Subject:
|
Disingenuous eBay advertising posts
|
Newsgroups:
|
lugnet.market.theory
|
Date:
|
Fri, 25 Feb 2000 09:13:33 GMT
|
Viewed:
|
568 times
|
| |
|
|
Eric Kingsley wrote:
> In lugnet.market.theory, Kevin Wilson writes:
> > I wonder if I am the only one who rolls my eyes when I read eBay
> > advertising posts which read something like "price still only $x... or
> > 40% of retail cost... and 3 days to go". Some people even sound really
> > *worried* about it.
> >
> > This is really silly - anyone who has bid on even a single auction on
> > eBay, or sold anything, knows that the final value of the lot goes up by
> > leaps and bounds in the last day, even the last hours, and the price 3
> > days before the auction ends has absolutely nothing to do with what it
> > finally goes for.
> >
> > Kevin
>
> Man I thought I was the only one that thought some of those posts were
> ridiculous. I don't even bid often on E-Bay but I check it enough to know that
> what the bid value is at 3 days before in no way reflects what the final bid is
> going to be.
That's true to a point. I think you can make general predictions that are pretty
safe; if an auction has no bids for four days, it's not likely to shoot into the
stratosphere. Also, if it has no bids or few bids in that four days, the right
people may not be seeing it. (See below.)
> I especially like the ones that get posted right after they get posted to E-Bay
> and say things like "No Bids Yet" or "Still only a $1.00 for 77 Minifig's"
> Then you look and the aution close is still 6 days and 23.5 hours away.
Yeah, that's just a wee (huge) bit contrived.
> I guess it just comes down to trying to maximize your profit but I find it
> silly just because I doubt many people fall for such tactics. I am actually
> considering a couple of trial auctions of my own. (I have never put anything
> on auction but I am now collecting a bunch of parts I don't need or I have more
> than I need so I thought I might try an auction). In my case though any $ for
> what I put up will be positive just because if they are parts I don't need or
> want anyway why worry how much I get. Whatever I do get will just go to LEGO I
> can use anyway.
It's not really a "misinformation tactic" per se. As someone who does it (yes,
flame away), I've found that the traffic does pick up--although one can never know
if that was the reason. I've also used it as a way of drumming up interest in a
lot that somehow had a poorly worded title (or typo title, aigh--never leave out
"Lego"). However, I also only do it for things that have *really* lagged behind
expectations--for example, six days into a seven-day auction, I had five copies of
6706 Frontier Patrol that were still at two dollars for all five sets. That's just
a little bit weird, because another iteration of that lot was at $24 by that time
just a month or so ago. I wanted to draw attention to it, just in case it somehow
was being left out of people's keyword searches. (It still went for only $11.
Yuck. At least I got them at Target Maximum Discount, but $3.50 isn't much margin
for sitting on 'em for a year.)
But try it out, let us know how it goes. I'm convinced that very few people look
past the "To view all my auctions:" link on most posts anyhow. But I don't mind
the faux showmanship--if they want to drum, let them drum. Sad thing about those
tactics--they work.[1]
best
Lindsay
[1]obStupidCarAd: A radio commercial for a car dealer (and, come to think of it, a
mattress dealer does this too) says that "if we can't beat your best deal, we'll
give you a $50,000 Toyota Landcruiser ABSOLUTELY FREE!" That alone is suspicious,
because they will instantly give you your best documented deal--because it's
cheaper than the Landcruiser. However, this disclaimer is the double-defence:
"[insert dealership name] reserves the right to purchase competitor's vehicle."
Basically, it's an empty ad, but my understanding is that it does get people onto
the lot. I just roll my eyes. :)
|
|
Message has 1 Reply:
 | | Re: Disingenuous eBay advertising posts
|
| (...) I really hate that all the LEGO auctions which are all in the category LEGO have to waste title space with LEGO (and some make sure they catch stupid searchers and add Legos also). I mean really, if you want to look at all the LEGO items, look (...) (25 years ago, 25-Feb-00, to lugnet.market.theory)
|
Message is in Reply To:
| | Re: Ingenous eBay advertising posts
|
| (...) Man I thought I was the only one that thought some of those posts were ridiculous. I don't even bid often on E-Bay but I check it enough to know that what the bid value is at 3 days before in no way reflects what the final bid is going to be. (...) (25 years ago, 25-Feb-00, to lugnet.market.theory)
|
13 Messages in This Thread:
  
 
- Entire Thread on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
This Message and its Replies on One Page:
- Nested:
All | Brief | Compact | Dots
Linear:
All | Brief | Compact
|
|
|
|
