OK, I had another idea; this time, I think it might actually be completely original…
-Mangetout Lists an item to sell on ebay in a standard auction, the starting price is low
-The item sits there all week, gathering precisely zero bids, but by day 5 (of 7), there are a dozen watchers
-Still nothing happens until ten seconds before the auction closes and one of the watchers snipes the item at the starting price.
This happens a lot, what I intend to try is…
-Mangetout Lists an item to sell on ebay in a standard auction, the starting price is low
-The item sits there all week, gathering precisely zero bids, but by day 5 (of 7), there are a dozen watchers
-A little over 12 hours from the end of the auction, Mangetout revises the listing, moderately increasing the starting price.
-If one of the watchers have set up an unattended sniping tool and if their bid ceiling in the sniping tool is higher than my revised price, they still win the auction, but at the new, higher starting price.
OK, of course it is a gamble; there might not be anyone set up to snipe it and even if there is, they might not be prepared to pay more than the original starting price - so my revision could actually result in no sale at all. But I suspect this will actually work for some of the kinds of items I’m selling.
Why not just have a reserve price?
I’ve listed my G.I. Joe USS Flagg aircraft carrier. There were no bids for what appears to be a popular item for a couple of days. Now there are only four bids (and 22 watchers). The auction ends on Friday. I’ve put a reserve price of $100 on it. This is more than I paid for it in the 1980s, but less than they usually sell for. (I’ve seen winning bids of over $200.)
By having a reserve price, I can get at least what I want for it without having to worry about last-second snipers who are trying to buy it for a song.
Now if only someone would bid on the five SDRAM cards. Sheesh, they’re only three bucks!
Because it costs extra to impose a reserve - of course it also costs to increase the starting price - I haven’t done the calcs - but also, potential buyers can be put off by reserve prices.
My proposal will only work if there are no bids throughout the life of the auction (otherwise you can’t amend the starting price) and if there is a sniper set up who hopes to get it at the starting price, but is set to go upwards a bit if he must - since I’ve had a few auctions end with a sniped bid at the starting price, I’m hypothesising that it might work for me.
With my sales on eBay i figured it was just easier to set the starting bid to what i wanted for the item (i.e. a reserve without setting one), I’ve found it’s the easiest way to get what i want, snipers or no.
If it’s a hot commodity sometimes i get better than what i was expecting for it.