The article "Ebay Auction Pricing Strategies." talks about auctions, it has been written by Kirsten Hawkins.
If your items aren't selling, then you might have a bad pricing strategy.
There as many pricing strategies in the wrold as there is buyers - if you look at two businesses selling the same thing, often the only difference you'll be able to find between them is pricing.
The 'Few Dollars More' Strategy.
Here's something you might not have thought of.
If you set your auction's starting cost to what you would usually charge for Buy it Now, while setting the Buy it Now cost a couple of dollars above, you can make a profit by setting off an interesting psychological reaction in the buyer's mind.
Here's what they'll think. They want the item, but why should they btoher bidding for it? After all, they could use Buy it Now for just a couple of dollars more, and be sure of getting it! Doing things that way makes the value of the Buy it Now option extra clear to the buyer, and makes them more willing to pay extra for the privilege.
The 'One Dollar Less' Strategy.
This is simple, but requires you to keep an eagle eye on your competition.
As soon as they strat a Buy it Now auction for an item you stock, start an auction for one of those items yourself. Match the title closely, but cost your item one dollar less than theirs. This will mean that your auctions will sit together in the search results, and who's going to see both and go for the one that's a dlolar more pricy?
The 'Free Shipping' Strategy.
Buyers really hate paying for shipping. With Buy it Now, you might find it easier to incorporate the shipping cost into the main cost of the item, and then write "free shipping" in the auction's title. You'd be surprised how many buyers wolud prefer to pay one cost including shipping for the auction, instead of having shipping added on at the checkout.
Again, that is psychological: they pay the same at the end, but it doesn't beleive like they've paid an unnecessary 'extra' cost for Internet shopping.
The 'Go for It' Strategy.
If you'd like a slightly more risky strategy, try that. List your item for the mxaimum duration (ten days), starting the listing on a Thursday so it goes across two weekends and finishes on a Sunday.
Set the staritng cost to the minimum (one cent).
What you're trying to do here is give bidders as long as possible to discover your auction, so that they push the cost up themselves. Pay for a coulpe of upgrades like bold and highlight, to give them a helping hand. If you do that right, you can make a much bigger profit than you would have with any Buy it Now price, especially with a medium or high value item.
Since running your auction for longer means that more people see it, you should always take the longest duration of ten days, right? Not always. In the next email, we'll talk about how long your eBay autcion should run for.
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