"Race To The Bottom" - Does It Actually Exist On eBay?

In this video, I discuss the term "Race To the Bottom" and how I feel it is incorrectly used when it is applied to eBay. Why do sellers attack other sellers directly and indirectly for simply being competitive with their prices? The name of the reselling game is to make money and if you are making the profit margins you are happy with, why does it matter that others are trying to get more for an item? Are you really destroying the market for selling your one off item (one you may never get again) below what the 90 day solds show the item has sold for?
Maybe I am totally off base here but either way, let me know your thoughts down below....
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[@5797029]

We have a "new" race to the bottom on ebay. I price and sell my items at the top end of the comps. I also charge enough for shipping to make an additional few dollars on each. The race is on Promoted Listings. When it first started, I could do 2%-3% and beat my competition easily. Today, ebay is suggesting 12%-13% on most. I have increased my percentage somewhat, but sales are not as robust as before.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

eBay suggested rates are not necessary to get great sales. I honestly believe their “suggested” rates is their way of tricking sellers into promoting at a higher level. If you look at you listings quality report, sellers in the top 10% are using rates far below the suggested rates. I’m seeing this for many categories I sell in yet the suggested rates are much higher.

[@JoeyThrax]

Constant undercutting is one reason why I do not do quantity listings.

[@ggazzara1115]

Race to the bottom means nothing to me. I sell at my price and accept an offer if I'm making a profit. I'm not depending on ebay for a living. It's extra spending money for me.

[@dudeky385]

Race to the bottom occurs when the supply extraordinarily exceeds the demand and sellers are undercutting just to get something for the item instead of being stuck with dead unsellable stock.

[@wcollins4191]

My yard has a fence so I don't have to worry about my neighbors & that's how I look at my eBay store I set a price that I feel is fair & give great customer service that maybe why Is am getting repeat customers. Happy Father's Day & have a good weekend.

[@robsomething4435]

Not for nothing, but it's nobody's business what I decide to sell my items for. I'm willing to bet the ones complaining about this so called race to the bottom are the same complaining about slow or no sales.

[@jonm4501]

I'm impressed with your multi-tasking skills.

[@michd5507]

Absolutely correct...love your content. It's realistic and reliable. I watch your podcasts for learning and Trash to ash for humor...

[@chatterbrains40]

I got the book you suggested, the E myth...omg, thank you so much. It's amazing so far, I'm half way through it. I've laughed in some spots, cried with realization in others. It's amazing!!! Also, I don't race to the bottom l, When I price my items I look at condition, availability as well as my own feedback. Buyers know they're dealing with an honest person who ships safely and quickly. But, I'm not against accepting offers of 20% off. My CPG is very low.

[@Dino-63]

I agree with you the people complaining about this need to learn how to source better and learn how to use the tools EBay gives you Great video

[@Karl_B]

When I have an item that I make 2x to 3x AND there is competition I keep it below others. If I have a more valuable item (rare, few, etc) I start in the ball park of previously sold or listed if there are any.

[@peaceandlove18]

Its definitely not the same race to the bottom like Amazon. What can happen is eventually the market will get dragged down a little when more and more of sold's are at the bottom of the range. That means anyone doing research will see more lower sold's and price accordingly which repeats the cycle with a new lower market. I do think this is just supply and demand at work though. Saturation naturally will lower price. Overall I think there are too many variables on eBay which make the effects negligible.

[@glendabivona9500]

Always giving us great food for thought. Thanks!

[@AlacrityGamesTX]

😮 driving and filming!!! Be safe!!

[@tommyebay]

Yes, and for the record his phone/camera is not in his hand, so perfectly legal

[@FlippinAintEasy]

It’s attached to my magnetic phone holder so it’s really not that much of a distraction. I’m more distracted when a good song comes on and I start singing. 🤣

[@AlacrityGamesTX]

@@FlippinAintEasy 😂

[@expertbrian8314]

Every time you look directly at the camera and not the road I get nervous. 😮

[@ImNotOldImRetro]

People can sell as low as they want, if they are happy with little to no profit that’s up to them. I list to make money and get the most I can out of an item. Most of my sales come from offers, so like you said you have to know how much you have invested in your inventory and weigh that against what you think is going to be reasonable for the buyer to get consistent sales. I usually accept the offer unless it’s way low even if I’ll make a little profit on it. I sell a lot of vintage products so if I know that the item will definitely sell at a higher price then I’m not accepting a low ball offer even if there’s still a little profit to be made. eBay could be a sellers market but too many sellers do drop there prices to ridiculously low prices sometimes just to get a sale and that’s their business and right to do so. But for me I’m making the most I can and if they want to buy from the next guy that’s cheaper I’m fine with that. Eventually it will sell at or close to my listing price or I’ll accept a reasonable offer. So on eBay the race to the bottom looks a little different than Amazon and it depends on the item and how much inventory you have. I like to sell books from time to time but this is a category that is difficult for me to compete with. When I see certain books listed for 2-3$ free shipping on a book that weighs 2-3 pounds then I can’t compete with that and those sellers are usually playing the volume game making 50-75 cents per book, but they have thousands of books in their inventory and probably have a bulk shipping rate with a carrier. So I have to find the rare titles that are harder to find and they will sell a lot better at my asking price. Sometimes you got to get creative to get a sale for your asking price. When it’s all said and done if you’re happy with your business and the profits you make then it doesn’t matter what the next guy is doing.

[@hustle-n-grow]

I don't think the race to the bottom on ebay is anywhere near Amazon. Hell, ebay might not even show some listings to a buyer so it's not the same as 20 to 70 sellers on one listing

[@Onrysquaw]

Car Vlog is a nice switch up.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

I just needed to use the time available to me. Wasn’t sure how it was going to turn out.

