Tips for auction site sellers.

I frequent a lot of boards that feature auctions. No, not like eBay where the auction itself is moderated and rules are set up as how an auction works. I’m talking forums where they’ll have a section for auctions. People post something they want to sell and others bid on it.

Unfortunately, it seems that the vast majority of the people who try to sell items on these auctions don’t know much about how auctions work and in the end it really annoys a lot of the other people on the forum, especially those who are trying to buy the item that is being auctioned.

I’ve decided to write a quick blurb showing people what different terms and acronyms mean in the auction world.

First, the most over used AND misused term:

BIN

BIN stands for “Buy It Now”. It is NOT THE SAME AS AN OPENING BID or a reserve bid. A BIN is a price that you will instantly stop an auction to sell it. You’ve decided on this price and when someone says “SOLD AT BIN” or bids the bin, the auction should stop. Continuing it on is dishonest and unfair to the person who wanted buy the item at the BIN. It’s like going to a car dealership, offering to buy a car at sticker price, and as your signing the paperwork someone else walks in and says “$500 over sticker price!”. Sure, it’s great for the seller but dishonest and (IMO) unethical. You posted the BIN price, your risk if someone is willing to pay more.

“Reserve”

A reserve, my least favorite part of an auction, is a mysterious price that someone sets the lowest amount they’d sell something for. Sure, you can start bidding at $1 on that nice car, but they have a hidden reserve that they won’t tell anyone (usually a few cents below the BIN). Personally, I’d rather see and use an opening bid (below) and would never use a reserve. It’s sneaky and only dupes people into believing that they might get a bargain when bidding starts at a very low price.

Sometimes people will tell you the reserve (which then becomes an opening bid) other times they will not.

Opening Bid

An “opening bid” is an amount where you start the auction and SHOULD BE the absolute lowest that you’ll sell the item for. A low opening is often a gamble, if it is far below what the item is worth then it will spark bidding but you may not get what it is worth (if your opening bid on a diamond necklace is $5 and only one person bids on it, guess what?).

A high opening bid will guarantee you a better price but fewer people will bid on it. I’ve seen items that sat for sale since no one bid on it because the opening bid was too high but would have actually fetched more if the opening bid was lower.

Liars / exaggerators

What ever you do, do not lie or exaggerate descriptions about your item. Don’t say that baseball card is in mint condition when a tear is down the side. Don’t say the car has 10,000 miles on it when it actually has 25,000. People will catch it, even if after they buy it and leave you negative feedback, which will tarnish your reputation on the forum / site.

If people post questions, please answer them. How would you like to walk into a store and ask the sales reps a question only to have them ignore you? Not answering questions in an auction is the same.

Price ranges

I also see people “Looking for offers in the $xx range”. This means that they are looking for offers between $10 and $99. If you’re not planning to sell it for less than $100, then DON’T SAY “looking for offers in the $xx range”. Again, this is dishonest. It’s like using a BIN as an opening bid.

Follow these simple rules and you’ll not only be able to have good auctions (as long as what you’re selling is in demand) but you won’t annoy other site members.

Tomorrow (hopefully) : Tips for auction buyers!