Is there an eBay fee to list a minimum bid on an item?

hockey_canada_auctions
Community Member

Normally, we post our items for auction at no minimum bid, or the default of $1.00, but we are considering adding a minimum bid of $100. Would this affect our eBay seller fees? We are a registered charity, so do not currently pay the Final Value Fees (FVF). Would they still be waived in this case?

 

Hockey Canada Auctions

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Is there an eBay fee to list a minimum bid on an item?

http://pages.ebay.ca/help/sell/reserve.html

 

Yes there is a charge for this option, the amount will show up when you go to list the item on the Sell Your Item form.

 

Please note that:

Starting an auction at 99 cents is stupid. If you only get one bidder, you have to sell at 99cents which will not even cover your expenses.

Those who bid at these very low prices are less pleasant to deal with than those who are willing to pay a fair price.

Auctions have been dropping in numbers, bidders, and value for over a decade. Buyers prefer Fixed Price listings.

If you use a Reserve, you pay the Reserve fee even if your item does not meet the Reserve and does not sell.

Many potential bidders will not bid on a Reserve auction, even if the Reserve is disclosed in the text, because they feel cheated.

 

Most important. All eBay auctions are Reserved, in that no one can bid lower than the opening bid.

 

In my opinion, your charity will do better if you raise your opening prices and sell at higher prices.

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Is there an eBay fee to list a minimum bid on an item?

Very sorry Femmefan but we must disagree with your $1 auction are stupid statement.

 

We did two auctions in the last 4 months and started both of them at $1. One auction ended up with 53 bids and sold for almost $300 CAD. Our second auction also started at $1 and received over 70 bids for a final price of nearly $1000. Both of these auctions were for fine bone china pieces.

 

Dollar auction are worth their weight in gold when used properly with the right items. Everyday items at auction are a joke indeed but dollar auction have great appeal and exposure when used properly.

 

And finally Femmefan we greatly respect your opinion based on years of experience here on ebay but sometimes the word stupid is a little too strong.

 

Thanks.

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Is there an eBay fee to list a minimum bid on an item?

"with the right items"

That's the key words, right items. Your items could have easily sold for just a dollar if you had only one bidder. The risk of selling an item for only a dollar far outweighs the chances it will sell for 50 to 100 times more than the dollar. Many sellers were disappointed when their items only had the one bid when in fact the item was worth a lot more than a dollar.

You were just fortunate to have good winning bids. Those are few and far between these days.
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Non payers should get unpaid item strikes and be added to block bidders lists. Period.
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