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#1
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: David R
I posted a couple of 7-day auctions on eBay and have received multiple requests from folks either (1) asking to buy the items and end the auction early or (2) post a "buy it now" price so that they can just buy the items. Any advice on what to do here? Ending the auction early feels inappropriate. |
#2
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Bobby Binder
That is the way of eBay very slow at first and the last day is when everything starts moving. Especially the last hour and even the last minute. Just feel safe knowing that these people want what you have and they will be bidding for it at the end. Stay the course and you will end up with a lot more then if you sell early. |
#3
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: rrrowe
David R.... |
#4
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: David R
Thanks for the advice. I sent them all responses saying that I felt uncomfortable ending the auctions early because there were many "watchers" and I didn't think it was fair now that I posted the items without a BIN or best offer. I wished them good luck and encouraged them to bid. They were pretty careful in the way they worded their messages. They asked me to tell them my price, then edit the auctions to add a BIN at that price, and they would then buy it that way and pay right away with PayPal. |
#5
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: davidcycleback
Say, "Ending the auction early is against eBay's rules. If you place a strong bid, I won't report you." |
#6
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Eric B
I'd be interested to know how this ended up. While everyone says they get a lot more when the auctions run to the end, I've heard many times that's not the case. |
#7
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Brad Green
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#8
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: barrysloate
I occasionally get specific cash offers to end an auction early, and typically the lots end up selling for at least double those offers. I have heard stories of people turning down large offers and realizing considerably less, but that is rare. |
#9
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Matt
I make several offers daily to ebay sellers. There is nothing against ebay policy about agreeing to a "buy it now" with a seller and having it posted; In fact, ebay encourages that - it gets them their fees faster. However, if I offered to buy something already listed off of ebay so that the seller can save the ebay fees, then that would be against ebay policy. |
#10
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: T206Collector
The unfortunate reality is that if you don't make a pre-emptive offer to the seller, you might be leaving yourself open to not acquiring the card if an enterprising bidder gets to the seller first. On one of a kind items, it makes sense to let the seller know how much the card is worth to you. That way, if he sells before the auction ends, it is likely that somebody offered more than the card was worth to you. |
#11
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Dan Bretta
I have left money on the table by not taking someone's offer and have turned down offers in the past when they were obviously too low. I have also asked people to end auctions early on a few occasions and nobody has ever ended one early for me....in at least two of those cases I got the item for hundreds of dollars less than I offered. I almost contemplated offering a lady $300 for a Nebraska Indians cabinet on ebay a few weeks ago, but decided to let it run because it was listed in an obscure category with a horrible title. I got the cabinet for $60. I don't think any of this makes me unethical, I think it puts me on level ground with how the market on ebay works. I have at least one or two items per week in my watchlist that end early...you have to play the game. |
#12
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Shanon Ping
I believe that you have handled it well, as for me there have been times in the past when I am watching an item and for various reasons missed bidding on it, then the auction ended with no bids or reserve not met. I have contacted the seller at that point and requested a price to buy outright. Some have sold without relisting and one or two have relisted with a BIN and I bought. |
#13
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: JK
"Your not alone, morally and ethically challenged individuals making offers is a dilemma faced by many sellers on ebay daily." |
#14
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Anonymous
Even if it is against the rules I wouldn't report anyone who asks you to end an auction early. It is, at worst, a minor transgression. In fact, many net54 members have admitted on this thread and in the past that they have done this. Others have been on the other end, agreeing to end auctions early. By reporting ebay buyers for this your only accomplishment might be to alienate people who are part of your customer base. |
#15
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Al C.risafulli
T206 Collector spake thusly: |
#16
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Jason L
there's alot of long posts here and I am impatient today. |
#17
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: davidcycleback
If there are 'multiple requests' to end an auction early, there likely will be good bidding on the lot. However, there are auctions that go to the end that tank with zero snipe bidders, the lot goes for the minimum or does not sell and the seller loses a good amount of money. After having this happen numerous times, I'm sure many eBay sellers are more focused on avoiding these clunkers than winning the big prize-- and this may be a prime cause for people taking what they believe are fair offers. For a regular seller, the problem with snipe bidders in an active auction, and all the magical potential riches they represent, is it's impossible for the seller to know if they exist and, from past experience, he knows they often don't. |
#18
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: boxingcardman
except about not offering a price. When I contact, I always offer a price to show that I am deadly serious about buying the card. |
#19
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Jeff Prizner
Not only is it a form of subtle fraud against eBay, it is against ebay rules to use eBay's "Contact Buyer" email system for the purpose of interfering in an active auction for the reasons you mentioned. |
#20
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: davidcycleback
It's immaterial how much eBay makes. It is fair for eBay to expect compensation from those who are using their site for personal financial gain. Just as it is fair for even Wal-Mart to expect people to pay for the products they take from the store. Wal-Mart is a goods and products company, eBay is a service company. |
#21
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: rrrowe
David R- |
#22
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Jeff Prizner
I bet you're fun at parties. |
#23
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: JK
Sure sounds like you and your brother are tight. |
#24
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: sagard
Nobody else is looking for your best interests, not Ebay, not the person making the offer, not the snipers. Therefore you have to do what is best for you and live with your decision. |
#25
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Bob
