Should you use Buy It Now? The downside is that Buy It Now adds to an auction’s confusion factor, possibly scaring away some users. (The presence of a high Buy It Now relative to the starting price, in any caseis apt to tell some buyers that you’re asking more for your item than it’s worth, or that similar items are selling for.) The upside is that if you set a high enough Buy It Now price and some chump ponies up, you get your money sooner than if you’d allowed the auction to continue to its natural conclusion.

If you’re going to use Buy It Now, make sure that it’s worth your while. You definitely don’t want to set a Buy It Now price lower than what you think your item will eventually sell for. For example, if you know that similar items have been selling for $20 on eBay, the absolute lowest you want to set your Buy It Now price is $20. If you set the Buy It Now price at $15, for example, some sharp buyer is going to swoop in and pay you $15 for an item that probably would have sold for $20.

In fact, if you use the Buy It Now option, you probably want to set the Buy It Now price at some point higher than the expected high bid price. Taking our $20 example, you might set the Buy It Now at $25. If somebody wants to buy it now, they’ll pay you a $5 premium for the privilege. If not, bidding will proceed as normal until a (presumably lower) high bid is realized.

The post Sell It Now eBay Option first appeared on Tips For Sellers & Buyers.

eBay also offers true fixed-price listingsthat is, item listings with no bidding allowed. These work pretty much like Buy It Now auctions, except that your only option is to buy at the stated price; you can’t place a lower bid.

Buy It Now is an option that some (but not all) sellers add to their auctions. With Buy It Now, the item is sold (and the auction ended) if the very first bidder places a bid for a specified price. (For this reason, some refer to Buy It Now auctions as “fixed-price” auctionseven though they’re slightly different from eBay’s real fixed-priced listings.)

Buying an item with Buy It Now is really simple. If you see an item identified with a Buy It Now price (as shown in Figure 8.1), just enter a bid at that price. You’ll immediately be notified that you’ve won the auction, and the auction will be officially closed.

Of course, you don’t have to bid at the Buy It Now price. You can bid at a lower price and hope that you win the auction, which then proceeds normally. (The Buy It Now option disappears when the first bid is madeor, in a reserve price auction, when the reserve price is met.) But if you want the item nowand you’re willing to pay the asking priceyou can use the Buy It Now option to make an immediate purchase.

You should use Buy It Now only if you really, really, really want the item; if you think the Buy It Now price is reasonable; if you fear that the final price will be higher than the Buy It Now price; or if you don’t want to wait for the auction to run its course to complete your purchase.

The post Using Buy It Now on eBay first appeared on Tips For Sellers & Buyers.