I use ebay extensively. dpconsult.com It grew out of a hobby @ first, in 1998, when many of the priced were very low and bargains were everywhere. (And my income was pretty high, which helped a lot.) It became a business last year when I was unemployed for an extended period. BIN started then and has proved useful.
First, starting a price high, near the BIN, is more of a buyer discouragement than one might think. The result is postponing activity and interest. BIN can be used for multiple reasons. Some use it for "sucker bait". There's some outrageous BIN prices on a lot of listings. I like to put it just above my perceived value. When I do that, the starting price is about 1/2 of the common selling price. That allows a decent price if someone wants to kill the BIN. (I've actually had some items sell for more than BIN which was killed early in the auction.) This approach keeps me from having the use the Reserve Price option. Many people don't bid on Reserve auctions. THis compromise has worked in my venue. Camera stuff & vintage electronics. BIN is also practical if you need the money right way, or need to move the product quickly. On some items I'm careful with BIN. It seems many items are worth more than I perceive. A couple of years ago I picked up a piece of networking software, a 25-user Netware 4.22 bump disk to be specific, that was still sealed in its package. My first expectation was that it might be worth $150 or so. If there would have been a BIN, I'd have set it at $100 and lost a LOT. But I started it at $10 and let it ride. Ended up going for $680. Hope these thoughts are useful, Collin - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
