Auction Business & Strategies Frank Ross on 20 Jan 2007 10:17 pm
Flooding your own Market on eBay
When you find something that sells really well on eBay and isn’t overflowing with competition, you will probably consider purchasing a large quantity of that product. This is particularly true if you’ve tested it and know a bit about how it will perform.
But how many of the items can you have going at once? eBay has often been touted as a place where you can turn inventory over easily, but this can be challenging when you selling many of the same item. eBay places a limit of 15 (I think) on the number of identical auction listings you can run at once. If you have more than 15 of something, you can consider a Dutch Auction.
One thing I’ve found out about the products we sell on eBay is that we get better results by placing fewer of them up for auction at one time. It varies depending on the item, but some items do best when there is only one auction at a time for them. Sometimes we can get away with two or three if they are spaced well apart, but in our market it seems that any more than that drives the prices down on our own auctions.
We keep our excess in the eBay store and cycle them out to auctions according to a schedule. You may have to do some testing to figure out what the right balance is for the products you’re selling. But too many auction listings at once can flood your own market and you can end up becoming your own competition!
Tags: eBay Selling, eBay Selling Tip, eBay Auction Tip, eBay Listing Strategy
on 21 Jun 2007 at 3:14 am 1.Nathan said …
eBay does have a limit, but does not police it.
Why would they? They get fees for every item listed.
So basically, you will only get ‘caught’ if another seller (or maybe buyer) happens to report it via Trust and Safety.
And I guess the chances of that are low unless its a very competitive category. And even if it is, sellers are more often focused on their own sales than yours…
Nathan