Pulling the BIN Trigger on eBay Auctions

ChiSoxCardboard · July 29, 2013 1:10PM

Can someone loop me in on why anyone would ever click Buy it Now on an eBay auction? I've sold three cards like this in recent weeks, including one today. The auction had 6 days left, with no bids, a starting bid of $20, and a BIN of $26 (because you have to set the BIN at least 130% of the starting bid). The $20 starting bid was a fair price, but not a steal or anything. And I had a buyer click the BIN this morning and pay immediately.

The only thing I can think of is he just wants the card six days earlier than he would otherwise get it. Even if you're willing to pay more than $26, why not just put in a bid for the most you're willing to pay and then you might save a few bucks.

I mean, I'm not complaining...just wondering.

Brad

Stadium1978 · July 29, 2013 1:14PM

If he only bids, he might have to pay MORE than the BIN price if the bidding goes higher. Or, even worse, he might not win the item at all. Better to be safe than sorry if the item is important enough.

Dpeck100 · July 29, 2013 1:14PM

There are many collectors that have certain items on their want lists and when they see them at what feels like a reasonable price they snag it.

I have seen tons of items that were listed in a similar fashion go for more then the initial buy it now price once a bid has been placed.

Count me in as someone who would hit the BIN and pay right away.

dytch2220 · July 29, 2013 1:17PM

Agreed. If something is on my list and the BIN price is within the range of what I'm willing to pay, I'll pull the trigger every time.

handyman · July 29, 2013 1:19PM

Why did you offer this option if you feel so strogly againts it?

dytch2220 · July 29, 2013 1:23PM

If I'm not doing a BIN, I'm sniping.

Dpeck100 · July 29, 2013 1:31PM

Most EBAY sellers put some thought into their pricing strategy and try and come up with what they feel is a sound one. By your remarks clearly you think the buyer was foolish to purchase the item for $6 more then the opening bid and therefore it was not a well thought out strategy to begin with.

I would re think your approach completely and spend sometime thinking like a buyer and then price your items based on buyer tendencies.

ClockworkAngel · July 29, 2013 1:32PM

I have seen many instances of an auction's final price surpassing the original BIN the seller had. The person does the BIN to avoid either losing it or potentially paying more because of auction fever

ChiSoxCardboard · July 29, 2013 1:33PM

<< <i>Why did you offer this option if you feel so strogly againts it? >>

Because experience tells me that I can make more money by offering the option...I'm not morally or ethically opposed to it, I just wouldn't use it myself if the roles were reversed.

Based on the responses, I guess it just comes down to different buying philosophies. Me personally, I'm willing to pay what I'm willing to pay, but more than anything I don't want to pay more than market value. So I wouldn't pull the BIN trigger at 130% of the starting bid if the starting bid seems to roughly approximate market value. I err on the side of not paying more than market value. But by pulling the BIN trigger, other folks err on the side of not missing a chance to pick something up at under market value. I can understand that.

ChiSoxCardboard · July 29, 2013 1:36PM

<< <i>Most EBAY sellers put some thought into their pricing strategy and try and come up with what they feel is a sound one. By your remarks clearly you think the buyer was foolish to purchase the item for $6 more then the opening bid and therefore it was not a well thought out strategy to begin with.

I would re think your approach completely and spend sometime thinking like a buyer and then price your items based on buyer tendencies. >>

I strategize with respect to the auction's starting price. I auto-fill the BIN price at 130% of the auction's starting price because it's free and experience tells me that sometimes buyers will use it. For some of my auctions I would set the BIN lower if eBay allowed me to.

That said, maybe I ought to start thinking about setting the BIN higher in particular auctions.

Brad

Dpeck100 · July 29, 2013 1:41PM

The pricing strategy you are using was very popular in the past. I believe EBAY forced the spread between the two prices to narrow dramatically with their movement towards more fixed priced listings and it has made it much less attractive. For example an item might have had an opening bid of $15 and a buy it now of $75.

I would either use high opening bids if you are trying to protect your investment or a buy it now with best offer that is higher then you think it is worth. The same person who snagged it for $26 might have been willing to pay more in reality and this gives you a chance to find out.

rabbitpunch · July 29, 2013 1:42PM

You need to make/start a "proposal" on how BIN should be used thread.

