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Technology Stocks : eBay - Superb Internet Business Model -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Randy Ellingson who wrote (3393)	6/4/1999 4:46:00 PM
From: JP Jouver	Respond to of 7772

Randy, I'm not Antique, but I am a seller on Ebay, and I can answer your question. I deal in a very specific new product that is hard to come by. If a seller has this item, it is going to be identical to any other legitimate items of it's kind being offered for sale. So the only difference is the seller himself. I have watched 10-20 of these items up for sale on Ebay at a time, and I've noticed wildly different final prices based upon: the quality of the ad copy, the seller's feedback rating, the timing (is a new big buyer/collector around), and the initial pricing. I've played around with several pricing models. If I want, say, $500 for my item, and I list it with a $500 minimum and no reserve, there is a good chance nobody will start bidding on it. But if I list it at $200 minimum with a reserve (unknown to the bidders at $500), then people will start bidding on it immediately. And you get a snowball effect where people keep bidding it up because they don't want to lose the item to "the next guy". It's all psychological. Even though the person with a $200 bid knows he won't get the item because he hasn't me the reserve yet, he still considers it as belonging to him, and he will fight off other bidders. It is a joy to watch. ;-) It has also been my experience that people with my particular item that start at $1 with no reserve seem to get the best final prices, but I hate operating without some kind of security.... Jape PS--My apologies to all the ladies out there. I just used male pronouns as an example. Many, many women used Ebay (and have been very friendly and professional!).

To: Randy Ellingson who wrote (3393)	6/7/1999 11:01:00 AM
From: The Antique	Respond to of 7772

Randy, In a no reserve auction, that get no bids, the seller does not pay commission. People don't use just a minimum bid because they want to show that other people are interested in the item. For example a $1000 painting. If you see other people are willing to bid $500, $700, $900 it give you more confidence that the painting is worth that. That is why people start the bidding at $100 for a $1000 item... to show that other are interested in it too. Many people email the seller and ask what the reserve is (some tell, some don't), to see if it is worth there time bidding at the last second.