An eBay listing practice I've never understood

I don't get the wisdom of the listings with a razor-thin difference between the starting bid and the Buy-it-Now price. As an example, here's a Marklin locomotive and tender:

formatting link
Starting bid is $1,249.99 with a Buy-it-Now of $1,274.99 (?!)

Is this supposed to be an incentive to Buy-it-Now? If it is, it's pretty crude.

Reply to
Ned
Loading thread data ...

AFAICR there are different rate structures for auction items, whether they include B-I-N or not, and listings that are strictly sales. Norm

Reply to
Norm Dresner

I have a hard time figuring that, also. But when you combine bidding and Buy-it-now, if someone bids on the item, the Buy-it-now goes away. I think. So if you put the starting bid high, you still get close to what you want for the item with the possibility of it going higher than your asking price. Got that? Good! Now you can explain it to me.

Reply to
The Seabat

Yes, that's it!

formatting link
Thank you!

Reply to
Ned

There's one more reason for the practice. Some sellers have eBay Stores where they sell items at a fixed price. When you list with a Buy It Now that is near to the auction start price, you can have an item both in your store and on auction. As soon as there's a bid, the store item is dropped from inventory automatically. Otherwise, the rules don't allow for a store item to be auctioned.

-- Ray

Reply to
Ray Haddad

Sorry, I described that badly. Fixed price listings in stores with a Buy It Now only tag don't show up in the auction listings at an advantageous location so putting the auction price on is a marketing and exposure tactic for eBay sellers.

-- Ray

Reply to
Ray Haddad

A hell of a price for a clockwork (!!) toy.

Reply to
Wim van Bemmel

Thanks for the info, it's something I've always wondered about myself.

Reply to
BleuRaeder

Well, yeah, it's MEGA RARE!!!! :)

Reply to
The Seabat

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.