MoreHi Everyone,
Here’s Seller Blunder #2 in my series of 5 easy to avoid seller mistakes. Let me here what you think! Have you done this?
Seller’s Blunder #2 – The Wrong Price
Too High of a Starting Price. Do your Research!!! Do not start an auction at a starting price that is higher than what other similar items sold for. It will not sell and you will spend a fortune in listing fees. I am guilty of this mistake a lot with my Grandmother’s personal items. As an example, she collected portrait miniatures on ivory from the 1840’s. She always believed that they were worth $1,000’s of dollars and at one time they were because they were hard to find. With the advent of eBay and the internet, they became easier to find and the prices dropped. Nevertheless, I didn’t want to believe it. When I started listing the portraits on eBay I put high hidden reserves–$600 and up. Guess what? They didn’t sell. They didn’t start selling until I had dropped the reserves to the range that they should have been $200-$300.
If you can start your auctions low, like 99 cents or $9.99, you will be amazed at how the prices will climb if you have a desirable item. If you don’t have a desirable item, you may be forced to sell your item for the 99 cents. Just be sure you are prepared to do this! I have started selling more items with very low starting bids. I typically start all my auctions at $9.99. It is easier for me to list items at lower starting bids that I buy at Garage Sales than things that I have an emotional attachment too.  The auction environment is the perfect economic model of supply meeting demand. If you have the right people watching that week, the marketplace (the auction buyers) will price it correctly for you and sometimes even over price it! If you can get several people in an auction frenzy, it is amazing what things will sell for. I just put up a Hummel 1980 Anniversary plate on eBay. I had 3 of them. I started them all at 99 cents and sold them over a 3 week period. The first one sold for what it should have—$55.00. The second one sold for $151.50. Yippeeee! And the 3rd one only sold for $21.99. What a crazy thing this eBay is!
On the flip side, if you have an item like a cloisonné miniature teapot, which doesn’t get too many bids, you will not want to start it at 99 cents. You will want to price it at what you feel comfortable selling it for. My Grandmother collected these and I have sold most for around $99.00. I start all these auctions at $99.00 because I know that they are worth this and I just wait it out, week after week, until they sell. Or I move them into my eBay store at a fixed price.
Don’t Relist too Many Times. The danger of starting your items at too high of a starting price means that you will have to relist them again and again until they sell. This can cost you a lot in listing fees and by the time you have dropped the price to a realistic price level, the buyers just don’t care anymore. There is nothing worse than having your item auction worn (much like shop worn where your item has sat on the shelf too long). One of our portrait miniatures on ivory was a little boy in an ivory frame. It was darling. I had a hidden reserve of $399.00 the first time out. The buyers bid it up to $245.00, but because the reserve wasn’t met, I didn’t have to sell it. Well, I relisted it with a hidden reserve of $299.00 and there were no takers. It didn’t even go up past $85.00. Finally, I put it on at a starting price of $199.00 with no reserve. It did sell for the $199.00, but I missed out. If I wouldn’t have had the high reserve the first time, it would have sold for $245.00. In retrospect, I could have emailed the high bidder at $245.00 with what is called a second chance offer. Then, they could have bought the item through eBay at the high bid, even though the auction reserve wasn’t met.
Use Your eBay Store. If you don’t have a fully stocked eBay store, get one today! I thought my eBay store was only for commodity items. I thought it was for selling those items that I could buy and sell over and over again. What I learned about six months ago is that I can sell anything from my eBay store. I found that just because your item doesn’t sell at online auction doesn’t mean it won’t eventually sell. Not everyone is looking for your specific item during that one or two week period when you have it for sale. Now, eBay will even show store items when someone does an auction search if not items turn up in the search
My strategy now is to put an ordinary item up for auction at $9.99 and if it doesn’t sell I relist it from 99 cents to $4.99. If it doesn’t sell the second time out, I put it in my store. Sometimes, I even price it a lot higher in my store. Prices in my eBay store range from $4.99 to $499.00. The item that is $499.00 is a rare Swedish Organ/Piano. I tried it on eBay at $99.00 and it didn’t sell so I moved it into my store. Wish me luck! The store has been such a success for us. We sell about $500 to $1,000 out of it every month. The beauty of the eBay store is that the listing fees are super cheap. The cost to list is only 3 cents per month for any item with a gallery photo. Unfortunately, eBay just raised the selling fees for their stores. Nevertheless, it has still been a great avenue for us to move merchandise.
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Great advice, Lynn! My listing client has some limited collectibles (they were hot 10 years ago but have cooled off considerably) that desperately need to be marked down and sold instead of just sitting there — maybe this column will help persuade him to see the error of his ways! Thanks!
Lynn this was so very helpful Thank you so much!
You are very welcome! I hope all my posts will come in handy!
True, E-Bay is crazy! I bought an Arabia plate signed by a popular designer for $1.00. After doing research I realized that they were very expensive. I put it up for auction at a $99 starting price and it didn’t sell. I relisted it starting at $89 and it sold for $154!! Crazy
Congratulations on your amazing find Karen!