Using eBay auctions to fill houses....

[Mark in St. Louis 0]

I just read something interesting about an investor who uses eBay auctions in a unique way.

 

He uses a 10 day eBay auction to fill his houses and build a buyer's list.

 

In the auction, the bidders are bidding on the down payment and/or option deposit....depending on the type of owner financing you are offering.

 

He said on his first auction he received 1200 unique impressions, and 23 actual bids. He said several people didn't even bid, but emailed him privately making offers to buy the house.

 

I just thought I would share this with everyone. Sounds like a neat way to get national exposure for really cheap $$$. I'm sure there are relocation/transfer people who just might be interested in a L/P.

 

I am definitely going to give this a try.

 

By the way, the investor/guru's name is William Barnett. He recently wrote a book about real estate investing titled "Are You Dumb Enough To Be Rich". Here is the link to screenshots of his first eBay auction:

 

Screen shots of Bill Barnett's 1st eBay auction

[Mark in St. Louis 0]

Has anyone ever tried this?

 

I meant to ask that on my original post.

[MichaelC 160]

I haven't. What kind of fees does ebay charge for such a listing?

[Mark in St. Louis 0]

Michael,

 

To your question:

 

I haven't. What kind of fees does ebay charge for such a listing?

Here is what I found on eBay.

 

10 day auction with no reserve: $100 insertion fee

 

10 day reserve auction: $100 insertion fee + $70 reserve fee = $170

 

Of course you can then buy various bells and whistles such as bold, colored, underlined heading, gallery featured, etc, etc.

 

I have found that the $1.00 picture package is enough for me. So that would make it either $101 or $171.

 

What do you think....money well spent? If I try it I'll definitely post the outcome here on the board.

 

$101 is about the same price as a classified ad in our main paper here in St. Louis.

 

A $170 reserve auction would be safer, and you would only have to pay the $170 if the reserve price is met.