Fixed Price VS Auction ?

[pierrelebel]

That question comes up regularly, mostly from relatively new users.

Here is what John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, has to say about it.

From Bloomberg Business Week (Feb 4-10)

Q: How much of the auction business remains in your DNA?

A: Auctions are just a format now in the core eBay business. Auctions are good for things that have an uncertain value.  So, a used item or a really scarce item.

But for most things, people would prefer to have a fixed price because they want the satisfaction of buying it immediately.

[recped]

JD also thinks free shipping, same day ordered processing, unlimited returns and high fees are all great things........

When I want to start up a massive ecommerce marketplace I'll be syre to ask JD for advice since it's something he has a lot of experience with.

When I want to sell some trinkets online I'll stick with those with experience.

If FVF's for Auctions and Fixed Price were exactly the same do you think that would impact his opinion?

That said, his comment is mostly spot on but only mostly, hardly definitive.

[cumos55]

Too many sellers list at auction in the wrong category  at the wrong price.

There are sellers that can use auction successfully..... and they do very well...

But it has to be the right category and started at the right price

-------------------------------------

An example...

Five sellers sold a book at auction... Final price was $20 to $50 US

Yet The same book sold within two days of being listed... sold for $135 US.. by me... 

Even at 50 cents for 30 days... a fixed price no store listing ... that same book could have  sold for more by those five sellers who sold at auction.

It is a highly desirable... no longer printed...  and evidently relatively rare....book

If you do not list it for  $135 it will not sell for  $135

[inuk_the_polar_bear]

Well REC, you may not like JD but investors do. Sales are up, revenues are up, profit is up. Under him, revenues have gone from $7.7B to $14B. eBay makes money, Amazon is losing it's shirt.

Auctions are yesterday's news. I make much more money with BIN than I ever could with auctions.

[cumos55]

I have not listed an auction since March of 2006... It has been fixed price all of the way

Sales have been great.... and between inventory and price strategy adjustments... sales have doubled.   The biggest change was for ebay to put store inventory with auction listings side-by-side in search

I do have a lot of Canadian pottery and art glass as inventory.....  They sell but very slowly...  mainly because I list my best and rarest inventory...  Books are doing very, very well on eBay at fixed price.

In spite of doing well... I am contemplating the possibility of listing at auction  to sell the pottery and art glass.

All I might do is list a few test items... straight from fixed price to auction without a change in price... just to see what would happen...   Call it working with a buyer's perception of value....at auction.

[captivatemedia]

I find there are certain scenarios where auction is better, and certain scenarios where fixed is better. If you've got a high demand item, but also high supply. For example, an xbox 360, you can put it up for 200 and wait 3 months for it to sell, or put it up for a 99 cent auction and get 190 out of it in a week. (I'm sure those prices are off, but you get my drift)

When it comes to blurays, the difference is greater. Auction may net you $5 where you could get $15 if you went fixed. Right now I've got a bunch of blurays up for auction, and I'll have a bunch up next month too, but I'm using them to build feedback since this account is so new. I'll switch over to fixed most likely in April.

[recped]

Well REC, you may not like JD

I never said I don't like JD, compared to the Meg & Bill show he's done a great job for eBay.

Just because he's done a good job running his eBay business doesn't mean he knows what's best for MY eBay business. His priorities are certainly not with small niche sellers such as myself. That's not to say he's out to get me but rather that he's fond of making blanket statements that are not applicable to all sellers in all situations.

There is a place for Fixed Price and there is a place for Auctions, that was true 5 years ago, it's true today and it will still be true 5 years from now. Sellers need to study the situation and decide which is best I just don't think that JD necessarily provides the best direction in regards to that decision.

[tobyshitzu]

Id look at what they do rather then what he says.  They could do anything from dumping auctions completely, demoting them in bm or displaying fewer of them at the front if they thought buyers don't want them . But they choose to make the front pages of BM at least 2/3 auction format despite there being fewer auctions listed

[saphire9988]

you seem to have a very successful experience for selling your items at fixed price. Yet, even if I tried set my item at the fixed price, there were no one wanted to buy it. I wonder is it that the item I was selling wasn't attracted to buyers? For your experience, how to promote items that generate more sales?

[recped]

That question comes up regularly, mostly from relatively new users.

Here is what John Donahoe, CEO of eBay, has to say about it.

From Bloomberg Business Week (Feb 4-10)

Q: How much of the auction business remains in your DNA?

A: Auctions are just a format now in the core eBay business. Auctions are good for things that have an uncertain value.  So, a used item or a really scarce item.

But for most things, people would prefer to have a fixed price because they want the satisfaction of buying it immediately.

So that's what he told Bloomberg.....

Now here's what he told Fortune...

Donahoe says, "are less than 10% of what we do."

http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2013/02/07/ebay-donahoe-comeback/

Yet in eBay latest financial statements "he" says......

Fixed Price Trading (5) as % of total gross merchandise volume

2012 - 67%, 2011 - 65%, 2010 - 62%

So he says Auctions are only 10% but financial reports say 33%, which is it?

[pierrelebel]

"which is it?"

32% it is.

I suspect John went to the same business school as Bill, years before him! 🙂  (not very good with percentages!)

[pierrelebel]

"There is a place for Fixed Price and there is a place for Auctions, that was true 5 years ago, it's true today and it will still be true 5 years from now."

I totally agree.

On the other hand, it is a fact that both eBay buyers and sellers are more active transacting at fixed price this year as they were five years ago.  That trend towards fixed price and away from auction has been steady for years and I expect auction transactions will represent less than 25% of all transactions on eBay five years from now.

That does not make them obsolete, No. Simply no longer the first choice of those transacting on this platform.  There is still plenty of business left for the auction format, billions of dollars worth.

[recped]

Bill got his MBA at NorthWestern, John got his at Stanford, maybe eBay should try someone from Queens next?

Don't get me wrong, JD has done a great job at eBay FOR eBay (which is what he was hired to do).

[pierrelebel]

"maybe eBay should try someone from Queens next?"

Or from Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales! (Montreal) 🙂

[femmefan1946]

saphire: Your question is not exactly on topic, and would do best posted as a new question. Posters will look at your current and completed listings and give advice.

Just being a new seller makes it harder to sell anything, by the way.

[expressit1]

I have not listed an auction since March of 2006... It has been fixed price all of the way

Sales have been great.... and between inventory and price strategy adjustments... sales have doubled.   The biggest change was for ebay to put store inventory with auction listings side-by-side in search

  Books are doing very, very well on eBay at fixed price.

I found your comments very enlightning  You must be confident the price you list the book for is very close to the current value of the book or close to  what someone will pay. ( ie your price strategy comment above )

Do you have a brick and motar store as well as your online store??

Thanks

[almond_t]

Even if I am looking for something in particular, I very seldom even bother with auction listings at all.    I want to find my item, choose which listing suits the most ( I.e. price, shipping, location, seller credentials), BIN, and BDWI ( be done with it) !  

i don't want to wait days and days to find out if I have  bought something or not, nor do I want to hold up paying my seller f I have multiple purchases, 'in case I win another bid ' at a later date.  

I absolutely detest ebay's practice of arbitrarily holding  a bidder to a previously outbid winning  bid, in the event that another bidder retracts - you can't move on until the end of the auction, and now that's a waste of your time.  Once you're outbid, you should be free to buy elsewhere, or have the option of reinstating your outbid bid in the event of a retraction; you may still want the item, or you may have bought it elsewhere.  As far as the seller's predicament now, it rightfully should be an issue between the retractor and the seller, NOT the retractor and the unfortunate outbid bidder. JMPO, anyway.