On eBay, start low to sell high
When I auction books on eBay, I always start them at a penny, no reserve. Why? My gut tells me bidders are drawn to auctions that already have lots of bids. And the best way to get bids is to start your auction at a penny.Sure, I've taken a pounding on several auctions where the book sold for 1 cent. But I've also sold several books for more than the cover price after a bidding war ensued.
The eggheads at the Kellogg School of Management agree with me. In a psychological study, the authors document:
"... How and why, in the social setting of auctions, lower starting prices result in higher final prices. Three processes contribute to this effect. First, lower starting prices reduce barriers to entry, which increase traffic and generate higher final prices. Second, lower prices entice bidders to invest time and energy (creating sunk costs) and, consequently, escalate their commitments. Third, the traffic generated by lower starting prices can lead bidders to infer value in the item, thereby explaining previous findings that traffic begets more traffic."Couldn't have said it better myself.
How about it? Is this ivory tower thinking, or reality?
posted by Steve Weber at 2/23/2007
3 Comments:
I agree that starting with a low bid price is the best way to go, and most of the books/websites I have read also tend to lean this way.
When I started selling on Ebay I would have fixed prices for my items, from 3.99 to 7.99, and hope they would go up from there. Doing this I only sold about 33% of the items the first go.
My next big attempt at selling, I started My bids at .99, and about 75% of the items sold, though some only sold for .99 cents.
It costs the same amount, and I think it is better to start at .99 then .01, so you at least recover your selling fees, if you only have one bidder.
But yes, I have noticed that starting lower at least spawns more selling, and in some of those sales the prices are considerably higher than they would be for fixed prices.
Eric Carlson, Ebay Selling Guide
how would you suggest selling multiple books, particularly a series?
What books are they? If these books have some sort of demand on Ebay. There is no one rule for selling individually, or in a series, but it is good to see what other people have done by searching the completed listings.
I know that books like the Goosebumps only sell in a lot, and I would never try to sell them individually. But other books, like the elfquest series from the 1980s seem to do pretty well individually. It is common for the 1st book in a series to sell for the most.
No matter what though, If you sell them individually, make sure you write in your description that you are selling all of the series, and even go as far as to add links to each. Encourage bidding, and provide discounted shipping.
Research, research, provide discounted shipping.
Don't Forget, that you can always sell your stuff on amazon, while choosing your own price!
Eric Carlson Ebay Selling Guide
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