Has Ebay transformed from a primarily auction site to a buy it now site?

[GON]

For the last few decades, I was bidding on items found on Ebay.

It hit me this weekend that the last few hundred items I searched for on Ebay, they were all buy it now. I can't recall a single item I purchased on Ebay for quite some time that was an auction. I primarily purchase auto related items, so maybe other commodities are still at auction on Ebay.

 

[RAR]

Yes, and I didn’t think about it until now.

It’s become like a version of Amazon. I do occasionally see an actual bidding auction but that’s the rarity.

 

[SC Maintenance]

It’s been over-run with Chinese scammers so not surprised. Used to be normal people selling extra stuff. Very sad actually.

 

[Elkins45]

For the last few decades, I was bidding on items found on Ebay.

It hit me this weekend that the last few hundred items I searched for on Ebay, they were all buy it now. I can't recall a single item I purchased on Ebay for quite some time that was an auction. I primarily purchase auto related items, so maybe other commodities are still at auction on Ebay.

Of the last 10 things I bought on eBay at least half were either conventional auctions or an auction with no bids that ended when the seller accepted an offer from me. My sense is that sellers use BIN for commodity stuff or things they have multiples of and auctions for one-offs or more in-demand items. I’ve been sniped on a couple of watches at the last second, one of which ended up with 40+ bids. The price almost doubled in the last 90 seconds.

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

Years ago. I probably helped the phenomenon by narrowing my searches to “buy it now” prices, because when I look for something I need NOW, I know the price I am willing to pay from a 3P seller vs buying from Amazon or other avenues.

Last year, I found an auction for the Rockford Fosgate 98-13 Harley kit that was discontinued but still less than half of street price, and I clicked BIN price rather than waiting to see if I could win a bid lower than that. And yea, I used to use AuctionSniper so I didn’t have to babysit the auction. I guess that’s the price I pay for impatience, and I’m ok with that

 

[GON]

Of the last 10 things I bought on eBay at least half were either conventional auctions or an auction with no bids that ended when the seller accepted an offer from me.

What are you buying on Ebay?

 

[Elkins45]

What are you buying on Ebay?

Sorry, I went back and edited my post. Two watches, pistol magazines, laptop battery, digital camera battery holder, drive chain for a tiller, watch band, cell phone battery, truck tail light.

 

[ripcord]

I haven't bought many things on auction since my favorite sniping tool stopped working.

 

[eljefino]

I stopped selling as a low volume seller when they changed the rules to pretty much always take the buyer/ scammers word for broken stuff.

I buy plenty of cheap junk there, including auto parts. Very happy. Better than Amazon, faster than Wish.

 

[GON]

I stopped selling as a low volume seller when they changed the rules to pretty much always take the buyer/ scammers word for broken stuff.

I buy plenty of cheap junk there, including auto parts. Very happy. Better than Amazon, faster than Wish.

What is Wish?

 

[SubieRubyRoo]

What are you buying on Ebay?

My son buys Green Day CDs on actual auctions, even though those sellers should realistically be paying the buyer to take that dookie off their hands…

 

[99Saturn]

In my experience as an infrequent seller, selling auction is pretty hit and miss. I could start my auction price high and I'm guessing no one wants to wait 5+ days for the auction to come close to a close to check back on the price, I could start low but can't really rely on my item getting bid up an covering my cost of shipping, fees and time.

So I opt for buy it now on almost every listing I do, price competitively versus the same item listed by other sellers and occasionally offer a couple of % off if it is sitting in someone's watchlist.

 

[E365]

I buy and sell a lot on eBay. If you’re selling basic, everyday items, then auctions don’t make much sense. Doing “Buy it now” means the listing just stays up for months. People also don’t want to wait 7 days for an auction to complete if they want to just grab a cheap USB-C cable or cabin filter for their car, for example.

My last sale was my old iMac. Tons of interest, tons of competition, so an auction made sense there. There would be much less interest in selling a wireless mouse though for that computer, so I’d make that a “Buy it Now”.

 

[KCJeep]

Still lots of legitimate small US based sellers on Ebay. Most use it like any other website and list at fixed BIN prices while taking advantage of the high traffic the site generates.

Around the late 90s eBay was like an on line garage sale auction, as you noted that has completely flipped.

I miss the fun and variety but any more I just want it now anyway.

 

[daves87rs]

The auction part is pretty much being fazed out shortly anyways. I have a few friends/co workers who use Ebay. One deals directly with them, and they actually prefer the BIN anyways. They get their money faster…..

 

[pcf]

I stopped selling as a low volume seller when they changed the rules to pretty much always take the buyer/ scammers word for broken stuff.

I buy plenty of cheap junk there, including auto parts. Very happy. Better than Amazon, faster than Wish.

I specifically buy from EBay for the protection.

This morning EBay partially refunded me on some Toyota parts. I ordered two, got one, seller wanted more money for second part. Resolved in 2 hours.

 

[ripcord]

I miss the variety of used tools, gear and NOS parts eBay used to have.

 

[atikovi]

Auction listings are for rare, one of a kind, or hard to find items. Nobody wants to wait 7 days to bid on a water pump for their Camry. About the only place they have any real presence is for vehicles, but even that is a fraction of the listings compared to 10 years ago.

 

[mrsilv04]

I bought a carburetor kit for a string trimmer on eBay. Listing said it would fit. Kit showed up, carb was not the same... it did not have any choke on it, carb was different. Requested a return, gave an explanation that the listing was incorrect, and sent multiple pictures as to why.

Sent kit back and packaged it better than it was sent to me, and seller issued a 50% refund. I complained to eBay about the 50% refund and promptly was issued a 100% refund by eBay.

So, no... it isn't always the seller who is getting screwed.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

My son buys Green Day CDs on actual auctions, even though those sellers should realistically be paying the buyer to take that dookie off their hands…

I see what you did there