Making use of the "Buy It Now" feature on eBay

Competition is the main feature that marks every auction. Whether it is an auction right down the street or an online auction like eBay, sellers do their best to encourage buyers to place bids on their items instead of bidding on other seller's items. Along with keywording and accurate auction timing, sellers make use of the many features on eBay to help manage their auctions in an easy way to reach maximum profit.

The "Buy It Now" option on eBay is one of the most common features that sellers use to attract buyers. This option, however, is useful for both the sellers and the buyers. On the one hand, it helps sellers to sell their items quickly. On the other hand, it enables buyers to purchase the items instantly at a preset price. Buyers who do not want to go through the bidding process for an item they want, tend to use this option and thus avoiding the risk of losing the item to a higher bidder. Yet, what makes this option so appealing for many buyers is the fact that it has a limited availability. In other words, when a bid is placed, the "Buy It Now" option becomes no longer available for use.

However, some professionals warn sellers about using the "Buy It Now " option on their auctions on eBay in a random way.

The "Buy It Now" option can be somehow risky for sellers. As an eBay seller, when you list an item for a duration of seven to ten days, there is a chance that it might draw in bidders. But if someone grabs the item for its "Buy It Now" price, you will never know how much money the item would have generated and probably regret that you did not list the item at a higher price

However, choosing to use the "Buy It Now" option during the holiday season, for instance, is the best thing to do. During the holidays people prefer to use online auctions for gift shopping instead of facing the crowd in the malls and the local stores, and they generally tend to purchase what they want instantly without waiting for auctions to end. In that case, when you use the "Buy It Now" feature, you allow buyers to make purchases right away before they change their minds, and thus selling your items quickly and at a decent price.

Yet, there are sometimes where you should avoid using the "Buy It Now" feature. If you are listing an item that you do not know its real value, then you should let it remain in the auction for its maximum duration. For instance, if you are selling some collectible plates and you are not certain of how much they are worth, then you should not list them with a "Buy It Now" price, because the price you are setting might be much less than their real value. Smart collectors who browse online auctions for such items will surely grab them immediately, and you will certainly lose some of your profit. In that case, forcing buyers to place their bids is what you should do to earn a much larger profit.

Before listing your items with a "Buy It Now" price, you should think about doing some research to avoid losing some of your potential profit.

Browse the "Completed Auctions" to find out how similar items have been performing. Since the "Buy It Now" option will probably let your items be purchased quickly, it makes sense that you should set slightly low prices for them. Yet, you should take care not to set very low prices for your items that they become no more profitable. Keep an eye on the market trends by searching items in similar categories. If you find out that the market is saturated with items similar to yours, then you could use low "Buy It Now" prices, or sell different items until the market recovers.On the other hand, If demand outweighs supply, then it is your chance to make some profit by setting the "Buy It Now" price higher than you normally do.

Keep in mind that the "Buy It Now" feature on eBay could be the key to an additional amount of money in your account, if you know exactly when to use it to your advantage.