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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Ebay Pricing Strategies

The final selling price of your products has everything to do with how you price your item to get that first bid.

There are many ways to list products and many strategies on getting the highest possible final price. After reviewing dozens of successful selling strategies and selling thousands of items on eBay, the process of pricing can still be a matter of "gut" feeling, especially when I'm listing a product for the first time.

There are several things to look at as you develop your own pricing strategy.

Is the item a commodity or a unique, one of kind item? A commodity, for this purpose, is something that sells over and over on eBay for the about the same price. Look at final selling prices on eBay by checking the "completed listings" box under "advanced" search or use a research tool like Hammertap or Terapeak. My favorite tool, Terapeak, will help you Price your eBay Items for Success.


If your product is easy to find and sells often on eBay for around the same price, consider listing it in a fixed price format or putting it in your eBay store. Most easy to find products are not going to end higher in an auction than what they typically sell for. If it is not a commonly purchased product (i.e. there is a good chance a week or 10 days could pass without the right buyer searching for it), a fixed price or store listing is also a good idea.

If your product is unique or collectible (but not so unique that 7 or 10 days could pass without someone searching on it) or "hot", an auction format will work quite well. There are many strategies when it comes to the starting price in auction formats, but generally the lower the starting price, the higher the ending value. Many auctions start at just .99 even when the expected closing fee is in the hundreds of dollars.

Use Terapeak or your own research to see how many items like yours have sold in the last week. If there are at least three or four closed sales in the previous week, you are probably pretty safe with starting your auction low.

It can be hard to follow this advice, but study after study has shown that low starting prices drive the most interest and end at the highest price. Use Terapeak and notice the opening bid and the ending price.

If there are only one or two closed sales in the previous week, you might want to consider listing it a the lowest possible price you will take. That way, if only one or two buyers are watching and bidding on your item, you don't lose your shirt.

Remember to pay close attention to the day of the week and the time of the day auctions end in your research. Your auction will close exactly 3,7 or 10 days after you list it depending on how long your auction runs. Evenings are generally the best time to have an auction end (consider the time across the country--you don't want potential bidders to be asleep when it ends) and Sunday evenings generally get the highest prices. The Sunday evening suggestion is general, however, you will find that different products do best on different days.

Even after you develop your strategy you will need to keep doing your research and testing your own methods. EBay is changing constantly and the best strategy for today may not be the best strategy in the future.

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