Your EBay Auction - Start Low Or Start High?

If you are a seller on eBay one of the decisions yourelatively low price to encourage a lot of bidding.
need to make every time you list an item is, what priceIf you have an item that you need to get a certain
should you list it at? Should you start high or should youprice from, and you feel that you may only get a few
start low? What's the right answer.visitors to your auction, then you need to price it at or
The answer is, there is no right answer, it depends onclose to the price you need to realize. If you believe
what you are selling, it depends what category it is inthat your item will only get say a dozen visitors, then
and it depends what your goal is. All of those factorspricing it low makes no sense.
determine what the best way to list an item is.If you only get a dozen visitors, if you start low, you
The first thing to determine is, what is your goal for themay only get 1 or 2 bids. If your starting price is real
item you are selling? If it is just some junk from aroundlow, with only a few bids, you will sell it real low. If you
the house that you want to get rid of, and you justhave it priced pretty much where you want to sell it at,
want to get anything you can out of it, your choice isif you only get one or two bids, you will get your price
start it as low as you can.since the starting bid is your goal.
If your goal is to make a profit on items you haveYou do have to keep in mind the one generally
purchased specifically to sell on eBay, then you needaccepted fact about eBay auctions. The higher you
to know your cost. You need to factor the cost intoset your starting bid at, the lower the number of bids
your decision so that you can at least get your costyou will get. With a high starting price, you may only
out of your item and you don't loose money.need one bidder to get your goal. With a low starting
If your item is in a category that gets a tremendousprice you may need 20 or 30 bidders to get your goal.
amount of traffic, you can price your item lower. If youUltimately only you can determine the answer to what
have an item that does not generate a lot of trafficprice works the best for your particular item. If you
then you should price it higher.have many of the same item to sell you can test
When you set a very low price on an item it createsdifferent prices and see which one works the best.
more interest in your item and generates more bidding.Try one low, one high and one in between and see
If you think that you have an item that will generate awhat you end up with. Over time, you will be able to
lot of traffic, if you think there will be many visitors todetermine what works best and which strategy results
your listing, then you should be better off starting at ain the best profit.