Power Sellers Unite

Daikon · Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 949

My total sales have been great lately, with most of my items selling through either store or fixed price listings, not through auctions.

Some figures from the first page of my latest Sold summary at eBay:

Total items sold: 79
Items sold as auction (ended through time up): 6
Items sold as auction (ended through buy it now): 16
Items sold as store inventory: 50
Items sold as fixed price: 7

In other words: only 7.6% of my sales are through auctions which end the way eBay would like them to. Most of them end with only one bid.

I put around 10 items up for auction every day. Sell-through rates on them is abysmal, around 10%, with 7 out of 10 ended through buy it now.

The thing is, I just can't figure out why the auctions don't go well.
The items I sell are all collectibles which very popular and sell well through my store.
In spite of this, if I put them up for auction people don't bid on them, even if I start with a 30-40% lower price than the regular buy it now price.

The only explanation I can offer for this phenomenon is that buyers simply don't want auctions.
They don't want to wait days watching an item with the chance that some sniper will outbid them at the last second.

Buyers want to be able to get an item when they want it, and they are willing to pay extra for it (which is why 7 out of 10 of my auctions which sell do so through buy it now).

The new changes to Stores and the push for more "Core" listings is the worst mistake eBay ever made. They simply don't seem understand what the people who buy things on their site want.

kookbox · Joined: 27 Jul 2006 Posts: 112

I agree with you, but also I see that many sellers are posting new listings tonight, probably on Ebay's "listing fee sale". I list maybe 10 auctions a day, sometimes I omit a day here and there, or maybe only list 3-5 items. But most of my listings are store and most of my sales have been store since I switched over to that format. People want to buy on impulse, not bid and wait 7 days to figure out if they win when they can find the same item somewhere else right away.

coastalgifts · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 57

When I first started selling on E-Bay it was auction style. I also Found more sales thru my store than Auctions. You are correct when you say buyers want it now not in 7 days. I am the same way. Closed my store months ago and now sell on other sites ( store or buy now ).
Really sad to see the new listing going on right now. These folks are not going to be happy when they find out they have to pay full price for the listings and wait until the end of september to get the listing credit.
8) Staying cool in Florida
Terry
For all your disaster info check my site.
Survivorneeds

Dep-T-Dawg · Joined: 12 Feb 2005 Posts: 6273

Daikon, Hi.. I am glad you posted this!! My wife and I sell just a limited number of medium to higher priced
auctions and I just went and counted our most recent sales!! Of 28 sales (we do not have a store)
SIXTEEN of the 28 went at buy-it-now or fixed price! I really had never even thought about it..WOW!!
JB

LurkeyLou

Well, I hate to disagree with a new PSU member. So first, let me say Welcome, Daikon!! And welcome to you, too, Terry! You're in my ol' stompin' grounds. 8)

Your point is spot on. The MedVed tracker has a couple of years of history and reflects that BIN (which it's been tracking since 2002) has steadily out performed auction sales. For over a year, BIN ranges around 60% STR and Auctions around 40% STR.

http://www.medved.net/cgi-bin/cal.exe?SIND

eBay is very well aware of this. eBay is increasing their revenue.

I've been crunching numbers 'cause I have to hang with eBay for the season. On average, people will have to run 60% of their auction goods 2X + to sell them. If it sells the second time out, the seller pays only the first fee, however, there's less than a 50/50 chance for *most* sellers, with consideration to the the avg 40% STR, that it will sell the second time.

Stores are still a better value in terms of operating costs. I have to list garden stakes ($64.99 @ auction) an avg of 4 times to sell 1 set. That costs close to $10.00. I can shove 'em in the store for 10 cents. I'm still gonna' pay less than $5.00 FVF for a sale and keep them up for months for 24 months - the cost of 1 insertion fee.

