posted on June 25, 2001 08:24:45 AM new
an auction early? I ended an auction early this morning, for I felt it reached well abpve the price it usually sells for, and an hour later I get thsi email...
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Hello - Seller! This is not a fair thing to do by ending the auction sooner than
we were led. This creates problems. I am usually the person that bids on the
last few minutes. I am going to check with ebay's authorities the ethics of what
you've done. I hope you are following the rules of ebay's auction mission
statement.
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Huh, if it is wrong to end an auction early with the current higest bidder as the winner, then why did ebays put this feature??!! I surely dont want to get into trouble with safeharbour for this! What should I do?
posted on June 25, 2001 08:32:20 AM new
there's no telling how eBay will handle this unfortunate situation. Heck, they may kick you off eBay for capping their FVFs! I wish you luck!
P.S. Never feel guilty making as much profit as you can! It's a nice problem to have.
posted on June 25, 2001 08:36:03 AM new
Ebay will do nothing. If you want to give away money that is your business. Sell with the buy it now feature if you want to sell cheap.
posted on June 25, 2001 08:46:42 AM new
You have the right to end your auction at any time you wish, for whatever price you wish.
I have done this before, when I felt that the person bidding was attempting to overbid my item to keep others from bidding on it. Usually in this case, the bidder does not respond, and I end up filing the NBP and FVFC.
The person who emailed you has no recourse.
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posted on June 25, 2001 09:17:31 AM new
Tough call.
On the one hand, ending an auction early could be the action taken by a candya$$ seller who isn't getting the bids s/he thinks s/he should be getting and chickens out.
That's bad.
On the other hand, it could be an action taken by someone for the same reason you did. A bird in the hand is, after all, worth two in the bush
I would send a very polite email to that "late bidder" thanking him for the interest in your auctions and encouraging him to bid early next time.
posted on June 25, 2001 10:04:06 AM new
I think it is your auction and you have the right to end it no matter what the reason.
You shouldn't get in trouble from eBay.
On the other hand if it was already at/above what you were hoping for, then maybe it would of been nice to let it ride, of course the down side would be that a non-payer won in the last minute and the other high bidders have already bid elsewhere.
posted on June 25, 2001 10:20:06 AM new
Hi everyone, the reason I ended the auctions early was the bid was raised up by a bunch of bidders with 0 feedback, checked their bidding activites, they won many items in the past month, yet not a single positive. Then another 0 became the high bidder, he won somehting from me 2 weeks ago, still hasn't paid, and also this past week, I had many bidders with 0 feedbacks who hasnt even responded to my EOA emails (I swear this month has been a huge raise on deadbeats, mostly kids), so got me worried, then finally and I someone with a 300 plus feedback comes in this morning, didn't want the 0 coming back, rather do business with this bidder, and felt the price was right, so I closed it. And Emailed that bidder a email explaining why I closed it, so hopefully I wount get into trouble.
By the way, now that I thought about it, I wonder now if this winner with the 300 plus was bidding against himself to raise the price to my liking so I would close it?
[ edited by ironking on Jun 25, 2001 10:20 AM ]
posted on June 25, 2001 10:32:05 AM new
(my answers are still valid, but in light of your circumstances...which I found out after posting this, I agree with you)
Two answers:
1) If you end the auction early (cancelling all bids) to avoid paying final auction value fees, eBay will nuke you (they want yer money). If you end the auction with valid bids on the auction, you can do it anytime you want.
2) In terms of "ticking off" bidders: that's a more real concern. If you end an auction early when there were lots of bidders hoping to win it, you run the risk of making them mad at you.
While that isn't a big deal, DO REMEMBER that those high value late bidders are less likely to bid on your items in the future ("why bother looking? XYZ is just going to end it early anyway".
Essentially, it's real bad PR to end an auction early. Looks bad in many, many ways. The better the PR, the greater the # of bids.The more bids, the more money for you.
So the final answer is, as long as eBay gets their money, you're fine. But as for maximizing the profit potential from future auctions (or even this auction!), you may be taking a chance.
-m-k-b
[ edited by misterkbar on Jun 25, 2001 10:34 AM ]
posted on June 25, 2001 10:33:17 AM new
OH! THAT'S A HORSE OF A DIFFERENT COLOR!
You may very well have been the victim of shielding. You probably did the right thing. Just put that in the description when you cancel their bids and end the auction.
posted on June 25, 2001 11:28:14 AM new
lol, until i read your explanation, i was thinking, 'what could he be thinking?!'
you probably did do the right thing. and if you cancelled the bids first, you're 'ebay legit.' the would-be sniper's just annoyed he didn't get a chance to bid. but i agree with misterkbar about putting your reasons in the description so your other potential buyers won't think you're a seller who'll arbitrarily end auctions they're bidding on or watching. personally, i'd email the sniper back and tell him, too. never know, he might become one of your best customers!
.