Optimal trading on eBay: research

    The phenomenon of auction trading on the Internet is of undoubted interest for scientists of various fields. Such a huge site like eBay provides rich food for various studies. Professors of marketing, economics, management and psychology have already published dozens of scientific papers on eBay. BusinessWeek magazine has compiled an extract from all of these monographs: here is a short list of tips for effective trading at online auctions. These are tricks that allow you to sell at the maximum price, and buy at the minimum.

    1. Low starting priceattracts bidders who are psychologically inclined to buy goods even after a significant increase in rates. British economists have found that digital cameras priced at 1 cent are much more expensive than usual. The lower the starting price, the higher the result of bidding by lot.

    2. Many “nervous” sellers are afraid to sell goods cheaply and therefore set the minimum allowable bid price . In this case, the auction attracts fewer participants and the final price is lower.

    3. Auctions with photosalways much more popular than auctions without photos. And the higher the traffic, the more active the auction and the higher the final price. Scientists from Stanford determined that the appearance of one additional bidder for the product increases the final price of the product by an average of 5.5%. This is for auctions in which before that there were at least two bidders. If we take into account absolutely all auctions, then the increase will be even more significant: 11.4%.

    4. Advice for sellers: do not flood the market with similar products. Better to sell them gradually. And not all at once. Here the balance of supply and demand is triggered.

    5. Check the grammar . British scientists have found that t-shirts with Michael Jordan are sold much worse if the word “Micheal” is incorrect in the product description.

    6. Promote the product using slogans and indicate the high price of the goods in the store . According to researchers, indicating a high price in the store increases the final cost of the lot by 7%.

    7. Hold long auctions . The study showed. That the price of lots at three- and five-day auctions practically does not differ, but with an increase in the duration of the auction to seven days, the price increases by 24%, and according to the results of a ten-day auction, the price is already 42% higher than the average.

    8. Do not use peak hours of attendancesite as time for the end of bidding. Although at first glance it seems that there will be more buyers at such a time, in fact, the final price of lots during peak hours is 9.6% lower, because at this time there is much greater turnover. Approximately 35% of all goods are sold between 17.00 and 20.59, and only 25% of the bets are made at this time.

    9. Take a small shipping fee . Research has shown that buyers almost never pay attention to shipping costs during bidding. Because of this, CDs with a starting price of 1 cent and shipping costs of $ 3.99 sell on average 21% more expensive than CDs with an initial cost of $ 4 and free shipping. But if you specify a too high delivery price, then the goods may not be sold at all.

    10. Avoidnegative reviews . Numerous studies show that if the seller has positive feedback, buyer activity increases.

    Ten of the above tips are perfectly applicable not only to sellers, but also to buyers, only for them the opposite principle applies: you need to buy at peak hours, choose auctions with a higher starting price, products without photos, short auctions and lots with fewer competitors.

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