Fixed Price vs Auction Style | Which One Converts to More eBay Sales?

Selling on eBay is an amazing way to earn some extra cash or make it your full-time income. Selling on eBay is fun and it works. But some sellers get discouraged at first because they aren’t selling anything. Are you at that point? There are easy ways to up your sales. There are many ways to make the sale, including the simplest thing such as the buying format. Choosing the right price format is essential to selling your item. Continue reading to find out if auction-style or fixed price listing sell better!

• Which format sells better
• The pro’s and con’s of auction style
• How to get the most out of auctions
• The pro’s and con’s of fixed price
• How to sell more fixed price listings

FIXED PRICE

Fixed price is when you set a price and the buyer can buy it immediately. This is a good choice when you know exactly how much you are going to sell an item for. If you have many items for sale, buying a store might be a good idea for you because you get fixed price listings for free. Read if an eBay store is right for you here.

Pro’s of fixed price

BUY IT NOW | The number one reason I like fixed price listings is because buyers can purchase the item immediately. When buyers find an item, they don’t want to wait or they need it as soon as possible. When you have it as a buy it now, they buy and pay immediately.

STORE INSERTION FEES | When you own a store you get free listings. You get both fixed price and auction style for free, but you always get more fixed price. So when you have an eBay store you minimize your insertion fees when you use your free one available.

BEST OFFER | I definitely recommend using the best offer option on all your listings if you are willing to negotiate. If you are firm on $20 for an item, list it at $25 then if you get an offer for less you can accept it or counter. When you receive offers, just remember you don’t have to accept every offer. (Before you deny an offer- be reasonable, you want to sell it! I counter or accept every offer I receive.) Offers are an excellent opportunity to reach a fair price with the buyer.

Con’s of fixed price

FIXED PRICE | When you sell your item as a fixed price, that is the price it will sell as unless you receive an offer for less. This means you have to know what it is worth. Unlike an auction where the eBay market decides how much your item is worth (and you can possibly get way more profit than what you originally thought), the buy it now listings sell for what you list it as.

BUYER NEEDS MOTIVATION | Sometimes buyers need motivation to buy your item. With an auction, it ends in a week or so. So if the buyer doesn’t bid on it, they lose it. Fixed price listings are usually available for a month or longer so they may put off buying it. (That’s when you put a sale on the item so they get a notification that the price went down!)

How to get the most out of fixed price listings

SALES | This is an awesome way to dramatically increase your sales. When a buyer is watching your item and you offer a 8% off sale they get a notification saying that the price went down. Don’t feel like you have to offer huge savings, like 30% off. Any kind of savings to a buyer who is interested in your item will motivate them to purchase it. (You do need an eBay store to promote with sales.)

REASONABLE PRICE | Make sure your prices are not to low, but also not too high. I use the eBay market (Filter > Completed Listings) to decide what to price my items at, then I add about 30% to that. For example, if the shirt I’m listing is selling for an average of $8, I’ll list mine at $9.99 or sometimes even $12.99. With nice pictures, a perfect title, and a descriptive description, you can list it for slightly higher. (I also add the best offer feature to my items because I’ll negotiate with an interested buyer to sell my item!)

PICTURES | I cannot stress this enough: pictures make the sale. If you have professional, cute, or unique pictures, you will get more views which equal to more watchers which equal to more sales. Get a background and a good camera- amazing picture essentials.

AUCTION STYLE

Auction style is where you start a bid at any price and buyers can bid higher. This is a good choice when you are selling a very popular item you know will sell for a high price. You can choose a 1, 3, 7, or 10 day auction. This is an excellent way to see what the eBay market is. If you are unsure of how much your item is worth, this is how you can find out how much your item will sell for and what the buyer demand is.

Pro’s of auction style

BIDDING | The number one positive for auction style listings is that buyers can bid and your item can go for way more than what you started it at. When buyers see 56 bids on an item they want to get in on the bidding because it looks like a popular item.

ANY START PRICE | You can start auction style listings at any price you want. I have some listings that are auctions starting at $9.99 and some at $0.99. The most popular starting price is $0.99, but be careful because it might sell for that price.

Con’s of auction style listings

BUYER HAS TO WAIT | If you don’t have best offer or buy it now as an option on your auction style listing, the buyer can’t buy it immediately if they need to soon.

