posted on January 4, 2001 10:36:57 AM
I had an auction that I needed to end early. It had a reserve with 3 different bidders but the reserve had not been met. I cancelled each of their bids before I ended the auction. My question is:
Did I really have to cancel their bids before ending the auction since no bidder had met the reserve?
posted on January 4, 2001 10:39:11 AM
Unless the rules have been revised, yes, you did the right thing: one of the condition for closing auction is to contact all bidders fist.
posted on January 4, 2001 10:54:03 AM
In a reserve not met situation, there would be no high bidder, and therefore no winner of the item. So you did not need to cancel their bids first.
posted on January 4, 2001 11:05:11 AM
Hmm...they must have changed from back in 1998...Thanks, Glenda...Only had to do it once...
May be I mis-interptreted "contact" bidders with "cancel" bids... Gosh Shosh!
Here's what eBay says about canceling bids and ending auctions early:
"Cancelling Bids Placed in Your Auction.
You should only cancel bids if you have a good reason to. Also, please remember that bids cannot be reinstated once they've been canceled. Here are a few examples of a legitimate cancellation:
Bidder contacts you to back out of the bid.
You cannot verify the identity of the bidder, after trying all reasonable means of contact.
You want to end your auction early because you no longer want to sell your item. In this case you must cancel all bids on your auction before ending the auction.
Because your cancellation will be put in the bidding history for this auction, bidders may ask you to explain your cancellation. So, please include a one-line explanation of your cancellation for the official record."
"Ending Your Auction.
You can use this form if you want to end your auction early. But remember, lots of bidders wait until the very last minute to bid they're trying to avoid being outbid! so you may lose a potential buyer by ending your auction early.
If you are ending the auction because you no longer wish to sell your item, you must cancel all bids on your auction before it ends. If you do not do so, you are obligated to sell to the high bidder."
Glenda is probably right since the reserve price was not met BUT eBay does go out of it's way to stress canceling all bids before ending the auction.
posted on January 4, 2001 02:47:12 PM
Thanks, RB...
It was my second or third time on Ebay...and I entered starting bid of 1.00 for 1,200.00 piece! Had a heart attack when I saw it was up to 76.25 an hour later and I panicked because I did not yet understand I did NOT have to sell at the last bid price.. . Must say I got very, very fast help from Ebay, back in 1998...
Gosh Shosh!
