posted on March 10, 2004 09:40:56 AM new
I put an auction on my watch list just out of curiosity to see if they sold it. It was some beautiful china with a starting price of $8999.99 with a BIN of $9999.99. It is new old, never used and discontinued pattern. This is the thing. I go to my watch list today and see this strange auction that I don't remember putting on my watch list. I click on it and the photo in the upper left hand corner is the china but the auction is now for a tiny china coffeepot brooch starting at $9.99.
The auction has less than 2 days to go so did they change it so the fee would be discounted? I remember a thread here saying that some have lowered the price on their listing since it didn't have any bids and the fee was reduced. I haven't heard of someone changing the item listed AND the price. It is legal to lower the price on the same item but change the item??? Why else would someone do such a weird thing. They need to change the gallery photo though.
posted on March 10, 2004 09:49:23 AM newThe auction has less than 2 days to go so did they change it so the fee would be discounted?
Yes. You've hit it exactly.
It is legal to lower the price on the same item but change the item???
By which I think you mean, is it within eBay's rules.
As far as I know, yes. And they give you the capability to change both description and price, so they must know people will do it. If it is sufficiently abused, eBay will put a stop to it, never fear.
Note that one of the reasons cited by major retailers for no longer listing their items on eBay is that they had to pay a (listing) fee whether or not the item sold. They probably would have liked to pay much less on the front end but more on the back. But eBay doesn't discount fees for anyone.
posted on March 10, 2004 10:09:11 AM new
If you check "revisions" on the auction you will see that it's changed from the dinnerware to the china brooch. The seller changed the following:
Category
Description
Buy It Now Price
Title
Minimum Bid Price
Details
Item Specifics:
Underneath that are the eBay rules.
The seller may make revisions at any time during the listing period. Please take note of the following:
If the seller's item has received NO bids or sales and does not end within 12 hours, the seller can:
Revise anything in their listing except the selling format (for example, the seller can't change their auction item to an eBay Stores item).
posted on March 10, 2004 12:17:15 PM new
It's good to know this information if you find you made a mistake a few days into the auction. I did this recently with a teapot I had listed but I had not put the word teapot in my listing ANYWHERE and it was listed under enamelware or something like that. So I drop the price to 9.99 and then ended the auction. Corrected my error and relisted at the original price. This saved me some on listing fees and got the intention the item deserved in the first few days.
