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Intro The Process in Brief Fees & Guidelines Your Auctions Trust Terms of Agreement Contact Information

YOUR AUCTIONS

THE LISTINGS

By now I'm sure you've looked at least one and hopefully a few of my auction listings. I use the same format for all listings. Your items will be presented in exactly the same fashion as the listings you viewed.

  • Auction Periods. All auctions run for 7 days.

  • Start Times. All auctions are scheduled to begin and end between 9:30 and 10:30PM EST Sunday through Thursday. Unless otherwise specified your items will all be listed and sold together in a group of auctions that begin and end together on the same night.

    • Similar items (e.g. a small group of Minolta lenses) will be listed at 5 minute intervals.
    • Duplicate items will be listed on separate nights or even separate weeks to avoid conflict.
    • Large groups of items or large collections are better listed over the course of several weeks. Details will be discussed and agreed upon before listing commences.

  • Gallery. All auctions will include eBay's Gallery feature. Gallery is what eBay calls the little images displayed to the left of the item titles as you view through a page of listings.

  • 7 Day Return Period. All auctions will include a 7 Day Return Period. I will not accept items in a condition that warrants an "As Is and As Described" auction. If an item is returned you will be paid after it's Relisted, sold again and the 7 day period has elapsed once more. You will be kept informed of the payment status of your items.

There are other eBay seller features that may be employed at my discretion and at no cost to you.

  • Buy It Now. If we've discussed it, the Buy It Now option will be employed as agreed upon. If we haven't I still may offer the Buy It Now option to bidders. It will ONLY be offered at a figure HIGHER than the figure previously agreed upon as an acceptable minimum amount you are willing to sell your item for. Or, if you've chosen to list your items with a Low Starting Bid and No Reserve it will ONLY be offered at a figure that exceeds the previously agreed upon anticipated price for an item.

    • The Buy It Now feature disappears once a bid is placed on any No Reserve auction regardless of the starting price.

    • In "Reserve Price" auctions the Buy It Now feature disappears once the Reserve Price is met.

     

  • Multiple Category Listings Certain items don't fit neatly into any one category offered by eBay. They allow two categories to be selected (but listing fees are doubled). If I think your item needs to be listed in multiple categories to attract the right bidders I'll do it.

  • Warranties. You may have noticed in my listings that I sometimes offer Warranties. Warranties are offered independent of eBay as a courtesy to my buyers. As the official eBay Seller I will take full responsibility for the warranties offered. You will be paid for your items after the 7 Day Return Policy has elapsed regardless of what is stated in any warranty, should I choose to provide one.

  Ultimately you will have the final say on how your items are listed based on the methods described below. I will offer suggestions based on experience but the final choice will be yours.

AUCTION METHODS

There are many different methods for listing items with eBay - more than I can list here. These are the methods available to you if you utilize my Trading Assistant services. With the exception of the Reserve Price auction method, which I no longer utilize, these are the same methods that I use for my own items.

  • Low Starting Bid and No Reserve - Just like it sounds. The bidding opens at a low figure - $5, $10 etc. and the games begin. This is the riskiest method and the most exciting. If it's a desirable item the bidding activity will begin almost immediately. Usually it tapers off after a few days and then on the last day begins again. No one knows what the outcome will be but everyone knows that it's going to sell to someone - there's No Reserve. In the final minutes or even seconds there's often a flurry of bidding and you don't know until then what the Final Bid Price is.

    This method isn't for everyone. I've been doing eBay for a good few years. I've seen this happen countless times and I'm comfortable with it. I'm also confident that I've done my part and presented the item accurately and to the best of my abilities and that the bidders will in turn do their part. But if you're new to eBay and unfamiliar with this process or it makes you uncomfortable we'll do it a different way.

  • High Starting Bid and No Reserve - Again, just like it sounds. The bidding begins at a higher figure, a figure that represents the minimum you're willing to accept for an item - usually the lower end of an average selling range for that particular item. Often I couple this with a "Buy It Now" price that reflects the higher end of the range. For example if a certain camera usually sells for $350-400 I may start the bidding at $350 (or even $325) with a "Buy It Now" of $425 or perhaps $450. There isn't the same sort of bidding activity and excitement as a Low Start No Reserve auction. Your item may only get a bid or two. But there's virtually no risk. I use this most often with high value items of my own and during slow periods on eBay.

  • Reserve Price Auctions - A Reserve Price is a figure that represents the minimum you are willing to accept for an item. It's not disclosed to the bidders until someone actually places a bid that meets or exceeds the Reserve. Until the Reserve is met there is no obligation to sell the item.

