If your items arent selling, then you might have a bad pricing strategy. There as many pricing strategies in the world as there are buyers if you look at two businesses selling the same thing, often the only difference youll be able to find between them is pricing.
The Few Dollars More Strategy.
Heres something you might not have thought of. If you set your auctions starting price to what you would usually charge for Buy it Now, while setting the Buy it Now price a few dollars above, you can make a profit by setting off an interesting psychological reaction in the buyers mind.
Heres what theyll think. They want the item, but why should they bother bidding for it? After all, they could use Buy it Now for just a few dollars more, and be sure of getting it! Doing things this way makes the value of the Buy it Now option extra clear to the buyer, and makes them more willing to pay extra for the privilege.
The One Dollar Less Strategy.
This is simple, but requires you to keep an eagle eye on your competition. As soon as they start a Buy it Now auction for an item you stock, start an auction for one of those items yourself. Match the title closely, but price your item one dollar less than theirs. This will mean that your auctions will sit together in the search results, and whos going to see both and go for the one thats a dollar more expensive?
The Free Shipping Strategy.
Buyers really hate paying for shipping. With Buy it Now, you might find it easier to incorporate the shipping cost into the main price of the item, and then write free shipping in the auctions title. Youd be surprised how many buyers would prefer to pay one price including shipping for the auction, instead of having shipping added on at the checkout. Again, this is psychological: they pay the same at the end, but it doesnt feel like theyve paid an unnecessary extra cost for Internet shopping.
The Go for It Strategy.
If youd like a slightly more risky strategy, try this. List your item for the maximum duration (ten days starting the listing on a Thursday so it goes across two weekends and finishes on a Sunday. Set the starting price to the minimum (one cent).
What youre trying to do here is give bidders as long as possible to discover your auction, so that they push the price up themselves. Pay for a few upgrades like bold and highlight, to give them a helping hand. If you do this right, you can make a much bigger profit than you would have with any Buy it Now price, especially with a medium or high value item.
Since running your auction for longer means that more people see it, you should always take the longest duration of ten days, right? Not always. In the next email, well talk about how long your eBay auction should run for.
