Over the years, eBay has introduced all kinds of different auction types, in an effort to give people more options when buying and selling their stuff on eBay.
For every salesperson who doesn't like the idea that their item can be sold for a much lower price than they are claiming, there is another who wants to exchange hundreds of the same item quickly. eBay tries to satisfy all tastes.
This email gives you an overview of the different types of auctions and their advantages to you.
Normal auctions.
These are the bread and butter of eBay, the auctions everyone knows: Buyers bid, others outbid, bid again, and the winner gets the item. Simple.
Reserve auctions.
Reserve auctions are for sellers who do not want their items to sell for less than a certain price, a concept you will learn about if you are familiar with actual auctions.
They work like normal eBay auctions, except that the buyer will be informed if their bid falls short of the reserve price you set, and will have to re-bid if they want the item. If no one is willing to pay your price, the auction is canceled and you keep the item.
Fixed Price Auctions ('Buy It Now').
Auctions Buy It Now! They can work in two ways. You can add a Buy It Now button to a normal auction, which means that buyers can choose to bid normally or simply pay the asking price and avoid the entire bidding process.
However, some sellers now eliminate the auction process entirely and simply list all of their items at a fixed price. This allows you to avoid all the complications of the auction format and simply list your items for how much you want them to sell.
Recently, eBay added a twist to fixed-price auctions: the "best offer." This means that buyers can contact you to negotiate a price, which could be a good way to sell a few additional shares at a small discount.
The only downside to reserve and fixed price auctions is that you pay a small additional fee to use these formats. In general, reserve auctions for higher priced items and fixed price auctions for lower priced items are more worthwhile, but remember that you can combine the two formats.
Multiple item auctions ('Dutch').
These are auctions where you can sell more than one item. Dutch auctions can be placed by bidding. Buyers bid a price and say how many items they want, and then everyone pays the lowest price one of the winning bidders offered.
If you're having trouble understanding that, then don't worry, everyone else does too! These auctions are very rare.
What is more common is when a seller has a lot of an item and lists it using a combination of two types of auction: a multi-item fixed-price auction.
This just means that you can say how many items you have and offer them at a fixed price per unit. Buyers can enter how many they want and then click Buy Now to get them.
Now that you know about the different types of auctions, you need to make sure that the items you plan to sell do not violate eBay's listing policies. The following email will let you know what is allowed and what is a big no-no.
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