Section 133. About Dutch Auctions

133. About Dutch Auctions

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

132 Choose Pricing, Duration, and Location


SEE ALSO

134 Add Pictures to Your Auction

135 Choose Auction Extras

136 Set Payment and Shipping Options

137 Review and Post Your Auction


Most items on eBay are sold in the traditional online auction manner: A single item is put up for sale and people bid against one another to buy it.

But what if you've gone to a liquidator and gotten a great deal on 25 sets of high-quality computer speakers ? As you can see from this chapter, it takes a good deal of work to create a single auction. Imagine having to create that auction 25 times. And then imagine having to track each of those individual auctions. If you're selling goods in volume, it simply wouldn't be worth your while to conduct your auctions in this one-off fashion.

A much better bet, when you have multiple items to sell, is to sell them at a Dutch auctionthat is, you sell multiple items at one single auction. That way, you create the auction once and track only a single auction. Dutch auctions are particularly well suited for those who are trying to make a living by selling on eBay or who want to get a substantial side income from eBay.

You create a Dutch auction in the same way you do any other auction. But when you fill out the Quantity field in the Sell Your Item form, as detailed in 132 Choose Pricing, Duration, and Location , you instead choose to sell multiple items, rather than a single one.

You can sell multiple items at a Dutch auction in two formats: the online-auction format and the fixed-price format. Here's what you need to know about each:

  • Online-auction format When you choose this format, you set a starting price and people bid above it, just as they do in a traditional auction. Bidders specify the number of items they want to buy, as well as their price. All the winning bidders pay the same price, though: the lowest successful bid. Suppose you are selling 10 items, and the bids of the top 10 bidders ranged from $34.50 to $41. All 10 items would be sold for $34.50.

  • Fixed-price format When you choose this format, you set a selling price and whoever wants to buy the item can buy it at that price. If you set a selling price of $35 for your items, no bidding would take place, and whoever wanted to buy one or more of your items would pay $35. A Buy It Now icon appears in the listing.

Which format you choose depends on your specific circumstances. The online-auction format has a bigger upside as well as a bigger downsideif a bidding war breaks out, you'll be in the money, but if you get unenthusiastic bidders, you won't get much for your goods. The fixed-price format is better suited when you have a good idea of what the items will sell for and want to move them quickly.

NOTE

If you want to be able to sell using Dutch auctions, you must have a feedback rating of 30 or above and be registered on eBay for 14 days or more. Alternatively, you can be ID Verified .




Sams Teach Yourself Creating Web Pages All in One
Sams Teach Yourself Creating Web Pages All in One
ISBN: 0672326906
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 276

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