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Optimal eBay Trading: Research

The phenomenon of auction trading on the Internet is of undoubted interest for scientists of different profiles. 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 about eBay. BusinessWeek magazine has compiled a squeeze out of all these monographs: here is a short list of tips for efficient trading on online auctions. These are tricks that allow you to sell at the maximum price, and buy at the minimum.

1. The low starting price attracts auction participants who are psychologically determined to buy goods even after a significant increase in bids. British economists have discovered that digital cameras for 1 cent are sold much more expensive than usual. The lower the starting price, the higher the result of the bidding for the lot.

2. Many "nervous" sellers are afraid to sell goods cheaply and therefore set the minimum acceptable price for the end of the auction. In this case, trades attract less participants and the final price is lower.

3. Auctions with photos are always much more popular than auctions without photos. And the higher the traffic - the more active the bidding and the higher the final price. Scientists from Stanford determined that the appearance of one additional bidder for a product increases the final price of the product by an average of 5.5%. This is for auctions in which there were at least two bidders before. If absolutely all auctions are taken into account, the increase will be even more significant: 11.4%.
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4. Advice for sellers: do not flood the market with similar goods. It is better to sell them gradually. And not all at once. This is where the balance of supply and demand works.

5. Check grammar . British scientists found out that Michael Jordan’s T-shirts are sold much worse if the word “Micheal” is indicated in the product description with an error.

6. Promote the goods with the help of slogans and indicate the high price of goods in the store . According to researchers, an indication of the 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 the 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 as a result of the ten-day auction, the price is already 42% higher than the average.

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

9. Take a small shipping charge . Studies have shown that buyers during trading almost do not pay attention to the cost of delivery. Because of this, CDs with a starting price of 1 cent and shipping charges of $ 3.99 are sold at an average of 21% more expensive than CDs with an initial cost of $ 4 and free shipping. But if you specify too high a delivery price, the goods may not be sold at all.

10. Avoid negative feedback . Numerous studies show that the presence of positive feedback from the seller increases the activity of buyers.

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

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/4388/


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