Neither format wins every time, but the evidence leans one way on price. When the same seller has listed the same item both as an auction and at a fixed Buy It Now price, the Buy It Now sales have usually fetched more, while the auctions have been more likely to sell at all. So for a Pokemon card whose value is already clear from plenty of recent sales, a sensible Buy It Now price tends to get you more. For a card collectors are chasing, a card fresh back from grading or one with no clear sales history, an auction is usually the better tool, because the bidding sets the price and the sale is over in days.
That finding comes from a study by three economists from Stanford and Harvard and a researcher from eBay, using eBay's own listing data, published in the Journal of Political Economy in 2018. It matched sellers who had listed the same item both ways, so the item and the seller were the same and only the format changed. In 2003, those sellers received 4.7% less for their auction sales than for their fixed price ones. By 2009 the gap had grown to 16.5%. The study covers every kind of item on eBay's US site rather than Pokemon cards in particular, and the market has moved on since, but it is a fair test of the two formats side by side.
How an auction and Buy It Now work on eBay
In an auction, buyers bid against each other and the highest bid when the clock runs out wins the card. eBay lets an auction run for 1, 3, 5, 7 or 10 days, and its own advice is that a low starting price helps attract bidders. A seller can add a hidden reserve, which is an optional paid upgrade, and does not have to sell if the bidding finishes below it. An auction can also carry a Buy It Now price at least 40% above its starting price, which disappears once the first bid is placed.
A Buy It Now listing is a fixed price. The first buyer willing to pay it gets the card, and the listing stays up until someone does or the seller takes it down.
Why a fixed price often gets more for a card
The study's explanation is convenience. A buyer who wants a card now can have it now at a Buy It Now price, without waiting days to find out whether they have won it, and buyers have shown they will pay for that. Over the years the study covered, demand for auctions fell compared with demand for fixed price listings, and the gap in price grew with it.
A fixed price also lets the seller wait. A Buy It Now card can sit until the one collector who needs it for a set or a binder comes along, where an auction has to accept whoever happens to be bidding before it ends.
The catch is that a fixed price only works when it is the right price. Set it too high and the card sits unsold for months. Set it too low and it sells quickly to a buyer who knew it was cheap. An auction cannot get the price wrong in quite the same way, because the bidders set the number.
When an auction is the better choice for a Pokemon card
Our guidance to consignors is that an auction suits four kinds of card.
- Chase cards, the cards everyone opening a set hopes to pull. When plenty of collectors want the same card at once, the bidding pushes the price to what the keenest of them will pay.
- Cards from a set in demand right now, while that interest lasts.
- Fresh grades, cards just back from PSA, CGC or another grader. A new slab in a high grade gives bidders something to compete for, which is part of what makes grading worth it on the right card.
- Cards with no clear sales history, where nobody can say with confidence what the card is worth. Rather than guess a price and risk leaving money on the table, the bidding finds it.
That last point matches the research, which found auctions were used more for unusual, one-off items whose value is hard to pin down. An auction also has a fixed end. When it finishes, ten days after it starts in our case, your card has sold or it has not, and you know where you stand.
One rule applies to every auction. Neither you nor anyone you know may bid on your own card to push the price up. eBay's shill bidding policy bans sellers from bidding on their own listings and covers family members, flatmates and employees too. Our terms say the same about consigned cards, and the listing can be cancelled and the consignor barred if it happens.
Which Pokemon cards suit Buy It Now
Our guidance points the other way for four other kinds of card.
- Low population slabs, cards where only a handful of copies have been graded at that grade by that grading company.
- Niche promos, cards released outside the main sets, often at events or in particular products, which only some collectors look for.
- Sealed product, from single booster packs to whole boxes.
- Higher end cards with a solid sales history, where recent sales already show what the card is worth.
What these have in common is that the buyer is one particular collector rather than a crowd. That person may not be looking during the ten days an auction runs, and a Buy It Now listing gives them months to find it. With a steady run of recent sales to point to, you can also set a price with some confidence, which is where the research found fixed prices did best. Its model has fixed prices gaining ground as buyers become surer of what an item is worth.
How to choose for your own card
Three questions settle most cards.
Do recent sales agree on a price?
Look up what the same card, in the same condition or the same grade, has actually sold for, not what sellers are asking. eBay's help explains how to check sold listings. If there are plenty of recent sales close together, a Buy It Now price near that level is likely to do well. If the sales are few, old or all over the place, an auction lets the market answer the question for you.
How soon do you want the money?
An auction ends on a known date. A Buy It Now card sells when the right buyer turns up, which might be tomorrow or months away. If you want the card sold this month, that alone points to an auction.
How many people want this card?
A card plenty of collectors are hunting suits an auction, where they compete for it. A card only a few people want suits Buy It Now, where the listing waits for one of them. With an older card, remember that age alone does not make a Pokemon card valuable. Which card it is, its print run and its condition decide how many people want it.
A collection rarely falls neatly on one side. Most mixed collections have some cards that belong at auction and others that are better at a fixed price.
Auctions and Buy It Now at Lake Card Store
When you consign with us, the consignment form asks which route you want, auctions, Buy It Now, a mix of both, or not sure yet. Send us a mixed collection and we will tell you which cards belong where.
Our auctions run twice a month for ten days, one ending in the middle of the month and one at the end, and cards of any value can go in either. The end of month auction may also get extra promotion and visibility from eBay when it is available. If a card goes unsold or unpaid, it normally goes into a later auction, and if it fails to sell after several attempts we talk through the alternatives with you.
On Buy It Now you set the price, or we price it for you at £1 per item, and the card stays listed in our eBay store for up to three months. We may turn down a price that is plainly unrealistic and suggest an auction instead. If it has not sold after three months, you can keep it listed for another three months for £3 per item, move it into an auction at no charge for the move, or have it back for £3 per item plus postage.
The share you keep is the same either way, between 85% and 95% of the final sale price depending on what the card sells for. We pay the eBay fees, the buyer pays the postage, and sales under £50 carry a £3 handling fee per item. On our Standard rates a £500 sale pays you £440 whichever route it took, and the payout calculator works it out for any price. You can see what is listed at the moment in our eBay store.
So which sells a Pokemon card for more?
On the evidence, a fixed price usually does when the card's value is already clear and you can wait for the right buyer. An auction does the better job for a card in high demand, a fresh grade or anything without a clear price, and it sells on a known date. eBay is not the only option either, and for some cards a local shop or a Facebook group makes more sense. And if you have cards and are not sure which format suits them, tell Lake Card Store what you have and we will come back with the route we would use for each one.