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:
Is this supposed to be an incentive to Buy-it-Now? If it is, it's pretty crude.
AFAICR there are different rate structures for auction items, whether they include B-I-N or not, and listings that are strictly sales. Norm
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.
Yes, that's it!
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
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
A hell of a price for a clockwork (!!) toy.
Thanks for the info, it's something I've always wondered about myself.
Well, yeah, it's MEGA RARE!!!! :)
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