I was looking up the prices of some old comics and I noticed that most if not all of the “Buy it now” prices were at least double the price of the highest comparable bid price. Why would anyone do this? Surely they don’t expect anybody to actually pay that much?
Because people will buy it now. And if they don’t, they can enter a bid price that’s lower than that amount.
You’re paying a premium for the ability to buy it now and to avoid someone outbidding you on the item.
A lot of ebayers use sniping programs, or just hover until the last second. This means that while the buy it now price might seem rather high comparative to the bids at any given time during the lifespan of the auction, at the last second a flurry of bidding could occur and easily push the bid price close to or over the top of the BIN price.
What else you’re looking at is convenience. If the BIN price of something is still less than what you’d pay at another retailer, and you absolutely have to must gotta get that item that you’re after, people are often willing to pay a premium over the bid price in order to secure the item as theirs. Even sniping programs can get out-sniped, and if it’s something your really really really want or need, or if it’s something that’s very rare and hard to get a hold of, then people will often not want to take that risk. So they’ll pay more to ensure they get it.
Got it in one. I haven’t purchased a thing on EBay ever, but of the people I do know who have, many would prefer to just pay the “Buy It Now” price than gamble on getting last-second-sniped by someone with good timing and one more penny to spend than your up-till-now highest bid.
For me, bidding is for “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind getting that but I don’t care if someone else gets there first” purchases.
Buy it now is for “Shit, I need that and there’s only one on sale and /or I need it sooner rather than later” when the auction still has a week to go.
I have picked a few things on Ebay. I think you do best on things not too many others want. But yes, BIN is for got to have it and got to have it soon. And of course some are too good to play fair.
From the seller’s perspective, Buy It Now is taking a flyer that someone has to have the thing right away. If not, then the auction process works its magic normally. But you wouldn’t want to set the Buy It price too low, because then someone will take the deal and you’ll be left having to sell at less than your ideal price. If that’s the end result of an auction, well, it’s too bad, but at least you’ve theoretically discovered the market price for your item, and it just isn’t going to fetch what you’d hoped. But a low Buy It price that gets taken means there was likely higher demand than you expected, which means you could have earned more had you better structured your offer.
Also, the best way to get bargains on eBay is to browse by category and hope you find something misspelled so that buyers using the search engine miss it. I landed a primo, almost complete run of Claremont X-Men comics from #120 on for a third of the price it should have garnered.
–Cliffy
Like others have said. Buy it now sales typically sell for more but, when properly used, the auction format gives you a guaranteed fast sale, usually at about 2/3rds the auction price, and allows you to schedule all of your packaging and posting.
Most e-bay bidding happens at the last minute though so it’s hard to appreciate the true price difference unless you are searching for completed items (which require you to log in).
But a lot of these Buy it now auctions don’t include any way to bid.
I recently sold a comic on Ebay: final bid $790. Current lowest Buy it now price? $1,200, no way to make a bid, no way to make an offer. It simply doesn’t make sense. To buy it now you’d have to be awfully stupid to go for this.
Just out of curiosity, how do you search for completed items?
Those are usually items in people’s eBay stores. They’re BIN because they aren’t up for auction. They’re counting on someone wanting/needing that comic, but there not being any competing auctions for it.
I agree that there seems to be a lot of overpriced items on eBay with no method for bidding other than BIN. Many people have inflated ideas about the value of their items. I’m selling vinyl LPs right now, but if I listed them at the prices I find in the Goldmine guide, I’d never sell one. It’s surprising how many people don’t understand how supply and demand work. And most of those single-bid type items don’t sell, and are then relisted. At some point, you end up with diminishing returns, as your fees erode any profit you might make.
After you do a regular search, the toolbar on the left has a “Show Only…” → “Completed Items” checkbox.
Also you need to be registered and logged in, or you don’t get that option.
Of course the “buy it now” price is higher than the bids. What wouldn’t make sense would be if it were lower: Why, in that case, would anyone ever bid?
I could understand $100 or $200 higher but $400? 
Think of it as the Ron Popeil method of eBay selling - you set it and forget it. A typical auction is up for 5-7 days. A Buy It Now eBay Store item is up pretty much forever. You’re comparing prices for when there’s an auction to compare it to - Buy It Now Guy is waiting for those times there ISN’T a competing auction going on, and he’s the only game in town.
Best answer is, because the seller can ask any price they want to on any item.
There is a good example currently live (180652352640). This is about a $10 stamp but the seller thinks it is extra valuable because it has an engraving stuck to the reverse that is headless.
I don’t usually Ebay, but I do from time to time usually for nostalga items that are not overly expensive.
I usually do the BIN price…because I am dealing with this now and I don’t want it to linger.