Hello everyone, welcome back to the party! Time for another leg of the quest.
Let’s talk about auctions!
Auctions are the primary way that I’m selling off this collection, and they’re very funny things. Because I assume most of you reading this are of a similar age to me I’d guess that you remember when eBay first came into being. Back when the History channel actually talked about history (if you consider all Hitler all the time “history”), they ran a cool show discussing some of the historical items that eBay had up for auction. Because I was a nerd and an introvert I remember watching the show and being genuinely interested in it. Now that I’m a jaded adult who has worked in e-commerce companies I see that it was all just a fabulous marketing strategy cleverly disguised as entertainment, which is what most marketing is. I’m belaboring the point though.
Having now spent a couple months putting stuff up for auction, let me tell you a few things that I’ve learned.
First, setup is everything.
In an auction both parties are basically being pitted against each other. The seller wants to make the most money possible, and the buyer wants to spend as little money as they can. As a seller how you setup the auction is a thing I’ve toyed with a lot, and there’s no real right answer that I’ve found, but I can sway the buyers’ actions based on what things I choose to enable and what I think the value of the item I’m selling is.
For instance, if I think something is relatively low value, I’ll set the entry bid at a dollar amount I’m comfortable receiving for that item. I’ll then allow offers on the item and let it do its thing. Usually, I’ll see a lot of offers come in at or around the entry bid, and usually I’ll take one of them that I’m comfortable with.
If something is of medium value, say $20, I’ll set up the auction the same way (fair entry bid price) but I’ll enable the buy it now function. This will disable offers on the item and will let buyers know there’s no haggling. I’ll then set the buy it now price at something a good but fair amount above the entry price but nothing crazy.
For the really valuable stuff I go in something of a crazy direction. I’ll set an entry bid below the price I want to take, and then I’ll set a crazy high buy it now price, something like 2 or 3 times what the market value is. What this does is both entices and forces buyers to bid, it also expands the audience for the product because a buyer may think I’m an idiot and that they’re going to get a good deal. This rarely happens as the market is the market, people know what stuff is worth and items are rarely sold below what they’re worth.
Did I also mention that I like economics? I’ve tried a lot of different strategies as far as entry bids, buy it now pricing, and offers. What you just read is about the best advice I can offer, sometimes you just get a stinker and it’s best to walk away. I’ve had like 200 action figures I’ve put up, got absolutely no bids and no views in the week or two I had the listing up, and so I pulled it down and set it aside for donation. Like I said, the market is the market, and if no one wants to buy the thing you’re selling then give up and try to sell something else.
Oh, also a fun learning, set auctions to end at or around 8 pm central. Everyone in the country is awake and generally not at work at that time and I’ve seen a lot of action on the listings I set to end then. You want butts in seats and eyes on the auction. You want people to be invested in the item and up for the challenge of winning, so the time of day when the majority of the action happens is important. You can’t bid on something if you’re actively at work, well most people won’t. 8 pm is 9 on the east coast and 6 pm on the west, perfect time for bids to happen.
Lots of fun, right?
Thanks for taking the turn through the bazaar with me! Speaking of auctions, I’ve got some live at a new place I’m testing out, you can find them at the button. I’m definitely selling my high dollar stuff here but I want to test out whether there's enough eyes on here for the mid level stuff, especially because I won’t have to pack and ship if I sell on here.
Anyways, thanks so much for reading. Share with your friends, it’s dangerous to go alone.