Newbie, please explain - lots of watchers, no bids!

chris1

Can anyone more experienced explain why my items have lots of watchers but no bids whatsoever?

It could be because they have similar items of their own to sell and just want to see what they go for, but the same applies to all the items I have listed. They are primarily collection only furniture if that makes a difference.
People could be waiting until the very end to bid the starting price of course, but I started them at low prices hoping to get interest and encourage bidding but that clearly hasn't worked. I have had offers on two items to do a buy it now for a bit higher than the starting price but still a bit low and now don't know what to do.
It's all the more complicated because I can only be there for collections on certain weekends so have used only 5 day auctions.

Any explanation would be helpful!

Flyonthewall

Not sure what you expect an explanation on, you've answered your own question.

People watch for different reasons and even if one is going to bid they may not bid right away.

If offers are lower than you're want to accept, don't accept them. See how the auctions run. You can always relist, but they may well do really well. Sometimes bids jump loads in the last 30 seconds.

What's wrong with a 5 day auction? Some auctions are only 1 day and they do perfectly fine. Not really sure what complicated regarding the collection and it being 5 days listings, although you may find you have to cancel transactions if you're not offering many options for when to collect.

As they're collection, make sure you get cash on collection and don't let a buyer arrange their own courier and pay by Paypal.

chris1

Flyonthewall wrote: »

People watch for different reasons and even if one is going to bid they may not bid right away.
If offers are lower than you're want to accept, don't accept them. See how the auctions run. You can always relist, but they may well do really well.

Thanks for replying.
I put low starting prices to encourage bidding but it didn't work which means that they might go for lower than I wanted. I can edit the listings as there are no bids - would you increase the starting price as there is only a few hours to go?

pinkteapot

If you wouldn't be happy to sell at the starting bid, you need to increase it to the bare minimum you'd accept.

I'll often go through search results, putting 'Watch' on items I'm shortlisting. From my watchlist I can then look through them and compare more easily. So, often I'll watch 3-5 items for every one I buy. Search results are clogged with shops selling new items, so it's cleaner to shortlist via a watchlist than to faff about with search result filters.

Flyonthewall

chris1 wrote: »

Thanks for replying.
I put low starting prices to encourage bidding but it didn't work which means that they might go for lower than I wanted. I can edit the listings as there are no bids - would you increase the starting price as there is only a few hours to go?

There really is no right answer to that. Neither of us can predict whether you'll get anyone bidding in the last hour or so.

Starting low hasn't worked yet, but there's still time. Raising it may put people off even if they are willing to bid more than that amount as a max bid. However, there is the chance that it'll sell at the low price.

Personally, I always start auctions at the lowest price I'm willing to accept (accounting for fees and P&P in that) and then if it sells I'm happy, if it doesn't I can relist.

It's really up to you. You can wait and see or, if you're really worried anything will go for much lower than you're willing to accept, raise the price. It's whether you'd just be a bit disappointed if it went for a low price or whether you'd really regret it and want to cancel the sale. If it's the second, don't take any chances.

Ting-Tang

Yes, setting the start price at the minimum you'd accept is really the only thing to do.
Or if it's something really good or desirable I sometimes start it at a bit higher than what I want. Then if it doesn't sell you'll sometimes get messages saying "Oh I see it didn't sell for x, would you accept y". It gives a starting point for negotiation and often you can do a deal outside the ebay system thus avoiding fees and other hassle.


Plus I often put my phone number in the listing for collection only things - people ring and we do a deal that way, again avoiding the ebay system.


Doesn't always work but I've had some good results that way.

soolin

Depending on how soon these auctions end it might be too late to amend the start price. If it really is too cheap then pull the auctions are relist at a more realistic price. I also wouldn't worry about ending items near the time you want them collected, some people seem to take ages to collect so you might end up selling something at a good time only to hear nothing from the buyer for several days.

However, furniture is a difficult thing to sell- my facebook selling groups are full of people trying to give it away with no success. Make sure you check completed listings for similar items, did they sell, if so for how much- if items are selling for a few pounds (and I once bought a small table for 99p local collection- charity shop it instead.

as has been suggested above- also read the sticky thread about the problems of collection only items.

forgotmyname

I picked up an item of furniture for 99p after they sold it to the same buyer 3 times. People obviously cottoned on to the shill bidding and didnt bother to bid again.

They must have got fed up of listing it and buying it themselves and i wont it for 99p. Furniture is tricky, you need the right buyer at the right time and local enough to collect. I wouldnt start it for a penny less than the minimum that i wanted.

End it and relist unless your willing to sell it at the starting price.

A_Frayed_Knot

End it and relist at a price you are willing to accept or

Ever heard of gumtree.

Ivana_Tinkle

A lot of "collection only" furniture on ebay is very, very overpriced. (Which isn't to say that the seller is greedy, more that secondhand furniture is generally worth very little.) I see the same items in my area not selling and being relisted several times over.

I quite often add items to my watch list that I have no intention of bidding on so that if they don't sell and get relisted at a lower price Ebay will send me an email to let me know.

skintpaul

Try some BIN (buy it now) items? Make it clear in description that it is for collection only - cash sale!!