Ebay strategies

Since my D20 Modern rpg books didn't go in the Arms Trade I think I'm going to put them up on Ebay. My question is, do I put them up as a lot or as individual units?

What are your preferred Ebay strategies?

*individual units
*start bidding at .99
*list for 5 to 7 days
*charge a dollar or two more for shipping than it will actually take to ship
*note if the books are from a smoke-free home

The first four points have been proven by science. (A researcher at Penn State spent some time on this a few years ago.) The last is something I'm interested in when buying used books.

I know selling a lot is more convenient, but I've always done rather poorly with that unless one or more of the items was hard to obtain.

metalface13 wrote:

What are your preferred Ebay strategies?

My best eBay strategy has been to include extras that cost me nothing, but make my stuff look better than others selling the same thing. With board games this is as simple as printing out official FAQ's and/or good player aids and listing them in the description. Particularly if they're full-color printouts. People see it as a bonus even if they end up bidding more for it.

See if you can find any free extras for d20 modern online that you can include. Even if its a bunch of homebrew files you burn onto a CD. It'll help sell your item and may increase the winning bid too. Which auction title would you consider first?

d20 Modern Books

d20 Modern Books w/ Free Extras

I've heard the list for a week thing before. I've usually done the 24-hour listing on stuff and it's sold fine, I mean all of the bidding goes on in the last 20 mins anyway. But I understand listing it for longer periods gets the word out and more people will watch it.

Good ideas on the freebies, Mad Dog.

Nick Warcholak wrote:

*individual units
*start bidding at .99
*list for 5 to 7 days
*charge a dollar or two more for shipping than it will actually take to ship
*note if the books are from a smoke-free home

The first four points have been proven by science. (A researcher at Penn State spent some time on this a few years ago.) The last is something I'm interested in when buying used books.

I know selling a lot is more convenient, but I've always done rather poorly with that unless one or more of the items was hard to obtain.

Really, Nick? I'd always heard that 3 or 5 days makes no discernable difference. The "true" bidders won't bid until the final day, and all 5 days will do is make you wait longer to see the results.

Back when I used ebay, I'd always see that hold out. Whether 3 or 5 days, jack squat on bidding until the final day. If it were a hot item, like a big CCG lot, all the action took place in the final fifteen minutes.

Buncha blood-sucking sniping sharks...I hate ebay and never use it anymore. I even had them deactivate my account.

Ken B. wrote:

Really, Nick? I'd always heard that 3 or 5 days makes no discernable difference. The "true" bidders won't bid until the final day, and all 5 days will do is make you wait longer to see the results.

It gives the auction more time to attract the people who will later bid on the final day. Not everyone checks eBay on a daily basis. There's been plenty of auctions where I found out about them after they'd already been there more than a few days and I ended up bidding/winning.

I'm also not a final day bidder though. I bid the amount I'm willing to pay and if someone outbids me five minutes later or five seconds before the auction ends it doesn't matter since they were willing to bid more.

The problem I've always had with "bid the most I'm going to bid and that's it" is what I'd call "Death by Increments."


Would you pay $10?

Sure.

Would you pay $10.25? It's just a quarter more than before, right?

Sure.

How about $10.50? Just one more quarter.


I almost wish Ebay would go to solid dollar increments. It would cut out a LOT of the bullshit.

Why the smoke free home thing?

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Why the smoke free home thing?

If I don't put that in there, I get messages asking it about probably 1/3 the time. More so with books than other stuff.

I also won't buy stuff from a smoker because I'm allergic. Even if I wasn't though, I still wouldn't simply for resale purposes.

EDIT: Technically, I'm not allergic to smoke; I just have messed up sinuses.

Ken B. wrote:

Really, Nick? I'd always heard that 3 or 5 days makes no discernable difference. The "true" bidders won't bid until the final day, and all 5 days will do is make you wait longer to see the results.

Exactly what Mad Dog said; the goal is to get more watchers. I experimented with 5, 6, and 7 days in the past and didn't seen much of a difference though. I stick to 5 days now usually.

Something else to consider: make sure the auction is timed to end on a Sunday evening around 9 or 10pm EST. Supposedly, you get higher prices because more people will see it and be around to drive up the bids on it.

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Why the smoke free home thing?

I'm not allergic, but I've bought a couple of items that were from smokers' homes and they have an absolutely disgusting stench. Never again.

Jeez, Ken, you can't win with that attitude. Your complaints about death-by-increments is solved by sniping. I chatted this up in one of my first blog posts here. Required reading for eBay users .

The 5-7 days listing is best because some folks don't look at eBay everyday. You want folks that have searches running weekly to pick up your items for evaluation.

The bonuses are a good idea--making your item stand out in the title helps. Make sure the body of the item contains commonly misspelled search terms--not so much a problem for "d20" but it's be a factor with something like "Shudde'Mell" and "Shudde Mell" as an example. Misspellings are DEATH. Less so than before, but they still hurt. Anyone need a tractor on the cheap? Search eBay for "Jon Deere" or "John Deer".

What's the latest word on the best day to end your auctions?

Yeah man, I'll read your article.

Sniping is the antithesis of death-by-increments. So you got sniped for a freaking quarter. You mean--even though you THOUGHT you'd only bid $10--that you wouldn't have gone $10.25? Really?

And then...where does it end?


I think I just got tired of it when I was bidding on like six things and was sniped on all of them with less than fifteen seconds left. Total and complete bullshit. I would have bid just the tiny bit more, given the chance.

"Bid your maximum." Again, where do you draw the line with small increments?

There are no increments--that's the difference. I have my max. I will pay, at most, THIS much. Period. If someone else wants to pay more; that is their prerogative. It's a second price auction, so I normally don't pay my maximum on bids I win. I picked up ETERNAL DARKNESS for the WiiCube for like $8--I think my max was about $11.50 or so. All I have to do is beat the last guy--probably you, amirite?

eBay preys on people psychologically. It was only a personal theory when I wrote that piece, but it has since been borne out in studies-- the trauma of "losing", i.e., being outbid, makes people act irrationally and commit to higher maxima . It sucks, but that's the game. That's where the autobidding tools come in--they take all the gamesmanship out of it. I set it and forget it. I'll get an email if I win or lose within 10 seconds of the end of the auction. Done and done.

There aren't the deals there used to be, so I think you're probably better off not having an account there, really. Especially if it eats you up inside so much. If you do need to dabble again, use JBidWatcher and save yourself some grief.

Well, I mean I'm not emotionally scarred or anything.

But I do miss them "Glory Days".