ebay .01 auctions

nans31 · #1 01/02/08, 12:27 PM

I've noticed a few sellers on eBay that have been a member for short time (1-4 months) who have a 100% positive with up to 550 feedback score. When I go to look at the details, most if not all is those .01 auctions. What is the deal here? Is this the new way to build up feedback scores? It seems a bit strange to me.

wy_white_wolf · #2 01/02/08, 01:25 PM

They list Items for 1 cent but inflate the shipping and handling to compensate. Saves them a few cents on Ebay fees.

rkintn · #3 01/02/08, 01:33 PM

Which I thought was against EBay policy...seems kinda fishy to me.

sisterpine · #4 01/02/08, 01:38 PM

it is against ebay policy and i often report them when i see them. figure if i pay they fees they should too. sis

Fenrirwulf · #5 01/02/08, 01:43 PM

Ebay doesn't bother to enforce their rules until they get a complaint. If someone lists 1000 auctions that break the rule, chances are 999 are going to go through without a complaint.

Nevada · #6 01/02/08, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wy_white_wolf

They list Items for 1 cent but inflate the shipping and handling to compensate. Saves them a few cents on Ebay fees.

Sometimes that's the case, because the listing and final value fees are nil and they can still make money on shipping. But there are other reasons for .01 auctions.

Some auctions are promoting a product. An example is an auction that tells you how to get rich as an eBay seller. It gives some basic information about eBay listing & selling, and even tells you where to buy discounted wholesale items to sell. Of course, the seller is either the wholesaler or affiliated with the wholesaler.

Other .01 auctions promote click through banners (or click through text links) for products offered through a broker such as Commission Junction (cj.com). Ads that promote click through banners are against the rules at eBay, but many sellers still do it. They get away with it by hiding the click through links in a seemingly informative pdf document. They give the documents away for .01 and get a commission if anyone buys a product at one of the links.

nans31 · #7 01/03/08, 07:06 AM

These auctions were all as a buyer. Buying two hundred .01 auctions a day, feedback on this one person went up over 100 in a day. All .01, and some were in another language. They are ebooks etc. It looks like it's a way to build up positive feedback, 100% positive looks pretty darn good on 500 items purchased. Now they are selling big ticket item and wont answer questions.

stonykill · #8 01/03/08, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nans31

These auctions were all as a buyer. Buying two hundred .01 auctions a day, feedback on this one person went up over 100 in a day. All .01, and some were in another language. They are ebooks etc. It looks like it's a way to build up positive feedback, 100% positive looks pretty darn good on 500 items purchased. Now they are selling big ticket item and wont answer questions.

there are legitimate reasons to do a .01 auction. A legitimate ebay seller will often use the cheap auctions as a loss leader/ form of advertising. If you read entrepenour magazine, and see those who make a lot of money on ebay, ebay is a sales tool for them. If a buyer is happy with the quality of the item, they will return to the seller either thru ebay, of thru their website. Its a way of getting new customers and you can write off the losses at the end of the year.

With that said, this seller does not look like anyone I would ever deal with. If a seller won't answer my questions, or shows a history of not answering questions, I won't buy from them. This seller seems fishy to me. I'd avoid them.