Ebay "Auctions" that aren't

Hi all,

I've noticed a growing number of items on Ebay that have no option other than "Buy It Now."

These are popping up on my routine searches I use for railroad stuff - they aren't in the stores area.

I don't recall seeing these until recently and I thought they were supposed to be separate categories or something. Was there a policy change?

Mike Tennent "IronPenguin"

Reply to
Mike Tennent
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I find it a real turn-off and genrally go right on past the 'Buy it Now' items. Same with a high reserve - my question is, "do you want to sell it, or not?"

Don Cardiff Model Railroad Design Kaneville, IL

Reply to
CBT2000

Don,

Keep on passing up those "buy it now" sells. It makes it easier for others to "win" them. If it wasn't for these type "auctions" I would have never gotten a $150.00 new in the sealed box HO Proto 2-8-8-2 and numerous Brass Locos for far below retail. Call them seller listing mistakes or inexperienced sellers, these are many times, deals of a lifetime you are skipping right over........ Now on the other hand, yes there are many sellers listing everyday common items at hobby shop retail prices. That stuff usually receives no bids because of their pricing policy.......Gary

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Reply to
Gary Mittner

I've also found a few in the electronic tools category where the starting bid and the Buy-It-Now price are the same! That's hardly an auction! BTW, if you do bid on them the eBay software will gently suggest that since your bid is equal to or greater than the BIN price you should probably just use BIN.

Norm

Reply to
Norm Dresner

There appear to be two types of "buy it now". One type has a start price and the other as Mike said is simple a fixed purchase price. As far as I can tell these are dealers using eBay as a store front. Which of course is what eBay would like lots of.

Reply to
Jon Miller

Yes they are an auction. The "Buy It Now." feature has been around for years. I've used it on my own sales. I may or may not have a reserve but the "Buy It Now" feature allows bidders to end the auction and buy the item for a reasonable price if they don't want to wait until the end of the auction. You can bid anything you want and win (if above the reserve (if there is one). I'd guess in at least 50% of the cases the final price is higher than the "Buy It Now" price.

People are so negative and hate Ebay so much why do you even go there??? Why not visit your local hobby store and save your ranting for politics?

Reply to
mark

Yea, I needed an online backup drive, got a 7200rpm 36GB IBM SCSI for $60.

Reply to
Steve Caple

Reply to
Dale Kramer

Was there a second one offered?

Norm

Reply to
Norm Dresner

I did a google search for "SCSI 7200" and the eBay entry came up. Don't know if there are any left.

Reply to
Steve Caple

Mark, I think you may have misunderstood the original poster.

The pint was, now thee are "Buy It Now" prices without the option of bidding! In other words, straight sales.

I think those who hate eBay are those who have gotten outbid on auctions....or put stuff up for auction and got no bids!

I, myself, have had very good luck with eBay, both as a buyer and as a seller. Oh, of course, had a few problems with non-paying bidders, and of course after posting the Non-Paying Bidder Alert and Negative feedback (as I stated in the auction description...and giving them all about twice the time I asked in the description) they all posted retaliatory feedback. So nowadays if someone flakes on paying up in the specified time...I wait until the last day possible to post their negative feedback and they can't retaliate. (90 days...) I, myself, also will NOT bid on something if I don't intend to follow through and pay for whatever I bid on.

Reply to
Steve Hoskins

The answer is simple. I've done it myself.

You have a widget that's going to sell for $100. You KNOW it's going to sell for $100.

Choices:

- Put it up at a regular auction, wait 7 days, it sells for $100.

- Put it up starting at $100, with a BIN of $100. It will sell for $100, likely in LESS than 7 days.

I've been listing just such an item over the past couple of months. My price for it is very good. The item is a standard model RR item, but sometimes it's hard to find because the manufacturer can't keep up with demand. (Especially in the winter. You can usually backorder it, and wait an indeterminate amount of time.) I happen to have a bunch of them. Listing them that way enabled me to move a significant number of them in a short amount of time.

Some people (and I'm not referring to you, Mike.) seem to think that all eBay auctions should start at a penny, and have no reserve. That's the way auctions work in the movies, not in real life. In real life, MOST auctions have a reserve. Most have a starting price that's not ridiculously low.

Furthermore, eBay is not just one way of selling. Some people are purging their old junk. Others are selling as a business. It's a cheap way to run a "store". Granted, it's NOT a good way to sell "commodity" items at street prices. It's a good way to sell at below street prices, or to sell rare/unusual items. But you are free to sell any way you want. It doesn't have to be a bargain, or a rarity. eBay is made up of MILLIONS of little businesses, all of them are different. Each seller has his own way of doing things. As long as he's operating within the rules, what he's doing is "right".

Peter King in NY

Reply to
Peter King

Yes, but many became the same price as the "starting bid" price. Which was often higher than normal street price. I couldn't believe people actually fell for it, but there is always a sucker out there. One day I couldn't find the real auctions for all the fake auction stuff so I quit using ebay.

I don't any more.

Reply to
SleuthRaptorman

Yes the "Buy It Now" has been around for years but not like the original poster noted, it has changed and added a new feature. Some of these sales are not an auction, they are "Buy It Now". Basically just a listing with a price (just like a store). As an example look at #3149413047, laser pointers. They have a fixed price of $12.99, there is no auction.

Reply to
Jon Miller

Ebay has a couple of ways to list things; auction which may or may not also have a BIN price and fixed price sale which is what original poster likely was talking about. You choose one or the other format at start of listing process.

I don't use the fixed price sale so don't know if items are listed until they sell or for a set time period, but would guess they are listed until they sell.

Reply to
Charles Seyferlich

I buy on ebay sometimes, and I enjoy the Buy It Now feature. Its usually dealers looking for another outlet for sales. There are no real train stores within 300 miles of where I live, so to be this is a good way to buy what I want. Maybe not a super bargain, but I don't have to buy it if I don't want to.

Reply to
Mikal Fisher

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