Creative Compulsion

How generous! eBay has graciously offered a 50% off sale. Ok, so it’s auctions only.

It works for me, I normally only run fixed price but in the last few weeks I’ve been experimenting with some auctions and having some decent luck. I’ve found that you have to bear in mind that the environment on eBay is different these days. Auctions (most anyway) don’t result in the bidding wars and high returns of the past. With the body jewelry, I start the auction at my store price with no BIN. Sounds stupid, huh? It’s actually worked quite well. One of my belly rings that I normally sell for $9.99 just sold for a little over $21.00 by running an auction that way. At least I am sure to get what I want for them and most times a bit more.

The collectibles are a bit different. I normally run those auctions as loss leaders anyway, so I’m not so much looking at the dollar amount it closes for, but rather looking for additional business from the winner with that sale and/or in the future. Most sellers I know do this and it’s certainly not a new theory. It does work and that’s why people do it.

However you run your auctions — good luck and happy eBaying! But hurry… the 50% off sale is good for today only!