A common question I am asked time and time again is ” Do eBay Auctions Work ? ” This questions comes very often from both new sellers as well as those who have been selling online for many years. But to answer the question fully we need to look at the full picture and not just a snap shot.

When eBay first started all those years ago and you asked me the the same question Do eBay Auctions Work,  I would have given you the biggest yes of all time. In fact in the very early days Auctions were the only way to go, but as in anything time changes and things move on. eBay introduced Buy It Now, Best Offer. But they still have the Auctions as the heart of their business ( yes honest they do ).

But as eBay matures and grows into a mid teenager, we have to take at the look at the question Do eBay Auctions Work, with an open mind, and also be mature business people and say it depends on what you are selling and the market you are selling in and selling to. And yes there are times when auctions do not work and their are times where they are the best way to go.

During the last few years eBay have introduced free listing days and weekends to different groups of sellers and each free listing special have it’s own rules and regulations and these do need to be read as to what is what, and is not for now as they are always different. But what these free listing offers do is give people a chance to list items at auction for zero expense.  And what this does is very often flood the market with items and this often makes it very hard to sell, due to the vast numbers of items on the platform.

Now hands in the air here, and I have not used eBay auctions for some time, but last week one of my Trading Assistant clients asked me to sell some collectable bears for them, yes you guessed it at Auction/ Now as I sell as a business, I do not get free listings, so I listed all her bears at the starting prices she wanted……………….I made sure different bears finished over the past week with the final bears to finish on Sunday.

Do eBay Auctions Work ?……………….Well so far all the bears I listed have sold and some for high amounts. So I can tell you eBay Auctions do work for the collectible bear market. Yes this is due to different reasons, : Rare items, Collectible and numbered items. But this category had a rabid group of followers, who want that rare bear when it comes up for sale and they are willing to pay high prices.

But do eBay Auctions work for just anything, sadly I have to answer it depends. Yes you might be able to just put up anything and as long as the title is good, picture is good and the description is good you may be able to sell items at auction. But I would suggest you if you sell general items I would suggest use Buy It Now with a few auctions to bring in the interest.  Yes this still works.

So in closing ” Do eBay Auctions Work ? I will say yes as long as the market buys items at auction, you will need to do your homework and do some research, and if you find your buyers buy at auction then use it time and time again if not you could be throwing money away.

Andrew Milburn Is An eBay And Amazon Consultant based in the UK