anything like that. I truly thought the coins would sell themselves. WRONG! I lost money on all of them. Only 2-3 bidders on each. I didn't lose a lot of money, but it did show me that it's not all as simple as it seems to make money on eBay, especially after you factor in their fees and shipping. The next time I put up anything on eBay, I'll have to "strategize" a bit more on how to sell an item more effectively (and, no, I won't stoop to lying or deceipt).

One dealer, I won't mention by name, but some of you know of (or dealth with) on this board, who I talked with at the last coin show I saw him at, gave me the following advice: You won't get a lot of serious bidders on your auctions until you're showing some serious feedback numbers (in the hundreds or thousands) and 100% or just shy of 100% positive feedback score. One way to do this, he suggested, is to sell a lot of cheaper Mercury Dimes, even at a loss to get your name out there and feedback score up.

I'm not sure how true all of what he said is. What do you guys think?

Bruce

VTCoins

Lately, I have been starting many of my expensive items on eBay at $.01 with no reserve and letting them run. I have only taken a couple of small hits and a few of the auctions have sold for significantly more than expected (more than making up for the "hits"). I wouldn't recommend doing this if you have a low feedback or are just starting out selling.

Bullion usually isn't worth selling on eBay. When you include the eBay/PayPal fees, you can just as easily ship the bullion to a big dealer and get more than the net off eBay. No hassle either.

Russ

A big part of realized prices on eBay is track record. If you've been selling a long time and have lots of transactions, you're going to realize higher prices because a) Many people will have you bookmarked and b) Bidders will feel more comfortable.

The fact is that, on balance, low start no reserve auctions realize higher final prices, but if you have a limited track record that may not be the way to go.

Russ, NCNE

mr1931S

"You won't get a lot of serious bidders on your auctions until..."

Alot of serious bidders always delights me. You've gotta be doing something right as a seller if you consistently get three or more serious bidders on your auctions.

lonelyp

I need to say Thanks again for all the replys,

I do feel that I started my coin auction off too high. ($25.00) if I remember correctly, it was a while ago.

On the silver bar. I could have gotten more if I brought it back were I bought it. I know this for a fact. I also knew I was taking a chance, selling it on ebay price wise. And even at $700 I made some money on it. Just not as much as I wanted to.

The feedback comments suprize me a little. I mean if someone is fairly new to the ebay community. And is only making his first few sales. He is not going to have high feedback numbers. But that doesn't mean he's not honest, or trustworthy.

GIVE NEWBIES A CHANCE
pz

Bochiman

Another thing to add....

If you aren't comfortable with the $0.99 cent start, and you have a price you want to start at, do it.
ALSO include a BIN at a higher range....not out of the ball park, but at a price you would be happy with.

I have done that, and did a BIN at a higher price than I think the item would have sold for (and included FREE s/h/i with the BIN) and I have gotten a fair share of my auctions closed at BIN price.

Do I think I would have gotten more for them in a "true" auction? Nope. Too many similar items selling and I am not a mega-seller like Russ and others. Nor do I take "great" pics.
As mentioned, some kind of picture (non-blurry), from a digital camera (even without Macro setting) or a scanner, is somewhat necessary UNLESS you have a great following and are established.

There are more thoughts, but I, and others, put them in a similar ebay thread a couple of months ago. You may want to search on the forum for other ebay advice.

G'luck,

Ron

bfallona

As a longtime Ebay addict here are some of my thoughts on your auction:
1.Do you have an item # to the auction in question so I could look it over? Otherwise this is based on reading the posts
2. I agree with a low starting bid .99 sounds good. No one expects it to sell for that , but I hate reserve auctions
3. As to feedback your right. But I would have just bought a dozen or so small items you need or want before puting anything up for sale. Some sellers on hi end items put their phone number in the auction or use other means to allay any fears
4. You can do a google search for your coins and then right click to save. Look at the top of the Google page after you search and click on Images. I would be carefull but if anything was copyright it would say so or disable right click on the photo
5. Nikon makes some digital cameras with great macro ability. Even the older ones. The megapixel isn't important for Ebay. I think Casio and Olympus also had good macro. Go to Stevesdigicam for good reivews on all camers new and old. http://www.steves-digicams.com/
6. Without good photos your auction will die. And you can post it in other sections like Collections etc.
7. As I do a search the subject is what grabs me ie Gold $20.00 piece AU starts at .99

All of the other suggestions were great.