Ending Ebay Auctions Early

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Posted By: Paul

I had a Buy It Now price on a card I listed on ebay. Two people have placed (very low) bids, and the Buy It Now Option is now gone. Someone has contacted me, offering to pay the Buy It Now price. He looks like a legitimate buyer. Is it considered scummy to end the auction early to sell to this buyer? Thanks.

Paul

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

My opinion is, if it is within a decent timeframe of being posting that you could go ahead and sell it to the person willing to pay the BIN. Most people that put in those early bids never rebid again and just kill the BIN.

Plus, then you don't have to pay all the ebay fees . This way Bill Cornell has less for his retirement fund.

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Posted By: jay behrens

You wouldn't be the first person to end an auction because of an offer. A lot of people don't like it, but it's a reality of the game. It's also a reality of the game that there are people known as BIN Killers. They bid soley for the reason of killing your BIN. Some of them do it for the hell of it. Others do it because they know that the BIN is realistic and they want to have a shot at getting card for less than the BIN without worrying about someone BINing it before the serious bidding begins.

Jay

I'm not afraid of death. I see something dead on my plate every time I sit down to eat.

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Posted By: Hal Lewis

Tell us which auction it is in case we plan to bid on it...

and then sell the card 24 hours later if nobody has.

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Posted By: Rhett

My opinion is just the opposite of Lee's. If other people have bid on the item, then by no means would I end an auction early. Several times on ebay this has happened to me where I have been bidding on an item, only to find out some slimy guy got the seller to end the auction early, usually at a fairly low price. Rest assured if someone is offering to buy an item off-line it is because he doesn't want to have compete for the final bid price. I am not saying it is always bad to end an item early, if nobody has bid on an item and you get a fair offer, go ahead, but once there has been a bid placed on an item, don't end the item early. There are several sellers that engage in this practice, and I personally have kept track, and will never buy from those seller again, and I know I'm not the only one who keeps track of these things. You would be doing yourself a disservice by ending your auction early.
-Rhett

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Posted By: dennis

i agree with rhett. i would never end it early for an offer.when this happens to me i tell the person to bid the buy it now price as their high bid,or simply watch the auction and bid.--PLAY BUY THE RULES--if you wanted something and this happend to you ,i'm sure you would not like it.that's about as bad as having a shill bidder,to get your price higher.

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Posted By: hankron

My rule for my auctions is that if there are no bids I can end it whenever I want, but if there's a single bid I don't. You can alienate good bidders by negating their bids. I think bidders want a fair chance to win the item they are interested in, even if the don't win. If the auction ends early like that it seems unfair.

Just my take, and am not telling others how they have to run their auctions.

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Posted By: Jeff O

If there are bids, I never end an auction early to sell to someone offline.

If there aren't bids and you want to accept someone's offer, you should add a BIN price (which you can do) and let then win it.

So many people want to sneak around paying eBay their fees, which I think is really lame. If you don't like eBay's fees, then don't use them.

Jeff

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Posted By: steve k

Make the decision based on two choices.

1. If you think this offer is higher than would be gotten if the auction played out...then take it.

2. If you think this offer is lower than would be gotten if the auction played out...then don't take it.

Forget about the "scummy" idea. You are following ebay rules which is that a seller is allowed to end an auction early. Unless you changed your mind about the value of the item, you were offered the BIN price so why not take it? I have never ended any of my auctions early only because the offers have always been lower than or roughly the same as what I expected the winning bid to be. If I received an "outstanding" offer from a legitimate buyer, I would end the auction in a heartbeat and so would virtually every other seller.

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Posted By: hankron

I should add that, when there are no bids, I never end an auction to sell it. The only reason I end it is because I decide to keep it. Some of the items I offer are from my personal collection (e.g. personal favorites), and if there is no expressed interest after five or so days, I sometimes figure I must be the only one who appreceates it. This is why bidders waiting until the last minute to place a bid on something that I am particularly fond of is not a wise idea-- because, if no one bids or otherwise expresses interest, I rererve my right to keep it!

