Do books sell on ebid?

[Spot50]

I tnink you will find that the majority of items that are sold on eBid are at Buy It Now prices.

So it follows that the majority of buyers and sellers do not consider eBid to be an auction site.

Sorry I don't agree with your conclusion. Ebid IS an auction site with an OPTION to B.I.N. As A buyer if you want to be able to buy something sooner rather than later without using the B.I.N. option all you have to do is narrow search for the item you require to the soonest finishing time (or whatever the term is) As for sellers if your correct there would only be B.I.N. prices offered, don't you think?

[deanosaur1972]

Mmm. I prefer (and always have) the auction facility, I only offer a B.I.N., price because it's there. if people don't want to wait until the auctions finished them I'm sorry but perhaps auction sites are not the sort of places they should be looking on. many of my items have watchers so it can't be putting everybody off. As for the difference between the prices..ISN'T THAT THE POINT! if you want it now you pay extra for A) potentially not having to bid against others. B) getting the item NOW rather than waiting for the auction to end. As for your suggestion that people won't wait, surely the fact that I'm selling as AUCTIONS ONLY on the other site proves your not correct, they will bid and wait...

As I say I strongly disagree with your conclusion on the bid/buy situation and nearly 7000 sales on the other site over 6 years gives me the strength of my conviction to disagree with you. , but I thank you for your reply and appreciate you are trying to help in a way that seems to work for you.

I know you prefer the auction scenario. You may strongly disagree with my conclusion about the bid/buy scenario but it isn't working for you. The difference in your bid/buy price works against each other making each inactive - a closer bid/buy would make both prices active and usable. Yes you have watchers on the bay, some of which are me.

If I was listing on the bay I would happily list auctions - listing anywhere else then it would always be buy it now. Thankfully I have no need to list on the bay and let them take lots of money. I don't want to play the numbers game but I have over 5,000 sales in the last 3 years here on eBid and getting close to 6,000 in total.

A major part of the process of being able to sell on any other site outside the bay is to recognize your audience and sell accordingly. The percentage difference of buyers who join up to buy an item against those who join to bid on an item would be an interesting one - it would certainly be a massive difference in favour of those who buy.

I hope you will remain selling here - you know how precarious a selling account can be over there.

[Spot50]

I know you prefer the auction scenario. You may strongly disagree with my conclusion about the bid/buy scenario but it isn't working for you. The difference in your bid/buy price works against each other making each inactive - a closer bid/buy would make both prices active and usable. Yes you have watchers on the bay, some of which are me.

If I was listing on the bay I would happily list auctions - listing anywhere else then it would always be buy it now. Thankfully I have no need to list on the bay and let them take lots of money. I don't want to play the numbers game but I have over 5,000 sales in the last 3 years here on eBid and getting close to 6,000 in total.

A major part of the process of being able to sell on any other site outside the bay is to recognize your audience and sell accordingly. The percentage difference of buyers who join up to buy an item against those who join to bid on an item would be an interesting one - it would certainly be a massive difference in favour of those who buy.

I hope you will remain selling here - you know how precarious a selling account can be over there.

I appreciate your experience with selling successfully on Ebid, and goodness knows how long it must've taken you to list nearly 22,000 items but am I right is saying we're in 2 completely different selling categories?

[JanetB]

I have a question for you Spot50

When you sell on Ebay, do you have to offer a returns policy for your customers?

I did a few checks on your listings here on eBid and noticed you do not accept any returns. Now, personally, as a buyer, I would be very wary of this and would move on to a seller that does offer returns.

Just sayin'
x

[Spot50]

I have a question for you Spot50

When you sell on Ebay, do you have to offer a returns policy for your customers?

I did a few checks on your listings here on eBid and noticed you do not accept any returns. Now, personally, as a buyer, I would be very wary of this and would move on to a seller that does offer returns.

Just sayin'
x

No returns policy. 99% of my auctions are for books.. why would anyone return a book? If there was a quality issue I would of course reimburse the buyer but what other reason would a book need to be returned?
I also notice your based in the US so as I don't post outside of the UK it's not an issue likely to arise with your good self!

