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$1 - No Reserve - Will sell regardless of final auction price - Bad Idea?

by Biggy Fat
10 replies
Hello again World. I've been browsing through Flippa and some established money making sites and I've seen some that have commanded big dollars despite the $1 No Reserve and Will sell regardless of final auction price ordeal. I'm thinking this is WAY too risky, but then again it could generate a lot of interest. So in your eyes, is this idea good or bad? Of course, you WILL be obligated to sell even if it does go for a dollar.
#auction #bad #final #idea #price #reserve #sell
  • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
    On Ebay I almost always start the auction at $1 with no reserve -
    it really gets people excited about getting a bargain - and sometimes
    they get so attached to the idea of owning the thing the bidding
    gets crazy.

    Of course it's win some, lose some. In the end I think you'll come out
    ahead starting your auctions cheap and getting more bidders involved.
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  • Profile picture of the author zulfnore
    The concept of $1 no reserve is a bid bait - it gets people interested and encourages a bidding frenzy. But yes it can be risky if your site has no potential.

    You will find only those with site with high traffic and or income go for this stratergy because they know no matter what, the site will sell for more than the flippa fees an the cost of the domain plus time and effort already spent on it.
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  • Profile picture of the author D_M_S
    I haven't sold anything on Flippa, but I have sold tons on ebay. I don't know if this holds true for Flippa but on ebay it's all about when your auction *ends*. Id be comfortable about a $1 NR if, and only if, my auction ended on a Sunday evening/night. Otherwise, you'd be risking a significantly lower price. You'd have to find one of the busier day/times of the site and plan accordingly.
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    • Profile picture of the author WarForNom
      Originally Posted by D_M_S View Post

      I haven't sold anything on Flippa, but I have sold tons on ebay. I don't know if this holds true for Flippa but on ebay it's all about when your auction *ends*. Id be comfortable about a $1 NR if, and only if, my auction ended on a Sunday evening/night. Otherwise, you'd be risking a significantly lower price. You'd have to find one of the busier day/times of the site and plan accordingly.
      Can you explain why Sunday evening is superior to other end times for this kind of effort?

      Thanks
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      • Profile picture of the author D_M_S
        Originally Posted by WarForNom View Post

        Can you explain why Sunday evening is superior to other end times for this kind of effort?

        Thanks
        Its because thats when (allegedly) there's the most users on the site. You can't have a "feeding frenzy" over your item unless there's a lot of users. Ebay PowerSellers (like yours truly) have long believed that Sunday evenings are when ebay is most popular. I have had great results with it.
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        • Profile picture of the author Loren Woirhaye
          I drew the conclusion years ago that the best time to list
          on Ebay is on Sunday or Saturday.

          Most buyers are sort of hobby buyers. They are busy during the
          week with work and other responsibilities. Many people are
          even booked-up Saturdays with yard work or kid's soccer
          games or whatever.

          But on Sunday... people have time to chill out and do what they
          like to do, and for some folks that's looking at the new or currently
          closing auctions. When you list on Sunday afternoon you get a
          lot of people watching your new auctions and of course all the
          serious bidders only jump in at the end anyway.

          Thus listing on Sunday kills two birds with one stone: it gets
          you watchers and it gets you bidders.
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        • Profile picture of the author WarForNom
          Originally Posted by D_M_S View Post

          Its because thats when (allegedly) there's the most users on the site. You can't have a "feeding frenzy" over your item unless there's a lot of users. Ebay PowerSellers (like yours truly) have long believed that Sunday evenings are when ebay is most popular. I have had great results with it.
          Thank you for sharing. Is there any consensus about the other end of the spectrum? Is there a real Dead Zone on either a weekly or monthy basis?
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          • Profile picture of the author D_M_S
            Originally Posted by WarForNom View Post

            Thank you for sharing. Is there any consensus about the other end of the spectrum? Is there a real Dead Zone on either a weekly or monthy basis?
            You know there really isn't. The only other items I've heard is that people agree that the evening are best (any evening) and early mornings (any day) should be avoided at all costs. Again, you really can't have a "feeding frenzy" with one person - the more people the better and that's almost always in the evenings.
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  • Profile picture of the author sbucciarel
    Banned
    Not sure I'd be willing to risk a great site with $1 NR auction. You'd better have a dynamite site and dynamite sales letter or you could be crying the blues.
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  • Profile picture of the author Ruth P
    $1 NR auctions certainly do draw in the buyers. In my experience of observing other sellers on Flippa, those kind of auctions do best when they're put up with people with a big list and lots of online connections to get people interested.

    People start bidding low, then quickly get into a bidding war that can bring the price up a LOT.

    As for when the auction ends, yes this is VERY important on Flippa just like eBay. But in my experience with Flippa, weekdays were always preferable over weekends. I would always say to spend at least a week watching auctions and noting these things before taking any risk of your own.
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