I just had a big pile of video game cartridge auctions end. A few went for close to their minimum bids, and the rest didn't sell at all. I made enough money to make the extra work of putting the lot up in one night worthwhile... but Ebay took a much bigger chunk of fees than if I'd just put the items up as fixed-price, with no deadline for selling.
There are fewer and fewer instances where an auction even makes sense any more. I have a general idea of what I want for most of the items I'm selling, and I'm in a position to park them and wait a few weeks for the right buyer to come along. Auctions seem to work best when you're in fire-sale mode (and 9 times out of 10, when you're dumping stuff that desperately, most of it's being sold to other sellers, who will - wait for it - list it at a higher fixed price).
Most people think of Ebay and they think of auctions -- but I think most casual buyers are over the whole idea of baby-sitting an auction listing for a week, waiting around to see if they got an item, just to save a couple bucks on it. They'd rather jump online, buy what they want, pay for it on the spot, and assume it's being shipped out in a reasonable time frame.
I know that after tonight, I'm done with the auction format for video games. Again, not complaining, just observing and making constant little adjustments to the game plan. I think picking fixed prices, then periodically marking down whatever doesn't sell in a timely fashion, is the way to go for this stuff, especially given its prominence in Ebay's new search methods.
Enough shop talk - back down to the basement to root through more Commodore 64 stuff!
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