Some times the biggest dissapointment is when someone does place a bid, as I realize that I didn't really want to sell it.

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Posted By: Paul

Thanks for all of your input. This is obviously something that there's a diversity of opinion on. I'm not sure what I'll do, but I'll probably let the auction run its course.

To answer Hal's question, it's the Kalamazoo Bat of Bastian and Lyons.

Regarding playing by the rules, I definitely want to. That's why I posted my question. I'm just trying to figure out what the rules are.

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Posted By: Joe P.

The topic is whether it is considered slimy to end an auction AFTER it has bids on it.

Whether to post a BIN or not, is a sellers prerogative.

Going for the BIN or not, is the buyers prerogative.
I'm sorry, where I come from to change the rules while in mid stream - is considered shady.
If one is not happy with their presentation, change the approach the next time.

Rhett and Dennis, I'm with you.
I also keep a list of the obvious auction enders.
I will not waste my time looking at any of their future offerings.

A deal is a deal.
Always win and lose like a man.
Besides, you never know what the final bid will be.

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Posted By: Judge Dred

Paul,

You can always "protect the investment" by placing a reserve on the item. This does two things:

1) The BIN price will remain established until the reserve is met.

2) Discourage bidders because lots of people don't like reserves.

You had a BIN price of $225 on the card in question. You could have put a reserve on the card of lets say $150 and have the BIN at $225 and let everyone know that the reserve is $150. At that point the only person that could kill the BIN is a serious buyer. The next thought is that a sniper at the end could pick it up for $150. This is a chance you take but at least you'll know you're getting a minimum amount for it.

When I see an item with a BIN that is too high (my opinion) I will try and let it go for a few hours (at least) to allow someone else to grab the item. I'll do this unless I smell a bargain in the making. Believe me, this has backfired more times than not.

Ending auctions early might turn off a lot of potential bidders in future auctions because they wont know if you're going to do it again. Not many people like wasting time bidding on stuff that's potentially not going to be available at the end of the auction.

I guess it's one of those choices you have to make. There are people that posted that they don't care if an auction ends early and then there are those that will peg you as someone to avoid in future auctions. It's those potential bidders that just might give your items some serious action at the end of the auctions (if they haven't been alienated).

I'm pretty sure their are people out there that wouldn't mind having this card even though the ad has been trimmed off. We'll find out in about 6 days if you made the right decision (unless you pull the card from being sold).

Good Luck!!!

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Posted By: tbob

As a guy who has sold many, many cards on ebay, I've never ended one of my auctions early. On the flip side, I have asked to have other auctions ended early, especially when there are no bids yet. Some do, some don't. Almost without fail it is because it is a particularly tough card for me to find. I almost always offer about what I think the card is worth vis a vis book value, often more if it is a card I really need like a violet E94 or a 150 series subset 1910 Obak. I don't see a problem with this practice because ebay allows sellers to end auctions early, pull cards which aren't getting the bid the seller wants, etc.
Twice I have struck a deal on a really tough card, only to have someone squirrel the deal by haranguing the seller (one case blackmailing him) to relist the card and not sell it early. The first time, I eventually got the card anyway when I won it in a Sloate auction after it passed through at least 2 hands and the 2nd time, recently, I now feel that I was probably saved a lot of money because the card is a fake.
Just my 2 cents and notice I didn't even mention the fact that several other posters here do the same thing and I do this as often as not to keep from having a card pulled out from under me. Ooops, I just did mention it

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

Just for the record I have never ended and auction early that had a bid on it. I laugh at most of the off site offers, i recently turned down a guy that offered me my minimum bid to end early (got a big laugh out of that) and gave me a very fair offer for 2 other cards, but that first offer really turned me sour to anything this guy offered and told him if he was interested to bid in the auctions. By the way nnone of the cards had a bid.
As far as reserved pricing I have never used it as a seller, I feel it is too expensive. I also feel that posting the reserve is just foolish, why not just start the auction at the reserve? As a buyer I rarely bid on them if the reserve has not been met, I feel too many times they are a waste of time.

