99p start eBay Auctions

jaymenon

 I have a rather lovely Ibanez S520WNF guitar,  which is superfluous to requirements and so is for sale.

 It’s been up for sale here for the past few months but I haven’t unfortunately, had any real interest.  And it is taking up space at home.

Just got a £1 final value fee offer from eBay and I’m tempted to listed as a 99p auction.

It’s certainly a mainstream guitar, but is this a dangerous venture?  Am I likely to end up selling it well below its value?

Opinions from experience deeply appreciated. 

robgilmo

Can you put a reserve on it?

JezWynd

You don't have to send it to auction. You can state a fixed price and also choose whether or not to accept offers. If you would like to get 100.00 for it (for example), you could list it as buy now for 120.00 and accept offers. If you receive an offer for 100 then accept. eBay will charge you £1 for the sale (if you accept the £1 offer).

thecolourbox

If you do a Buy it Now just make sure it sells in the first listing period, as they'll charge you full fees if it auto renews to list it again

fretfinder

jaymenon said: Am I likely to end up selling it well below its value?

If you sell it on eBay to the highest bidder, that will be its value surely? The market will have decided. 

Arktik83

Just a word of advice, If you receive bids on it and decide they're not enough and cancel the listing, eBay will charge you 10% of the price it was bidding at before it was canceled. 

So if it's at £250 and you pull the listing, eBay will charge you £25.  Regardless of whether you have a £1 fee's promo.

Like others said I would put a BIN on it and say you're open to offers and see what comes in.  Also, check out to see what previous examples have sold for so it'd give you an idea what buyers are willing to pay.

Good luck!

danishbacon

Good photographs, starting at 6-8pm on Sunday, thorough description and postage means a 99p auction should attract interest if its a popular guitar. If you're not worried about missing out on £50, there's also the risk of selling over what you might get in a BIN listing as enthusiasm and thrill of the win can sometimes nudge the end price higher. It's a roll of dice 

aspnet

Arktik83 said:

Just a word of advice, If you receive bids on it and decide they're not enough and cancel the listing, eBay will charge you 10% of the price it was bidding at before it was canceled. 

So if it's at £250 and you pull the listing, eBay will charge you £25.  Regardless of whether you have a £1 fee's promo.

I didn't know that 

For auctions 7-10 day listing periods to increase views & people watching helps drive bids, making sure they end Sunday evening as mentioned. Seem to find prices leap during the last 15-30 seconds of the bidding period as well so hold your nerve if you don't do the BIN price

prlgmnr

My experience is if you bid on something that started at 99 pence, someone will always push the price up past what any equivalent item has sold for in the recent past, but if you list something starting at 99 pence someone ends up getting a bargain.

Wazmeister

I always sell on eBay, and the secret is as follows, imho...

1. Offer a Buy It Now price
2. No auction
3. Give them the option to ‘make an offer’
4. I often include free Special Delivery postage

Never fails.

Wazmeister

I always sell on eBay, and the secret is as follows, imho...

1. Offer a Buy It Now price
2. No auction
3. Give them the option to ‘make an offer’
4. I often include free Special Delivery postage

Never fails.

Strangefan

fretfinder said:

jaymenon said: Am I likely to end up selling it well below its value?

If you sell it on eBay to the highest bidder, that will be its value surely? The market will have decided. 

It doesn't really work like that unfortunately, time of the month, (pay days) time of year, holidays and traditional festivals all make a Huge difference on eBay, try selling a guitar in the summer holidays...... this is mainly because you only have a 7 day window to sell it, where as in a shop it can be there for years, so the variables are not as important, if I ever sell on ebay its always buy it now, as you can keep it on as long as you like and it will eventually sell. 

roberty

Wazmeister said:

I always sell on eBay, and the secret is as follows, imho...

1. Offer a Buy It Now price
2. No auction
3. Give them the option to ‘make an offer’
4. I often include free Special Delivery postage

Never fails.

This

SouthpawMark

For guitars and amps, buy it now. For pedals, auction (unless it’s something super special). 

Johnnyseven

thecolourbox said:

If you do a Buy it Now just make sure it sells in the first listing period, as they'll charge you full fees if it auto renews to list it again

I think these days Buy It Now listing don't have ane end, they're there until sold or ended by the seller.

TeleMaster

thecolourbox said:

If you do a Buy it Now just make sure it sells in the first listing period, as they'll charge you full fees if it auto renews to list it again

There is only one listing period now for Buy It Now. The items have to sell within 31 days. They’re all ‘Good Till Cancelled’. 

I just set a calender event 1 day before then bring them down, or if I get another listing event I cancel them and relist them. 

Whitecat

Yes, and they are changing it too imminently so the “refresh” date is the same calendar day of the month. So if you list on the 8th, for example, the 8th of the next month will be the refresh date. The £1 FVF only applies for the first “calendar month.”

thecolourbox

TeleMaster said:

thecolourbox said:

If you do a Buy it Now just make sure it sells in the first listing period, as they'll charge you full fees if it auto renews to list it again

There is only one listing period now for Buy It Now. The items have to sell within 31 days. They’re all ‘Good Till Cancelled’. 

I just set a calender event 1 day before then bring them down, or if I get another listing event I cancel them and relist them. 

They charged me £50 in fees when it should have been £2 and they told me it was because I'd done Buy It Now and they hadn't sold in the initial period

hassleham

This is what happens if you list things with no reserve at 99p start, particularly with collection only. Just don’t do it 


https://imgur.com/gallery/BqFPyMe

steveledzep

roberty said:

Wazmeister said:

I always sell on eBay, and the secret is as follows, imho...

1. Offer a Buy It Now price
2. No auction
3. Give them the option to ‘make an offer’
4. I often include free Special Delivery postage

Never fails.

This

This for me too.  Except, I always itemise delivery as an extra.

Fishboy7

I like doing £1 start no reserve Auctions as that minimises fees and tends to get more views / watchers / bids / offers.

Also its more fun as you have the added jeopardy factor of maybe having to sell your R8 for £300

Or alternatively you could use the Mrs's account to push up bids and cancel the sale should you win. (Naturally I would never partake in such questionable practices).