Sellers with auctions enabled can list an item one of two ways:
- List an item the typical way: you set the list price that buyers can purchase your item for, or they can submit an offer for less than the asking price for you to accept or reject.
- List an item as an auction: you set the starting price and auction start date and watch as buyers compete to submit the highest bid and win the auction.
In this article, we'll focus on auctions so you can make the most informed decision on the best way to sell your items.
How do I create an auction?
When you list an item for sale, you have the option to make it an "Auction Item". Your starting price is your list price and you have the freedom to choose when you want the auction to start:
With the flexibility to select the start date, you can either hit the ground running and list new items to be sold in an auction or give your item some time to sell normally before the auction begins.
What happens after I've started an auction?
Each auction lasts 7 days. Throughout that time, buyers can submit offers in an effort to outbid other users and ultimately win the auction. The item will automatically sell to the buyer with the highest offer at the end of those 7 days.
Please note, if your item doesn't receive any offers within the week, we'll simply disable the auction and your item will be listed like normal once again.
What kinds of items should I auction?
This part is completely up to you! But we do have a few suggestions for best practices on using auctions.
- Use auctions as a way to create excitement around interesting and unique gear: If you've got something that's rare, or that you know would get the attention of a lot of buyers, set a reasonable starting price and see how far your buyers will go to get the winning bid.
- Use auctions as a way to get older gear out the door: If you're eager to get some old or used gear out the door, set a low starting price and watch your buyers duke it out to snag a great deal on gear that's been sitting for a while.
Why can't I list an item as an auction?
Only a small subset of sellers are eligible to list auction items at this time, but we plan to release auctions more broadly in the future