The bottom line for me is that I personally do not like the practice but it is used on ebay like it or not. I am not a big fan of the practice, but I have never found a card I just had to have to and make an offer off line.

One question for you that have your black books, How do you know that the seller is actually selling the card offline and does not have a legitimate excuse? This is no knock to your practice, just curious? I also have a black list of sellers I will not bid with. I even have one guy that has me on his blocked list after I returned a trimmed T206 back to him, I guess he didn't like guys that knew what they were dealing with. Heck it saved me spending more money with him.

Be Good

Lee

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Posted By: 30sNonsports

Personally I have never ended an auction early and don't plan to. I do understand the reasons set forth in favor of the practice but I think the cons of doing it outweigh the pros. The practice does cause a problem for all bidders, though. I rarely, if ever, bid early on an item. If I see something I like, I set my esnipe to come in just before the end. The reason is that if I didn't snipe the other collectors of my genre (vintage nonsports cards) would just use me as one of their bird dogs to find things without searching. In my area of collecting, there are a number of folks who search all day long and put in bids immediately on items in which they are interested. Other collectors make a daily scan of their bidding page just to make sure they haven't missed something good. Sellers who end an auction early because "they're not getting the bids they want" might miss a bonanza as two heavy hitters would be sniping against each other at the end. Knowedgeable sellers are less vulnerable to this as they know about what the going rate for their product is and can make an informed choice to end their auction...its the amateur sellers who fall prey to this whole situation, as they happily pull an auction for lowball amounts. They think a $1000 card is worth $5 and are happy to get $50 for it.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

When someone on this board wants the item and makes you an offer, esp. if the item is not yet bid upon.

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Posted By: Joe P.

You are right on target about some heavy hitters coming in at the last second for something they kinda like.
If you've got something that you know is marketable to a knowledgeable buyer, you've gotta go with it.

The banana backbone sellers will seldom get the feeling of making a big score.
That's why I make a list of the auction pullers.

Stay well 30sNonsports.

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Posted By: Tom Boblitt

with ending an auction early if there has been no one bidding or only one bidder and that person is the person wanting you to end the auction early. Granted there may be 'watchers' but if they don't have the cohones to bid early on it then they have no claim to the auction. But....that's another way to monitor the auction. The new 'My eBay' page gives you number of watchers as a seller. Thats a decent gauge of how many people are interested.

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Posted By: jay behrens

I really love the fact that they added that feature so you can see just how many people really are interested in what you are selling. Gives you a whole new insight into the process.

Jay

I saw wierd stuff in that place last night. Wierd, strange, sick, twisted, eerie, godless, evil stuff. And I want in.

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Posted By: Judge Dred

Paul,

I hope your threshold of pain wasn't tested with the end of the auction for the card in question. I think you did the right thing!

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Posted By: pstewart@kmob.com

Well, I stuck it out and sold the card for $150, rather than my BIN of $220. Looks like the consensus here is that I did the right thing. Still, $150 is better than leaving a card lying in a drawer unappreciated.

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Posted By: Ed McCollum

I know my high bid would never win, but last evening, (Central time) I placed a bid on a green back Cobb. Got the confirmation at 12:38A (eastern time).

Then this morning, at 11:37A (central time), I get a notice that my bid was cancelled. I go to the page for the explanation and it says there were no bids, and auction ended early.

Is this what usually happens when someone doesn't let the auction play out?


Item 280041686835 : T-206 Ty Cobb Green

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Posted By: JK

Ed,

The reason given for the cancellation was that there was an error in the listing. This could mean that the item was sold offline or it could simply be an error and you may see the card relisted. My guess, it was probably sold. You can always email the seller and ask if he plans to relist.

