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BUY NOW Only?

Discussion in 'Commission Junction' started by Boogie Nights, Dec 5, 2007.

  1. #1
    I am selling a very popular item now and noticed many of my listings had many bids. I am thinking this will decrease my chances of getting a commission since the odds of my visitor winning are diminished with lots of competition. So I have set my PhpBay settings to "show only buy now items". Is this a good or bad idea?
     
    Boogie Nights, Dec 5, 2007 IP
    GTech likes this.
  2. Pixelrage

    Pixelrage Peon

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    #2
    Could you possibly offer both options? By limiting it to "buy it now", you're cutting out the other half of possibilities.
     
    Pixelrage, Dec 6, 2007 IP
  3. amysolovay

    amysolovay Peon

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    #3
    I'm glad you asked, as this is something I have been wondering too. I'll look forward to seeing everyone else's opinion. I do think that the best course of action depends on the product. If the product in question is plentiful at reasonable buy it now prices, I think you'd probably be OK to just link buy it nows. On the other hand, if the best deals for that product are likelier to be found at auction, that's where I start to wonder which would be better.
     
    amysolovay, Dec 6, 2007 IP
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  4. Boogie Nights

    Boogie Nights Banned

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    #4
    Damn, I THOUGHT I set it to buy now only but maybe I forgot to hit save. Just went back and did that. I am afraid people are in a desperation mode for Christmas and have no patience for bidding at this time... Will see.
     
    Boogie Nights, Dec 6, 2007 IP
  5. GTech

    GTech Rob Jones for President!

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    #5
    I'll share some insight on this, that one of my customers shared with me once. It really made sense.

    BIN Items - these are almost always going to be close to retail price. Not always, but my experience is, they are typically priced close to retail, or a little lower. Typically you will not get the best deal with BIN. For some buyers, if they want something immediately, this is good. I've used BIN myself on ebay a time or two.

    Auction Items - When a potential buyer is "browsing," they probably have an idea of what something costs. For example, I'm currently in the market for some Klipsch speakers. I know the "street price" for what I'm looking for and as such, I know what a good deal would be.

    So, you list items on your site. Try listing items that have at least two bids on them, if there are many listings. Here's why; the listings will already have bids going. That's a plus for you! The price is still going to be low. Another plus for you!

    The idea behind this is, the potential customer sees a product they are interested in. He sees the listings, the listings show that people are bidding. This builds credibility. "Hey, others are bidding on this; this is what I want, I want to get in on the action at this price!" The price is still low, so the potential customer sees value in pursuing the item he/she wants because:

    1) others are bidding (removes some hesitation on trust)

    2) the price is low, and there's no way they are going to let someone else get what they want for such a low price

    So what you end up doing, is building interest with your customer. For a potential customer to buy, you need to:

    get their attention - this is done with a listing of items they are interested in

    build their interest - items that have bids, but are lower than an expected price level the consumer expects commands interest

    create a desire to buy - that others are bidding and the price is low, creates desire to buy - they don't want someone else getting this deal!

    take action to buy - the listings, that others have bid, that price is low, creates the desire to take action and click the link

    Further, the customer lands on ebay, a company that virtually everyone has heard of and has tremendous credibility.

    If you are targeting a niche that has a lot of products, I'd try to list items that have between 2 and 8 bids already. You can do this with phpBay. That others have already placed bids, that the price is typically much lower at this point, creates the logical persuasion and the interest to take action. We all have that desire within us, to get the best possible deal on something we are looking for. After all, that's probably the reason your potential customer is on your site.

    I'm not advocating to not use BIN, but rather pointing out what one of my customers shared with me a while back in terms of capturing the interest of potential customers. We all want them to click on our link, go to ebay (hopefully sign up for a new account, so we get that $25 signup fee!), win the bid and get the commission!
     
    GTech, Dec 6, 2007 IP
  6. Boogie Nights

    Boogie Nights Banned

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    #6
    Thanks GTech,

    That definitely sounds like very good advice but I was thinking that if I were to look for a product on ebay as a Christmas present I would not want to take any time bidding at this point to make sure I got it on time. But hey, I am all for testing and will happily change it back to regular bids (will set it to 2 - 8 bids) if BIN doesn't show results.

    BTW I love PhpBay and it is already doing better than my other sites that have the regular ebay affiliate listings. I had one site (without phpbay) doing so well for a time and then google slapped it down to "poor" and even then it was making money. Hopefully I will have better luck keeping at least an OK rating with my phpbay sites at adwords. Right now it is about half and half great/OK.
     
    Boogie Nights, Dec 7, 2007 IP
  7. amysolovay

    amysolovay Peon

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    #7
    As an ebay seller, I can confirm the logic behind Gtech's post. Items with bids DO get more attention. For that reason, I often start my ebay auctions at 99 cents.

    BUT, the other side of the coin is that there are many, many ebay buyers who prefer the instant gratification of "buy it now" purchases. I buy a lot on ebay too. I do bid on auctions, but I lose the bidding pretty often. Most of what I actually end up completing a sale on, are ebay store items.
     
    amysolovay, Dec 7, 2007 IP
  8. DealWorx

    DealWorx Peon

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    #8
    Both is the best idea unless the products on ebay are being offered at great prices (doubtful) as compared to retail or other online merchants. People still love auctions. :)
     
    DealWorx, Dec 8, 2007 IP
  9. Ghalt

    Ghalt Peon

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    #9
    For a different point of view (with absolutely no data to back it up)...

    It seems to me that folks that were looking for an auction would go directly to eBay. If someone is searching in a search engine and lands on a site, they are more likely to want to buy it now than they are to bid on an auction.

    Or not. :)

    Is that theory wrong?
     
    Ghalt, Jan 5, 2008 IP
  10. tlbuckingham

    tlbuckingham Peon

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    #10
    I tried the BIN only and from my experience my earning dropped a little. I think it is dependent on your niche though.

    For example if you are selling low cost items like say Nintendo Wii accessories this could possibly work in your favor. The niches that I have would not work.
     
    tlbuckingham, Jan 6, 2008 IP
  11. depotgang

    depotgang Peon

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    #11
    I would not want to scare away bidders.
     
    depotgang, Jan 6, 2008 IP