Starting price

fifeken

Peter_Lanky wrote: »

If I look at the list of bids on an auction (not the latest bid) then I can see that (for example) somebody bid £1.20 on a computer graphics card. However, every graphics card of this particular type sells for over £40, so the £1.20 bid was pointless.

No you can't see that someone has bid £1.20. As pseudopensioner indicates, that person could have bid £40 but if the previous bid or starting price was £1.10 then only their proxy bid of £1.20 would be visible to you. (I think it's 10p increments at that level)

pseudopensioner

I recently won an item for 99p, there were no other bidders, probably because of the wording of the title and the category it was listed in. My initial bid was far in excess of 99p. I didn't purchase it just to resell at a profit, it's something I will be using regularly, I nonetheless grabbed a bargain

It was in as new condition and retails at about £120. Very rarely do these particular items become available for sale other than new from the retailers.

Peter_Lanky

fifeken wrote: »

No you can't see that someone has bid £1.20. As pseudopensioner indicates, that person could have bid £40 but if the previous bid or starting price was £1.10 then only their proxy bid of £1.20 would be visible to you. (I think it's 10p increments at that level)

I'm afriad you and pseudopensioner are both completely misinterpreting what I am saying. If their £1.20 is showing as already having been beaten, then that is their maximum bid. Had they made a higher proxy bid, then their bid would still be winning in this scenario. It's only the current winning bid that you can't tell what their maximum bid is.

pseudopensioner

Peter_Lanky wrote: »

I'm afriad you and pseudopensioner are both completely misinterpreting what I am saying. If their £1.20 is showing as already having been beaten, then that is their maximum bid. Had they made a higher proxy bid, then their bid would still be winning in this scenario. It's only the current winning bid that you can't tell what their maximum bid is.

Then the bidder was obviously happy to speculate on the possibility of spending £1.20 and hoping to bag a bargain.

Can't blame them for that, it does happen.

One could ask why a seller starts an auction at 99p when they patently expect to get more than that for the item.

Buyers and sellers are both out to get the best possible bargain with the rare exception of a seller who truly does just want to clear stuff out.

There aren't too many items that are truly unique.

Peter_Lanky

pseudopensioner wrote: »

One could ask why a seller starts an auction at 99p when they patently expect to get more than that for the item.

To avoid unnecessary fees. If Ebay didn't charge a listing fee, which is effectively a fee for doing absolutely nothing, then I and no doubt others would start auctions at a realistic price.

fifeken

Peter_Lanky wrote: »

I'm afriad you and pseudopensioner are both completely misinterpreting what I am saying. If their £1.20 is showing as already having been beaten, then that is their maximum bid. Had they made a higher proxy bid, then their bid would still be winning in this scenario. It's only the current winning bid that you can't tell what their maximum bid is.

And if their bid hasn't been beaten you don't know if they've bid £1.20 or £120.

Peter_Lanky

fifeken wrote: »

And if their bid hasn't been beaten you don't know if they've bid £1.20 or £120.

Correct, but completely off topic.

pseudopensioner

Peter_Lanky wrote: »

To avoid unnecessary fees. If Ebay didn't charge a listing fee, which is effectively a fee for doing absolutely nothing, then I and no doubt others would start auctions at a realistic price.

The last time I looked, eBay was a business and as such they charge for products or services.

You can disagree with the charges, but if you chose to sell/auction your items using their facilities, you have to accept the fees and charges for doing so.That is what what business/commerce is all about.

I'm sure you don't give your goods away without charge, so why expect eBay to do so?

Peter_Lanky

pseudopensioner wrote: »

The last time I looked, eBay was a business and as such they charge for products or services.

You can disagree with the charges, but if you chose to sell/auction your items using their facilities, you have to accept the fees and charges for doing so.That is what what business/commerce is all about.

I'm sure you don't give your goods away without charge, so why expect eBay to do so?

IMHO the 10% Final Value Fee is more than adequate compensation for facilitating the sale. The listing fee is just a little extra money-grabbing for the hell of it.

soolin

Peter_Lanky wrote: »

IMHO the 10% Final Value Fee is more than adequate compensation for facilitating the sale. The listing fee is just a little extra money-grabbing for the hell of it.

I think it also serves a useful purpose to avoid pages and pages of things listed that will never sell. Charging a fee for listing might concentrate the minds of some sellers and maybe we all benefit by having a better class of items available. I just have to look at some categories where private sellers have hundreds of things listed at 99p and just automatically relist over and over again. If you happen to be selling in those categories then it directly affects sales as people can't be bothered with all these 99p auctions for tat, and nevertherefore see my nice tidy business auctions.