Why does everyone wait until last minute to bid?

[djp802]

Hi
Several years ago I sold a bunch of stuff on ebay and people used to bid right from the day items were posted. I just started back selling and now it seems bids only come in during the last few minutes of an auction. Do others find this?

[amethyst1415]

I don't know why you are complaining. I would be happy if I got bids and sold my item, regardless of when the bidding took place.

[pierrelebel]

Not really.

First of all, the majority of auction listings on eBay do not even attract a single bid (unless the seller starts the bidding at $1 or so).

Checking auction listings with a starting price that makes sense, the winning bid could be placed at any time.  Analysis after analysis has not been able to discern a specific pattern except for buyers using programs to bid at the last moment.

The other reality on eBay is that the growing trend for the last ten years has been away from auction listings towards fixed price listings.  Buyers seem to prefer to come online (eBay or elsewhere) to buy and buy it now, not place a bid and wait several days to see if they have purchased the item.

I took a look at some of your recent sales (from the feedback received) and only noticed one buyer (two items) who placed bids at the last minute.  Others are all over the map such as;

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/VINTAGE-MATTEL-FRANCIE-BARBIE-DOLL-BENDABLE-LEGS-/111342752052

Results vary of course by seller and category of products being sols.

[amethyst1415]

I like your ALF doll.

You say in your listing No Returns Accepted but eBay policy is that all returns are accepted. If a buyer files a complaint with eBay they will get their money back (after they ship it back to you). Maybe people don't' want to bid knowing that they will have to file a claim if anything goes wrong.

[amethyst1415]

If the growing trend is to buy it now...then why when I list an auction (as I also include buy it now) does the person just not buy it now? I don't think buy it now is better than auctions.

[pierrelebel]

Looking at your recently completed listings, only 10 out of 60 attracted one or more bids.  The other 50 listings went unsold.

That seems to be in line with the general eBay experience these days.

You may want to try fixed price listings where you get up to 30 day exposure for your listings at the same price.

[mr.elmwood]

I do not think it is waiting. What difference is there between a bid seven days ahead, and two minutes ahead? To me, the prior seven days are an advertising period drawing attention to the auction.

Live auctions are advertised weeks ahead with the bidding in the space of a minute. To me it is the same principle.

I have a different site I bid on. I have two techniques. First is to lie in the weeds and wait until the last few seconds, but, it is a soft close. Other listings I bid my max up front and let it ride. Both techniques work, for me.

[djp802]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

I didn't really think I was complaining, just wondering why the auction scene is so different from when I last used ebay to sell  a large number of items. It's definitely not as good for the sellers when buyers wait to the last minutes because there's less opportunity for the price to increase. I've had some messages from buyers who lost out on items saying they would have increased their bid but got beat out in the last seconds. The explanation that people are moving to BIN makes sense. Thanks.

With regards to returns. That also makes sense but I am not a business and just use ebay to sell items I no longer need as I hope to downsize over the next while so returns are not an option.

[i*m-still-here]

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@djp802 wrote:

. The explanation that people are moving to BIN makes sense. 

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Buyers have become much better at bidding and auction sniper services didn't always exist.

That's why people wait to bid now while they may have been more jumpy in years gone by.

Why do you say that people are moving to BIN?

I don't see that.

What I've been seeing is that closing prices are often much higher now than BIN items in many cases and that wasn't always true.

EBay seems to be pushing auctions and in a recent email from them they spent some time preaching why I should list via auction.

In addition: One problem with BIN items is that the same items are being run over and over again while auction listings tend to stay fresh.

In relation to most collectibles that type of BIN listing practice makes an item look undesirable even when it might be a great piece.

In short: Some sellers prefer auction style listings and some prefer BIN type listings.

For example:  If a seller has unlimited access to OOAK (one of a kind) type items and limited space auctions make good sense because that allows sellers to move items out quickly even if the price is sometimes lower.

On the other hand:  If a seller has a few great pieces or unlimited storage space  then BIN type listing might work better.

