posted on September 26, 2001 09:52:25 PM new
psyllie
I don't understand what one thing has to do with another, or why some folks find it a turn-off?
Me either? And from what I've read the reasons given are rather silly.
IMO the vast majority of buyers could care less what the bid/bin ratio is. Like it or not, BIN has caught on and for some items it is a great selling tool. I'll often set my BIN well above what the same item normally sells at hoping someone who either hates snipers, or MUST have the item ASAP will come along and grab the sure thing.
posted on September 26, 2001 10:44:46 PM new
I'm sorry, but killing an auction with bids 5 minutes before it is supposed to end, is a crappy way to do business. Your reason is the bid is not high enough? Doesn't no reserve mean NO RESERVE? If you pulled my bid 5 minutes before the auction ended, I would be furious, and I would never bid on another one of your auctions. Think if the situation was reversed. How would you feel if a bidder cancelled his bid for a lame reason,5 minutes before auction end? Killing a no reserve auction with 5 minutes to go (for the reason you give) is underhanded.
posted on September 26, 2001 11:52:56 PM new
I use the BIN two ways for two different reasons:
1) I don't want anyone disappointed in their purchase. It is hard to buy from a picture. Especially what I sell. On my estate pieces I set my BIN just below what I think it's top value is. In essence, I put a cap on how much they can spend. If they do go ahead and use the BIN, when they get it in hand hopefully they will feel they have indeed made a good buy and not ask for a refund (I allow returns for any reason). I know I am limiting my profit and the argument is a things value is what someone is willing to pay, but I have overbid on an item a time or two and felt so dumb for doing so, I just want to spare my bidders the same agony!
2) On my new items, I set the BIN at $20 above my start and state FREE shipping if the item is purchased at the BIN. I hope that by doing this they will decide to go ahead and use the BIN since it's only $20 more than my start and they can have it on it's way in 24hours instead of waiting for up to 10 days for it to close and they don't "pay" extra for shipping. If they go for it, I have made an EXTRA $12-$15. It seems to work pretty good for me. Better than my $1.00NR auctions I tried that ended up costing me big time and almost put me out of business before I even got started good!
posted on September 27, 2001 12:16:35 AM newIn essence, I put a cap on how much they can spend.
Well that's certainly a new twist on the BIN I've never heard before.
I only sell antiques & collectibles, and I only use BIN on items that I know have a certain max range on eBay. I would have been out thousands of $ since BIN came on the scene if I only went with what *I* thought the max amount was on every item I listed.
posted on September 27, 2001 03:22:32 AM new
A BIN works as a "cap" on Yahoo where the BIN stays until it is met or exceeded. But on most of my auctions it disappears with one bid, and may sometimes get exceeded. I'm not sure,I don't really track it.
I sometimes do a low minimum and high BIN, but it doesn't mean I need the BIN to make any profit. Usually it's a case of my spending $1 for a book and finding it "worth" $50 on Amazon. I have no idea if I'd get that much so I might list for $9.99 and a BIN of $40 or something [esp. if it's x-library or not mint] and see what happens. I still get plenty of profit on the minimum.
Packer, I am not sure what you sell, but my personal strategy is to list higher the first time around. Go for the gusto, in a sense. Then on the relist decide whether to drop the price. I might do that if I got a lot of hits but no bids, as this leads me to think that something about the book caught attention, but noone thought the price was right. I either relist with a lower price, or put it on Amazon.
posted on September 27, 2001 06:20:24 AM new
I love entrepreneurs! It's great the way each of us takes a tool and uses it in ways that work for our particular situations. I'm thoroughly enjoying hearing the various takes on BIN.
Packer, I really appreciate you telling me your reasoning behind your dislike of the bid-BIN spread. But I gotta admit, I don't understand it, particularly from someone who used the $1 NR with great success. Do you also not bid on low-ball starting bid auctions without BINs because you know the seller really wants more? Or if one of the first lookers at an item--let's use that $9.99/start $89/BIN as an example--if the first looker bids $9.99 and BIN is gone before you even know it was there--would you still not bid $10.50 or whatever on a $90 item because you figure the seller really wants more?
I'm not negating your feelings on the matter--I'm sincerely interested in knowing if there's a group of bidders out there who won't bid because they're afraid of winning an item for too low of a price. (Please note: I would not be in that group lol) If so, then maybe you can reach a whole new group of bidders outside your usual suspects by raising your opening prices...or something like that!
By the way--my widget got a bid, so the BIN is gone. Only two hits on the item, so only that bidder and possibly one other person will know they could've BINned it. And in the meantime, my widget is sitting there for 6+ more days at way below the going rate, with a bid on it, which should prompt even more looks--hooray!
I can live with that $5 opening bid if that's all it brings. This bidder did not bid on my last one--so potentially there could be another little war over this one with the former bidders--I can hope!
It's gonna be kind of fun to watch what happens.
I suspect if I had listed it for $19.99 or $24.99 with a $25 BIN it might not sell. But the last one I sold went for $26+, also with a start bid of $5, and it drew 11 bids...
posted on September 27, 2001 09:09:46 AM new
Hi Packer.
I wouldnt give up the $1 NR strategy just yet. I listed a bunch of auctions last Thursday and am surprised at how well they were doing. I wasnt going to list at all, but like everyone else, I have a pile of bills that need to be paid and a lot of fall/winter inventory . I also list $1 NR and didnt want to change. So, I let 'em fly and prayed for the best. I think things are going to be ok. At least for now.
Anyway, I know a couple of sellers who lost their shirts last week, however, this week is better for them. My sister also sells on ebay and had a lot of auctions that ended last week with no bids. She relisted, and all of them have bids now.