[JanetB]

No returns policy. 99% of my auctions are for books.. why would anyone return a book? If there was a quality issue I would of course reimburse the buyer but what other reason would a book need to be returned?
I also notice your based in the US so as I don't post outside of the UK it's not an issue likely to arise with your good self!

You are absolutely correct, and my comment was meant for UK buyers who would perhaps move on to some other seller who does offer a returns policy.

[Spot50]

You are absolutely correct, and my comment was meant for UK buyers who would perhaps move on to some other seller who does offer a returns policy.

Agreed but you haven't answered my question...why would you need/want to return a book?

[deanosaur1972]

I appreciate your experience with selling successfully on Ebid, and goodness knows how long it must've taken you to list nearly 22,000 items but am I right is saying we're in 2 completely different selling categories?

Yes and No .

Like most of what I say, this is general advice that I would say applies for the majority of sellers. It is just a case of recognizing who your audience is and making it easy for them to purchase - your gaps with the bid/buy price will stop a lot of that. Fine if they are already a member of eBid and would be more prepared to use the bid price, not so good for those who haven't got an account and both the bid and buy price works against each other. You can get away with big bid/buy gaps on extremely rare items, but in general it won't work.

The reason I am prepared to list that many items on eBid is because I can build a solid base here for my long term gain. The bay can provide a short term gain but it is like building on sand waiting for the tide to come in. I do sell a lot on eBid, although I would make it clear that I don't class myself as a success - but I am extremely happy with the direction I am going in, it is actually far ahead of schedule. I have 1,000's of listings which are effectively inactive at the moment, deliberately so.

[JanetB]

Agreed but you haven't answered my question...why would you need/want to return a book?

As we all know, and read about time and time again, there are a lot of 'questionable' buyers on Ebay trying to scam sellers (and also there are questionable sellers on there as well). It seems a buyer can buy just about anything on Ebay then make claim the item was not as described, or they didn't receive the item and start proceedings to get their money back and a lot of the time they get to keep the item as well.

So far, that sort of behavior is a rarity here on eBid.
Any buyer is able to return anything back to the seller, if they deem the item as not described and would want their money back and if they paid via Paypal then it is almost 100% certain they would win even if it's buyer's remorse (and you can bet they will find some excuse) (especially if a seller has no returns policy).

Having a returns policy spelling out your terms and expectations of buyers, protects both seller and buyer.

All I am saying is (and I mean this sincerely in your favor) that a UK buyer may be put off with your No Returns policy, not bother to ask you a question, and just move on to another seller instead making you lose a sale/customer.

[Spot50]

As we all know, and read about time and time again, there are a lot of 'questionable' buyers on Ebay trying to scam sellers (and also there are questionable sellers on there as well). It seems a buyer can buy just about anything on Ebay then make claim the item was not as described, or they didn't receive the item and start proceedings to get their money back and a lot of the time they get to keep the item as well.

So far, that sort of behavior is a rarity here on eBid.
Any buyer is able to return anything back to the seller, if they deem the item as not described and would want their money back and if they paid via Paypal then it is almost 100% certain they would win even if it's buyer's remorse (and you can bet they will find some excuse) (especially if a seller has no returns policy).

Having a returns policy spelling out your terms and expectations of buyers, protects both seller and buyer.

All I am saying is (and I mean this sincerely in your favor) that a UK buyer may be put off with your No Returns policy, not bother to ask you a question, and just move on to another seller instead making you lose a sale/customer.

I don't offer returns on either site. we will have to wait and see if recent changes over 'there' makes any difference. I would point out that from what I read on the boards over there, whatever policy is offered by a seller becomes irrelevant as they make the policy and as a seller you HAVE to accept it if you want to use their platform. If that's the case a sellers stated policy becomes redundant and therefore it's a complete waste of the sellers time in typing it onto their listings.

Selling the product I do I really don't think many buyers are seeking a returns policy to inform their purchasing position, but can understand why someone selling the product that you do would need to have a policy in place..