day 6 and worried the price will get stuck?

klb4556

klb4556

O.G.
May 18, 2009
2,061
118
#1
this is my first auction on ebay, and the bag is worth 230. I'm selling it on a family members ebay ( they don't mind at all) and I decided that the bag would get more attention ( I thought) if I started the price at 9.99.

it's gotten a lot of attention, 18 watchers right now, but the price is stuck at 10.49 and the auction ends tomorrow.

I'm afraid this is going to be the ending bid, and it's making me REALLY nervous. Is the outcome of things like this usually pretty good? or can the whole thing go awry?

I have a good feeling all the bids will start coming in tomorrow for the people who've been watching it. It doesn't seem like the 18 people who are interested would give up at 10.49 without a fight, but I just don't know.

Advice? any calming words?

thanks!!
 
#3
Check completed listings for bags just like yours and see what they typically sell for. Depending on the quality of your listing, the reputation of the seller, and shipping prices, you can expect yours to sell in the same ballpark if it's a fairly popular item.

MOST auctions these days get bid up within the last few minutes of the listing, so that's a plus for you. :smile: However, if it ends tomorrow, that's on a Friday, which is a slow day. And frankly, I'd ignore the watchers. :sad: I've had items end with a dozen watchers and no bid.

Your best bet though is checking those completed listings :smile:
 
#4
I always try to end my auctions on Monday or Tuesday evening. It seems to work out best that way.

Just an fyi, I used to sell on a friend's ebay account. He didn't mind and very amusingly, my items sold really well (given I was selling clothes and he only sold games).

But later I regretted doing that because I started to sell again and now my feedback profile looks like I have sold very little (a few of the people I recently sold to didn't leave me any feedback). So not a great idea when trying to build a selling reputation for us small time sellers.

Just a thought.
 
#5
Schientist said:
Check completed listings for bags just like yours and see what they typically sell for. Depending on the quality of your listing, the reputation of the seller, and shipping prices, you can expect yours to sell in the same ballpark if it's a fairly popular item.

MOST auctions these days get bid up within the last few minutes of the listing, so that's a plus for you. :smile: However, if it ends tomorrow, that's on a Friday, which is a slow day. And frankly, I'd ignore the watchers. :sad: I've had items end with a dozen watchers and no bid.

Your best bet though is checking those completed listings :smile:
Click to expand...


I checked the completed listings before I ever listed mine, and there was only one that showed, and the price they got was 189, and the pictures were VERY unclear and distorted, SO I can't help but have hope for mine. But..... I had no clue about Friday's being slow... that worries me.
 
#6
Without knowing anything about the bag, (and we can't advertise our listings on here) I can only say that starting an item that low is always a risk. That's why some people use reserves, but as it turns out, reserves often backfire because many people avoid reserve auctions.

After being on the buyer end of some auctions that got very few bids (great for me!), and the wrong end of some auctions I started too low, my recommendation to conservative sellers is to always start out at the minimum $ you want to make.
 
#7
klb4556 said:
btw, the bag is in brand new pre owned condition, only used twice.
Click to expand...

I never understood what "brand new, pre owned condition" is, maybe you can explain to me?

My advise is that there is a chance that it will end up at $10.49- obvioiusly that's the risk you're taking on when you decide to list at a low starting price. it's hard to say whether it will get more bids. If you absolutely can't sell it at that price, I suggest you take down the listing and relist at the minimum price you're willing to sell at.
 
Last edited:
#8
klb4556 said:
I checked the completed listings before I ever listed mine, and there was only one that showed, and the price they got was 189, and the pictures were VERY unclear and distorted, SO I can't help but have hope for mine. But..... I had no clue about Friday's being slow... that worries me.
Click to expand...

What time do you have it set to end on Friday? If it's during the day, you may get lucky (with the people who look at listings while at work). The problem is that people go out on friday night or if they are home, they've had a long week and just want to veg out in front of HBO with a bottle of wine and some Xanax. :biggrin:
 
#10
pigalle74 said:
I never understood what "brand new, pre owned condition" is, maybe you can explain to me?

My advise is that there is a chance that it will end up at $10.49- obvioiusly that's the risk you're taking on when you decide to list at a low starting price. it's hard to say whether it will get more bids. If you absolutely can't sell it at that price, I suggest you take down the listing and relist at the minimum price you're willing to sell at.
Click to expand...


to me, that means it's been used twice but looks brand new.
I didn't know you could take it down in the middle of an auction?!
 
#11
thepoppet said:
What time do you have it set to end on Friday? If it's during the day, you may get lucky (with the people who look at listings while at work). The problem is that people go out on friday night or if they are home, they've had a long week and just want to veg out in front of HBO with a bottle of wine and some Xanax. :biggrin:
Click to expand...


it's around 8 tomorrow night. Thats when I listed it last friday. I would think since a lot of people stay home, I might have luck, but then idk if the people who are watching are party people and will be going out.

Schientist, I agree with the reserves, that's why I didn't do it. But I've seen so many other listings where people list the minimum they're willing to take as an auction and nobody bids. I know the worst is, they'll lose the listing fee, and not LOADS of money, like I will if this fails.
 
#12
klb4556 said:
Schientist, I agree with the reserves, that's why I didn't do it. But I've seen so many other listings where people list the minimum they're willing to take as an auction and nobody bids. I know the worst is, they'll lose the listing fee, and not LOADS of money, like I will if this fails.
Click to expand...

Yep. That's the risk factor. You just have to decide what you're willing to lose. And for me, it TOTALLY depends on the item... I don't know that there's a hard and fast rule!

klb4556 said:
to me, that means it's been used twice but looks brand new.
Click to expand...

You might find some of this thread: What gets under your skin about listings? useful. :smile:
 
#13
Anytime you list items this way there's always a chance you could end up on the losing end.If none of the watchers bid it could end up costing you more to ship the bag than you make on it.Hope things work out in your favor.
 
#15
klb4556 said:
to me, that means it's been used twice but looks brand new.
I didn't know you could take it down in the middle of an auction?!
Click to expand...


Just a FYI, to me as a buyer 'brand new' has never been used. If you listed it as 'pre-owned' but still looks brand new, that's fine. If you stated it as 'new' or 'nwot' though and went on to say that it's been used a couple of times that's a turn-off for potential buyers. You might want to peek at this thread here -

http://forum.purseblog.com/ebay-forum/what-gets-under-your-skin-about-listings-639150.html

Often buyers snipe at the last minute so I wouldn't lose hope, though I don't think I'd have the guts to go that low for a starting bid if I wanted much more for it.

Good luck!

Linda
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top
Back