posted on May 28, 2002 05:38:20 AM new
I have a questions to those sellers who also list on half.com. I'm trying to sell off some videos through them (not anything high priced, I've read the horror stories on this board). On at least half of my videos they don't recognize the UPC code, and I can't find the videos through searches. They don't have a place where you can put in a new video, so am I correct in assuming that I just can't list those videos? They are off-titles, so maybe half.com won't let me list them. Any other suggestions where I can list them? I have them on ebay, but when you have 200 of the same title it's nice to get more exposure.
posted on May 28, 2002 07:13:05 PM new
You can create your own listings in several categories. Everything Else is one you can use. Users of the search engine (people looking for your obscure title) will find it.
Yahoo Marketplace only charges 10% commission and their database is bigger for videos. The nice thing is sellers there mostly list for higher prices, so you can be the low man one the block very easily.
They don't have many buyers there, but I list things there that are not already in the database on Half.com or Amazon (amazon charges $1 plus 15% so forget low priced items. However if it's truly rare, list it there for a high price).
I do make sales on Yahoo but remember, Yahoo is run by Yahoos. They have no vacation button, so don't worry about it if you can't ship. Just ignore it and after a few days Yahoo will tell the buyer tough luck, and your listing will remain active. I also list items on Yahoo that there are 100 of on half.com for a couple bucks. Rather than spin my wheels I list mine on Yahoo and occasionally sell mine for $5 or $10. Remember Yahoo has a lot of traffic and some of them are newbies or never heard of half.com
posted on May 28, 2002 07:45:49 PM new
I agree that a seller can get a much better price on Yahoo Warehouse or Yahoo Used Goods or whatever they now call it but sales are few and far between. I double list most items at both Half and Yahoo warehouse and keep tabs on the sales and inventory and have two lines in the water at once that way.
If any item is not in Halfs database or can not be found on a Half search it is an excellent candidate for listing at eBay.
posted on May 28, 2002 07:51:29 PM new
"If any item is not in Halfs database or can not be found on a Half search it is an excellent candidate for listing at eBay."
You just said a mouthful. I've been preaching for almost 2 years (since I started doing 1st bid wins" auctions) that the auction format is mostly a fad, and that eventually most internet sales would revert to a fixed price and immediate sale approach. It seems that process is well underway.
posted on May 29, 2002 07:11:58 AM new
You said: <<I've been preaching for almost 2 years (since I started doing 1st bid wins" auctions) that the auction format is mostly a fad>>
Oh, really? Last I heard the eBay auction count was still going up. People love auctions. Always have and always will. eBay is an extinsion of the b&m auction concept, which is also alive and well
posted on May 29, 2002 08:31:14 AM new
Oh, really?
eBay's listing count is not expanding much and the count is highly suspect anyways. Half.com has over 100,000,000 listings.
If auctions are such a great way to sell most items, why not have them at Krogers, or Wal-Mart? How much do I hear for a dozen eggs? You want orange juice too? Come back in an hour and well auction that too.
The fact is when I started doung "1st bid wins" auctions (really they are classified ads) on Yahoo several years ago, my sales tripled immediately. For items that are not truly rare, the recent common price can be determined with a little research, and then they buyer wants to buy it NOW, not haggle for a week trying to save a dollar and then get sniped at the close.
posted on May 29, 2002 09:22:04 AM new
Ebay is one of the few ecommerce ventures that has succeeded. Remember fixed price pets.com, Toys R Us, furniture.com, etc.? Why did eBay succeed when most fixed price ecommerce failed? What makes them different? Could it be a-u-c-t-i-o-n-s?
It's great that your system works for you. I would have missed out on $$thousands without the auction format.
posted on May 29, 2002 09:53:33 AM new
Could it be a-u-c-t-i-o-n-s?
No, it's not. It's called being in the right place at the right time. If eBay had been a Half.com shop where people could create their own listings, it would have worked better. There have been dozens of online auction houses that have come and gone. And there are many left today, mostly selling nothing.
People sell at eBay because they know buyers are looking there and not at Bidville, or Yahoo or Sellyouritem.com. Why do buyers all flock to eBay? Ask Warren Buffett. He's made billions understanding the importance of brand recognition. Why do you pay $1.50 for a 2 liter bottle of Coke when the bottle of Faygo is only $.69?
