posted on April 26, 2001 07:23:05 AM
Does anybody know if you can sell an item listed on ebay to the highest bidder if your auction closes with the reserve not being met?I am a bit confused on this one as I have had sellers contact me on a reserve item where I was high bidder, but reserve not met, offering the item to me at X number of $$$s.I have an item listed where I don't believe the reserve will be met, but would like to offer it to the highest bidder anyhow. Is this okay, or is it against ebay's rules? It cost me more than $4 to list it and I don't want to chance losing another $4. I'm not sure which way to go with this one re Ebay's rules and it not costing me more to relist.Thnx, anybody for info/advice/thoughts on this.aramatha
posted on April 26, 2001 07:48:25 AM
Sure you can. If the auction is over with no winner, you can do what you like. However keep in mind that this is a off ebay sale so you can not leave feedback.
Best that you only take a secure payment for your item. [postal money order]
posted on April 26, 2001 09:00:35 AM
You might want to think about what ebay has to say about this..it's from their Fee Avoidance section:
Fee avoidance - Circumventing eBay fees. Examples:
Using member contact information obtained from eBay or using any eBay feature to offer to sell any listed item outside of eBay
Canceling a listing to sell the item to anyone who contacted the seller through eBay, or became aware of the item through eBay
Ending a listing early to sell the item at a higher price to the winning bidder
Using member contact information obtained from eBay or using any eBay feature to offer to sell an item outside of eBay to any of your bidders in a Reserve Not Met listing
I added the bolding in the section which pertains most closely to your situation.
posted on April 26, 2001 10:14:55 AM
You see, ebay owns all of the information posted there by buyers and sellers. Their lawyers have worded the "fee avoidance" statement so cleverly that they make you belive you cannot use anyone's email address if you so much as saw it on ebay. And ebay has prevented you from contacting anyone except through their system, thereby forcing you to use an ebay feature to contact a buyer or seller. And fianlly, if you do sell "off ebay" they have cleverly NOT provided a way for you to send them the FVF, thereby preventing you from being honest.
Considering all of ebay's slimy tricks -- I have no problem making deals off ebay. I've done it as both buyer and seller.
And I have put my direct email address in all of my descriptions.
posted on April 26, 2001 10:18:50 AM
Seems that selling to the high bidder on a reserve-not-met auction isn't much different from selling to the second high bidder when the high bidder defaults. eBay may not like it because of the FVF thing, but you can always offer to let them take their cut if they ask. They've got your number (CC#), so to speak.
posted on April 26, 2001 12:01:54 PM
Thnx, everybody for the input/advice. I really appreciate it. The item ended $19 short of the reserve. Several wanted it..one person really bad with "shades" and 1 very good feedback.
If I could figure out how to relist it (at a lower price) without incurring the $4+ fee again and notify the bidders I was doing so, that's another choice I guess. But I have a hard time figuring out ebay's policies, rules and etc. They might not be the "double speak" of some insurance policies, legal documents, etc....but they might as well be.
The thingy was my grandmothers and is very unusual (no groaning here at the grandmother part), but I had an antique shop for 25+ years and it would go for more than 2 times my reserve around here. (Have retired and no longer have a shop).
Think I'll reread all the posts, factor in my costs that ebay already got from my listing it, do some math and make a decision.
Again thanks everybody, cause ebay's rules disturb my already old, boggled mind
According to your post, it looks like eBay doesn't want sellers to contact buyers in a "reserve not met" situation, but is there a prohibition when the buyer makes the original contact? In that situation, the seller is NOT attempting to avoid paying eBay's fees.
posted on April 26, 2001 01:47:23 PM
for the few who may be interested....
I received the email that ebay sends after an auction closes re my reserve auction. The reserve was not met, but the email contains both my email addy AND the highest bidder's email addy!
And the email from ebay also says "because the reserve price set by the seller was not met, the seller does not have to sell the item at this price".
Kinda sounds like we can if we want to tho, don't you think? I have run very few reserve auctions so this surprised me. It just seems that, once in awhile, it is cheaper to do it reserve than the actual price. Am I wrong on this? You do get the fee back if the reserve is met, so it would be a gamble fee-wise, tho.
Just thought this clarifies things a bit as far as being able to sell if we want to....what the heck..ebay has all those fees including one they keep when reserve is not met...so guess they don't care.
posted on April 26, 2001 03:27:09 PM
IMO, but I could be wrong, the least costly way to do this and keep everyone happy is:
1)List the item low.(cheapest listing fee)
2)Put in the reserve at $20 less than last time. (should be safe ~ no fee if met)
3)Use Buy It Now at the price the bidder has told you they would pay. (if they schtoop you, one of your other interested bidders will probably come through and buy it).
Selling it off of eBay is definitely fee avoidance. The "reserve fee" that you paid was for "hosting your auction", so to speak. It "replaces" what would have been FVF when the auction closed.
As a Heads Up ~ if "several others wanted it, one real bad", one of them may very well report you out of spite for not selling it to them.
*not pessimistic, just aware*
Good Luck!
posted on April 26, 2001 07:01:56 PM1)List the item low.(cheapest listing fee) 2)Put in the reserve at $20 less than last time. (should be safe ~ no fee if met)
If you use a reserve, you pay a listing fee based on the reserve price, not the opening bid.
posted on April 26, 2001 10:18:37 PM
thanks, all. This is HARD after selling offline for 25+ years. All I ever had to do was slap my price and code on something before. Even after a year and a half of this online stuff, it still boggles me. So much little detail, so many "rules", so much work for so little. Course previously it was storefront, this is auction. Guess I'll give my mind a rest on it for a day or two and then list it again. I HATE all this time-consuming detail. But had to retire from "outside" selling...sigh
The thing that really amazes me is something I normally would have tossed before, I put up for auction and it goes through the roof. Something really nice often goes low or not at all. It is two different worlds and I am not doing well in making the transition so really appreciate these boards, all the input and help.
posted on April 27, 2001 01:03:13 AM
Since eBay has long claimed in court cases that it is 'only a venue' for fee avoidance of heavy fines and court settlement costs, as I see it they have no right whatsoever to control interactions between users.
I keep my user name the same as my email address. And I gleefully accept offers outside of eBay. I also contact vendors via their web page links or 'about me' page to get better deals on most of the major items I have purchased lately.
posted on April 27, 2001 08:21:27 AM
<b>Great, snakebait</b>
You have just simplified my online selling life tremendously. I like your style...easy, straight, and right on... (like in "full speed ahead, damn the torpedoes).
And you are right! As soon as I read your post, I realized that any other way is time consuming and unnecessary.
These are our businesses (or hobbies, whatever each case may be) and we already pay plenty in fees.
The only problem I have and I want to do exactly everything you said, is changing my user name - aramatha - to my entire email addy. Too many know me by my user name when I do actually (and rarely) put up some of the stuff I sold "out here" in an antique shop. They jump right on my good old Amish dolls and stuff and some bid right away when they see my user name on these type items...many take it through the roof.
To be humbly honest, even if I did want to change my user name to my email addy....I don't know how.
I have a terrible time finding my way around ebay cause the place is so big. I have stuck simply to listing, buyer contact, etc. Everytime I try to find answers/directions over there (ebay), the search engines take me to everything <b>but</b> what I am asking. I am WebTv, not computer.
Thanks so much for your great post. I am going to adopt that policy and attitude immediately and simplify....ah, simplify at last..
posted on April 27, 2001 08:25:53 AM
re previous post...why don't the UBB thingys work for me? Left them there instead of editing cause maybe I am doing something wrong? Or maybe just because I am WebTv?
