Ebay: BIN Versus "True" Auction

C0inCollect0r

Hi guys,

A recent topic got me thinking about this: with coins of "moderate value" (let's say $100-500), do you expect that you would generally realize higher prices on ebay selling the coin as a "Buy it Now" (potentially with the "Best Offer" option) or as a "No Reserve" true auction?

I had heard from many sellers that it is too risky to simply list a coin in a no reserve auction, but frankly in my experience so far I actually seem to pretty consistently "do better" listing my coins this way. Many times I seem to get no interest in a coin as a "BIN" but then actually see the coin sell for even more than the BIN price when I "give up" and list it in a true auction...

Anyone have particular experiences with this one way or the other?

diamondman

for me it always seems to be hit or miss. crap shoot! JMHO

options26

No doubt buy it now with a best offer. I list mine at PCGS guide prices and explain in my lsiting that I expect a best offer. You would be shocked at how close people come to the the guide prices.....I am at 100% sold for the coins I have listed this year.


Jim

mrpotatoheadd

<< <i>do you expect that you would generally realize higher prices on ebay selling the coin as a "Buy it Now" (potentially with the "Best Offer" option) or as a "No Reserve" true auction? >>

Depends on what you're selling. If it's something that's moderately expensive but doesn't have a large following, you can get killed in a no reserve auction if only one prospective buyer shows up during the week your auction is listed.

tmcsr69

More than anything, it depends upon what you are selling and when you are selling it.

seatedcollector

using BIN auctions is more beneficial when the item is readily available. if you do a search for them, and there is 50 going, list it with a BIN a little higher than what a comparable one recently sold for, with the best offer option. then if you sell it, and you kick yourself, you can always buy one back if there is 50 others listed. now if its something that is rarely listed, you have the option of starting at 1c and letting it ride. you my get more than you ever dreamed, or it could go cheap but you could put a reserve on it, or start it off at a certain amount. or start it off with a stupid high price and take offers. lots of guys here wont bid on raw coins because if they are raw they must have problems, or if they are from china they MUST be fake, or if the coin isnt 10 times better than the pic the seller ripped them off. bla bla bla get an idea of what youd like the item to sell for then check the completed auctions and see what they actually do sell for, you may be surprised, or a little disappointed, but now you know. i wouldnt use the "immediate payment required" and specify a return privilage. give the buyer every reason to buy the item, and it will sell. maybe to someone here so they can pi$$ and moan about how you ripped them off because the coin wont slab and isnt worth ten times what they paid. then everyone will join in and bash the seller because after all, ebay has one of most if not the most level playing fields for both buyer and seller.

devious

I'll report my findings.

I had listed a 'hairlined' SLQ I had posted on here. I realized my entire 1917 set wasn't going to get slabbed so I figured I'd part it out. Full disclosure of the hairlines on all three of the 1917 listed coins.

The 50c piece, I was hoping for $150, it ended at below $50.00. It had a huge piece missing from the obverse field that some members said was likely to be a lamination error. The auction price definitely was a deal versus my prior BIN price.
The 25c SLQ, I had it at 300 or best offer. No bites. So I lowered it to $215, no bites still. So after the auction close, $276.00. I was hoping for at least $215 and would had accepted an offer of 215 on it. It too while in fantastic shape and retaining all of it's booming luster, had hairlines sadly!
the 5c Buff that I was so head over heels about ARGH!#!@#!@ well, I was hoping for at least 200. Another one way off! The auction ended at 99.00.

All auctions were 24 hour auctions. I don't care to do 3+ day auctions. I'd probably earn a lot more, but after being so used to BIN pricing on ebay, sometimes if nobody's making an offer, I'll just do a quick 24 hour purge to get things moving.

All in all, I'm satisfied. I still have the 1917 mercury that too is also wiped...and the 1917 1c that has been extremely harshly cleaned...but hey, for 300 dollars sight unseen and having made a little extra profit [knock off shipping, I include it always as free so I never have to see my name on these forums ] I see nothing wrong with everything. I really just wish that buffalo did not have those hairlines underneath the toning. I was extremely saddened after having stared at that piece for hours....and hours on end! And then that magick moment happened when I was staring and I said WAIT A SECOND!@# And a tear fell.

Oh well!

So this time around, full disclosure with a BIN seemed like it just wasn't happenin, but once that auction format hit, all hairlined 1917 pieces were sold. And they were also already shipped! Woot! So what's really better? I find it purely random and whether the seller just get's lucky. and in the case of the SLQ, I got lucky!

Have a lovely evening all.