ChiSoxCardboard · July 29, 2013 1:49PM

<< <i>You need to make/start a "proposal" on how BIN should be used thread. >>

If this is a veiled reference to all my utterly failed threads, I'll have you know that one of my recent ones has garnered modest interest!

We can't all start wildly successful threads with cult-like followings like mojorob!

JMDVM · July 29, 2013 2:31PM

Better safe than sorry if the price is within reason

Goomba78 · July 29, 2013 3:55PM

I wish I had hit the BIN on a few 1954 Hank Aaron PSA 8 RCs earlier this year, given their recent auction prices

dennis07 · July 29, 2013 9:38PM

Believe it or not some people still walk into a car dealership and pay sticker price.

shouldabeena10 · July 29, 2013 10:16PM

In my opinion, if you're starting all of your auctions out at "a fair price" or at "roughly approximate market value" then you're missing out on most of your potential bidders. If you start everything out at market value, you're really running a store ... not holding auctions.

I'd guess that very few of your auctions have more than a couple of bidders on them, and that most don't sell with high profit margins. I'd also guess that many don't sell at all, and you end up relisting them.

You said yourself that you don't "pay more than market value" for your cards, so even you .... wouldn't bid on your auctions. I'd imagine there are lots of people that think along similar lines and will never place bids on your items. The true allure of auctions is the chance to get something at a good price. And the 'sellers advantage' in auctions is that everyone's idea of a good price can differ greatly.

Do a closed auction search on eBay, and I bet you'll notice the cards that sell for the most "over market value" are usually the ones that have more bidders and followers on them (everything else being equal of course, and assuming you're selling stuff that has modest appeal). You'll also see that the bidders and winners in those auctions tended to search the sellers other items and place bids on them too ... and/or use the BIN's on some of their other items. Combined free shipping is a great way to upsell your customers.

If I were you, I'd experiment with lowering my starting bids, starting some select items at .99 cents, and maybe even raising the % gap of my BIN's. The .99 cent auctions will get people bidding and looking (there's a reason all stores use 'loss leaders' to get customers in the door), the lower staring bids will attract more bidders and snipers, and the higher BIN's will raise the perceived value of some of your cards.

Of course, I haven't listed any cards on eBay in about 5 years ... so I could be completely wrong. lol

Mike

MisterBungle · July 29, 2013 11:06PM

My time is worth something. Rather than wait around
until the end of an auction, try to snipe it, and maybe
pay the BIN price anyway, or above. I'll gladly pull
the trigger on a BIN.

...and you're talking about 6 dollars?? Hell, I'd pay
6 bucks to watch two monkeys ...

...well, never mind that...

~

hookem · July 30, 2013 2:11AM

For $6, I hit the BIN and don't think twice about it. It costs $30-40 to take my family of 4 to get some decent burgers, why would I care about $6 more for a card that I want in my collection? That is the way I look at it.

dfanredsfan · July 30, 2013 4:16AM

The cards I tend to buy are higher grade low pop cards. Not necessarily really expensive, but hard to find. If I don't buy a card I want now, I may not get another chance for a year, maybe more. So if I think the BIN price is a little steep, but it's the first example of a card in a specific grade that I've seen in ages, then...I'll probably talk myself into pulling that trigger. A few months later I won't even remember what I paid for it, but the card and its enjoyment will be mine.

df

Dodgerfanjohn · July 30, 2013 4:24AM

Some eBay bidders do not know what they are doing. How else do you explain someone placing a $350 max bid on a $500 card in the first day of a six day auction, and getting outbid on that first day? Lots of people doing it wrong.

Good for sellers and good overall for eBay and the state of the sportscard market.

PowderedH2O · July 30, 2013 6:00AM

I have done just that many times. It let's the seller know that there is a legitimate buyer, and it let's me keep an eye on the auction. I have also hit the BIN button on more auctions than I can count. My rule is that if the BIn price is lower than any recent sales of that same item (including auctions), then using the BIN is not a bad strategy.

Dodgerfanjohn · July 30, 2013 6:27AM

<< <i>I have done just that many times. It let's the seller know that there is a legitimate buyer, and it let's me keep an eye on the auction >>

You do realize that you just proved my point, dont you? Theres a 200 item watch list, and your reasoning doesn't make much legitimate sense(unless its a rare item and there's legit concern that the seller will pull the auction). It sounds exactly like the donkish stuff they say on Storage Wars.

Pulling the BIN Trigger on eBay Auctions

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