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.

[Redleg Duke]

Two years ago I picked up a 1971 Coleman Camper sans canvas for $152.50 on Ebay. Took a lot of work to clean it up and refurbish it, but it works great and got us out camping for a heck of a lot less than a new one!

Now, for a new one!

[freekitty]

That kind of defeats the purpose of E-Bay, doesn't it?

[PJ-Comix]

One can never figure eBay out. A few years ago I put up a polyester Ren & Stempy T-Shirt for sale. I figured I would get $5 at the most for it. Instead it sold for $41. Then I put the same T-Shirt up again and it sold for $39 to some guy in Denmark who later e-mailed me that it was the happiest day of his life when that tacky T-Shirt arrived.

And yet right now I have a DiMaggio and Mantle autographed photo with Certificate of Authenticity up since last Thursday. Opening price $2. Guess what? NO BIDS!!! Go figure.

[300winmag]

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 suggest you use an online bidding service, like www.phantombidder.com. It's eBay-legal, and is a good way to get in last-second bids, and escalations, without having to sit by the computer.

You fill in your final price, and any bid escalations, and their online system places the bids at the last few seconds of the auction. I use it when I see something I really want, but don't want to let anyone know how anxious I am by placing an early bid. Or if there has been only a bid or two for a while, I can get my bid in, even at an ungodly early morning hour, without tipping off other bidders by my interest.

I really use it only on high-value (for me) items. You buy a package of 20 bids via PayPal for $6, and are charged only for winning an auction. So far, PhantomBidder was won about 72% of the auctions I've used it on.

It takes out a lot of the excitement, but also a lot of the anxiety. And I don't have to be glued to my PC when the auction is closing.

[Steve0113]

ping for the Queen of E-bay.

[Shannon]

I'm sending you a private reply.

[monkeyshine]

What are you going to do when YOU retire?

I'll probably spend my retirement in a hotel on the Mediterranean.

[EllaMinnow]

Earlier this year I put a photograph of a young man in a baseball jersey up on ebay. I wasn't getting any bids, but I started getting emails asking me to end the auction and sell privately. So I did the research I should have done earlier, and it turned out I had the earliest original photograph of Christy Matthewson in a baseball jersey, circa 1899.It's going up in a Mastronet baseball memorabilia auction next month.

Now if I can only find my son's old Ren&Stimpy shirt...

[PJ-Comix]

Now if I can only find my son's old Ren&Stimpy shirt...

I never figured out why those Ren & Stimpy T-Shirts are so popular. And yet I also put up a WWII college Catalog (1944-45 Winter Semester) from Germany with all sorts of Nazi stuff in it and NOT ONE bid even though I started it out at only $5. I still have that catalog and will put it up again or...I'll sell it at a gun show.

[Diverdogz]

My one and only purchase on EBay was a 2001 Trek 2200 bicycle. It retails for $1600, I got mine, practically new in January for $800 - plus a few dollars I spent at my local bike shop having it adjusted and inspected. The wait for it to arrive was nerve wracking - I had fears that maybe the bike had been wrecked or the frame was cracked, etc.

As it turns out, I got a really good deal -I'm thrilled with the bike (rode it 30 miles this morning). Usually, when I get a "deal" on something, I'm sorry later - but this one worked out.

[goodieD]

I'm looking forward to hearing about this incident. Sounds interesting.

[JoeSixPack1]

Great Deal!!! I've picked up a few choice piece of chrome for the harley there, but never anything with that high a price tag. Anything over a grand I have to look the seller in the eye first. :-)

[Drew68]

eBay lost big credibility with me when they went PC

I'm still ticked off at eBay for pulling certain "politically incorrect" WWII memorabilia off their site.

Now if you want to purchase any German WWII artifacts, you have to travel to some pretty unsavory websites and take your chances.

[PoisedWoman]

my retirement in a hotel on the Mediterranean.

Uhhhh-Huh! You bad!

[PJ-Comix]

I'm looking forward to hearing about this incident. Sounds interesting.

It will give you an idea of some of the mental cases who inhabit South Florida. I met Larry through my friend Ken. And Ken met Larry because Larry wanted to commit suicide after losing all his money in penny stocks. Larry handed Ken his car keys, then stuck his head under the front wheel and told Ken if he would drive the car over his head, the car was his. Well, more about this in the story.

[PJ-Comix]

Now if you want to purchase any German WWII artifacts, you have to travel to some pretty unsavory websites and take your chances.

eBay allowed my WWII German College Catalog full of swastikas to remain up. But the bizarre thing was that even though I started the bidding out at only $5, there were NO BIDS. Go figure.

[PoisedWoman]

thanks! Fabulous idea! Didn't know such things existed. I'll never forget the morning I got up at 4 a.m. only to be outbid at last second.

[PJ-Comix]

Is there a market out there for Superfly memorabilia? Now that videos are going to be shown on the tube of Rev Al wearing a Superfly hat in the middle of a drug deal, I think there will be a run on Superfly memorabilia.

[sphinx]

And yet right now I have a DiMaggio and Mantle autographed photo with Certificate of Authenticity up since last Thursday. Opening price $2. Guess what? NO BIDS!!! Go figure.

And the idiots who run baseball -- both sides -- think they can afford a strike ....

[Sir Gawain]

Opening price $2. Guess what? NO BIDS!!!

$400 reserve?