Question:
…Let’s say that I find a source for items at $100, sell a bunch of them at $200, have an 80% rate of selling on the first listing, and it costs me $20 in time, fees, etc. to list an item (not unreasonable if I am selling the same item over and over, using the same listing text). That means that 80% of the time I walk away with an extra $80 in my pocket and that 20% of the time I lose $20. That loooks an lot like making a profit on a 2:1 buy/sell ratio to me.
I’m not great at math, but let’s see if this works: Balance – Action -$1,000 – I buy 10 widgets for resale ($100 ea) -$1,200 – $200 initial listing fees, time etc ($20 ea) How does that look to the rest of you? Lumpy — In Your Ears for 40 Years http://www.lumpymusic.com
Response:
- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2224073645 Where to begin? He wants to dictate how and when people can bid: last-minute bidders and auto-snipers get negative fb for their patronage. Check out this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2203184457 A user with a 1500 feedback rating receives his/her first negative comment for placing the auction’s _ONLY BID_ eight seconds prior to the end! In other words, the seller would’ve preferred zero bids.
Cute. There’s also this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2460604559 "NO SNIPERS!!! If your first bid on this item is within ten minutes of auction close, and you are the winning bidder, I reserve the right to cancel sale and deny your purchase of this item. This should help make it fair for everyone bidding on this auction." Heaven help those who surf the "going, going, gone" listings, I guess. Does eBay even allow terms like this? Then, there’s this Einstein: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2458955998 "THIS OFFICE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO TERMINATE ANY AUCTION EARLY IF IT IS DETERMINED THAT COMPUTER ASSISTED "BID SLAMMING" OR "BID SNIPING" SOFTWARE IS BEING UTILIZED TO PLACE LAST MINUTE BIDS." Right. So, if I place a bid on his item with 3 seconds to go, he’ll end the auction early. I’d sure be interested to hear the explanation of how *that* works, let alone how he’d know I used "bid slamming software" to bid. I assume, of course, that if a sniper failed to win but pushed up the final price by $2000, this seller would gladly deduct that amount from the invoice… <snip And yet, some sellers view sniping as the most egregious offense imaginable. Go figure…
Sniping is the only way I ever buy on eBay. Most of the time, I win. Sometimes I’m foiled by a high proxy, and sometimes I run into a fellow sniper. Whatever the result, it’s always exciting. Terms like the above really confound me, but since bidder illogic is what makes sniping worthwhile, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised to see it manifested among sellers as well. Adam C.
Response:
in your view that must mean giving the buyer every little thing they desire. that’s called sears and they have filed for bankrupcy.
Actually, it’s called just about every mail-order place I deal with. I don’t want it, they give me my money back. They don’t care why I don’t want it. — Deborah Stevenson [eliminate OBSTACLES to email me]
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I thgink a seller can do fine on 2:1 for high priced items and 10:1 on low priced items just fine. That’s fine as long as you sell everything you list. ..on the first listing. I don’t follow your math. Let’s say that I find a source for items at $100, sell a bunch of them at $200, have an 80% rate of selling on the first listing, and it costs me $20 in time, fees, etc. to list an item (not unreasonable if I am selling the same item over and over, using the same listing text).
That sounds like a damn good deal. What are these widgets that you have such a good supply of and which sell so fantastically well? That means that 80% of the time I walk away with an extra $80 in my pocket and that 20% of the time I lose $20. That loooks an lot like making a profit on a 2:1 buy/sell ratio to me.
Yep, it does to me, too. But then to be fair, 80% sales with an 80% chance on selling on the relist looks a lot like selling everything you list. How realistic is it? Do you really sell 80% of everything you list, and do your relisted items really sell 80% of the time? I can see how the figures would be different if you sell a bunch of different items. In that case you might get some that nobody wants, as opposed to my scenario where the unsold item gets listed again with the same 80% chance.