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Posted By: warshawlaw

I've rarely if ever asked a seller to end an item early but I find myself doing it routinely now as a consequence of there being more and more people who troll the listings looking for naive sellers and offering them fractions of the value of their items to end auctions. When I see something I really want, I have no remaining compunctions about offering the seller a decent price for it to end the auction. If I get the item, great. If not, then at the very least, when one of those bottom feeders comes along the seller won't end the auction and give him a steal. Sometimes it works out even better than I hoped. I recently sent a seller an offer on an item that I felt was fair market value just to alert him to the fact that the item was valuable. He did not end the item for me and I got it at auction for less than my offer and well under my highest bid price.

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Posted By: James Gallo

Although many of the people that responded think Paul did the "right" thing is really hurt him greatly by losing out on an additional $70.

I generally agree with Jay that most of the people who bid early aren't really serious bidders and generally just kill the BIN.

This is why I just use a higher starting price and a BIN. This way once there is a bid I know the item is sold for my minium price, but it still gives a chance for someone to hit the BIN as it won't vanish when some no name puts in a .99 bid.

I have seen WAY too many people bid on things just to track them or because they have one and what to see what it goes for.

The Watching feature is nice to have but this is also not a true indicator of interest as many people watch things to see what they go for. I do this on a lot of auctions especially cracker jacks which I track a great deal. Most of these I have no intention of bidding on but I am tracking price trends.

I think it really needs to be looked at on a case by case basis.
If there was one guy that bid .99 a hour into the auction but another guy wanted the card for the BIN I don't think it is wrong to end it. It is also ok by the ebay rules.

The seller of an item has ultimate control over it.
What if you had a card on ebay and in your online store website. Someone contacts you to buy the card off your website but it got a .99 bid on ebay. Should you tell this buyer he has to go onto ebay now and fight for the card??

I see both sides and 99% of the time I don't end auctions early, but if it is an item that I know the market on and I got a really good real offer, I would certainly consider it. That being said most of the time the offers are so low this isn't an issue.

Also most of the stuff I sell isn't Baseball cards and isn't as rare so if someone was watching it and it was sold offline it would not be hard for them to locate another one.

I guess it really is a case by case basis as well as what the item is. I have made a few offers on cards and I don't think I have ever had one accepted. The last card I won for $50 less then I offered but you just don't know until the very last second of the auction as everyone snipes these days.

I guess letting an auction ride is as good a gamble as any other.

James Gallo

Looking for 1915 Cracker Jacks and 1909-11 American Caramel E90-1.

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Posted By: Brent Butcher

An unsuspecting seller listed some very scarce caramel boxing cards(e78's) recently on Ebay. He had them listed incorrectly so I knew he would be receiving some lowball offers. I emailed him and told him what he had and that I would be bidding very aggressively on them so please don't end them early(I would of made an offer myself but there were already a few bids). Next day he ends the auctions and this is where it gets interesting.....

Later that day I get a phone call from a guy I've bought some caramel boxing cards from in the past and he knows I collect e78's and pay strong prices for them. He told me a guy from a magazine contacted him and he paid $200/card and wanted to know if I was interested in them. He sent me scans and they were the same cards! Now, do I pay him what I was willing to pay on Ebay, offer him a finder's fee or just forget the whole deal? This guy's sole purpose was to pick them up with a lowball offer and then flip them to make a quick buck off of me....he then ticked me off further by submitting them to psa to use the grades as leverage for more money.

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Posted By: leon

If you want the cards and they are very rare then you should buy them first, if you get them at a price you are happy with, of course. After you have them in hand tell him you know what went on and how you feel. Be respectful and polite ........then see what happens. There are many good ways to handle this but taking the high road us usually a good one....This is taken from experience...but not everyone sees it this way..imo..

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Posted By: JK

if you decline and try to buy them on ebay when they are inevitably relisted, will they likely cost you more or less than the offer? If less, make the guy list them and take your chances on ebay. If more, and you really want the cards, then buy them.

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Posted By: davidcycleback

My opinion is that lots ending early is due to collectors' fault as much as seller.
The reason that sellers end auctions early is often because bidders don't bid early but
place snipe bids. When a seller consistantly sees little to no bidding early on
in auctions of expensive material, he or she is more likely to end the auction
early for fear the item won't sell well. On the other hand, if there is healthy
bidding in the first few days (as there used to be), the seller is much less
likely to end the auction as he or she sees that there's good bidding going on.