GFourDriver

I usually scroll right on past BINs.

illini420

I don't sell on eBay very often, but the last time I did, I just listed everything as a regular auction but with starting prices high enough to where I'd still be happy (not necessarily profit though) if there were only a single bid. Some items only got a single bid, which was acceptable, but many of the items exceeded what I had expected and went for well over what I would have put as a BIN price. Only 3-4 items (out of 25) didn't sell at all, so not a big deal.

That said, I realize fees can be higher when listing auctions w/ high starting prices, but I only listed last time they had free insertion fees. Even if you were paying the full fees, still cheaper than BIN I think (BIN also has higher final value fees I think).

Next time I try eBay, it'll be regular auction with high enough starting price. Seems like the best of both auction and BIN as you'll still get plenty of folks emailing you with their best offers if they don't like your price

slinc

<< <i>No doubt buy it now with a best offer. I list mine at PCGS guide prices and explain in my lsiting that I expect a best offer. You would be shocked at how close people come to the the guide prices.....I am at 100% sold for the coins I have listed this year.


Jim >>



I've been doing a lot of best offers on ebay lately for PCGS coins. It seems most are priced right around or a little higher then price guide, I'll usually offer about 15-20% back of price guide value as thats what i think the market dictates at this time and most of the time the buyer quickly accepts. If I get a counteroffer I may up my offer some depending on the coin. I was wondering what kind of offers are you seeing? A lot of low ball offers? Or are you getting solid 1st offers?

coachleonard

On Tuesday, watch the $50 coin you listed at $1 with no reserve, hammer down at $75. On Wednesday, watch the $50 coin you listed at $1 with no reserve, hammer down at $1.25. That is my experience of ten years with ebay true auctions.

I can also say this with absolute certainty. Start an auction out at the minimum price you want to sell it for-- that's the price its going for. IF you get that one bid. Remember, I as a typical ebay bidder will turn my nose up at a $100 coin that starts out at a $65 bid. Start it out at $1 with no reserve, I may well end up throwing $150 at it. Does that logic make any sense? Of course not. But as one forum person pointed out on here some time ago, when it comes to bidding on ebay ...how dare YOU take control of the price when I want to be in control?!!

rbf

Lately, I have found the best selling strategy is to simply list the item at the bare minimum price you'd be willing to accept, along with a Buy it Now option that's a tad more on the "optimistic" side (in my case, that could mean anywhere from 5% to 100% greater than my opening price). More often than not, the Buy it Now option will get taken out on the first bid... However, for the times when the occasional buyer *does* come along to jump on your BIN, it's totally worth it, since it doesn't cost that much extra, and you possibly end up selling your item for a whole lot more than you originally expected.

I don't particularly care for Buy it Now with Best Offer. From my experience, most buyers will lowball you to death, expecting to score a bargain at a deep discount to your BIN. The fees are notably higher for these fixed price listings also, which is another turn-off. To me, this option only makes sense if you have multiples of the same item AND you want maximum time exposure (i.e. a 30-day listing). Even then, I prefer to do just a straight 'Buy it Now' so I don't have to deal with the hagglers.

If, however, you have a pure commodity item like gold or silver bullion, then I would definitely go for the cheapest listing option possible... regular auction; start price under $1; no special features. Those kind of items you don't have to worry about; they'll pretty much always sell for fair market value no matter what.

stckplunge

<< <i>I usually scroll right on past BINs. >>



Why in the world would a person do this. Although I probably sell coins you would not be interested in (modern cr%p), I almost exclusively offer mine as BINs/Best offer. My BIN price is typically far lower than the final price of traditional auctions. A person who just scrolls past BIN would be missing some great deals (assuming they are interested in my stuff). My auctions usually fully sell out even if I have large quantities for sale. In addition, scrolling right past BINs also eliminates deals like Microsoft cash back program which in the past would have saved you an additional 20-30% off the bin price. There is no good reason to simply ignore BINs that I can think of.

Jeff

doh

<< <i>I usually scroll right on past BINs. >>


Initially, I do the same thing, but sometimes will go back and look at them if no true auctions exist. Try doing a search for "Pcgs Bust quarter." The same 10 BINs have been on eBay for months...it's getting tiring to look at

mrpotatoheadd

<< <i>Try doing a search for "Pcgs Bust quarter." >>

Just did it. Two thirds of the BIN listings also include a "Best Offer" option. Have you tried making any offers?

doh

<< <i>Just did it. Two thirds of the BIN listings also include a "Best Offer" option. Have you tried making any offers? >>


Nah, none are dates I'm really interested in. Plus I just love the excitement of a no reserve auction

derryb

Don't forget to include cashback in the formula. Many buyers have switched to buy it now (if reasonably priced) to take advantage of the cashback offer.

mrpotatoheadd

<< <i>Nah, none are dates I'm really interested in. >>

Yeah, I guess it sucks when sellers just refuse to list the stuff you want to bid on, doesn't it?