eBay starting prices

[Moonraker]

What's the best starting price to stipulate when selling on eBay? Currently there's a guy offering eight or nine very good cards that are worth upwards of £15 each, but his starting prices are 99p. In one case I'm going up to £60 and my query about this card revealed that we had a common interest and we've exchanged emails, in one of which I suggested that £9.99 would have been very reasonable. He replied that he had told a friendly dealer that he was concerned that very desirable cards might go for 99p. The dealer "totally reassured " him that this would never happen; in fact, he strong advised never to start at more than 99p, even if it was for a card that would go for a good price, and observed that people who started with a high asking price rarely got anyone bidding.

What does hack me off are people who set a starting price that matches what one might pay at a fair - or one that''s even higher. There are several such cards currently on offer in my area of interest, including one that's being listed for at least the fourth time at three times what I would expect to pay a dealer. (The first time around, I contacted the vendor to gently point this out and got a reply to the effect that his price "reflected" what he paid for it and he thought it was an interesting card.)

It seems to me that low starting prices do encourage early bids that are often unrealistic, then the more serious collectors get involved in the closing hour or two. Sometimes bidding rivalry can lead to people getting a bit carried away and paying over the odds.

I have sad memories of being willing to pay £12+ for two cards but having my PC stall at the last minute - both went for under a couple of quid, and perhaps here the vendor would have benefited . from being a bit more ambitious.

When selling, I myself set a starting price of about half-retail.


Moonraker

[kevinramsdale]

It's actually very dangerous to set a starting price on eBay of much less than what you actually you want for the card - examples such as the one you give (value £12+ actually sold for around £2) are far too common for that. It does need two keen potential buyers to get any competitive bidding going, and in some specialised areas it is not unknown for the likely bidders to be in contact with each other to decide who should bid for the item, which may then only make the starting price.

We are just coming to the end of a free listing (for private sellers) period, which to some extent encourages "optimistic" start pricing, with no listing fee to lose.

As for bidding strategy I would strongly recommend the use of a sniping tool - there is a good free one at http://www.goofbay.com which has always worked for me (though of course my bids are sometimes too low)

[Moonraker]

Kevin's opinion is justified by the fact that I've just won eight postcards with Army Post Office postmarks relating to military manoeuvres in Wiltshire before the Great War. I was the only bidder, so the vendor would have been really miffed had he followed the 99p advice. Average price was just over £8 each, hiked by the fact that one card had, justifiably, a starting price double that of the others.

Generally my initial bids were £1-3 above the starting price. I won't say that my purchases were a fantastic bargain but I'm satisfied that I've got a good deal. I barely glanced at the images, which seem to be commonplace, and I didn't strain my eyes to read the messages, though a couple look interesting.