EBay Rolls Out Fixed-Price Format

The New York Times ^ | July 22, 2002 | The Associated Press

[Silly]

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- Internet trading leader eBay Inc. increased its shift toward fixed-price sales Monday by launching a new format that lets buyers and sellers skip traditional auctions entirely.

EBay, which began as an auction-only site, already facilitates instant sales of items, both through Half.com, a site it acquired in 2000, and through the ``Buy It Now'' option, which accounts for one-third of all items listed on eBay.

With ``Buy it Now,'' sellers can list an item at a set price, and the sale ends if someone offers to pay that price. If someone enters a bid below that price, the ``Buy It Now'' option is canceled, and the sale turns into a regular auction.

Buy It Now will remain, but now sellers have another option: selling their items at a fixed price, with no auction entering the picture under any circumstances. Either the product sells for the listed price or not at all.

The move had been requested by users who wanted a true fixed-price format, eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove said.

The refinement also figures to appeal to traditional retailers and other companies that are increasingly unloading products on eBay.

Shares of San Jose-based eBay lost $3.50, nearly 6 percent, to $56.06 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

[Silly]

Just another way to make eBay fun, fun, fun!

[gcruse]

I could get addicted to eBay, so I stay away!

[Silly]

Some favorite purchases on eBay:

I found a couple of theatre programs -- known as playbills -- on eBay recently. They are from the 60s and 70s.

Both playbills list my old college professor (my voice teacher) among the cast. He was in Sweet Charity with Juliet Prowse during its original London production on London's West End, and in Trevor Nunn's Broadway production of Sherlock Holmes in 1974.

These are extremely rare items, and I paid next to nothing for them. I'm really pleased to own some actual mementos from my teacher's past.

EBay is like a world-wide garage sale. You can find some very particular items if you know how to search for them and keep visiting regularly.

[JoeSixPack1]

With ``Buy it Now,'' sellers can list an item at a set price, and the sale ends if someone offers to pay that price. If someone enters a bid below that price, the ``Buy It Now'' option is canceled, and the sale turns into a regular auction.

As usual NYT & AP give you half truths. I guess they never heard of the buy-it-now, reserved-price auctions.

[jae471]

I had the exact same thought go through my mind. It seems that most people make the Buy-It-Now and the reserve about the same...

[Silly]

With a reserve price, someone can still outbid you. With the fixed-price, that can't happen. They're two distinct forms of sale.

[11B3]

Not once have I ever used either the reserve price for auctions or the "Buy It Now" for stuff I'm selling. I have used the "Buy It Now" for stuff that the price was fair on and that I didn't want to lose to someone else in the auction format. Sounds like they just changed the form for listing an item to me.

[dpwiener]

How is this different than setting a "Buy It Now" price one penny higher than the starting bid price?

[Blue Screen of Death]

The next logical step is a catagory for congressmen. Buy him/her now. Yes, power to the people. We could auction congress critters on e-bay. How cool, you could see how much your congressman is going for. I mean, like, how would you like to see your congressman bought for $2,500 while someone elses gongressman goes for two or three times that much. Insulting. Well, you could get in there and jack up the bid so that you did not have to live with the shame of having a cheap congressman. Every American is entitled to have the most congressman that the open market can buy.

[Silly]

It's different because the fixed-price transaction NEVER has the possibility of becoming an auction. The Buy-It-Now item might be purchased at the set price, but it has the possibility of becoming an auction, too.

This is NOT brain surgery, folks.

[monkeyshine]

It's about time.

[PoisedWoman]

I live out in the boonies, and am a big fan of eBay. Used buy-it-now feature only once. I like that last minute thrill-of-the-chase bidding.

I've found terrific buys on eBay for new items like shoes that sell for $120 at Nordies I won for $12.50; $130 sunglasses I got for $30. Designer clothes outlets list new DKNY and other brands with no reserve and bids starting at $5. It wouldn't be half as much fun with buy/sell.

I'm tracking a Qi Gong video at this very minute. And then there's that Armani suit....My kitchen timer is set for last-minute bidding war if necessary.

I wonder whether buy-sell feature would necessarily include state tax. Few sellers charge any kind of tax now.

[monkeyshine]

LOL. How about we just auction off their seats? That's pretty much what goes on in an election anyway.

[monkeyshine]

I live out in the boonies

So then why do you want to wear $120 sneakers and Donna Karan suits? :-)

[Silly]

I agree that the auction does lend a certain amount of fun to it. Sometimes I even hope someone will outbid me!

[Paulus Invictus]

eBay lost big credibility with me when they went PC, hired too many MBAs and lost the genius behind the software that made it all happen--Skippy. May he rest easy in eternal wealth and mega air miles!

[Bogey78O]

Very little really. What type of moron would bid on an auction that he could win on by paying an extra penny?

[dpwiener]

It's different because the fixed-price transaction NEVER has the possibility of becoming an auction. The Buy-It-Now item might be purchased at the set price, but it has the possibility of becoming an auction, too.

Not if you set the Buy-It-Now price right above the Starting-Bid price. For example, if the Starting-Bid price is $60 and the Buy-It-Now price is $60.01, anyone who wants to bid is just going to buy it at $60.01. Yeah, in theory someone could bid exactly $60 and force it into an actual auction which would either end several days later at $60 or cause the item to be bid up above the $60.01 level. But for all intents and purposes the above scenario represents a fixed price offering.

[Bogey78O]

I love ebay.

I go on it and find old car parts all the time.

There was a guy selling rebuilt starters that aren't even made anymore for 50$. I snatched up 2 of them. Another guy sold a heater from a early 50s Chevy truck for 80$ in working rebuilt condition.