[raulus]

To answer some of your original questions, when I sell on eBay using buy it now but accepting offers, I almost always get offers. Usually I will set a minimum offer price, just so the lowball jokers are automatically rejected.

And when I sell on eBay using buy it now but no offers, I tend to get offers too. They just use the “ask a question” feature and make me an offer.

To somewhat refute my earlier remarks, I will also say that sometimes auctions bring out the animal spirits in buyers. They get into the action. The competition drives them. They get competitive with the other hoser bidding against them, and refuse to lose to that other tosser. Through the process, they get emotionally attached to the item. They get drunk the night of the auction. Next thing they know, they wake up in the morning and they’ve spent twice what you would have accepted with buy it now.

Similarly, you might post the same item with buy it now, and it will just sit. A few people will think about it. But there’s no urgency. There’s no competition. So it just sits, until someone decides to pull the trigger. For whatever reason, some buyers even eliminate buy it now items from their eBay searches, so they never even see your rare items.

By way of example, back in 2021, an item I really wanted came up for $3k on eBay using buy it now. It was a retail price but not crazy. I tried to get cute by making an offer at $2.5k. It was only pop 2 at that grade, with none higher. My offer caused the seller to do a little more research on the item, the seller realized how rare it was, and took it off the market. A couple months later it went up to auction. I got it, but ended up paying $9k for it.