What is a good starting bid when selling on ebay?

[JustinLuck]

Hey fellow Freaks,

Is it better to list things at 99 cents with no reserve or at the minimum you would be willing to sell the item for? Let's say someone made a listing for an item with a starting bid at $50 and another person listed the same item at 99 cents. If the item's going market value is greater than $50, which listing do you think would end with the highest amount? Or is there another way you prefer to sell things at?

 

[Darth Madden]

I never start stuff at .99. When I did that it would normaly take 10 bids to just hit $5 and it by chance it did sell for .99 you would more than likely lose money with all the fees. I normaly look and see what other people start theirs at and then put mine a little lower.

 

[pixletwin]

If its hot I NEVER start at .99 but at the minimum I would let it go for. Otherwise, I think .99 is a good way to start.

 

[Shai]

Depends on what you are selling...

 

[Kibishii]

Depends on what you are selling...

When I sell stuff on eBay, I do but-it-now 90% of the time.

 

[pixletwin]

I like to leave the opening bid at the minimum I would be willing to let it go with a Buy It Now option somewhere around the average sale price.

 

[El Roranous]

When I sell stuff on eBay, I do but-it-now 90% of the time.

What, what, in your but.

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[pixletwin]

 

[ortiz344]

put a buyitnow on it for sure, start the bidding at your reserve price, i cant tell you how many items i 'lost interest in' when i was high bid but reserve wasnt met...im not gonna waste my time chipping away at a reserve auction when i have no idea how high the reserve might be...

99 cents might be a nice incentive to get people bidding, but in the long run, half those bidders are ONLY looking for a bargain and wont legitimately be interested in paying near value for the item

 

[The Ringer]

I think starting the bidding at 99 cents lures in more buyers.

 

[Patient Zero]

It is a buyers market at the moment. I would not start anything much lower then what you are looking to sell an item for. If I know the fair market value of an item, I will start it about 20 bucks less then the average of the completed listings on the item. If it is an item that I have no idea about, sometimes I will start at the price I would accept and let the bidders determine the value.

an example of a completed auction of mine. I had no idea what the value of this was. If I started it at .99, it most likely would have sold for .99. I started it at 9.99 and had 1 watcher, which I assume was the purchaser. On the other side, if I started it at 15.00, it might have sold for 15.00.
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&item=260437160143

 

[Darth Waller]

I think starting the bidding at 99 cents lures in more buyers.

Or watchers.

 

[The Ween]

Or watchers.

I do this alot.

That way I can bid at the last minute.

 

[darthviper107]

I always do Buy It now and put it at a reasonable price.

 

[plasmid303]

If it's a hot item - 99 cents no reserve.

If it's a garden gnome that no one is looking for (or similar item) - Buy it now at minimum price. I'd rather not set a pricey item at 99 cents and have one person bid on it.

 

[Trustey]

I start at .99 and let it ride.

However if you place a *****y listing this will fail big time.

-peak listing hours (Sunday 4-8pm I go for 7 days. I usually get a lot of watchers that very day and then competitive bids at auction end)

-good search terms/titling

-good pics that inspire confidence in your product. SO IMPORTANT with collectibles!!! Many collectors would rather have detailed pics of your displayed but MINT statue rather than rolling the dice on a supposedly new-in-box never opened piece. This lets them know also there were no factory defects which can be an issue on many high end rare pieces (sometimes all the factory mistakes are what caused it to be rare in the first place).

Anyway I followed this rule and by my last haul I sold (I cleaned out like 10 or so statues) I felt I got at least fair market value on everything, had a ton of watchers, almost every auction had a sniper war in the last ten seconds driving up the prices. Could I have gotten more by listing it BIN and possibly re-listing it over and over? Sure if you wait long enough theres a sucker every day, but .99 cents will get a lot of people on board early.