We've all heard it...if at first you don't succeed, try, try again! There is another saying...easier said than done.
My custom builds are more of a hobby than a business. That is, I don't have a ton of money to sink into my guns. Currently, my model is make one, sell one, repeat. Maybe after a while I'll have earned enough money to have a couple of builds going at one time, but right now I'm super small scale. So I really don't have the luxury of putting out an auction with a starting bid of $0.01 and letting fate take the wheel.
So to that end, I've been trying out several auction techniques with designs on protecting myself to at least get back my investment. I'm trying lots of things. I've got auctions where I've inflated the "Buy Now" price and provided an incentive for free shipping and no fees if the purchaser hits that button. I've also provided the opportunity for a prospective buyer to make an offer. To date, no offers.
So far, the most "effective" option has been the Reserve Auction with a $0.01 starting bid. I finally got a bite, first with one watcher. From my previous post, you know this was encouraging, especially with the rising count of viewers. Finally a bid! Oh, but it was a low, low bid, but there was plenty of time, so no worries, right?!
WRONG! I ended up with 7 bids by one bidder with a high bid of $335, nowhere close to the reserve price I had set. Unfortunately, the second bidder never come to the party. So, yes, a little disappointing, but maybe progress none-the-less. That was on Gunbroker.com.
This time, I'm trying the same on Gunauction.com. Oddly enough, when I had the starting bid at $499 (still below my reserve), I had over 40 views. Two days into my $1 starting bid and I have no views. I'm not sure I understand what's going on.
Is the market flooded? Are people just looking for a cheap pick-up? If there is another reading this that has some insights or thoughts they would be willing to share...I'd sure appreciate them!
Leave me some comments, let me know what you think about this topic, this post, or my blog in general. See my other pages where I've listed some of my custom builds. Leave me you comments there as well!
Thanks all! Remember look me up at BruCA on Gunauction.com or tbruno916 on Gunbroker.com.
If you can't laugh at yourself, you can't laugh at anyone! So it appears that I forgot to select to add a view counter to my auction, which is why it says "n/a" for views instead of 0. Oops! LOL. On a positive note, I got my first bid on it...the starting bid...$1! SMH! But there is still time and always hope!
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