Once you have been selling similar products over a period of time, you get a feel for their average selling price. If you don?t know how much an item will sell for, do a search for the item on eBay under ?completed listings.? This will give you listings matching your key words that have ended in the last 30 days, both sold and unsold. This is an excellent way to find starting price, buy it now price, and to find out if there is a demand for the item. Remember, an item?s value is determined by how much someone will pay for it, not how much you think it is worth. You can use this information to make educated decisions about how to set your Buy It Now price. The key to eBay is experimentation!
Searching ?completed listings? is a valuable tool that will help you gain insight on how much an item can sell for. I offer Buy It Now (BIN) on most of my items for several reasons. First, it is only 10 cents per listing to offer BIN on one item. One item sold on BIN can pay for all the BIN fees for the whole month. Second, someone may need the item to give as a gift and time is running short. They need it now, so they want to buy it now. Third, people may be buying items for trips, vacations, weddings, parties, or holidays and they simply do not want to wait for an auction to end. Finally, some people are just impatient and in a hurry. They see it, they want it, and so I give them the chance to buy it immediately. I would rather see one of my auctions end early and get the sale, than to have the customer buy a similar item from another seller, just because he is in a rush.
You can capitalize on those procrastinators by offering BIN on your auction items. BIN is great to use around holiday time ? Christmas, Mother?s Day, Father?s Day, and Valentine?s Day. You can use BIN on 3 and 5 day listings as the holiday gets closer. Just be sure to factor in shipping time so that your customer will receive his item in plenty of time.
Furthermore, offering BIN often encourages early bidding. A customer may see an item with a starting price of $15 and a BIN of $25. He knows that $25 is a reasonable price for the item, and another buyer may quickly purchase the item for $25. So, he places his bid for the starting price of $15 to prevent the another buyer from buying the item on BIN. Now your item has a bid. Research shows that items with early bids will sell for a higher price than items with late bids.