And yet, once buyers get some experience and feel the frustration of not getting what they what they want when they want it, and when they discover Half.com, Amazon Marketplace, and Yahoo Warehoues, they soo go there and understand that auctions traditionally have had a small niche in the world of buying/selling for centuries, and nothing about the internet has changed that. Auctions are suited for rare items, ie. there are more buyers wanting than there are sellers selling, and for items that the seller is in a hurry to dispose of immediately at whatever he can get for them.
I first discovered Half.com in early 2001 when I was infatuated with an obscure actress named Emily LLoyd who starred in the 1989 picture WISH YOU WERE HERE. So I researched her and came up with about 10 other movies she did since. I found about half of them listed on eBay and I made some bids and waited, and lost most of the auctions. So I searched Half.com and nearly all the movies were listed, with multiple sellers and some of them were offered for $2. So I bought the whole collection on half.com in less than an hour, didn't have to email or send payments to unknown sellers, and got the whole collection delivered to me in less than a week from the night I bought them.
Now isn't it true that 90% of the stuff offered on eBay falls into the same category, ie. stuff that is fairly common with more sellers than buyers?
posted on May 29, 2002 09:56:02 AM new
The current eBay auction listing counts include all multiple category listings which are really only one auction listed in two or more categories. Also the recent eBay fee increases greatly affected Dutch Auctions and many of those are now run as multiple single auctions since there is much less of an advantage to running a Dutch Auction anymore. These two examples show how inflated the actual eBay listing numbers really are these days.
I'm sticking with my prediction that only 15% of eBay's items with be without a BIN price in a couple of short years.
posted on May 29, 2002 10:19:53 AM new
The problem with eBay's Buy it Now is that it's set up to be a burden for both the buyer and seller all for the benefit of eBay.
Here's how it should work: The seller starts the auction as low as he dares and then makes up a buy now price based on anything: Past sales perhaps, greed perhaps, or just picking a number out of the hat. The buyer who wants the item now then decided if he should pay the premium (or it may be a bargain really) or get in the bidding game for many days. Yahoo has this format.
But eBay set it up to charge you $.10 for the buy it now option, plus if you start the auction lower than the buy now price, the whole thing disappears (along with your $.10) as soon as the 1st minimum bid is made. So why bother with it? If you think the item is worth $25, start the bidding at $24.99, pay eBay the $.55 listing fee and have a 5 day auction. After 4 days with no bids, change it to a 7 day auction. If it expires, relist it and do it all over. After 6 days, pay $.10 and make it a 10 day auction.
eBay's silly scheme is to make sure you don't list that item for $9.99 for only $.30. They know the only chance for you not to get burned is for have the big spender see your item first. The bottm feeders will almost always jump in with a minimum bid to kill your buy it now. Thus the seller is forced to list the item at the Buy Now price, which generates more fees for eBay.
So what they are really offering is a classified ad for $.10 additional.
BTW, BUY IT NOW is a dangerous tool in the hands of the ignorant seller. Many obscure treasures that seem like common junk are sold to the lucky collector for a few dollars with BUY IT NOW. I know of a computer game which was listed for $1 and would have easily reached $200 except the seller paid $.10 for the right to sell it immediately for $5.00.
posted on May 29, 2002 02:39:25 PM new
I think it's a nickel and not a dime for the BIN option. It's a shame that it disappears after one bid. Any trace of the BIN is erased so bidders can not use that info as any kind of a clue of the value of the item. For example on jewelry on eBay many sellers start items at $1 with a reserve and a high BIN price. The bidders see a $1 start amount but also see a $225 BIN price. They now know the seller is willing to sell the item at $225 so the value of the item has at least a clue. Once the first bid is placed all trace of the BIN is gone. Is this a $2,000 item or a $20 item or $200 item? With jewelry it can be very difficult to gage. I wish they would leave the BIN price active till it is reached like on Yahoo. If not that then it least leave what the invalid BIN price was. Of course this would make a few bidders sad to know they are bidding way over the BIN price because someone had bid a minimum bid.
