And it's so easy to fix.
Sellers dream of a bidding war.
Two people going at it, outbidding each other, not wanting to lose.
At some point, they don't even realize how high the price has become, and the winner — if you can call them that — severely overpays for the item.
Great for the seller, though!
Some items are prime for a bidding war
An original Jackson Pollock. Superman comic issue #1. Babe Ruth's rookie card.
Get the right investors and collectors in the room, and these will be bid up to a small fortune.
For these, it doesn't matter where the price starts. It could start at a dollar. It won't stay there.
Most items won't spark a bidding war
This is where the problem for sellers can lie.
The more commodity the item, the less likely it is to trigger a bidding frenzy.
Penny auctions (auctions starting at $0.01) might get bid up a little, but if the item up for bid is a toaster, it might just go for a penny plus shipping.
Then the seller is shipping it to the customer at a loss.
The solution is easy
Selling stuff on eBay is part of my side hustle hoard. I did it a number of years ago, and have recently picked it up again. Right now I'm selling currency with cool serial numbers. Soon I'll be venturing into clothing.
I have made some money on auction-style listings before, but I haven't done any in this restart.
I've seen too many people sell currency at a loss. Most of them were auction-style listings that (a) started at a price below what would bring a profit, and (b) didn't have a reserve price.
So … dollar bills sold for a dollar, free shipping, and the seller lost money in every sense of the word.
I don't hope for bidding wars. I always price my listings to make money.
I do this with fixed-price listings (“Buy It Now”) and allow for offers.
I decide how much profit I want to accept. I don't give bidders the opportunity to buy it from me at a loss.
Such an easy fix!
Thanks for reading!
Hi, I’m John and I encourage people to work for themselves, and on themselves, every day to sleep better at night. I also hoard side hustles and look for ways to make them work together.
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header photo by Daniela Holzer on Unsplash