– l3mst0r View my auctions: http://shorterlink.com/?SRAG59
Response:
I thgink a seller can do fine on 2:1 for high priced items and 10:1 on low priced items just fine. That’s fine as long as you sell everything you list. — l3mst0r
..on the first listing. — Many thanks, Don Lancaster Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552 Please visit my GURU’s LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
Response:
– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2224073645 Where to begin? He wants to dictate how and when people can bid: last-minute bidders and auto-snipers get negative fb for their patronage. Check out this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2203184457 A user with a 1500 feedback rating receives his/her first negative comment for placing the auction’s _ONLY BID_ eight seconds prior to the end! In other words, the seller would’ve preferred zero bids. Cute. There’s also this one: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2460604559 "NO SNIPERS!!! If your first bid on this item is within ten minutes of auction close, and you are the winning bidder, I reserve the right to cancel sale and deny your purchase of this item. This should help make it fair for everyone bidding on this auction." Heaven help those who surf the "going, going, gone" listings, I guess. Does eBay even allow terms like this? Then, there’s this Einstein: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2458955998 "THIS OFFICE RESERVES THE RIGHT TO TERMINATE ANY AUCTION EARLY IF IT IS DETERMINED THAT COMPUTER ASSISTED "BID SLAMMING" OR "BID SNIPING" SOFTWARE IS BEING UTILIZED TO PLACE LAST MINUTE BIDS." Right. So, if I place a bid on his item with 3 seconds to go, he’ll end the auction early. I’d sure be interested to hear the explanation of how *that* works, let alone how he’d know I used "bid slamming software" to bid. I assume, of course, that if a sniper failed to win but pushed up the final price by $2000, this seller would gladly deduct that amount from the invoice… <snip And yet, some sellers view sniping as the most egregious offense imaginable. Go figure… Sniping is the only way I ever buy on eBay. Most of the time, I win. Sometimes I’m foiled by a high proxy, and sometimes I run into a fellow sniper. Whatever the result, it’s always exciting. Terms like the above really confound me, but since bidder illogic is what makes sniping worthwhile, I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised to see it manifested among sellers as well. Adam C.
I love the first one. A first bid within the last ten minutes. Sheesh, talk about cutting your customer base. I love the last 10 minutes!
Response:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2224073645 Where to begin? He wants to dictate how and when people can bid: last-minute bidders and auto-snipers get negative fb for their patronage.
Look at FB he has left for others! It’s amazing he has so little neg himself. Ron Thompson Was On the Beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast, Now On the Beautiful Florida Space Coast, right beside the Kennedy Space Center, USA http://www.plansandprojects.com The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools. –Herbert Spencer, English Philosopher (1820-1903)
Response:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2224073645 Where to begin? He wants to dictate how and when people can bid: last-minute bidders and auto-snipers get negative fb for their patronage. Check out this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2203184457 A user with a 1500 feedback rating receives his/her first negative comment for placing the auction’s _ONLY BID_ eight seconds prior to the end! In other words, the seller would’ve preferred zero bids.
GRRRRRRRR!!!! What a TWAT!!! Looks like we have a narked, annoyed, spurned and disaffected *buyer* here, who has only just become a seller and has decided to make the cruel, evil world PAY PAY PAY for the nasty, mean way it’s treated him. Awww, the POOR POPPET! Yeah, right! Don’t get me wrong. As a buyer, I dislike sniping, but only because deep down there’s a part of me that may be every bit as self-serving and unreasonable in wanting ME to be the only bidder, and for me to snap up the seller’s items for as low a price as possible – see, buyers and sellers look for different things in an auction. I guess I’d prefer EBay if it were more like a real auction, where sniping can’t happen – there is no "zero-hour" when the auction finishes; it just ends when the item reaches the highest price people are willing to pay and nobody will bid any more. But having said that… This *IS* eBay and not a RL auction, and sniping DOES happen, in fact it’s a damn good way to win an auction. It’s accepted behaviour – everybody does it. So why should SELLERS complain? Eh? The guy’s a toss-pot. Look at his "left for others" feedback!! I want to write to him and tell him he’s a toss-pot. Furthermore, I want to turn up outside his house, and when he answers the door, slap him hard across the chops. I’m not a violent man, but people like him just make me see the red mist, no kidding.
Response:
I thgink a seller can do fine on 2:1 for high priced items and 10:1 on low priced items just fine.
