Let off steam - auction sites

I am selling some brand new stuff, still in its boxes, so I put a reserve on it. The reserve is half the price it cost in the first place. (I am not daft enough to think I will get back what I paid for it)

Just had a message "your item did not sell"

But what I find annoying is I have given the URL of a site that sells the items so you can see for your self how much I paid, and people still only offer 1/10th - 1/5th the cost.

I could understand if it was used / 2nd hand but its not.

Has anyone else here had similar problems?

 

Auction site are there for people to sell stuff they don't want and for people to buy things at a decent price.
The problem you describe is "Market Levels"
You have set a price you want to achieve as a minimum.
The bidders make an offer and wait to see what others will bid. If you have a reserve - they are unaware of what that price is - there is less incentive to bid because there is no carrot to continue bidding. All you see is a comment "the reserve has not been met".
My best auctions have been "No Reserve". 2 or more bidders who want the item compete and snipers appear at the death to bump up the price.
Unless the reserve is low the chances are the lively bidders will find sellers without reserve.

 

Only problem i've had is when a certain member on here comes on & diss'es everything I ever try to sell on GC ever.

Apart from that no.

 

Ziggy i have told you before you cant sell people

 

there are a few tricks to selling on ebay .... what are you trying to sell?

 

my initial feeling is that children sxhool holidays have just started and nobody is buying because they will be away soon. If I could see the listing maybe I would come up with some other idea.

 

Depending on the item/value would it not be easier to put the item on at a fixed price Buy it Now? Or start the bidding at a price near the one you want? I find reserves very off-putting but if I want the item enough I might decide to go for a clearly-stated asking-price. If you list on a free listings weekend then it doesn't waste your money if it doesn't sell the first time round.

 

I like buying from fixed price listings and I seem to remember from past discussions on GC that I'm not the only one. I seem to remember that it is more expensive to sell in this way than through an auction, however.

 

A couple of thoughts spring instantly to mind.

Firstly, technically anything you're selling that you didn't make yourself is second-hand, no matter whether you've used it or not or how pristine or untouched the packaging it came in. This can set 'alarm bells' ringing in some people who think, so why's he selling it then? Of course, it may just be a simple matter of wrong size, wrong colour, not powerful enough or a whole host of other reasons, but often people just can't see or understand that.

The second thing is that by and large, people want something for nothing, so putting a reserve - whilst an obvious thing to do - doesn't always mean much to them and they think that if they're daft enough to offer a much lower price you might just be daft enough to accept (like that's going to happen!).

To be honest it's very seldom I've even looked at online 'auctions', to me - and this is a purely a personal point of view, based on what I've seen friends and colleagues buy - they always smack of 'well, this is complete rubbish but some mug will buy it'. If I do buy online I always go for fixed price.

Obviously, I don't know what you're selling and I know auction sites are 'all the rage', but I'm just a simple, old-fashioned soul and when I want to buy or sell something, my first port of call is always a card in local newsagents' windows or something like the Friday Ads - that way, as a buyer, I can go and see the item before I buy and as a seller, I don't have to parcel stuff up and pay extortionate postage (with the risk that it gets lost en route). Anything of any real value, I take to a 'proper' auctioneer where it can either be entered into a specialist or general sale, even paying commission I know it's being handled properly and won't get lost or (very seldom) damaged.

 

Happens all the time but your reserve will put people off. Try selling at a low starting price with no reserve. It works, but you have to accept you wont get what you want all the time.
I have just sold a birdwatching telescope for £640 in pristine condition. It cost twice as much new. It was the fourth time I auctioned it with my buy it now price not met in previous auctions.

 

On the plus side though you can get some fabulous bargins.

 

I think some things are more suited to e-bay selling than others. For instance, because there is such a huge turnover in women's fashion, there are some genuine bargains to be had on e-bay if you don't mind having something which may be slightly -but not always - 'last season'. As Maddahlia remarked in another thread, it is very hard to bring yourself to shop for clothes on the high street once you have got used to getting something beautiful, new and still with tags from e-bay for a fraction of the price that even quite ordinary items command in the shops. Most things I have bought were sent 'signed for' and I've had very few problems. Buyers have a strong incentive to provide a good service, because they need good feedback to continue trading.

It all depends what you're selling, Watergarden. Are they things which others want to buy? In the end, something is only worth what others will pay - as a lot of people who have been trying to sell their homes have found out recently.

PS You can buy great plants on e-bay, as Simbad will tell you!

 

I'm sure your telescope was an excellent item and the buyer was delighted. I don't know much about telescopes but I assume they can't easily breakdown or malfunction so it was a relatively safe purchase for him.

The trouble with paying a high price for a "new" item on an auction site is that once the price starts to creep near the cost of buying a new one in a proper shop, then some of the advantages start to evaporate.

I start thinking, shall I gamble (for example) £20 on something I haven't seen, may not fit or suit, may break down, a possible pig in a poke which I will struggle to resell for what I paid, or shall I spend £35/40 on a brand new item with a guarantee and full consumer rights, which I have tried on and know to be exactly what I want, in the colour I chose, up to date and state of the art.

I'm more prepared to pay for an electronic item which I know to be exactly the right thing from the model number, but no matter how good the item is if it breaks within a year of purchase you would have been better off buying new.

 

Have you tried asking Zigs how much he thinks your stuff is worth?

 

Depends IF Ziggy is buying or selling:-)

Jack McH