Opening Bids

[monkeymcgee]

I've been a strictly BIN guy for a couple of years, but the problem I'm having is things sit around way too long. So I've started doing auctions again, but after my first batch ended I'm wondering where you more experienced auction sellers set your opening bids so you don't get screwed.

I started all the auctions at $1.99 thinking that worst case scenario I'd at least have shipping ($1.64) and most fees covered. Unfortunately several cards ended at $1.99 and I ended up basically paying the buyers to buy those cards after all the fees. I'm not talking about crap cards.

So, I was curious about where you set your opening bid so you get protected but you don't scare away bidders. I'm thinking about going with $2.99, which would guarantee me a small profit (~ $0.50) on opening bids.

Forgot to mention, I do free shipping for my listings.

[alexlazarevich]

I don't do BIN/BO's much at all anymore, I found items sit there for ages and I only get low ball offers. So I started doing auctions in bunches. I start auctions at $0.99 and charge $1.64 for shipping.

I never list inexpensive (~$2 or less) cards individually. They won't sell and if they do fees just kill any profit. I bunch all cards that are $2 or less into lots, team or player. The bigger the lot the better it seems to sell.

However, most of my inventory are new products, which means I'm trying to sell everything within 1-2 weeks of the product release date. During this time demand for the product is very strong and you can do really well.

Another thing I do is offer auctions in 2 minute increments, and try to have auctions ending every night, or if not every night then every Sunday, Monday and Thursday night. And I offer free combined shipping and 14 days to pay. This seems to attract a lot of bargain hunters, who start to bid against each other and then you get better ending sales prices.

[monkeymcgee]

Originally Posted by alexlazarevich

I don't do BIN/BO's much at all anymore, I found items sit there for ages and I only get low ball offers. So I started doing auctions in bunches. I start auctions at $0.99 and charge $1.64 for shipping.

I never list inexpensive (~$2 or less) cards individually. They won't sell and if they do fees just kill any profit. I bunch all cards that are $2 or less into lots, team or player. The bigger the lot the better it seems to sell.

However, most of my inventory are new products, which means I'm trying to sell everything within 1-2 weeks of the product release date. During this time demand for the product is very strong and you can do really well.

Another thing I do is offer auctions in 2 minute increments, and try to have auctions ending every night, or if not every night then every Sunday, Monday and Thursday night. And I offer free combined shipping and 14 days to pay. This seems to attract a lot of bargain hunters, who start to bid against each other and then you get better ending sales prices.

Thanks for the insight--I appreciate the advice.

[dthimesch]

I gotta second what Alex said. For the most part that is exatcly what I do. I list everything starting at .99, although I charge 2.25 for shipping. Charging 2.25 for shipping also allows me to combine a ton of cards together to make the buyers buying multiple items feel like they are REALLY saving on shipping. I have about 4 buyers that buy nearly 40 cards or more each week, and like Alex said they often start bidding against each other.

One other difference that I do from what Alex said is I start all my auction at once instead of at 2 min increments. I have had buyers email me and tell me they would have liked to bid on more but couldn't because they all ended at the same time. The problem with that for me is that I send invoices to everyone, even buyers who only buy a single card. It creates a nightmare with the whole aspect of combining invoices when auctions don't end at the same time.

[monkeymcgee]

Originally Posted by dthimesch

I gotta second what Alex said. For the most part that is exatcly what I do. I list everything starting at .99, although I charge 2.25 for shipping. Charging 2.25 for shipping also allows me to combine a ton of cards together to make the buyers buying multiple items feel like they are REALLY saving on shipping. I have about 4 buyers that buy nearly 40 cards or more each week, and like Alex said they often start bidding against each other.

One other difference that I do from what Alex said is I start all my auction at once instead of at 2 min increments. I have had buyers email me and tell me they would have liked to bid on more but couldn't because they all ended at the same time. The problem with that for me is that I send invoices to everyone, even buyers who only buy a single card. It creates a nightmare with the whole aspect of combining invoices when auctions don't end at the same time.

