Since I just sold four items, I feel I can now contribute to this thread. I put all up for auction. 3 started a $1.00, the minimun I was willing to accept for the item. 1 bid would have meant each item went for a buck, but all three went for about what I thought they would.
The fourth went for what I set the minimun bid for, which was the minimum I was willing to accept. I could have just posted an ad, but let's face it, an auction benefits the seller. So if you are not in a hurry, why not?
Funny thing about that fourth one, my Supratek. As soon as it closed, I had about 15 emails asking to sell it over the ending prce, one was $700 over. Most I ignored, but I tried to explain to a couple of them that high bid = sale to the high bidder. Even the high bidder asked early in the auction if I would end the auction early for more than he ended up paying. He was very nice about it, but I suggested he might be able to get it cheaper if he waited, and he saved about $130.
The bad thing here is on the Supratek, I had about 20 emails in the last 10 minutes of the auction, most asking inane questions. It was quite a PITA.
Where I'm going with this is this: I would rather do an auction than just post an ad. You can set a reserve, or just a start price that you can live with. Not to much worry about lowballers, but almost any ad will have some emails dealing with offers or dumb questions.
And I strongly disagree about Paypal. Why should I eat the costs? It's a buyer's convienience more so than the seller.
The fourth went for what I set the minimun bid for, which was the minimum I was willing to accept. I could have just posted an ad, but let's face it, an auction benefits the seller. So if you are not in a hurry, why not?
Funny thing about that fourth one, my Supratek. As soon as it closed, I had about 15 emails asking to sell it over the ending prce, one was $700 over. Most I ignored, but I tried to explain to a couple of them that high bid = sale to the high bidder. Even the high bidder asked early in the auction if I would end the auction early for more than he ended up paying. He was very nice about it, but I suggested he might be able to get it cheaper if he waited, and he saved about $130.
The bad thing here is on the Supratek, I had about 20 emails in the last 10 minutes of the auction, most asking inane questions. It was quite a PITA.
Where I'm going with this is this: I would rather do an auction than just post an ad. You can set a reserve, or just a start price that you can live with. Not to much worry about lowballers, but almost any ad will have some emails dealing with offers or dumb questions.
And I strongly disagree about Paypal. Why should I eat the costs? It's a buyer's convienience more so than the seller.