1. Auction
Auction is the most common form of listing on eBay, and it is also the fun of eBay. Most B2C websites now adopt a fixed price transaction method, which allows sellers to have full control over the price. However, eBay auctions, which are in the form of “the highest bidder wins”, make the information of both buyers and sellers transparent, and generally do not cause information asymmetry, while protecting the interests of sellers and buyers.
The auction mode can only bid, that is, bid. When the goods are sold, the highest bidder wins the auction; if the prices are equal, the first bidder wins. You can also bid at a premium. For example, if the listing price is $10, you can bid $50, and the webpage still shows a bid of $10. If no one else participates in the auction, the transaction price will be $10; if others bid $11, then your $50 will automatically follow the price to $11.5 (the price increase at each stage is different, and you can see the lowest bid when bidding); if no one bids again until the end of the bid, the final transaction price will be $11.5; until someone bids more than $50, they will surpass you and may become the final winner. The characteristic of premium bidding is that you can set a psychological reserve price for the item you want to bid. Within this price, no one can exceed you. You can take the item at a price lower than the psychological reserve price. Once the psychological reserve price is exceeded, the item will be automatically abandoned.
The more people participate in the bidding, the closer the final price is to the market price, and the less likely it is to find a bargain. Some sellers will set a reserved price. Only bids exceeding this price can be sold. Generally, when encountering such sellers, many buyers give up because they think that these sellers generally have high psychological expectations and are not worth wasting time. Therefore, sellers should also be reminded here to be cautious when setting a reserve price.
2. Fixed price
In real life, when buying something, if the boss says “fixed price XX yuan”, it means that if you want this item, it will be sold at this price, and both parties will no longer bargain. On eBay, fixed price means Buy It Now. The seller directly sets a fixed price, and the buyer can buy it directly if he thinks the price is acceptable.
Setting a fixed price requires sellers to be very familiar with market prices in order to set a more moderate price. Otherwise, the seller will either treasure their goods and set a ridiculously high price, resulting in no one interested in them; or they will think that their goods are worthless and set the price too low. Although the goods are sold, the seller actually loses money.
The fixed price may also have a branch called Best Offer, which allows you to bargain with the seller. For example, a product is listed at a fixed price of US$50, but the buyer can bargain for US$45. If the seller agrees, the transaction can be completed at US$45. It depends on how the seller sets it up.
3. Auction + Fixed Price
Auction + Fixed Price, as the name suggests, can be completed by auction or by fixed price. If the first person bids according to the auction, it will enter the auction process; if the first person directly bids a fixed price, it will become a fixed price process. This method gives buyers two choices, and how much profit the seller can make depends on luck, but it is also an interesting method.