I do free shipping because I want the automatic 5 star for the shipping DSR, but I'm not sure buyers factor in the shipping cost with their bids when you do that.

Do you guys ever get dinged on your shipping DSR for charging shipping? I need that TRS discount, so that's why I care

Thanks again

[dthimesch]

Originally Posted by monkeymcgee

I do free shipping because I want the automatic 5 star for the shipping DSR, but I'm not sure buyers factor in the shipping cost with their bids when you do that.

Do you guys ever get dinged on your shipping DSR for charging shipping? I need that TRS discount, so that's why I care

Thanks again

My Current DSR's Are:

Item as described: 4.98
Communication: 4.99
Shipping Time: 4.99
Shipping and Handling Charges: 4.94

so to answer your question, yes I do get dinged, but I have never been dinged enough that it has put my TRS status in danger. I am pretty sure that the only time I have been dinged is when the shipping charge has been over that $3 mark. Even though I do charge 2.25 I always try to make it as close to actual shipping cost as possible once you start to go over. I believe that is why I have never really had a problem with people dinging my DSR's.

[alexlazarevich]

dtimisch, your shipping rates make a lot of sense. I only charge $1.64, and I'm losing $0.30 in supplies on every transaction. I'm going to try switching to $2 shipping after my last batch of auctions are done. The only problem is I rely on the 20% discount and if I start getting nailed on DSR's I will have to go back to $1.64, which seems to be real safe. (I have 4.99 shipping cost DSR right now)

monkeymcgee, I think free shipping is cool, but you might be giving more away than you need to. Maybe?

I'm no expert at eBay, but one thing I know is it's a constantly changing marketplace, and you need to be flexible and ride with the wind. A year or so ago, I really thought BIN/BO's were best, but that's seemed to have changed recently, at least for me. But things could change again and I have to be ready to change on a dime. Never get stuck in a mode, or get emotionally attached to a system. Be ready to throw everything you know out the window and start with a new strategy.

[monkeymcgee]

Yeah, I'm scrapping free shipping on my auctions now--you guys gave me a lot to think about. Plus I save listing fees by being able to set .99 for the opening bid.

I appreciate your feedback and I totally agree about revisiting your strategy and changing it up. I really like the auction model now--just needed a way to protect myself on those 1-bid items. I feel better about it now--thanks again

[alexlazarevich]

Originally Posted by monkeymcgee

I really like the auction model now--just needed a way to protect myself on those 1-bid items. I feel better about it now--thanks again

For sure, what works for me, to protect myself against the $0.99 ending auctions, is to group many of those into either lots, or sell other high end items at the same time as you sell the low end items. The whole idea is to attract buyers, even those looking for $0.99 deals, by selling a lot of items in the same night, or over a few nights in a row. Once you've got a few low ballers bidding on your items, then the odds of getting a $0.99 are very low because someone will bid $3 or $4, and sometimes even better.

For example, I recently sold a lot of Precision football. Many of the auto's were cards that will go for $0.99. Austin Pettis, Bilal Powell, players like that. But I had so many of them up for auction, over a few days, that it attracted low ball buyers, and only a few of the cards went for $0.99, most went for $3-$4. And in many cases a single buyer bought several of the cards, so my shipping cost was spread out over several cards thus reducing my overall shipping cost.

[monkeymcgee]

Originally Posted by alexlazarevich

For sure, what works for me, to protect myself against the $0.99 ending auctions, is to group many of those into either lots, or sell other high end items at the same time as you sell the low end items. The whole idea is to attract buyers, even those looking for $0.99 deals, by selling a lot of items in the same night, or over a few nights in a row. Once you've got a few low ballers bidding on your items, then the odds of getting a $0.99 are very low because someone will bid $3 or $4, and sometimes even better.

