Tips for auction site buyers

Online auctions part two: For the buyers

Auctions wouldn’t work without the buyers (hell, any kind of selling won’t work without buyers). Buyers work with sellers to reach a price that is mutually beneficial for both parties. Yesterday I posted advice and hints on how people should post their items for sale in auctions, today I’ll visit the other side.

Buyers also need to be aware of inadvertent practices that can be rude and annoy sellers. Follow a few tips and you’ll be sure not only get good buyer ratings but also respect from a seller which may give you better prices down the road.

First, low-ballers.

I’m talking about the people who see an item and bid ridiculously low prices for the item. Someone posts a new car for sale and someone bids $1. Not only will you most likely not even be considered for the auction, but sometimes it can be a slap in the face to the seller or may be a target of ridicule from the rest of the community. Be reasonable; bid the lowest you think you’ll be able to buy the item for.

Mind open reserve prices and opening bids.

If someone posts that an opening bid is $500, don’t go in and bid $200, it just shows that you’re not paying attention to the auction. This will hurt your credibility.

Ask questions!

It is a buyer beware world out there. If at any point you are unsure about an item, the quality, etc.. ask. An honest seller will answer your question truthfully. If you bid on something and it turns out to not be what you thought it was (other than false advertising and misrepresentation) you only have yourself to blame. You will lose any protest because you should always ask questions before you commit to buying the item. Ask ask ask! (And sellers, respond to questions!).

Complete your sales.

This goes for buyers and sellers. Nothing is more annoying to one side than the other side backing out after an agreement is reached. It doesn’t matter the reason, it is still annoying to the side stuck with an incomplete sale.

Don’t be a crybaby.

Don’t post on forums complaining about a price or the product. You’re not the one selling it. If you don’t like the price, then don’t bid on it. If you don’t like the quality, then don’t bid on it. Nothing annoys a whole community more than a crybaby complaining that something is too expensive or not what they want. If it is set up to be too expensive, if the demand isn’t there then the seller won’t sell it.

Payment plans are not an option.

Unless you arranged this with the seller before you started to bid on an item, do not think you’ll be able to have a monthly payment plan to buy something. Have the cash on hand to buy what you want.

Leave honest feedback.

(This also goes for buyers and sellers) After all is said and done, you paid and you got your item and it is to your satisfaction, leave appropriate feedback to the other party involved. This helps them build a reputation and chances are they’ll leave feedback for you if you leave them feedback.

Disagreements and issues

(Another item that is for both parties). Do not air disagreements out in the open. Start with private messages. Things happen, that’s part of life. You could have agreed to a sale but in the time between then and when you send your payment something could have happened, they could have gotten busy, they could be sick or injured, or worst. Starting right off the bat flaming them publicly will not produce any good results. If private messages don’t work then take it to a public forum. Be respectful and honest but do not include personal information (other than a username). Stay away from personal attacks. Again, stick with the facts, “I paid on this day and never got it”, “I sent them a private message and they didn’t respond in several days” etc..

I doubt that my little blog here will drastically improve the auction process on many sites but hopefully people read these and did learn something. 

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!