COULD SELL FOR LESS | One problem with starting a listing at $0.99 is it could sell for $0.99. You can always prevent this from happening by using the reserve price option, but I think this is a waste of a $3 fee. If you are nervous about it selling for cheap, just list it as a buy it now.

MORE RELISTING | You only have a certain amount of free listings a month. Then after than they cost an insertion fee. So you have to relist an auction 3 times a month or relist it once a month on a 30 day buy it now. Read more about how many listings you get for free here.

BUYER HAS LONGER TO FIND SIMILAR ITEM | I have found that if a buyer bids on an item with days left and they win the auction, sometimes they decide that they don’t want to buy it, they have found a similar one cheaper, or they forget to pay. With a fixed price, they buy it immediately.

How to get the most out of auction style listings

LENGTH OF LISTING | One way to get more bids and watchers to your listing is to have it for sale longer. There are a couple options for the duration for auctions. I choose the 10 day option on all my auctions. This allows for more buyers, watchers, and bidders- which means more profit!

ENDING TIME | The day and time your auction ends is KEY. It is said that the most popular day and time for eBay sales is Sunday evenings. So if you are listing on Monday, choose a 7 day auction. Or wait and list all your auctions on Friday. (by listing on Friday you have TWO Sundays that buyers can shop your listing.) Bidders get a notification if they were outbid, so you want to make sure they are sitting at home doing nothing but wanting to buy your item! Don’t end it on during a workday morning when people are at work or at 3 in the morning when everyone is asleep.

START PRICE | Low start price grab more buyers attention. When you start your listing at $0.99 buyers know that it will go up so they go ahead and start bidding on it.

RESERVE PRICE | You have the option to choose a price that you won’t let your item sell for less than that for $3. For example, if you are selling an item starting at $0.99 but you don’t want less than $15 for it, you would add a reserve price at $15 for a $3 fee. This way, if the bidding got up to $10 it wouldn’t sell. You would have to relist it. The bidders can’t see your reserve price, it just says “Reserve Not Met”. I don’t recommend using this feature because I think it’s a waste of $3 of your profit. If you are worried about it selling less than what you want, start it at your lowest price or list it as a buy it now.

RELIST IT DIFFERENT | If it didn’t sell the first time as an auction, it probably won’t sell well with that format. Mix it up to try to increase sales. Relist it as a fixed price or change the auction start price and shipping price. For example, if you started it at $4.99 auction with $4 shipping, relist it as $9.99 with free shipping auction or $14.99 buy it now.

KNOW HOW MUCH IT WILL SELL FOR | The most important part of listing auction style listings is knowing and understanding the eBay market. Do research to find out how much items similar to your have sold for recently. Learn how to do research on eBay here.For me to list an item on a $0.99 auction, I need proof that it will sell for way more. Research is key. There is nothing sadder than your $0.99 auction selling for $0.99. I listed many $0.99 auctions when I first started selling on eBay to gain as many feedbacks as possible- but at least 50% sold for $0.99 because they weren’t high traffic items.

So does fixed price or auction style convert to more sales?

I have found that doing a mixture of both work the best. Everyone has different ways of shopping on eBay. Some like to bid on auctions to try and get a good deal, some like to buy the item now so they don’t have to wait. I often put my older listings on auctions. (If I have a shirt at a buy it now for $9.99 with free shipping, I will do a $4.99 auction with $4 shipping.) Try changing up your listings every time you relist them. This way you learn what you prefer.

People bid on auctions so sometimes your item will sell for way more than what you thought and other times your item sells for how much you start your listing. A lot of people start their auction style listings at $0.99, but be careful because it might sell for $0.99. I definitely encourage you to experiment with both these listing formats to find out what works best for your items and your business.

Final Encouragement

When you do buy to resell: Don’t invest too much on each item, because you make money at the buy. List items just a little more than what they have been selling for. Keep your inventory organized as you list. Ship items that sell every night. Keep your shipping cost low, this is how you make more. Retake your pictures if your items are not selling. One thing to remember: if you don’t list, you don’t last. The more you list on eBay = the more you sell = the more you make. So don’t give up! Keep listing because eBay works.

Which do you like better auctions or buy it nows?

Why do you love selling on eBay?

Comment below!

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