For example, I recently sold a lot of Precision football. Many of the auto's were cards that will go for $0.99. Austin Pettis, Bilal Powell, players like that. But I had so many of them up for auction, over a few days, that it attracted low ball buyers, and only a few of the cards went for $0.99, most went for $3-$4. And in many cases a single buyer bought several of the cards, so my shipping cost was spread out over several cards thus reducing my overall shipping cost.

Great strategy--thanks for sharing that

[dthimesch]

Originally Posted by alexlazarevich

dthimesch, your shipping rates make a lot of sense. I only charge $1.64, and I'm losing $0.30 in supplies on every transaction. I'm going to try switching to $2 shipping after my last batch of auctions are done. The only problem is I rely on the 20% discount and if I start getting nailed on DSR's I will have to go back to $1.64, which seems to be real safe. (I have 4.99 shipping cost DSR right now)

monkeymcgee, I think free shipping is cool, but you might be giving more away than you need to. Maybe?

I understand the worry about getting dinged. I was real worried about it when I first started with the 2.25 shipping but have found that as long as I am fair-to more than fair with my combined shipping rates, 2.25 has not hurt me at all. Of course I very well could be just lucky I have not run into a rash of pricks that go around dinging peoples DSR's.

Originally Posted by monkeymcgee

Yeah, I'm scrapping free shipping on my auctions now--you guys gave me a lot to think about. Plus I save listing fees by being able to set .99 for the opening bid.

I was going to bring this up earlier. It is a big cost savings saturating your auctions at .99. Biggest reason why I charge shipping. If It was the same cost to list at say 1.99 or 2.99 I would definitely start my auctions there and offer free shipping but the cost savings of starting auctions at .99 has me doing what I do. Charging the shipping is what protects myself against the 1 bid, .99, items and I have a lot of those. If you look at me completed auctions I sell a ton of low end items.

[7290morint]

I used to do exclusively BIN/BO, I had a bunch of stuff just sitting with nothing but low ball offers. I offer free shipping on everything because I don't even want to give buyers the option to "rate" or ding my DSR's. I just ran a bunch of auctions that all ended last night and started them all at $5.99 so to make sure at the very least to cover fees & shipping for the card. Most ended with bids well over $5.99, but I had 2 that ended only at $5.99 which is okay with me.

[benshobbies]

I have a store, so it doesn't really matter what auction price I set it at. I think it costs me about $.10/auction no matter how much I really set the starting bid at. I usually set my starting bids for my higher dollar cards at $3.49 with free shipping. That is exacly like setting your bid at $.99 with $2.50 shipping. Usually I get bids right away and people are more apt to get into bidding wars if you start the bidding off at a higher price. Customers are thankful for the free shipping, and I have had many return customers week after week because they know they don't have to shell out extra for their packages. I buy all my shipping supplies in bulk and it costs me about $.10/package in supplies. I don't charge my customers supplies. My bubble mailers run me $.007 each and Toploaders cost around a penny a piece. I've cut a lot of costs out of my business by buying shipping supplies and card supplies in bulk. You can buy a case of 500 bubble mailers for around $30.00 or less on ebay and get ebay bucks back for it.

I do a lot of bins as well, and sell a lot of base cards at $1.00 or so and charge $2.75 (please no arguments about my shipping charges, I use the post office, not paypal shipping). Never had any problem with DSR's for shipping. I offer free shipping on all additional items, so that if you buy 3 cards or 10 cards, you just have to pay the $2.75. Also offer free shipping on purchases over $15.00. I've had people buy $15.00 of cards on a regular basis to try to get that deal on free shipping, and its worked out wonders. One year during Christmas time someone bought about $50.00 worth of base from me. Other times, people have bought $50-75.00 worth of Star Wars Fighter Pods from me and I shipped it overseas for free.

The kicker is good customer service to try to win people back. I do youtube videos, tweet to my customers on twitter, and the forums to try to get a buzz going about my auctions or cards. The more I learn about business, the more I realize its 25% about the sale, and 75% about good quality customer service. People like to know that you care about them.

[blastman]

eBay is also taking 9% of your shipping fees too. You're losing even more money charging actual postage.