Selling cards on eBay

Futureman

I haven't sold on ebay yet, but I was thinking of listing a few doubles (all from the same set) to finance other purchases. We're all familiar with combining shipping on multiple auction wins; I have an idea on another way to give bidders an incentive: offer free shipping (not discounted or combined, free) just for bidding on more than one auction, regardless of if they win. Is this too confusing? Is it against ebay policy? Would it give you an incentive to bid on more auctions? Would it result in a higher sale price?

I'm not sure if I'm going to do it yet, but I thought I'd see what everyone thinks.

charrigan

I think it would be an incentive, seems clear enough, and would not violate eBay policy. You see some sellers do it with monetary thresholds--"free shipping for purchases over $100".

Dpeck100

If you are willing to allow for free shipping with just one more bid on an item I would suggest just going with free shipping all together.

On low priced items in particular I can see it being a real incentive and creating the invoices on your part will take time to go through the items and see what other listings they bid on.

I charge a flat fee and combine at no additional cost. This has certainly helped me get bids on other items and it is great when a buyer wins multiple listings and cuts down on the number of packages you have to put together.

mtcards

Seems like a little more confusing than worth the effort. The traffic on ebay is such that it really doesnt matter on incentives like these. People generally either want something or they dont....might be a few left who buy something extra just because they can combine shipping

LarkinCollector

I think it would be difficult to track trying to do it that way. I prefer a specific # of items (win 5 get free shipping) or a set $ amount as a buyer and both are simple to administer invoices as a seller.

jfkheat

It sounds like a good incentive for buyers to buy more. I think it would depend on what you have listed and how it is listed. Will you do true auctions or Buy it Nows? If you do auctions with high starting bids or have high Buy it Now prices I don't think it will make any difference.
All that said, why not list the cards on this site before going to Ebay?
James

jfkheat

<< <i>I think it would be difficult to track trying to do it that way. I prefer a specific # of items (win 5 get free shipping) or a set $ amount as a buyer and both are simple to administer invoices as a seller. >>



Actually it would be pretty easy to keep track of. If a buyer wins more that one item, when you send the invoice it will show all of the items the buyer won. Just adjust the shipping before sending the invoice.
James

LarkinCollector

<< <i>

<< <i>I think it would be difficult to track trying to do it that way. I prefer a specific # of items (win 5 get free shipping) or a set $ amount as a buyer and both are simple to administer invoices as a seller. >>



Actually it would be pretty easy to keep track of. If a buyer wins more that one item, when you send the invoice it will show all of the items the buyer won. Just adjust the shipping before sending the invoice.
James >>


He's suggesting a shipping discount based on bids, not wins. I'm not aware of an easy way to find a buyers other bids on items they didn't win.

jfkheat

Sorry, I missed the part about just bids. I agree that it would be way too much trouble.
James

cardcountry

If they are items that you expect to only bring 1 or 2 bids I think it would be reasonable (since a bid would likely = a sale). However, if they are, for example, $100 cards, you could get some $1-2 bids that wouldn't have a chance to win, wouldn't help increase your price point, and would qualify for free shipping.

Jeff

Futureman

Thanks for your responses. That's the type of feedback I wanted. It makes sense to either go with a flat rate, combined wins, or totally free instead of off bids.

bounce

free shipping is the easiest

if you're going to do $.99 auctions and let them run, i'd pick a flat shipping and agree to combine at some smaller increment per win ($.50, $1.00 extra per item, that sort of thing)

good luck!