Even on a $9.99 item, an auction listing w/ gallery costs 70 cents w/ a FVF of 52 cents. That's $1.42. Chances are, it will have to be run 2 - 4X to sell. However, that same item w/ a gallery sold through a store costs about $1.10 if it sells the first month. Or, for the same cost as an auction sale, it can run for (listing & FVF) it can run in a store for 4 months.

eBay knows that BIN is the customer preference. It's the reason Express exists. eBay is increasing revenue by forcing sellers to list and relist and relist....eBay isn't making a mistake, no siree.

coastalgifts · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 57

Thanks for the welcome LurkeyLou

It's ok to disagree. Just think what the world would be like if we all agreed on everything.
I really liked being on e-bay and am glad you can make a go of it.I just can't see paying the fees when I can start up my own site for less.
I'm a true believer in getting the most bang for the buck. I will still list on other auction sites ( for now ), But only because it is way to drive traffic to the site.
8) Staying Cool in Florida
Terry
For disaster info check my site
Survivorneeds

LurkeyLou · Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2006 10:28 am Post subject:

Well, I completely agree. My business is shifting to independence as I'm building my own stores. Actually had my first store within days of opening about 2 weeks ago, but some issues put me waaaaay behind schedule.

You're right. Between hosting, a domain name and SSL, the cost is under $10.00 a month. $$ that would normally go to eBay fees can be funneled to marketing and products seeded out to numerous free to list venues.

I have to remain solvent as I transition away from dependence on auction venues. Unfortunately, the plan includes relying in part on eBay with their jerky behavior.

Making a "go" of it remains to be seen. Paring down and continuing sales will benefit my business better than cutting myself off at the knees again. Some of us have to tough it out, but we can do it without being lead into business decisions based on eBay's Enron Math.

Blaine · Joined: 14 Aug 2006 Posts: 9

My total sales for the first 9 days in Aug was almost 10k out of the 10k 9500 was out of my eBay store, about 200 was on auctions

2BOYSandTOYS · Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 10095 Location: Kansas

I agree with the fact that more items (not for me on ebaY) are wanted 'now' than before - the 'newness of bidding, watching, waiting, winning (or not) has worn off for some items - not all.

I also agree that ebaY does know exactly what they're doing - Lurkey's right. It's about revenue and profits. There is no concern for sellers' revenue/profits, but rather 'site performance and perceived growth'. If one had all the data points to do the 'math' on, there's no doubt in my mind that the stores, as before the announced rate hike, were possibly in the loss column - maybe break-even.

Amazing to watch and more amusing to see the 'react' - this 2 day sale, IMO - is a react... :D :shock:

envirobay · Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 624 Location: Boise, Id

Your own store is definitely the way to go. If McGraw (the ebay propaganda stoog) is against it, I am for it. He says your own website is more expensive and less effective than ebay fees. But he is on the ebay payroll so what else is he gonna say? If it is done correctly it would be a better way to spend your money. Although ebay is a great way to drive traffic to your own site.

With your own site you will have more control. If your web host raises your fees, you simply change hosts. It's still your domain. That is the problem with ebay. They are really just a host, but they happen to own the domain.

Daikon · Joined: 08 Aug 2006 Posts: 949

Another thing I didn't really think of earlier is that even if you operate your own website, if you use PayPal then eBay still gets a share of every sale you make.
Guess I should be looking into merchant accounts...

nopaypal · Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 2008

Quote: › docWrite("quote")Another thing I didn't really think of earlier is that even if you operate your own website, if you use PayPal then eBay still gets a share of every sale you make.
daikon! i see you are one of the few who "gets it"!
:D

knappschiles · Joined: 25 May 2005 Posts: 4035 Location: Wi

Oh, I've gotten that point too, for quite a while even.

But everything I've looked at would be a lot higher than what I'm paying currently with PP.

I think I want to take a stab at Gpay or whatever thay call it, but right now I don't have the time to work it out. But this winter, going to definately look at it for my web site.

Carol

nopaypal · Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 2008

Quote: › docWrite("quote")But everything I've looked at would be a lot higher than what I'm paying currently with PP.
yeah, that's the "walmart" problem, carol...hard to compete with the big guys.
:evil: