![]() ![]() In a classic timed auction, people participating in the auction can see whenever a new bid is made, and decide whether or not to match it. Some people swear by sniping, arguing that it's the best way to bid for items they like, while others find sniping very frustrating because they routinely lose auctions to snipers. Bid sniping is most commonly seen in online auctions, and the practice is not without controversy. Auctions have little place when 100 different sellers are listing thousands of the same thing, things that have a pretty well established price structure and compete directly with major B&M retailers.Īuctions are often the best way to sell not so common items unless you want to play the park and wait game.A bid snipe is a last minute bid in a timed auction which is designed to allow the sniper to win the auction with a decisive bid which no one else can beat because the auction closes almost immediately after the bid is placed. However, one cannot deny or ignore the overall trend.Īt least part of that trend is the result of eBay giving incentives to sellers to list in the Fixed Price format the other major reason for the rise in Fixed Price is the massive shift from the early days of OOAK to new mass market consumer items. There is still room for auctions on eBay and there are many buyers who still enjoy the fun aspect of an auction. That trend has been going on for ten years. There is no one formula that works for wrote:Ī few months ago (I could not find the release) eBay indicated another huge drop in the percentage of listings offering auction format. On the other hand: If a seller has a few great pieces or unlimited storage space then BIN type listing might work better. In short: Some sellers prefer auction style listings and some prefer BIN type listings.įor example: If a seller has unlimited access to OOAK (one of a kind) type items and limited space auctions make good sense because that allows sellers to move items out quickly even if the price is sometimes lower. In relation to most collectibles that type of BIN listing practice makes an item look undesirable even when it might be a great piece. In addition: One problem with BIN items is that the same items are being run over and over again while auction listings tend to stay fresh. ![]() What I've been seeing is that closing prices are often much higher now than BIN items in many cases and that wasn't always true.ĮBay seems to be pushing auctions and in a recent email from them they spent some time preaching why I should list via auction. Why do you say that people are moving to BIN? That's why people wait to bid now while they may have been more jumpy in years gone by. ![]() The explanation that people are moving to BIN makes sense.īuyers have become much better at bidding and auction sniper services didn't always exist. Results vary of course by seller and category of products being wrote: I took a look at some of your recent sales (from the feedback received) and only noticed one buyer (two items) who placed bids at the last minute. ![]() Buyers seem to prefer to come online (eBay or elsewhere) to buy and buy it now, not place a bid and wait several days to see if they have purchased the item. The other reality on eBay is that the growing trend for the last ten years has been away from auction listings towards fixed price listings. Analysis after analysis has not been able to discern a specific pattern except for buyers using programs to bid at the last moment. First of all, the majority of auction listings on eBay do not even attract a single bid (unless the seller starts the bidding at $1 or so).Ĭhecking auction listings with a starting price that makes sense, the winning bid could be placed at any time. ![]()
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