Question About $0.01 Minimum Bids On Ebay

1 cent is what you are seeing - that doesn't mean it's the max bid. Look at a few of those same items when there are multiple bids and see at what price the 2nd bidder took the lead. I'll guarantee it's not the next increment

Most readers know who you are asking about, OP. Why don't you contact the seller yourself If you are not happy with the responses in this thread.

Induce bidding, simulate bidder interest, improve sales volume, repeat.

Your missing a very important point here ------Name and address of people who buy on line is a very valuable commodity ,there are firms that will pay 10 cents to a dollar per name and if you sell that list 10 times your getting $10.00 per name . The heck with what your giving away ,it is the name and address your selling and we already establish that the person buys from on line sellers . Just a note here ----I use to buy names and phone numbers of investors for my sales staff and we would pay $5.00 to $25.00 per name for a good list .

I think one cent is the max bid. Once a "real" buyer bids, it always jumps to $0.06.

floortrader,

I don't follow. Are you trying to explain a starting bid of $0.01? That's not what I'm asking about. In the normal case, a starting bid of $0.01 will show zero bids when the item is initially listed. I'm asking about a case where 1tems already show 1 bid when first listed.

Basil

I am not sure if we're talking about the same seller or not, but if I'm reading what I see correctly, with the initial one cent bid he's selling to himself. To repeat what I just wrote to floortrader, the seller lists the item with an opening bid of $0.01, and then immediately places a bid of $0.01 cent with a "shill" account. If it attracts no "real" bids it sells at $0.01 to that account. The first "real" bid bumps the price to $0.06 and after that bidding looks normal.

I'm happy with djlirette's replies. I'm mostly responding now to replies that seem not to understand what it is I've been asking about.

Including, perhaps, yours. I don't see where the seller placing the initial bid at the opening price does anything to induce bidding or stimulate bidder interest. That's done, perhaps, with the opening bid being $0.01. But in fact, real buyers rarely get the chance to make that bid. When they see the item for the first time, it already has a bid of $0.01 already placed, which I think the seller is placing with a couple of "shill" accounts. The "real" opening bid is usually $0.06, as this is the cheapest that a real bidder can usually get the item for. (I have to say "usually" here because I think in placing 400 or so new listings a day, the seller somehow overlooks one or two items and they end up showing zero bids. But most of the new listings already have 1 bid when I first see them, and always by the same one or two accounts.)

I've checked out this seller. In the last 3 months he's listed 15,950 items and sold 15,946. he sold 8 items for 6c, 92 items for $1 or less, 1915 items for $5 or less and 1298 items for $100-$1826 and his median sale was $16.50. I didn't take the time to find his average sale but I think it is safe to say he's selling over $50,000/mo. Listing and shipping over 5000 items a month takes a lot of time.

I think it is totally inconceivable that he would be bothered shilling his stamps up to 6c. It would have netted him 40c over the 3 months while risking being suspended from ebay where his sales are $50k, plus he's busy.

People are constantly complaining that there aren't enough new items on ebay and this seller brings over 5000 new items to ebay each month, IMO he deserves Kudos not criticism.

KR - Thank you for bringing some reality to the discussion.

Amen to that

Now that I understand the OP question, I should have passed on it out of indifference.

I list auctions at $1 sometimes. I don't shill any, someone (usually a happy former bidder) always bids and gets the ball rolling.