eBay requests to end auction early

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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.

I have long contended that snipe bidders is a prime cause of auctions being ended early. Snipe bids are by definition covert, invisible to to all, and are intended to lower the final sell price. Even if they exist in an auction, the seller doesn't know they exist and can only see the current bidding which has been artificially suppressed by the snipe bids. Before snipe bids, the current bid showed the seller what was the interest in his lot, whether it was day 3 or day 5. Where on day three there might be bids from six different bidders before snipe bidding, with snipe bidding there may be 1 at the minimum or none on day six. With the latter, it is expected a seller will be more likely to entertain an offer as there are no concrete indications that there is or will be bidder interest in the lot, and he's experienced numerous auctions where snipe bids never materialized despite his high hopes.

As is often said, businesses hate uncertainty, and snipe bidding creates uncertainty for sellers. Whether right or wrong, ending auctions early removes this uncertainty and can be considered a natural and even expected business reaction.

It should also be noted that just several years ago, sniping was widely considered to be an unethical and unfair practice, in particular by bidders.

Also note that, as a seller, I don't end auctions early if is a bid on a lot. If there are no bids I will listen to an offer, but I've always considered it unfair to punish the people who have placed bids-- and unwise if you want them to place bids again. From a business standpoint, I never saw the positive in offending people who place bids in your auctions. If you feel a need to offend people, offend people who don't place bids in your auction.