Comments on TechCrunch eBay Post

I came across a post on Techcrunch today about selling on eBay which was based on an article in Christian Science Monitor.  Most of the research which is mentioned is covered in posts on this blog, and so I thought I would link to them to make it easy to people to read what I have to say

• Some buyers outbid the “Buy it now” price for a good, finding 45 to 50 percent of eBay auctions for a sample of iPods exceeded the “buy it now” price.

This was covered in this post. 

• The percentage of daily bids is highest at 8pm. The percentage of closing auctions is also highest at 8pm. The study says this may be counterproductive since it creates greater competition for bidders attention at that time.

I haven’t covered this actual study, but a German study produced similar results

• Buyers seem to favor auctions with more bidders.

They don’t mention the source for this in the article, but it is cover in a study by Gillian Ku, reviewed in this post

• A comparison of CD auctions with equal total costs (price + shipping), found the low-cost, high-shipping auction attracted more bids, more bidders, and 25 percent more money.

I haven’t read this research but it does not surprise me – people are not rational.

• Secret reserves turn off buyers.

The reason why reserve fees are so high on eBay is to discourage people from using them for just this very reason.

• Research on auction websites shows eBay attracted almost 60 percent more bidders and 30 percent higher prices than the same items on Yahoo Auctions.

Don’t know where this came from.  Research that I have conducted (admittedly not on Yahoo!) showed that prices on other auction platforms is very low compared with eBay (that is if the item sell)