| With an eBay auction, you set an initial starting price, | | | | me 89c in fees. |
| specify the postage costs, and then the item is up for | | | | I know these books weighed more than 500g, so I set |
| auction. If you receive any bids, then you must sell the | | | | postage at $9.00 because I know I can get a prepaid |
| item for the highest bidden price at the close of the | | | | satchel (up to 3Kg) for $9.00 at the post office. |
| auction (which could be your starting price if you only | | | | My item ends up getting one bid and sells for 99c.eBay |
| receive 1 bid).eBay recommend that you start auctions | | | | charge me a final value fee (like a sold fee) of 5c. |
| off at 99c as they say this encourages bidding. Their | | | | So my net profit at the moment is 5c. |
| whole fee structure is geared around this. If you start | | | | Then I get to the post office to post the item, and find |
| your auction at 99c, you only pay a 30c listing fee. If | | | | out the price of those satchels has gone up to $9.30. |
| you start your auction between $1.00 and $19.99 you | | | | I am now 25c in the red! (And would have been 89c in |
| pay a 50c listing fee. | | | | the red if my listing was one of the 54% which didn't |
| What eBay don't tell you is the hard truth. | | | | receive a single bid). |
| - 54% of items on eBay receive no bids at all | | | | And all I did was follow eBay's recommendations! OK - |
| - 23% of items receive only 1 bid | | | | I messed up on the postage, but even 5c isn't much of |
| - so over 75% of items receive 1 bid (your starting | | | | a profit margin! |
| price) or less! | | | | If I had seen those stats listed above that say that |
| That's not good odds folks! | | | | over 75% of items on eBay receive 1 bid or less, then I |
| Let's look at a real life example (yes - OK - it was | | | | sure wouldn't have set the start price at 99c. |
| me....) | | | | My personal view is that you should set the minimum |
| I decided to list a set of 3 books by the same author. I | | | | price to the lowest amount you would be willing to sell |
| followed eBay's recommendation and set the auction | | | | the item for. I have listed items at 0.99c, and then |
| start price at 99c. This incurred a listing fee of 30c. | | | | received only 1 bid on the item. I have ended up having |
| I also follow their recommendation to include a gallery | | | | to sell an item at a price that I thought was outrageous. |
| picture - that adds another 59c to my listing fee. | | | | So - I only list items with a starting price of 0.99c that I |
| So I am listing 3 books at 99c, and so far it has cost | | | | am willing to sell for that price. |