    As stated earlier I don't think Reserve Price auctions generate the same sort of interest and bidding activity as Non-Reserve auctions. Not knowing what the seller's expectations are can be frustrating to bidders and the excitement of the auction process is lost. Remember that part of the excitement for bidders is the notion that they might get the item for an amazing price. And please remember that you will incur any Reserve Price Fees that accumulate.

  • Featured Item Auctions - When you browse eBay listings or search for a specific item you will sometimes see items listed separately at the start of each page under the title "Featured Items". The idea is to display your item's title in a prominent location where it's seen before the viewer even begins to scroll down the page. At the same time it's differentiated from the pack by virtue of its "Featured" status. The cost is $19.95. As expressed on the previous page I haven't found "Featuring" an item truly affects the Final Bid Price the way eBay claims - at least not when it comes to used photographic equipment or collectible cameras. If you want to "Feature" your item I will accommodate you at your expense as mentioned previously.

 

If you have only one item you might prefer to have it listed at a higher starting price. With multiple items some people like to mix it up a bit and request that I list some items low and without reserve for a bit of excitement, and others starting at a higher price to be on the safe side. I often do just that with my own items. Rare or obscure collectibles are usually best listed at a higher starting price or with Reserve since the audience for these items is smaller and you need a number of bidders to make a "Low Start and No Reserve" auction work.

I don't want to spend too much time on specific listing methods. Every set of circumstances and every group of items is different and may require a different approach to listing. Please give it some thought. I will offer my advice to help guide you but again, ultimately the final say is yours.

It's been my experience that over the course of a few auctions some will finish slightly below my estimated price and some will exceed it. In the end the scales wind up balanced. A single item may have an "off day" because it just so happens that three identical items in similar condition and sold by reputable sellers are listed and ending in the same time period, maybe within a few hours of each other. When you have a common item and supply is exceeding demand you'll see a greater fluctuation in the Final Bid Prices that is difficult to combat.

And there's simply no way to explain other "off day" auctions. eBay is a funny place at times. Identical items can sell for different prices two weeks in a row. And I've had items go unsold for two weeks or more at a higher starting price and on the third week listed it at $9.99 with No Reserve only to have the bidding far exceed the starting price from the previous two weeks.

With so many variables involved I can't be held responsible for the final outcome of your auctions if you choose the straight-up/No Reserve auction with a low starting bid. You've seen some of my auction listings. My presentation, policies and feedback as well as quick, courteous responses to bidder inquiries throughout the auction period go a long way to ensure the items I offer sell for Fair Market Value. But I cannot make any guarantees.

And naturally eBay like anything else is affected by outside influences, like major news events, the seasons , and of course the economy. And just as eBay takes no responsibility for how these outside influences affect activity/bidding on their website, I cannot take responsibility for how these outside factors might affect your auction or auctions. If something catastrophic happens I will cancel all auctions and relist them as soon as possible or appropriate. Also, so that you know, I never list items so they end on a guaranteed slow night (like Superbowl Sunday or July 4th etc.) and I won't list your items during notoriously slow weeks (like Christmas week).

Before I will accept an item as a "Trading Assistant" you will be required to agree to some simple terms. Those terms will be sent to you via email and you will have to print the email, sign it and include the signed copy (or copies if you select multiple listing methods) with your items when you mail them along to me. Before you contact me you should read the "Terms of Agreement". On that page is information regarding cancelling auctions as well.

I won't ask anyone to sign the agreement and send me their equipment until we both see eye to eye and are comfortable with the expectations for your auction. I will give you a reasonable estimation of the value of your items via email or phone based on what you tell me about them - make and model, condition and function etc. Once your items are received I will inspect them immediately and confirm the condition or point out any discrepancies and how these discrepancies might affect the value. Please understand that I'm very thorough in my descriptions. My buyers expect total honesty from me and it's only with a fair and honest description that a fair market price can be realized. In this manner I promise to treat your items as my own providing the same accurate descriptions and professional presentation to assure that your items realize Fair Market Value, or as I said earlier, sit "at or near the top of the dial".

Once we enter into a Trading Assistant agreement and particularly during the course of your auctions I will continue to make myself available to you via email and phone. I check email and messages everyday and will be sure to respond to your inquiries as soon as possible. Rarely am I unavailable for more than a day or two at a time. If I expect to be away for more than two days I will not list anyone's items but my own during that period.

When you're items have sold and are paid for, and the 7 Day Return Period has elapsed, I will email you with a list of the prices realized and fees deducted. A check will be mailed to you the same or next day.

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Copyright © 2003 - Robert Furnari