About to sell something on eBay, need pricing advice UPDATE: Thanks for the advice!

[trmiv]

I'm about to sell an item on eBay, and I'm not quite sure where to set everything to hopefully get the best price. I've made some mistakes in the past selling items that have led to less than expected results when selling, and I don't want to do that again. I searched past auctions on this item, and most seem to close at around $150. Mine has a few extras worth about $40, so I'm hoping to get maybe $160 or so for mine.

Anyway, what I'm debating on is, my starting price, if I should set a reserve, and what to put the Buy it Now price at. I've heard so much conflicting info on reserves on some searches I've done. What do people think here, are reserves a good idea? Also, starting price, some say to keep it low, like 99 cents, but if I do it that low, wouldn't I need a reserve? Or should I set my starting price at some percentage of the lowest I'm willing to get?

UPDATE 5/22
Thanks for the help guys! It ended up selling in one day at the buy it now price, which was more than I expected to get for it. I took someone's advice and set a higher buy it now than I was looking to get, and someone purchased it at that price. Thanks for all the advice!

 

[necine]

Keeping it low is stupid. I start my auction at close to the end price of other auctions. If they usually end at 140 I start it at 100.

 

[trmiv]

I heard having a high starting price discourages buyers?

 

[o9z]

if you value your item at 160, I cut it in half and start it at 80$. 80$ is reasonable to a buyer and if you get half of what YOU think it is worth, great. Better than 0. If you are worried about a final price, set a reserve, but a reserve price turns users away as much as a high starting bid....atleast it does for me. I won't bid on auctions with a reserve unless the bid is MUCH less than the actual value.

 

[trmiv]

Thanks for the advice so far. I'm still so conflicted.

 

[GrammatonJP]

If its value at 150, itll goto 150, people always snipe and wait till the end..

i list all mine at .01 to minimize the listing fees, my junk always sell at market price... if its something that doesn't sell at market, ill put reserve on it

 

[trmiv]

OK, I took off the reserve and set it at $75 starting. I have this auction set to start at 6:15 Pacific time tonight. I think I may delay it until Saturday at the same time.

 

[ajscottsr]

It's real simple...

Start the auction at the minimum amount of money you are willing to accept for the item or slightly more. If you start it lower than that, you risk not getting enough for it. Much higher than that, you risk not selling it at all.

As for reserve, people have mixed results, but I personally refuse to bid on a reserve auction unless the reserve has already been met and I am certain there are others like me. I don't walk into a store and offer prices for items with super secret price tags on them. If someone can't tell me what the minimum bid they will accept is, I simply am not interested.

 

[trmiv]

So the final answer is, there is no final answer. So if I'm willing to go $145-150 on it, I should start it that high?

 

[RagingBITCH]

trmiv - everyone has different strategies/opinions on it. Do whatever you feel like doing. I usually just set the starting price at the minimum I'm willing to take for it. Sometimes I'll do the .99 thing and see where it goes, but most of the time just set it at the starting price. There's no *wrong* way to do it.

 

[rudder]

99 cents and a good friend who can bid it up FTW!

 

[trmiv]

The last item I sold I set at .01 starting with no reserve, and ended up getting way less than what the other past auctions for the item were selling at. That's why I'm a little apprehensive here.

 

[Yossarian]

I sold a GPS last week for $300 that I started at $0.99. I wasn't worried about it not being bid up.

 

[Appledrop]

i tend to put an overly high buy it now price, as it probably makes people think they are getting a steal of a deal at what the bidding is at. Not only that, i have had people actually pay for the semi-ridiculous buy it nows, which is always nice..

 

[captains]

sell it for it for $50 with the shipping at $400 lol

never sold anything on ebay before so i've never actually pulled this kind of bs

 

[Tom]

It really depends on the item. If it's an item that lots of people are likely to be interested in, I start the auction price very low, this seems to greatly encourage interest in an item.

But if it's likely that only 1 or 2 people might be interested, I would list it at what you are willing to sell it for. But you may not sell it.

Something else, the length of time your auction runs, the day and time it ends, as well as the ad copy and photos, can make a big difference in the outcome.

I've gotten some very good deals, because the auction ended in the middle of the night.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: ajscottsr
It's real simple...

Start the auction at the minimum amount of money you are willing to accept for the item or slightly more. If you start it lower than that, you risk not getting enough for it. Much higher than that, you risk not selling it at all.

As for reserve, people have mixed results, but I personally refuse to bid on a reserve auction unless the reserve has already been met and I am certain there are others like me. I don't walk into a store and offer prices for items with super secret price tags on them. If someone can't tell me what the minimum bid they will accept is, I simply am not interested.

:thumbsup:

Yep, I don;t even mess with reserve auctions. Not worth wasting my time with.

As for selling. I know a item will get what it is worth. Theres a reason you don;t see new corvettes without a reserve go for $500. They sell for wehat they are worth. The problem is some people think their stuff is worth more then it is.

 

[PingSpike]

I hate reserve auctions but will look at ones that have a reasonable starting price. Reserve seems like a waste of time because for all I know they want 10 times what I'm willing to pay. I never really saw the point in them.

Make sure you have a good ad. Back in the day I used to always get good prices on computer parts. The only deals I've gotten on ebay in the last 5 years have been because the item page was sparse on pictures and the format wasn't great. Other people just didn't look at it seriously.

 

[Mo0o]

if it's electronics just sell it here

 

[dmw16]

I start my auction at the minimum I could live with selling it for.

 

[trmiv]

OK. I'll start at like $135 or $140

 

[trmiv]

Thanks for the help guys! It ended up selling in one day at the buy it now price, which was more than I expected to get for it. I took someone's advice and set a higher buy it now than I was looking to get, and someone purchased it at that price. Thanks for all the advice!