Update on Selling Clothes with Auctions

[Elle]

Hello again last month I mentioned running some of my clothes as auctions. I thought I would give a quick update… Since the beginning of May until today I have sold 236 items. 28 of them as auctions. Only five went for more than my opening bid. So, if you’re willing to play with it I guess some auctions are working but I am glad I started the items at what I wanted for them since bidding wars aren’t happening as much as I would like. Oh well! It has been an interesting experiment and I think I’ll keep it up a bit longer. Oh yes I have 90 auctions live right now and have used 311 of my free auction listings. Also not a huge savings on insertion fees but I guess it’s something. Whatever it takes to keep those cha-chings coming!

[Steven S]

Auctions can be kind of fun, at least they were around the turn of the century as there wasn’t much of an option.
But I think you’ll find that most buyers don’t want to wait it out, especially for clothes, they want it when they see it, auctions give a buyer time to think about it, or worse look for a buy it now listing of the same article.
This is just my opinion, but as an eBay buyer myself the only auctions I ever bid on are those with a mistake in the title and/or nobody else is looking and I get it for the opening bid.

[Elle]

Hi Steve thanks, you may have missed my last post about this. I know they aren’t a get rich scheme or the best way to sell. I was/am frustrated at the lack of options between the store tiers. I have the free 1,000 listing a month store and have 1400 items so really can’t justify going up to an anchor store. I was looking for a way to save on my insertion fees once I use up my free listings. I have free auctions and figured why not give it a shot? I think Siglini was doing it too and so was hoping to compare with them.

[Retro Treasures WV]

I just bought my male mannequin on auction. It is the first auction I’ve won in many years. Typically I can get a better deal with make offer on a fixed listing.

[bcfol440]

Hi Elle, I have been doing some auctions since I am b/w store tiers as well (Basic & Premium) and paying .25 / item gets annoying and “why not try!”
Same as you, out of 20 auctions I ran, I sold 2 at the opening bid amount. So, yeah. 🙂

[Jay]

Appreciate hearing the update. I guess if auctions are free, selling 2 out of 20 isnt bad, but definitely just becomes a job of juggling items that dont sell and figuring out how to relist.

[Sigilini]

I really enjoy the auctions and sell regularly on auction style listings. I did well with several high end clothing items (Johnny Was brand). There was some bidding but not much and like you I was using them as a way to use up my free listings. I always start at the price that I would have listed as a buy it now.

One thing I noticed is I feel less stress with an auction when I list a new item that I am not sure I priced well. I start with the price I would have listed as a buy it now and I know that it cannot sell right away in case I made a mistake. That gives other buyers a chance to look at it and bid if they want to. And yes, they usually sell at the starting price but it is the price I would have gotten anyway. Recently I had a bidding war on sunglasses that sold for double what I asked for — obviously I under priced but I did not know that as I have never sold sun glasses before.

With one of a kind items, I don’t worry about a buyer wanting it right now. They will wait for it if it is unique just like they do with shipping when Jay and Ryanne are on vacation.

Once I have relisted several times as auction, I might switch it to buy it now to give me room for more free listings. And I don’t find relisting a big issue. I relist things regularly and it take about 20 seconds.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by Sigilini.

[Elle]

Thanks for the update Sigilini. I am glad it’s still working for you. I don’t mind relisting either but then again I don’t have that many to do every day.. As long as it’s working it’s all good. Right?

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