Do Cds/DVDs with 'stock' photos sell better?

sham63

Last week I listed a CD on Ebay. I used the barcode facility to get the track listing etc. on my listing. However, I used my own photo of the CD rather than the 'stock' photo.

The item was due to end last night so I did a search and found the identical CD finishing 5 mins before mine. The listing for the CD was identical to mine (title, description, starting price 1.99). However, my item had 0 bids and the other had 8 and was up to £5.25. My feedback is 100% (on 130), theirs 99%(on 102), my postage £1.49, theirs £1.80 - so on the face of it mine was a better buy?

The only difference was that they used a stock photo and I used the actual photo of my CD ( a decent photo, not out of focus, item looking as new). I also noticed that other listings for the same CD using the stock photo finishing later this week had attracted bids!

As there was only 30 mins to go, I pulled my listing (didn't want it to go for the starting price at the last second). I will re-list with a stock photo this time!

Baby_J_2

IMO, I have always found that ones listed with my own picture have sold better than stock pictures as the buyer can see what they are getting but I always make sure I add the track listing.

nightswimmer

In my experience as a seller and buyer, ones with an actual photo do better.

Personally, when I buy I would much rather see a real photo as it gives some reassurance that the item is 'real' and a rough indication of the condition it's in.

Moglex

Your experience is odd, but by no means uncommon.

I've frequently seen listings of identical items where people have got bids on auctions that are well in excess of the BIN prices available.

It seems as if some people really want to take part in an auction so will only bid if there is another bidder already showing.

How else can you explain identical items, where the one with higher postage and finishing later has 6 bids than one that is still showing for a lower price, with lower postage and will finish in a few hours?

pinkgem

most of my auctions get bids in the last few minutes or last few seconds so i think you were silly to pull your auction with 30 minutes to go

how did you end your auction with 30 minutes to go, i didnt think you could end an auction in the last 12 hours?

sham63

Yes, I was surprised I was allowed to end the listing - on the 'my ebay' page where the items you're selling appear as a list, there is a 'pull down' menu against each item. One of the options is 'end item'. I just clicked on that.

It was only a 5p listing so that's all I lost. I'll try again another time.

I agree with all the above - i always prefer to see an actual photo of the item when I'm buying - that's why I was perplexed by this listing! The bids on the other item had also built up slowly over the 7 days, not last minute.

digerati

sham63 wrote:

Yes, I was surprised I was allowed to end the listing - on the 'my ebay' page where the items you're selling appear as a list, there is a 'pull down' menu against each item. One of the options is 'end item'. I just clicked on that.

You can end an auction early anytime. Since there were no bids, then no sale.

If there are bids you can cancel an auction (for a reason) anytime except within the last 12 hours.

In my experience selling rare or collectible CDs - your own photos get better prices compared to generic stock ones.

A good trick to getting higher closing prices is to spot a bidding duel for an item you have, then list the same item (with a BIN or start at 99p) to close a few hours after the dueling auction. The losing bidder usually buys it for the BIN (priced at or just below the winning bid on the other auction). Sold loads of stuff for good prices using that sales technique.

rare_stuff

Are you sure they were absolutely identical? I'd think titles, category listed under, whether the other listings had upgrades such as a gallery may have been a factor. But if absolutely identical, I'd suspect the other seller of shilling!

digerati's technique sounds good though!