Auctions are a fun and alternate way to buy and sell on Axebay.
1. Why Auction
There are several advantages to auctioning items on Axebay.
As auctions have a smaller window of time than a standard ad there is more
urgency for the buyer to buy the item. Therefore, the item should sell more
quickly compared to the time it takes to sell from a standard ad.
As there are many people bidding on auctions this will tend to drive the price
of the item up as buyers try to out bid each other.
The minimum time you can run an auction is (3) days and the maximum is fourteen
(14) days. If, for example, you run an auction for fourteen (14) days and the
item doesn’t sell you can re-run the auction for another fourteen (14) days as
you have paid for the ad for one month. This is just an example, you can run a
three day auction up to ten (10) times or you could run a fourteen (14) day
auction and re-run it as a seven (7) day auction and then as two three (3) day
auctions.
In short if your item doesn’t sell at auction you can run the auction over and
over again for one month.
2. Setting up an Auction
Setting up an auction is the same as creating a standard ad (please see
How to Sell document) with one difference. On the sell page under selling format check
the “Auction this item” check box. You then have to enter the reserve price, the
starting bid and the time limit.
The Reserve Price
The
reserve price
is the minimum amount you would accept for this item. For
example, say you are selling a Fender Stratocaster that you purchased new for
$3,000 you really want at least $2,000 for it but you have tried to sell it
before and no one offered you anything over $1,800. At a pinch you would take
$1,500. Set the reserve price to $1,500 and hopefully you will get more. If you
set the reserve price too high you will not sell the item.
The Starting Bid
Set the starting bid to an amount less than the reserve price. If you set it
very low, you will get lots of bids but may not meet your reserve price. If you
set it too high you may not get any bids at all, as a rule of thumb set it to
half of your reserve price. You have to think like a buyer, if you saw a Strat
worth over $3,000 with a bid of only $750 would you bid on it? If you saw a
Strat worth over $3,000 with a bid already at $1,500 you would probably be less
inclined to bid.
Time Limit
Select a time limit from three (3) days to fourteen (14) days. The shorter the
time should generate more bids more quickly. The longer the time should give you
a higher price.
3. Auction Maintenance
You can manage your auctions from the “My Axebay” link from the left vertical
navigation menu or from the top drop down menu select “My Axebay”.
You can see all your bidding, selling and watching activity from the “Activity”
page. If you click on the title of your ad under the “Active Selling” heading
you can view then edit your ad. Or you can select “Advertising” from the Selling
menu on the left navigation menu to edit your ad.
You can change any part of your auction listing except the reserve price,
starting bid or time limit. These fields are locked until the auction expires.
If you wish to re-run the auction you will be able to change these fields at
that time. You can also see how many bids your auction has received and the
highest bid from My Advertisements under the My Auctions section.
4. End of the Auction
When the time limit of an auction has expired you could be left with one of
three different scenarios:
The Item Sold
If a buyer has placed a bid which equals or exceeds the reserve price at of the
auctioned item you will receive an email from Axebay stating that you have a
message from Axebay. Click on the link in the email and you will be taken to
your Axebay messages inbox.
The message from Axebay will state that the auction is now closed and that a
buyer has met the reserve price of the item. It will also contain the id of the
item auctioned, the bid on the item and the user id of the buyer. At this point
you should contact the buyer through Axebay’s messaging system to organise
payment and delivery of the item.
The buyer will receive a similar email and message.
The Item Did Not Sell
This situation occurs if the highest bid at the auction did not reach the
reserve price of the item being auctioned. In this case you will receive an
email from Axebay stating that you have a message from Axebay. Click on the link
in the email and you will be taken to your Axebay messages inbox.
The message from Axebay will state that the auction is now closed and that the
highest bid on the item was less than the reserve price. It will also contain
the item id of the item auctioned, the bid on the item and the user id of the
buyer. You can contact the buyer to negotiate a little further and see if you
can get them to pay a little more. If the buyer cannot pay anymore you can
decide to sell the item for that price or decline and re-run the auction (See
the section on re-running an auction).
The buyer will receive a similar email and message.
There Were No Bids on the Item
If there were no bids at all on the auction by the time the auction expired you
can re-run the auction or list the item as a standard ad (See the section on
re-running an auction).
5. Re-Running an Auction
Axebay’s philosophy is that if you pay for an ad for one month you should get
the whole month to sell the product. Therefore, you can re-run auctions that
have failed to produce a bid equal to or higher than the reserve price of the
item.
To re-run an auction go to “My Axebay” by selecting the “My Axebay” link from
the left vertical navigation menu or from the top drop down menu, then select
“Advertising” from the Selling menu on the left hand side of the page.
You will see your auction listed under “My Auctions”. Click the renew button and
you can then edit any part of the listing including the reserve price, starting
bid and time limit.
Note
that re-running an auction for an item already sold is a fraudulent act and
that fraud is a criminal offence.
6. Notes
The following notes are documented as a reminder that you have agreed to such as
outlined in the user agreement.