Tweet
This is a decent article that outlines some of the benefits and detriments to the Ebay private listing
http://ebay.about.com/od/privacyands...y-Listings.htm
In a private listing, upon auction completion, the feedback posted does not reveal what product is sold. Eventually, once a lot of positive feedback is accumulated, an over all pattern of good business practice is established for the seller, such that the buyer doesn't care about which products the feedback is tied to, and simply assumes that the seller must be trustworthy.
Or does he? Sometimes, buyers are suspicious of private feedback, especially if the item being sold is expensive. A savvy potential bidder may assume (sometimes rightly) that the feedback posted is for some inexpensive items, while the current listing is for something entirely different that this seller has not before sold. (On the other hand, this may exactly what the seller NEEDS to do - get some private (therefore anonymous, and universal) feedback for inexpensive items, and then ramp up to sell the more expensive goods, not to scam anyone, but simply because it is a new Ebay account and he needs to build up feedback quickly selling inexpensive items before he may start the real business of selling.)
To be sure, one real advantage to private auctions is that the buyer is protected from scam artists who search feedback for buyers of expensive items and then make direct offers to sell the same, with no intention of ever shipping the goods once they fleece the buyer of payments.
Another advantage, to the seller, is that private feedback makes it more difficult for competitors to figure out what it is you have been selling, and then duplicate your offerings. As well, if you sell VERO items, anyone examining your sales records to determine whether you have a large stock of the items you have been selling can quickly determine, with public feedback, that YES, this seller has been unloading large quantities of ____, and therefore must be selling counterfeits because no non-authorized agent could have such stock of the VERO item in question.
But at the end of the day, unless you have real VERO concerns, or need to ramp up your auctions quickly on a new account with new feedback without tipping off your customers to your selling inexpensive items like old tee shirts or postage stamps (which is NOT recommended anyway - phony feedback that looks like fish does stink like fish too), there is no question that some bidders are turned off by private auctions, and that unless you have real reasons to make your listings private, you should not do it and instead stick with the tried and proven public method.
http://ebay.about.com/od/privacyands...y-Listings.htm
In a private listing, upon auction completion, the feedback posted does not reveal what product is sold. Eventually, once a lot of positive feedback is accumulated, an over all pattern of good business practice is established for the seller, such that the buyer doesn't care about which products the feedback is tied to, and simply assumes that the seller must be trustworthy.
Or does he? Sometimes, buyers are suspicious of private feedback, especially if the item being sold is expensive. A savvy potential bidder may assume (sometimes rightly) that the feedback posted is for some inexpensive items, while the current listing is for something entirely different that this seller has not before sold. (On the other hand, this may exactly what the seller NEEDS to do - get some private (therefore anonymous, and universal) feedback for inexpensive items, and then ramp up to sell the more expensive goods, not to scam anyone, but simply because it is a new Ebay account and he needs to build up feedback quickly selling inexpensive items before he may start the real business of selling.)
To be sure, one real advantage to private auctions is that the buyer is protected from scam artists who search feedback for buyers of expensive items and then make direct offers to sell the same, with no intention of ever shipping the goods once they fleece the buyer of payments.
Another advantage, to the seller, is that private feedback makes it more difficult for competitors to figure out what it is you have been selling, and then duplicate your offerings. As well, if you sell VERO items, anyone examining your sales records to determine whether you have a large stock of the items you have been selling can quickly determine, with public feedback, that YES, this seller has been unloading large quantities of ____, and therefore must be selling counterfeits because no non-authorized agent could have such stock of the VERO item in question.
But at the end of the day, unless you have real VERO concerns, or need to ramp up your auctions quickly on a new account with new feedback without tipping off your customers to your selling inexpensive items like old tee shirts or postage stamps (which is NOT recommended anyway - phony feedback that looks like fish does stink like fish too), there is no question that some bidders are turned off by private auctions, and that unless you have real reasons to make your listings private, you should not do it and instead stick with the tried and proven public method.
Comment