That’s fine as long as you sell everything you list. — l3mst0r
Response:
He just has unfashionable views on Service (ie seller should provide one). in your view that must mean giving the buyer every little thing they desire. that’s called sears and they have filed for bankrupcy.
Really, have they? That’s sad. When I was growing up in the USA, our family bought most of it’s durables from Sears….. ‘Scuse me, I think I’ve got something in my eye….
Response:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2224073645 Where to begin? He wants to dictate how and when people can bid: last-minute bidders and auto-snipers get negative fb for their patronage.
Check out this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2203184457 A user with a 1500 feedback rating receives his/her first negative comment for placing the auction’s _ONLY BID_ eight seconds prior to the end! In other words, the seller would’ve preferred zero bids. The entire anti-sniper crusade is ridiculous. Smart sellers realize that sniping directly and indirectly increases their profits. Smart buyers, meanwhile, never fall victim to sniping. Snipers generally aren’t willing to engage in bidding wars. Therefore, their last-minute bids directly increase final auction prices (often by leaps and bounds), whether they win or lose. If a non-sniper simply enters a proxy bid for the maximum amount that he/she is willing to pay, it doesn’t matter if the following bid is placed with five days remaining or five seconds remaining. Either way, the outcome will be the same. Sniping takes advantage of the fact that some people foolishly bid less than they have in mind. Such individuals aren’t being cheated; it’s their own fault for expecting the opportunity to manually counter every subsequent bid. The prevalence of sniping discourages this sort of behavior (encourages higher proxy bids), and that’s how it indirectly increases sellers’ profits. And yet, some sellers view sniping as the most egregious offense imaginable. Go figure…
Response:
You should read the Guru more regularly; just because he doesn’t say what you’d like to hear doesn’t make him wrong. He’s often frighteningly right! He just has unfashionable views on Service (ie seller should provide one). Every time I find myself disagreeing with him, I can’t help pondering the fact that his error rate is lower than mine. That being said, I don’t buy his 30:1 ratio. I thgink a seller can do fine on 2:1 for high priced items and 10:1 on low priced items just fine.
You are confusing profit margin with the sell/buy ratio. It is enormously difficult to acheive a consistent 10:1 profit margin with a 30:1 sell/buy ratio goal. — Many thanks, Don Lancaster Synergetics 3860 West First Street Box 809 Thatcher, AZ 85552 Please visit my GURU’s LAIR web site at http://www.tinaja.com
Response:
Just won an item from a seller a few hours ago for much below what the item is worth. Just looking at my feedback I have just found out I’ve been negged "for sniping the auction". He hasn’t emailed me to explain why though I assume the transaction isn’t going to go ahead now. Am I stuck with the neg now or can eBay remove it and warn the seller?
Report to eBay as a non-performing seller, and have fun returning fire on the neg. Was it this guy, by chance? http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2224073645 Where to begin? He wants to dictate how and when people can bid: last-minute bidders and auto-snipers get negative fb for their patronage. Won’t sell to Germany, France, or Russia, which seems oddly specific if it’s not a political slur (think "Iraq"). Relies on feedback to selectively disallow new bidders and check payments, but can’t be bothered to leave it for his customers unless it’s a neg (his fb left to fb received ratio is the most dismal I’ve seen). Surcharges multiple winners $3 to combine shipments unless they do his bookkeeping for him. And this is all part of "making effective communications with buyers". It’s working. The clear message I’m receiving is: "Don’t buy anything from me, ever." Adam C.
Response:
unfortunate result was: : I just think he has an unrealistic business model for the everyman he : claims to be guru to. He has some secret widget that he buys for : pennies on the dollar which is the basis for his magic bull$hit 30:1 : I just pulled this number out of my ass ratio. All other BS flows : from this magical formula. Every answer he gives on this group is not : aimed at actually helping anyone, it’s all about showing what a : clever guy he is for selling this magic widget and how much smarter : he is than all the other sellers on eBay. Fact of the matter is that : his experience as a seller is unrealistic and has no basis in the : reality of : 99.99 percent of the seller’s he is advising. Fact of the matter is : if his margin was more like the rest of the world he’d be singing a : different tune. You can listen to him if you like but don’t be : suprised if his business model doesn’t fit your margins and you end : up losing your ass. Amen! — Je
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