Through the years, eBay has introduced all sorts of different auction types, in an effort to give people more options when they buy and sell things on eBay.

Normal Auctions

These are the bread-and-butter of eBay, the auctions everyone knows: buyers bid, others outbid them, they bid again, and the winner gets the item. Simple. You set your opening bid amount, hoping, of course, that there are many bidders and the price continues to go up. This doesn’t always happen, so be prepared to sell your item for the amount of your opening bid. If there is only one bidder and no one bids against him, he will win the auction at closing. You can’t change your mind then and decide not to part with your treasure at that low price.

Reserve Auctions

Reserve auctions are for sellers who don’t want their items to sell for less than a certain price - a concept you’ll know about if you’re familiar with real auctions. They work just like normal auctions on eBay, except that the buyers will be told if their bids do not meet the reserve price you set, and they’ll need to bid again if they want the item. If no one is willing to meet your price, then the auction is canceled, and you keep the item.

Many people do not like the concept of a “reserve” price, primarily because the reserve amount is not displayed to the bidder. Many feel that if a seller wants a certain amount for his item, then he should begin the auction at that price. There are pros and cons regarding using a Reserve auction, and you should research the concept a bit before using it as your listing format. It is best “reserved” for higher-dollar items, like an entire stamp collection, for example.

Fixed Price (’Buy it Now’) Auctions

“Buy It Now” auctions can work in one of two ways. You can add a “Buy it Now” button to a normal auction, meaning that buyers can choose either to bid normally or to simply pay the asking price and avoid the whole bidding process. Some sellers, though, now cut out the auction process altogether and simply list all their items at fixed price. This lets you avoid all the complications of the auction format and simply list your items for how much you want them to sell for.

Recently, eBay added a twist to fixed price auctions: the “Best Offer.” This means that buyers can contact you to negotiate a price, which could be a good way to get sell some extra stock at a small discount. The only downside to reserve and fixed price auctions is that you pay a small extra fee to use these formats.

Multiple Item (’Dutch’) Auctions

These are auctions where you can sell more than one of a certain item. Dutch auctions can be done by bidding. Buyers bid a price and say how many items they want, and then everyone pays the lowest price that was bid by one of the winning bidders. If you have trouble getting your head around that, then don’t worry - everyone else does too! These auctions are very rare.

What is more common is when a seller has many of a certain item, and lists it using a combination of two auction types: a multiple-item fixed price auction. This just means that you can just say how many of the item you have, and offer them at a fixed price per unit. Buyers can enter how many they want and then just click “Buy it Now” to get them.

It will more than likely take some experimenting and experience to see which auction format works best for you, and the format you use may be governed by the items you are selling.

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