So, it is my opinion that the popular 'save bid for last second so I can get the cheapest
price possible from the dealer,' is a major cause of early endings that these
same bidders protest against.

It should be noted that only a few years ago snipe bidding was considered unethical
by most collectors. At that time, most collectors would consider it sweet justice
that an auction ended before a sniper's bid kicked in.

My opinion is that a straight auction should not be ended in there is
one or more bids placed. In particular, as eBay and other forums allow you to
offer it for sale at a fixed or 'best offer' price.

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Posted By: Sean

The green T206 Cobb is back:
http://cgi.ebay.com/T-206-Ty-Cobb-Green-Portrait-Detroit-SCARCE_W0QQitemZ280041921434QQihZ018QQcategoryZ868 41QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item2 80041921434

Sean BH

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Posted By: warshawlaw

The problem with entering an early bid at a high level is that the ebay system doesn't allow absolute bids. I can enter $1,000 but if the minimum is $9.99 and no one else bids, my bid registers at $9.99.

I wish there was some effective way to stop the auction-ending bottom feeder, but there isn't, other than letting the seller know what they have via a serious cash offer that a bottom feeder won't be able to compete with. Next time something rare comes up I guarantee you I am going to offer hard cash right out of the gate at a level that would ensure that the item either gets sold to me or remains on line when a bottom feeder emerges out of the muck to try and rip off the seller.

And totally OT, what a great game Carpenter pitched last night!

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Explain to the sellers that most offers to end the auction early are because
the buyer feels his offer is lower than what the winning bid will be. Rarely will
he make an offer equal or higher than what he thinks will be the final bid.

However, as I noted, a non baseball card person will often take the low ball offer
as there is little to no bidding in his action early on an he worries it will
end up selling for much less than the offer. Perhaps 200 snipe bids have been
placed, but sellers have no idea how many, if any, snipes are placed-- and, by their
nature, snipes and snipers are secrative from both seller and other collectors.

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Posted By: Larry

david cycle back is so right........sniping has created early ending auctions more than anything else.

Sniping used to be considered as unethical, now it is fashionable, the trend unfortunately is unexperienced sellers are seeing a lack of action early, I still believe e bay should offer a 2-3 minute extended bidding option at a small fee(for those worried that e bay is getting cheated with their fees!) only for those that placed a bid at some point, they would get the chance to this extended bidding time, legit collectors would have a good chance, sniping would be a thing of the past, and everyone would benefit except for those that are bargain hunters. Major auctions all do this and it is fair for those that participated during the course.

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Posted By: Joann

Brent,

If you really want the cards and can get them at a price you consider fair, I'd buy them. Then I'd forward the correspondence in which you bought the cards to the original ebay seller so he can see not only what he missed, but what his early offeror did by lowballing him.

It won't make a difference, and the seller might not care. But I'd get at least a little satisfaction from knowing that I maybe had him kicking himself a little bit.

Just my b!tchy two cents worth tonite!

Joann

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Posted By: Cobby33

I haven't had the time to read every post, so forgive me if I'm being redundant - but - you can avoid the BIN disappearing if you set a reserve. This, I know, doesn't answer the question and probably states the obvious, but I have been known as Master of the Obvious.

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Posted By: andy becker

joann,
i hope i'm on your good side....

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Posted By: martindl

Cobby,
I'm sure I can read Ebay help, etc. and find out the answer but does the BIN dissapear when the reserve is met or does it stay up?

If it stays then would a way around the issue be to list a card with say a $9.99 reserve and a BIN of $350? That way the BIN stays for the duration and BIN killers would be out of business.

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Posted By: JK

the bin only stays until the reserve is hit - then it disappears.

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Posted By: Cobby33

...true...which typically creates a quagmire (quandary or conundrum if you prefer), for both buyers and seller.