About Me  | What does "Auction" mean to YOU?Posted Apr-16-08 10:09:00 PDT As I approach my 10th "anniversary" as an eBay buyer and seller, I find myself pausing to ponder this "place," and what it is about; what it has become, vs. what it was. In particular, I find myself pondering the meaning of the word "Auction." One of the definitions in the dictionary is "the public sale of property to the highest bidder." Maybe I'm a "purist," or wanting to split hairs... but conducting retail sales does NOT constitute "auctioning" anything. What brought this to mind came as a result of browsing the site a bit, this morning. I came across a particular stamp dealer's listings (because I happen to be a stamp collector) and noticed that this person (who's also quite vocal-- on several listservs-- about how "eBay doesn't work") had 1000's of items "up for auction" with bids on only 10-12 of them. I decided to dig around a bit further... and used the "show closed sales" search option. Approximately 6,000(!) closed sales, fewer than 30 "in the green." Now I may not be a rocket scientist, but I HAVE listed and sold enough items here to figure out that the listing fees for 6000 listings amount to more than 10 TIMES the realizations from the 30 sales this person made. Naturally, someone in that situation would claim that "eBay doesn't work." But is that statement really true? From my "armchair quarterbacking" perspective, I'd submit that it's this seller's business model, and NOT eBay, that's "not working." "Overpriced" is overpriced, no matter where you take it. Then again, maybe I just fall at the opposite end of the spectrum. My inclination is-- and pretty much always has been-- to start everything at 99 cents and let the market figure out what it's worth. Of course, making that statement usually gives rise to a chorus of statements like "Yeah, but I'm running a BUSINESS, I can't afford to take the risk that something sells for just 99 cents!" "Worth" is a funny thing. Something is only "worth" what a willing buyer will actually PAY for it. A person may claim that their vintage Mercedes is "worth $200,000," but if nobody is willing to offer more than $50,000 for it, what is it's real worth? Sometimes things turn out to be worth far more than we could imagine. I once sold a single stamp that cost me just a few dollars for $2,026.00. I have also sold stamps I thought were "worth" $100.00, for 99 cents. It swings both ways. Perhaps the "lesson" here is that it pays better to study your AVERAGE sales price, than your sales price for any one given item. The auction format-- more than any other kind of sales format-- is perhaps the single most accurate guage of what things are actually "worth." And how "desirable" and "popular" they actually are. But people are different, and have different goals and perspectives-- as well as different products. In the collectibles markets, three "high flyers" can easily pay for 10 items you "give away" for 99 cents. There are probably no "high flyers" to be had, if you're selling Tupperware. Which brings me back to the title of this blog entry: What does "Auction" mean to YOU? |
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