There is no one formula that works for all.

[pierrelebel · Accepted solution]

You may want to take a look at: http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y13/m05/i27/s01

A few months ago (I could not find the release) eBay indicated another huge drop in the percentage of listings offering auction format.

That trend has been going on for ten years.

There is still room for auctions on eBay and there are many buyers who still enjoy the fun aspect of an auction.  However, one cannot deny or ignore the overall trend.

[i*m-still-here]

Of course, but this exact same discussion has been going on and on and on forever ad nauseam and the same people present the same ideas time and time again.

Numbers can be very misleading.

For example:  Those numbers may be a reflection of the fact that eBay has also had a huge influx of big box store type items during that time frame and these items are rarely if ever listed via auction.

To have any meaning one has to break those findings down ................. WAY down.

In practical terms, those numbers mean nothing at all the way they are presented.

When looking at auctions vs BIN there are numerous factors to consider and the chart you present doesn't go there.

Just one example  of what those charts never touch:

For OOAK items, the way most of us here list:  One has too look at "FRESH" items being listed and not the same item going around for 100th time.

There are numerous other considerations as well.

Same old same old discussion.

[i*m-still-here]

.................. That is not to say it's not a great discussion topic (it is)  :  Auction vs BIN .........................  but charts and stats unless broken down do not tell much of a story.

[recped]

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@pierrelebel wrote:

You may want to take a look at: http://www.ecommercebytes.com/cab/abn/y13/m05/i27/s01

A few months ago (I could not find the release) eBay indicated another huge drop in the percentage of listings offering auction format.

That trend has been going on for ten years.

There is still room for auctions on eBay and there are many buyers who still enjoy the fun aspect of an auction.  However, one cannot deny or ignore the overall trend.

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At least part of that trend is the result of eBay giving incentives to sellers to list in the Fixed Price format the other major reason for the rise in Fixed Price is the massive shift from the early days of OOAK to new mass market consumer items. Auctions have little place when 100 different sellers are listing thousands of the same thing, things that have a pretty well established price structure and compete directly with major B&M retailers.

Auctions are often the best way to sell not so common items unless you want to play the park and wait game.

[djp802]

That article explains everything, including why it is so hard to find my items when I search for them (i.e. algorithm pref for fixed price listings). Thanks so much.
I'm hearing from friends that Etsy might be a better place for me to list my items.Has anyone here had experience with them?

[tobyshitzu]

"(i.e. algorithm pref for fixed price listings)"

That is referring to the original start of "best match" years ago, which was a jumbled mess where auctions could end pages back.  That is no longer the case, in fact they heavily favour auction format now, displaying more auctions despite there being far fewer listed.  Especially with most of the categories they are taking away the free fp from where its impossible to search for a specific sku

[rose-dee]

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@djp802 wrote:

I'm hearing from friends that Etsy might be a better place for me to list my items.Has anyone here had experience with them?

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All I can tell you is that I know of a couple of sellers who were on eBay for quite some time, then switched to Etsy and ended up coming back to eBay.  One told me that she came back to eBay not because she wasn't selling on the other site, but because it was "chaos" and she was having many issues with getting paid.  I'd considered the alternative myself, but after hearing that report, I had second thoughts and decided to stay put.

As complicated as eBay can be for sellers, it does apparently have better payment policies in place, and of course has a wider marketplace to offer sellers.

[i*m-still-here]

Also, when selling collectibles buyers search by title.

If it's a great item with good photos and you have the right key words in the title "they will come."

A lot of the search placement issues apply to mass produced items where you compete on factors other than the item itself.

It's not really considered cool to discuss other sites here, but all sites have merits.

The one you mentioned might not be the best for your items but you could always put it to the test.

Some sellers do well there but it doesn't get the traffic eBay does.  

P.S.: Also, Etsy is a site where buyers have to pay immediately upon commitment to buy or the item remains unsold, and therefore you should avoid all payment issues.

[notthatguy]

Negativity for the sake of nwgay

[kh-leslie]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.