Lately I have noticed on eBay that items with low starting bids just arent making sales. I have experimented with this and have come to the conclusion people are under the impression they get what they pay for. While in many cases this is true out there in the brick and mortar world, here on eBay it is just not the case. There are some wonderful reasons to begin auctions at 99 cents and there are drawbacks as of late. Below are the ups and downs and ins and outs of the 99 cent auction. The Good The Bad and The Ugly.

The Good:
1. Starting an auction at 99 cents keeps listing fees down. Currently an auction starting at 99 cents will cost 20 cents to list.
2. A low starting bid peaks interest from buyers to get them to click on your auction and take a look.
3. For buyers purchasing from sellers who do 99 cent auctions there are big savings here. Most of the time you will be getting something thats worth way more for practically next to nothing,  as long as the seller has good feedback, describes item well and willing to answer any and all questions.
4. To me starting at 99 cents makes it more like a true auction. Which in turn used to also start the good ole bid wars.
5. Once again back to fees. With 20 cents insertion fee you can afford to use gallery which is known to increase sales.

The Bad:
 As of late 99 cent auctions have not been seeing as many bids. I have experimented with this and found that it is not the item itself but the low starting bid that is hurting the auction. I have taken items as they close from auction that were listed for 99 cents and put them into my eBay store at the price I would like to get for them, with best offer also as an option of course. Many of these items do not sit long before being sold. Now these same items could have been purchased for 99 cents, say instead of 6.99 just a week, a couple days, or a couple hours earlier.
The only reason I can come up with for the decline in bids on 99 cent auctions is customers thinking "You get what you pay for". Which I must insist is not true in the auction world. Hundreds of items, possibly thousands go up every day for 99 cents or other low starting bid amounts and are looked over for possibly this reason. So in turn buyers are missing out on many out of this world deals.
To sum it up, and the reason I am writing this. To my fellow eBay sellers and buyers. Do not snub the 99 cent auction world, embrace it. Find an awesome deal that you can be amazed with and brag you only paid 99 cents.Sellers keep putting up those 99 cent auctions.  Bid, bid early start some bid wars that we all love so dearly.