A New Acquisition, And Why Ebay Can Be A Seller's Nightmare

About 4 years ago I switched from putting items on ebay as auctions, and now only do Buy-It-Now with Best Offer. Occasionally I might run a special item as an auction, but either with a reserve or starting at the minimum I'm willing to accept. Why? Doing no-reserve start-at-$1.00 auctions on esoteric or specialized material can bite you in the butt. Bigtime.

The stamp below is a case in point. I just got it in the mail today. I won it on ebay in a no-reserve auction. It's from a seller I do regular business with, both on and off ebay. He normally doesn't do auctions. When he has superb material, he asks superb prices. It's not uncommon for his XF or better material to be priced at multiples of Scott.

The stamp below, R41a, catalogs $75. He had it priced in his inventory at $125. I had seen it before on his website, and realistically, while a little high, is not ridiculously unreasonably, i.e., his prices are not Momen-like (some of you may get the joke).

It's certainly worth full Scott at retail, and at a show I'd expect to see it in the $80-100 range.

Final cost including shipping: $31. I'm guessing he was NOT pleased with the results.

Friends don't let friends run no-reserve auctions.

I agree with you Revenue - too many times a decent set of stamps go for a song. Good news for the collector/reseller, not so good news for the seller. I have stopped selling items on ebay except for the the free weekend listings where I can price up the items as I wish and then if they don't sell I don't lose anything. It all has to do with who is looking at that time, how do you find the listing fees on ebay for unsold items?

A great looking stamp you got there.

Drew

If an item doesn't sell on ebay, there is no final value fee. However, you paid a listing fee upfront (I think it is approximately US$0.30 or so for 7-day auctions and US$0.20 for 30-days in ebay Stores). YMMV in the U.K.

For items that may or may not sell, the Stores listing gives a much better bang for the buck, as it can be configured to auto-renew.

However, if you have a large inventory with little turnover this can get VERY expensive. For most small- and mid-sized sellers, this (and the previous) "fee reduction" (as marketed by ebay) actually raised up-front fees, which is a double whammy to many sellers. Not only did the fees go up, but it's at the front-end on everything listed, not just in the event something sells.

I have been slowly decreasing my ebay listings (my ebay sales a primarily NOT stamps... mostly coins, CDs, and random and sundry "stuff"), and have been exploring other venues, e.g., BidStart, but the sad fact is that no other venues produce the same results as ebay. It's the 800-lb gorilla in the room.

'except for the the free weekend listings where I can price up the items as I wish'

I haven't heard about this. How can I find more information?

Every two weeks or so I get an email from ebay saying that it is a free listing weekend. The only rules are you cannot use the bulk uploaders like Turbolister. You have to use the web uploader for each item. It is a pain but there is nothing lost if you don't sell. It must be for ebay UK only then.

This is the text from the last email I received :

On 18 and 19 June 2011

Open to all users registered on ebay.co.[uk]
(except business sellers and below standards sellers)
Valid for auction-style listings at any starting price
Items listed using professional tools are excluded
Items will only be eligible for this promotion if they are listed with the Quick Sell or Advanced Sell
(Sell Your Item) forms or the ebay iPhone application
All other ebay selling fees will still apply

Great stamp at a great buy revenuecollector (again)!

rev.. if you feel at all guilty.. i'll give you 35.00 for it

Heh. Nice try. :)

Actually, I've recently been trying to pick up XF or better examples of even cheap 1st issue revenues whenever I see them, just cuz.

Can never have too many quality pieces...