eBay’s Buy It Now (BIN) feature is one of their most popular listing upgrades. It is popular from the buyers’ standpoint because it allows them to buy an item immediately, at a price they are willing to pay, without having to keep track of the ending times of auctions. It is also a quick and easy way to shop for special occasions or the holidays if they are in a rush to buy something.
BIN can also be advantageous to sellers who offer products that have a relatively established selling price. They are insured of getting the price they want for an item (if it sells), faster turn around of inventory, and, if they include the PayPal option, it insures they will not have any hassles with getting paid.
But what about the seller who offer products with no real established value such as antiques or collectible items? Is their a place for the BIN feature in their selling repertoire?
Personally, while I don’t use eBay’s BIN feature very often, I do occasionally use it in two different ways.
In the first scenario, lets say I’ve bought an item that is difficult to find that I know there is a demand for, but the number of buyers is extremely limited - possibly only two or three potential buyers. If I put it on eBay as a regular auction it may never reach it’s full potential if one buyer already has one in his collection or if, for some reason, they never get onto eBay in the seven days my auction is live.
With an item like this, I will often make it a BIN listing with an exceedingly ambitious BIN price. Although I may be pleasantly surprised, I don’t expect it to sell. What I do expect to happen (and it regularly does) is one or two people will email me asking what I’m basing my price or if I’m just plain crazy. One, two, or more emails similar to this is what I’m hoping the ambitious BIN price results in.
These emails do two things. They identify people who are more than likely serious buyers; and, they open up lines of communication that often result in some back and forth offers ending in the item being sold. Often, for more than it would likely have brought at auction. An additional bonus to using a BIN auction this way is that the resulting sale often takes place off-eBay so no final value fees are accrued - not quite kosher, but it happens.
The second way I use the BIN feature is to occasionally squeeze a few hundred extra dollars profit out of an item that I’m confident will sell within a certain price range. An example would be a piece of Roseville Futura pottery that I knew I knew from previous experience, when offered on eBay, regularly sold for between $500 and $600. I would list the piece as a regular auction but add a BIN price for $700 or $750 in hopes of finding a buyer who was willing to pay that price. Most of the auctions I list this way don’t sell for the BIN price, but it does happen frequently enough that when one does it more than covers the BIN fees for those that do not.
eBay’s Make An Offer feature is relatively new and one I’ve just begun to experiment with. The only listings I’ve used it on are a few of my higher priced eBay store listings. So far I’m happy with the results I’ve had with it.
While it does generate some silly low-ball offers, I simply write back to whoever made the offer and politely turn it down. Most offers, however, have been reasonable and I’ve accepted several of them from people who made offers ranging from $25 to $50 under the price I’d listed the item at in the store. Since I’ve only paid a few dollars for most of these items and priced them at $250 or more in the store, taking an offer of $25 or $50 less than my listed price still provides a nice profit and lets me turn over my inventory faster.
What about you? Let me hear how you use the BIN and Make An Offer features and what your results have been.
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