Originally Posted by
IdahoScrapper
As much as I dislike
ebay, they DO have the exposure. I am going to give this strategy a try.
Buy it now is a good strategy as long as you have mostly cookie cutter items that a number of people have, and a number of people want, but there are countless times it isn't listed anywhere, in open or closed/completed listings. That's where the buy it now can quickly lose its appeal.
If an item can't be found it's likely in two categories, either nobody wants it, or nobody has it. In either case it can also proceed to a "nobody knows what it is". I know it's rare to have items of extreme interest to an extremely small audience, but it does happen, and that's where the auction format has a definite edge.
I once listed an old full length ISA card that had on it "translator", I had no idea what it was, or even what I started the bidding at, .99 cents maybe, or 9.99, just don't recall. It got a fairly early bid on it, and about midway through I got one simple question, "does it work?" Fortunately I had used the ten day auction, and had a bit of time to not be rushed but I simply said it was untested but presumed to be a working pull from a system upgrade and not a unit failure, and that it had come from NASA". They later said it didn't matter, "if it's broke, we'll fix it." The bidding started going up to 40, 50, 70, 90, and I was surprised but happy. The bid stayed over the weekend and Monday afternoon as it began getting near closing it started up again, 120, 150, I'm like going woah! What's the deal on this, kinda worried really. The last few minutes it started going up again and I just walked away, went outside and walked around awhile, went back in to see and a last minute snipe attempt had pushed it up to 270/290, somewhere in there 287 maybe it was. The guy sent me his company Fedex account number for a prepaid to Vancouver, BC, Canada. I never did know what it was but their feedback said "bid with confidence"
Haha, didn't mean to get so far off on that, but there are scores of things you can't find a price for, or know where to begin outside of an auction
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