posted on April 8, 2005 03:49:52 PM new
Which is cheaper? To run a Dutch auction with multiples of one item or a single BIN auction over and over.
I'm sure this is a no-brainer for somebody other than me - I flunked Math.
I have an item I'd like to sell for $9.99 and I can make as many of them as needed.
"The Insertion Fee for Multiple Item Dutch Auction and Fixed Price listings is based upon the opening value of your items. The opening value is the starting or the fixed item price multiplied by the quantity of your items."
"The Final Value Fee for a Multiple Item Dutch Auction, is determined by taking the Final Value Fee of the lowest successful bid and multiplying it by the number of items sold. Multiple Item Fixed Price listing is calculated per item sold, based on the final sale price of the item.
posted on April 8, 2005 08:06:26 PM new
A dutch fixed price listings will be your cheapest assuming that your items sells everytime and you are careful about the amount you list. (3 & 6 items are actually more to list) Your FVF's will stay the same, but the listing fees will be less with the more items you list.
posted on April 8, 2005 08:15:26 PM new
I've never listed a Dutch auction as I've always sold antiques/collectibles. But perhaps there would be some savings with larger quantities [u]or[/u] higher unit prices, as ebay quotes a ceiling price on the listing fee.
"The maximum insertion fee for any Multiple Item Listing is $4.80."
I don't know if there's a limit on how many widgets one can include in a Dutch auction listing.
One ebay page on Dutch auctions does provide an example of 50 hammers, so I assume one can offer at least that much at a time (providing you meet the criteria to list a Dutch auction.
Thus, 50 hammers x .35 (9.99 opening price)= the maximum insertion fee of $4.80.
Listed individually, that would work out to the real multiplication outcome of 50 x .35 = $17.50.
That doesn't take into account one's time involved in listing/relisting that many times.
edited to add that I may not even know what I'm talking about and to fix my own lousy math.
You need to evaluate how many a week you will sell before you list a a regular dutch auction.
Say you want a dutch auction for 5 $9.99 items your listing fee will be $1.20 EACH WEEK YOU LIST IT
Say after 5 weeks you realize you sell 3 a week then you are wasting money because 3 x $9.99 = $29.97 which is still $1.20 (total opening listed value of $24.99-$49.99 is $1.20) to list each week.
It is cheaper to list 3 duplicate single listings a week for a total of $1.05
