Thread: eBay Sellers who don't get it

eBay sellers who don't get it have been getting on my nerves a lot lately.
They start the bidding on a razor at $30, $40, $59.99 and end up relisting over and over again. By doing so they display a total misunderstanding of how ebay works for sellers and buyers. Here's how.
I like to browse ebay almost every day, just poke around and see what's out there. If I see something that vaguely interests me I'll bid on it. Sometimes I bid low, knowing the auction will close much higher. More than once though this has worked to my advantage and an auction slips by everyone else somehow and I get a great deal. Most of the time I get outbid in the last few minutes if not sooner. But if the auction is at a 59.99 opening bid, even if I were willing to pay that much for said item, I'm not going to bid on it. Judging from how often these razors are relisted, no one else wants to bid on it either.
Some of the most successful auctions (you all know them, our friends cedarfurnitureman, tanowa38, etc.) started their bidding at $9.99, 99¢, even 1¢. That seems reasonable to me, and makes the auction more fun to watch and take part in. It helps to sell what buyers want and what's in fashion, granted, which explains some of the astronomical prices. That thrill of seeing the price soar is cut at the knees by high listing prices and takes the fun out of it.
It's worse than BuyItNow prices I think, which usually suck too. You can almost always guarantee any razor isn't worth it's BIN price. But I think it seems unreasonably defensive to start the bidding on a razor so high, as if the seller doesn't have any confidence in their product.
Ebay is psychological. Here are some ingredients for successful ebay auctions, in my experience.

Low listing price.

Free Shipping (this usually gets people to be willing to spend more).

Great photos and lots of them. (people like to absorb themselves visually in a product, and if it's a crappy iphone pic with bad lighting and focus, forget it. It's not rocket science, it's art. Go to a museum, get a coffee table book on still life painting or photography and learn something.)
and of course Good Reputation and Products people want, but that I think speaks for itself and isn't always as important.

Thanks for reading. What are your thoughts on successful ebay techniques?

I totally agree on the 99 cents thing. IMO, high start prices and reserves push buyers away.

I think that planning auction end times is a significant factor. For instance, if I sell an item on E-bay, I ensure that it does not end on Friday nights, saturday nights, holidays, or the evening before a holiday. During those times, most people are not home.

I also list items, generally around 11PM EST, so that you catch some prime time across the USA...although, I must say, more than half of the things I've sold have gone overseas, so, I don't think it matters a lot when your item ends.

I have a friend / coworker that sells records on E-bay (a lot of records..) and sometimes he'll wander into my office and talk about selling theories to maximize end prices. Most of the time, he sounds crazy, but, I think there is some truth to it all.

I think anyone who has ever listed an item on eBay for 99c & only had one bidder would disagree with you guys
The opening bid should reflect the bare minimum you would be prepared to lose in a bad case scenario. When I was selling razors on eBay I always started the bid at AUD$28.
Never had one passed up but maybe the market is different now.

How about that turkey antique dealer that puts buy-it-now prices of between $150 to $400 for crap razors?

I agree largely with what you're saying. Psychologically, lower prices certainly create interest in me as a potential bidder.

The razor powersellers have little reason not to start a razor auction at .99 cents. They have a known reputation and sell enough razors where when they take the occasional bath on a razor, selling it for less or much less than it's worth, no big deal.

Then, there are the rest of us; Generally I sell maybe 10 razors on Ebay each year when I thin the herd, or I'm fortunate enough to buy a local lot of razors from a dealer, etc.

I can tell you that I've listed razors early on for .99 cents. You sell a few razors that you paid $25 or more for .99 cents, $9, etc and it ends up becoming less than fun quickly. Funnily enough, I sold a nice Torrey that to me was worth $30 for .99 cents. The funny part....the buyer never paid! That one was a close one.

In the past I've also sold some higher valued vintage razors such as Winchester, etc that were in excellent condition. I simply could not take the risk of listing such a razor for a buck. I think the Winchester I sold sometime last year was one that I listed for $75 and it sold for $125-$150. I was happy with that. Again, given the very low number of razors I sell on Ebay, selling that same Winchester for $10 when I paid at least five times that amount would result in me kicking myself angrily for who knows how long. Naturally I would have become embittered to some degree.


As a buyer, the potential to get a steal on an Ebay razor auction is one of the reasons we bid.

For those who are other than a razor powerseller, or at least for me personally, the potential even if only a fluke, of selling a razor for a only a few bucks is not an acceptable outcome.

Just another perspective.

Chris L

It bugs me too, an auction has a couple of features that make it an auction. For one buyers know they have a chance to find a bargain once in a while, and sellers know that they can get far more than something is worth just because two bidders want it. It seems to me those who start with high opening bids only want to make more than what something is worth and never less, but that is the way auctions are supposed to work. A reserve price is how one is supposed to cover their a** when taking part in auctions, the problem is ebay charges for that option,IIRC, so sellers take the cheaper but wrong approach. I for one will never bid on anything that has a high starting bid, I will however bid on something with a reserve price.

Brad- crazy ideas are usually the ones that work!

Some good points brought up.
In fairness, as a buyer I can sit here and tell sellers "HEY! Take the risk, trust your merchandise, start it low!"
but when I'm the seller I would take many steps to minimize that risk you speak of Chris, selling something for 99 cents.
Sometimes though the big fish make up for those flukes. I've had great luck many times and lost my ass many times, on ebay and beyond. So it's give and take

I share your sentiment my friend... What I like to do is go around to all of the "Buy It Now, or best offer" listings and offer them something like $1 -$3 for their "Rare collectible" razor. Haha, it never works by the way. I only do this to the razor that I feel are very far from the scope of the price range... not the ones that are actually worth the amount. I try to give them a feel for how much less the value of their hone-worn, cracked-handled, POS really is

The other day I offered one of those "$200 beauties" a price of $10... he countered me with $100. I countered him back with $9

Hahahaha yeah they tend not to like that. I've tried that a few times myself.

As a buyer, it is nice to see something start out at $.99 but I'd say it reasonable to start the bidding at roughly a third to half of what you expect the selling price to be. I agree, even if I'm willing to pay the starting bid on a razor, say $70, i'd likely skip over it since at that point it takes away the chance of getting a great deal on it. It becomes less of an auction, and more like retail. It makes me wonder why these guys keep re-listing razors, for example, a Wade&Butcher at $350 for months when it's obviously not going to get that. It would make me think the guy bought it for way too much, buyers remorse, and will feel stupid if he doesn't get his money back and maybe a small profit on top. Of course it may be that he doesn't really want to sell it but would if someone were to pay a lot more than it's worth.

I usually skim through auctions and put small bids in so I can keep track of them easier in my history, and see which ones stay low and which take off and increase my bid if I see potential for a steal.