I am about to place my 1975 Guild D-25 guitar on eBay. I was thinking about the psychology behind eBay, and how that affects my pseronal rules for selling.
1. Start all auctions at $1.
I have never had an item not sell for what I originally intended to get for it. Rather than using a hidden reserve price or a Buy It Now, I have realized that it is better to let your bidders decide the market value of your item. The bidders that know the true market value will pay that much, and the bidders that want it cheap won’t matter. Plus, I believe that it attracts more bidders, which leads to my second rule.
2. Always use 1 week auctions.
The combination of this and the $1 starting price might lead to the most important eBay tactic of all: “Before people buy an item, they spend most of their time buying into that item.” (I think I made that up). I wouldn’t know this unless I realized it myself. The longer people have to look at an item, the more they convince themselves they want it. The lower the starting price, the more opportunities they have to bid on it. At a rate of $1 increases on an item with a market value of $500, people have 499 chances to bid on an item before it reaches that number. By that time, you might have had so many people buy into the item that they are willing to pay well above the market value for it. Also, it is my belief that people take bidding personally (no research to support this) and simply get competitive about it.
3. only accept Paypal.
Personal checks? Please.
Anyone else have anything to share?
