Has anyone else received this email?

[johnwash1]

I just want to add the following... in my opinion...

You have luxury named fashion goods which will guarantee a high click through rate on GS.

One thing that doesn't help you on sales is the price differential between bid and buy - that would cost you a massive amount of sales. Bid £2.00 - Buy £39.99 ? The most likely sale is the BIN sale - just having a bid price gives the buyer something to think about and I am never keen on buyers having to think about things. But when the price difference is that big then the buy part will never (almost never) happen and there will be big question marks on the bid because of the (reserve not met) - ie: how much is the reserve price?

If you can just picture a buyer - sees the item for £39.99 - likes it and clicks through to the item - immediately the £2.00 (reserve not met) stops them in their tracks before they even look at the description. Buyers will often decide in a matter of seconds whether they want to purchase the item, but that would have stopped them because now they have to think about things. They have to think about what the reserve price is and that means they can't have item immediately because of the auction time..the vast majority will not pay the buy price because that would make them look ridiculous.. questions, questions.. seconds tick away and now all of sudden doubts are there...... and they go elsewhere to have a look around.

I have absolutely no idea about the competitive price of your items - I am not prepared to hunt around for dresses to find out however that strategy of your price differential is an absolute sale killer.

Very interesting, Dean. I used to set my bid price and my BIN price only pence apart, but then I thought about it and decided that it would mean a 2nd bid would actually be higher than the BIN.

So I've started making my differential wider, e.g. £20 bid start, £25 BIN. Are you saying even that is too much for the buyer to think about and I should stop offering bidding?

[deanosaur1972]

Very interesting, Dean. I used to set my bid price and my BIN price only pence apart, but then I thought about it and decided that it would mean a 2nd bid would actually be higher than the BIN.

So I've started making my differential wider, e.g. £20 bid start, £25 BIN. Are you saying even that is too much for the buyer to think about and I should stop offering bidding?

I would say the differential between £20 bid and £25 bin is fine, can't see too many people being frightened off by that.

In the example that I quoted of £2 (reserve not met) bid and £39.99 bin, then to me that would kill 99% of sales. The buy price for the vast majority would be dead in the water because they would feel stupid paying £39.99 when they can see a price of £2. Buyers general hatred of reserve prices is legendary so that whacks the bid price for the majority. So you end up with two prices that will give the buyer many reasons not to buy.

I am not going to tell you or anyone that they shouldn't have a bid price. It is however no secret that I am not a fan of bid and would never use it myself.

[johnwash1]

I would say the differential between £20 bid and £25 bin is fine, can't see too many people being frightened off by that.

In the example that I quoted of £2 (reserve not met) bid and £39.99 bin, then to me that would kill 99% of sales. The buy price for the vast majority would be dead in the water because they would feel stupid paying £39.99 when they can see a price of £2. Buyers general hatred of reserve prices is legendary so that whacks the bid price for the majority. So you end up with two prices that will give the buyer many reasons not to buy.

I am not going to tell you or anyone that they shouldn't have a bid price. It is however no secret that I am not a fan of bid and would never use it myself.

Thanks for the help, Dean.

When I get round to listing a significant quantity I ought to try out your theory and stop using bid. It's going to be a wrench though. I never use BIN on feebay, always auction, and I love the fun of seeing a bidding war. But I'm not running a business and don't know the value of some of my items.

Must admit it's been a while since I've seen a bidding war though, on either site.

[mcc1146]

Thanks for the insights. Very interesting.