If an item pops up on ebay which is a card needed for set completion or one which is nearly impossible to find, an email to the seller asking if he would consider selling the item (not mentioning an offered price) lets the buyer know if the seller might be willing to sell to someone and end the auction early, so it is useful to get a response that "sorry, I am going to let it run its course." That way you can relax (usually) and enter your sniper bid without fear of the card disappearing. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. |
#26
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: David Goff
Hey David |
#27
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: boxingcardman
that Ebay defends itself from claims that it should police the transactions on the site by claiming that it is just a middleman with no control over anything yet has all these rules controlling the auctions on its site? |
#28
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Matt
Just to clarify 'rrowe' is mistaken - there is nothing against ebay's rules about asking the seller to post a 'buy it now' at an agreed to price. In fact, ebay would even prefer this as they get their fees faster. |
#29
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Anonymous
I've always felt it would behoove ebay to institute something similar to the bigger card auctions in their rules. Not to have the "never ending auction", but to require people to place a bid before say 10 minutes of the close of the auction, to be able to bid in the last 10 minutes. |
#30
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: JK
Matt, |
#31
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: rrrowe
There is a much larger picture here than just contacting a seller to change an on-going auction to a "Buy It Now" for purposes of one's personal gain. |
#32
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Matt
I've already addressed most of your silliness earlier. |
#33
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Cobby33
There is absolutely nothing wrong with ending auctions early on eBay. If there was, eBay would not have this feature (which they do). It's really that simple. |
#34
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: leon
I don't need to go to my contact at ebay to interpret the rules. They are self explanatory. Ebay says that you can accept an offer of an ongoing auction, put a buy it now up, and let that person buy it. I wish it weren't that way too but it's not unethical at all. It's the rule. Circumventing ebay fees (a million people have) in taking an auction off line completely, is unethical in that ebay won't get it's fees that are due. regards |
#35
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: JimCrandell
I guess I am a "morally and ethically challenged" individual as I do this often. As Al said part of it is defensive as I feel everyone does it but part is playing offense. |
#36
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: barrysloate
Jim- why not simply bid? Is it that big a deal? You may even win the lot for less than you expected. |
#37
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: sagard
I don't want to speak for Jim, but it is frustrating to make the big bid and know you are going to be the underbidder. On certain cards it is futile to try and be the high bidder because the person you are bidding against doesn't care one bit about money. Basically at times you simply function as a shill for the seller even though there is no colluding going on. |
#38
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: barrysloate
So then by making an offer lower than what the item is likely to sell for you are prepared to cheat the seller out of his full share. I know occasionally a seller makes a mistake when he turns down an offer, but in nearly every case the offer is well below what the item is worth, and the person who makes it knows it. Isn't a seller entitled to as much as the market will bear? |
#39
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Jeff Lichtman
Barry, who is putting a gun to the seller's head? |
#40
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Matt
barry the whole point is no one knows what the market will bear - I've had many cases where my offer is turned down and the item ends for less. According to your logic, denying the seller the ability to end the auction early is denying him the ability to get the most for his card. As long as the seller has the free choice to take the offer or not, I don't see what the problem is. |
#41
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Rick McQuillan
Out of hundreds of ebay sales I have only ended one auction early. Most of the time the offers that I receive are much less than I think I can get by letting the auction run it's course. The one time that I did end an auction early I was offered an extremely good price which was much higher than I had anticipated. I still didn't feel right about it, but if the offer is well over the ending prices for recent sales, and well over book price, and well over the price that I paid for the card, it may make sense to accept the offer. |
#42
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: barrysloate
Okay- here's what I think about these early offers: |
#43
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Steve Murray
Punctuation added ( ). |
#44
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Matt
barry - it's not that ethics don't exist in cyberspace, but there's a major difference between the little old lady who comes into your card shop and the ebay examples. When that woman walks into your card shop, it's pretty much a given that she will sell you the card. You're not competing with anyone else and she isn't negotiating with anyone else. On ebay, once the listing is posted, it's public for the whole world to see; anyone who wants can shoot the seller an email with an offer. The seller has already posted the listing on ebay and it will cost her nothing to keep it there. |
#45
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: JK
So Barry, |
#46
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: barrysloate
Josh- I agree many of the sellers on ebay make stupid decisions by closing lots early. As I always say, what would it take to just wait a few more days to see how it all ends up. |
#47
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Matt
"I think the main reason anybody asks a seller to close an auction early is he knows he will have to pay a lot more for the item, if he wins it at all, if the auction runs its course." |
#48
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: barrysloate
Matt- now that's a fair point, if both the buyer and seller are equally versed in the marketplace. But when an advanced collector makes an offer to someone who just cleaned out the attic and found his grandmother's paisley shawl, then the buyer has a big advantage. |
#49
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: Matt
Barry - now you come to Josh's point. If a seller already listed something on ebay and takes it upon himself to end his auction and accept a price without doing any research, that's on him. He already listed the item, so if he doesn't know anything he should let it run. |
#50
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eBay requests to end auction early
Posted By: barrysloate
I can't account for why a seller who knows absolutely nothing about the item he is selling would be willing to accept any offers at all. If he waits three or four more days the market will dictate the value of it, something he doesn't have the skill to do. But there must be some psychology at work. Perhaps the seller is nervous about ebay and doesn't have much experience selling anything. I just don't know. |
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