Selling products online at auction sites can provide for you money, whether it is just chump change, or steady money. The question is when starting your auction, what should the starting price be? It is here you have to be careful. If you start it too high, you are going to end up with no one bidding. If you go too low, you won’t make any money. When considering the starting price point, you have to keep in mind the auction’s listing and final value fee (if any), and PayPal (if you are using that as a payment method).
Most online auction sites allow you to get started with little to no money out of your pocket. For example, Ebay, the largest online auction site, allows you to start as low as ninety-nine cents. But do you really want to start that low? You won’t make any money at that rate, unless your product is very popular and people want it badly, then they will begin to get into a bidding war with other bidders. But say you don’t have such a situation happen. If one person were to bid and that was it, you would be obligated to sell that product to the person for the amount he/she won by.
You have to keep in mind when selling products that every one you sell performs at a different price point. You can’t assume one price for all products. Some products require a higher starting price, while others start lower. How do you know where to start with your pricing? This is where knowing the price point helps. In this matter, you would need data to understand auctions and pricing points. This data can help you learn what products require what pricing point.
How do you find the data? There are two methods you can try that can help you determine the price point to start your auction. These two are with the auction itself. For example, you can go to any online auction site and they have a way for you to review past auctions. You can compare selling prices to start prices from past auctions. For example, if you were using eBay you would just log on and select “Advanced Search.” This link will be right next to the “Search” button. Next clink the “Completed Listings” checkbox. You’ll find this under the “Search including” heading. Just go through all the listings present and check the starting prices with the selling prices.
Another method you can use is by using market research. There is a tool you can use called HammerTap. With this tool, you can find hundreds of auctions with a click of the mouse. When you use it, it will create a Findings report with graphs and charts. You can learn the starting and selling price of several auctions at once. With what you find in this report, you’ll be able to judge the starting price point for your auction. This goes for any auction site.
Keep in mind that in order to know what the starting price point is, you have to start with a price that attracts bidders. But not just any bidder. You would like to attract those bidders that don’t mind paying a high price for your product. For this reason it would be good for you to use a starting price that results in the best possible selling price for you and your product. Be careful here. If you set your starting price too high, you may be shocked to find that you will have less bidders, and that may not result in the selling price you were expecting.
The bottom line is that for you to know what a good starting price point is, you need to do research to find out and then proceed from there. Every auction has rules to follow. By doing research, you will learn the rules, and learn what the average product price point was and sold. This is the key factor for you to know what the starting price point is for your auction.
By Chris Bowser
Selling products online at auction sites can provide for you money, whether it is just chump change, or steady money. The question is when starting your auction, what should the starting price be? It is here you have to be careful. If you start it too high, you are going to end up with no one bidding. If you go too low, you won’t make any money. When considering the starting price point, you have to keep in mind the auction’s listing and final value fee (if any), and PayPal (if you are using that as a payment method). Most online auction sites allow you to get started with little to no money out of your pocket. For example, Ebay, the largest online auction site, allows you to start as low as ninety-nine cents. But do you really want to start that low? You won’t make any money at that rate, unless your product is very popular and people want it badly, then they will begin to get into a bidding war with other bidders. But say you don’t have such a situation happen. If one person were to bid and that was it, you would be obligated to sell that product to the person for the amount he/she won by.