[@CTS44]

I’ll never sell on Amazon again.

[@scott8193]

the race to the bottom might've originated with print shops. Starting out I said I would never but business is so bad im about to start selling on ebay at the current bottom smh

[@lauren_bbsd]

This is interesting-I recently had another seller reach out to tell me a clothing item I am selling is a fake. Not sure if this is friendly goodwill or an attack! I took the listing down. Has this ever happened to you? I’m honestly not sure if it’s a fake-the brand is FTP which is new to me. I need to do some research. Thanks for your content-super helpful and thought provoking.

[@ginnybadger4790]

Did you check to see if they had the same item listed?

[@zachariah7114]

@@ginnybadger4790 they usually have multiple accounts

[@CTS44]

Just sell something nobody else sells. Very simple

[@Chicago48]

I never understood that race to the low prices because it also means LESS FEE $$$ TO THE PLATFORM. If I'm selling at $10 more fees to the platform, vs selling at $5. Makes no sense for the platform to encourage you to lower your price to the lowest. I can understand if you start an auction, but with a BIN it makes no sense.

[@GMOVER1]

Most sellers are "racing" to the bottom, but that is their problem. You can get higher prices as comps are really not say all and be all. As a larger seller I can afford to beat a smaller seller to the bottom,but why do that when I have more products selling 24/7 365 days a year giving me plenty of cashflow to keep buying more. If I have an item priced at $100 and another seller wants to play cut throte listing theirs for $50 lol than by all means, but eventually I will get my $100 and in the meantime I have tons of other items selling. Not pressed to race to the bottom with a near "non existant competitor". At the end of the day I am simply getting more for my products as I can afford to sit on them as I have so many other options for buyers. The guy trying to race to the bottom is all sold out with empty shelves,and is only getting half of what I'm taking in on products. With that being said LOL if someone lacks larger real-estate for these items than they have no choice but to sell things dirt cheap as they do not have the space to capitalize on their products, hence "non existent competitor" Simply put, it is sheer capitalism,and there is always a bigger fish in the pond. When you get large enough as a seller it is almost like passive income. When you have such a vast array of products you always have cashflow all the time. LOL I can fire up a whatnot show in 10 minutes and make a few grand just selling junk if I really wanted to easy.

[@silverhairstacker8664]

If I am comping an item and see the lowest sold price is $10.00 and list mine for $9.99 am I not racing to the bottom? Example - I bought a pallet of electrical outlets - My cost is $.07 cents each - Comp last sold for $9.99 free shipping. I listed mine two for $9.99 free shipping. I am the lowest by far. I definitely raced to the bottom but am still making huge profits on sales. Example 2 - In 2018 I bought 300 Spongebob night lights. I sold 275 of them for $7.00 + $4.00 shipping. All other sellers have now run out of stock. I am selling the last 25 of them for $12.99 + $4.00 shipping. So for six years on these I have had the lowest price. Did I not race to the bottom? As you said a sell can only do this if acquisition cost is low. But for me I did race to the bottom to get sales on Ebay.

[@librasun123]

I sent an offer to a customer, it expired. Then she sent a message asking if ehave wiggle room on the price. I went to reply with offer, and it flagged that I had already sent one or had reached the offer limit on the item?? I copied that message I sent it to buyer. Doubtful I will get a sale at listed price, but the whole thing feels creepy. I will block her if she doesn't get back to me asap with an offer from her on the listing, she was picky on other things as well. Too many land mines on eBay.

[@bobbiellison4315]

If you're not selling a mass produced market flooded item that you have an enermous quantity of, the price shouldn't really affect the market. If the average listing price is 100 and average sold is 100, and I sell mine for 60... I'm out of the game now, all that's left for other buyers are the ones still listed for 100. Now I'm no business guru (truth be told I don't have much of a clue as to what I'm doing 😂) but is my logic terribly flawed here?? Honest question, I'm genuinely curious for feedback. I just don't see how other sellers can get mad when its a unique or one off type item.

[@FlippinAintEasy]

@@bobbiellison4315 other sellers get mad because they know that a price sensitive buyer will gravitate towards the lower priced item which mashes theirs harder to sell at the higher price point. Amazon sellers for instance will see how many items the lower priced buy box item is and if that person only has one or two might wait it out for that seller to sell out so they can get their price. Some eBay sellers will actually price their item higher while doing things like high promoted rates to get higher in best match search in hope the buyer won’t scroll down beyond the top few listings. In my case I like to start my items using the median 90 day sold price and have offers, markdown sales and coupons selected. I find the combination of these 3 things works very well for me.

[@gobeklipepe]

I let the GW bins hoard do the picking for me. Their non-valuables is my gold.

[@LakeOuachita]

GW puts their most damaged and stained and worn items in those bins, it’s literally like their trash cans…

[@gobeklipepe]

@@LakeOuachita one person’s trash is another person’s gold. Found some valuable sterling, crystal and porcelain goods at the bins.

[@zachariah7114]

@@LakeOuachita then let me do the dumpster diving because you're afraid to get a little dirty 😎

[@LakeOuachita]

It’s the prices of goods that are “the race to the bottom.” eBay should not allow all buyers to see “sold” prices and history. That should be reserved for people with seller accounts only. To me, that simple feature is where EBay is allowing them to become “the race to the bottom.” Buyers who uses sold history and give low ball offers, and overall prices are reduced. No other website out there allows buyers to see “sold history.”

[@craigwinans1948]

No such thing as race to the bottom on Ebay. It's simply Supply and Demand. Too much supply I have to lower my price to meet the demand if I want to sell it. Those that don't want to go lower can just keep whining that nothing is selling for them.

[@timc1014]

FYI sound was bad on this one alone of booms in background FYI.