Ebay auctions that start off at $0.99

Over the last several days, I have seen ebay auctions start off at $0.99 and end up ending at a $50 to over $300.

I am sure this the normal thing to do, but here is my questions.



If you know the item is worth say $100, and you start it off at $1, and it sells for say $10, that is $90 that you just lost!

I know if I did that, I would be a bit ticked off, but apparently for some guys and girls this works really well.

You get 50 free auctions on ebay every month. Instead of setting a reserve price i find the best method is to start the auction 20% lower than the price i think it will sell at. That way you limit your downside risk and still get the sale.

Originally Posted by jghilino

You get 50 free auctions on ebay every month. Instead of setting a reserve price i find the best method is to start the auction 20% lower than the price i think it will sell at. That way you limit your downside risk and still get the sale.

I can understand that, but I am talking about the auctions that start off at $1. They are taking a BIG risk for it only selling for a few dollars.

Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot

I think they can set a reserve for such, I could be wrong.


Sirscrapalot - Not sure, but kinda sure. Ha.

Not sure if I know how to set a reserve or not. Will try that next time.

I guess a reserve is what your wishing to get for the item, and the bids have to at least hit the reserve for someone to win it?

there is a fee for setting up a reserve, there is no fee for setting a higher starting bid that is why i prefer that method to eliminate risk

it depends on what your selling, if there's a large market for it then .99c auctions can work well because many people are attracted to what other people like, so whilst the kids are having fun with 50c bids ect, once it starts to get closer to the value the kids drop off,
leaving your auction looking like it's the ants pants, 24 bids, 400+ views and it's still just $33 with 2 minutes to go.
then come the high rollers, ready to pounce, with 20 seconds to go there's 32 bids, it's $77 and adrenilin sets in, the must haves just can't contain themselves, the're so in the moment they must win, 2 seconds left and you almost fall off your chair 'cos it's now $199,61 you think omfg and refresh to see the winners name, only to find in the last 2 seconds there was another 4 bids, it ended at $367.01 your in shock, you feel guilty, go back to shock and not come out until you get that paypal email, "you've got payment" you quickly log on to check your account, yep it's in, wow looks great, you come out of shock, spend the money and realise you still haven't sent the item, that's boring.

on the other hand if your selling an item that is not so popular, or like bulk lots ect ect, yeah I like the 20% of the actual price you want to allow for some of the above.
and then there's the unknown item, you have no idea what it's worth so you set a higher price then you would think it's worth and are more then happy to get, someone may come along and buy it too.

I don't like reserve auctions, we can't actually do reserve auctions anymore here and it's better.
I used to use reserves for testing the water on items, not knowing how much interest it would have or what people are actually willing to pay, so you put a very high reserve and let people bid it up to the highest bid, so if your reserve is $100 and they bid up to $60
then you have an idea of what to list it at next time round.
problem is people know this and can't be bothered playing the reserve game.

Buy it now's are great for higher priced items for the impulse buyers that need to purchase this moment or nothing.
but steer clear of adding the "make an offer" option, it instantly devalues your item, you miss out on the person wanting it now
if they see that your actually negotiable on price.

end of the day, no matter what you think will happen to your item, how it will sell ect, it's usually the complete opposite.
and one more thing, I can sell $2 item on ebay all day, many hundreds of $2 items before I sell 1 item for $200
the bigger the ticket, the slower it usually sells, but junk, cheap as chips, all friggin day man.

I have started things off at .99 that sold for over $100 on numerous occasions. I will look at sales history and what I have invested in an item...Starting at .99 creates some excitement in buyers and gets the ball rolling early.

I have recently started selling on ebay again. 2 500GB SATA Hdd's .99 with 45.99 buy now, less than 3 hours sold. I also put up some gold fingers starting at $0.99 if you want you can follow it.

105 grams 3 70 oz Scrap Gold Fingers Cut Close High Yield Recovery Free SHIP | eBay

Thinks everyone. I pretty much understand the reasoning behind it now and it definitely makes sense.

Originally Posted by scrapperben

what are the big ones from?

no clue in a box of boards i bought.

Originally Posted by Geiser093

I have recently started selling on ebay again. 2 500GB SATA Hdd's .99 with 45.99 buy now, less than 3 hours sold. I also put up some gold fingers starting at $0.99 if you want you can follow it.

105 grams 3 70 oz Scrap Gold Fingers Cut Close High Yield Recovery Free SHIP | eBay

I put in a solid bid on them. You do need to buy some items to get your feedback up. I have no problems dealing with 0 feedback sellers. I had 0 feedback when i started out on ebay. Now i have 3000+

"Poor listings can screw anything up. Items misspelled, misslocated, and poor listing practices(i.e. poor photos, descriptions etc) can virtually kill a listings final sale price"

you are 100% correct

No pictures, and not listing shipping pricing do the same thing. Those are the listings i target because no one bids on them so the scrap goes well below fair market value.