asked to name buy it now price?!

Hintza

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

Personally, I wouldn't do this if there are other watchers, because I think it's a bit unfair on potential buyers,

Why is it unfair? They are watchers and have not participated yet in your auction, if they had then there would not be a BIN as the first bid would remove it. In my experience watchers are lurking hoping to get a cheap bargain (at your expense). At least with a carefully priced BIN potential buyers are forced to act one way or the other either bid or take out the BIN.

That is why starting an auction at 99p and having a BIN of £50 is a waste of time and money (6p). I start all auctions at the minimum I will accept and have a sexy BIN at around the maximum I expect the item to achieve. OK on the odd occasion I lose out but it keeps me from having heart failure and stops idle thoughts of shilling creeping into my selling strategies!!

masonic

Hintza wrote:

sexy BIN

:rotfl: Nicely put!

richto

gizmoleeds wrote:

Check the person is not in Nigeria if the item is of value, and make sure they are willing to pay through a respectable payment method (e.g. paypal).

Paypal is the worst possible payment method if you are in doubt about the buyer.

silvercar

Anyone offering you to BIN probably wants to sell a similar item. wants you to remove the item, then "won't have money available yet" or "the cheques in the post" etc while they list their item.
Either that or they think they can get it cheap.

gizmoleeds

richto wrote:

Paypal is the worst possible payment method if you are in doubt about the buyer.

Sorry - my bad. I was implying as opposed to a fake payment method as I didn't know how experienced an ebayer the OP was.

Contains_Mild_Peril

Hintza wrote:

Why is it unfair? They are watchers and have not participated yet in your auction, if they had then there would not be a BIN as the first bid would remove it. In my experience watchers are lurking hoping to get a cheap bargain (at your expense). At least with a carefully priced BIN potential buyers are forced to act one way or the other either bid or take out the BIN.

That is why starting an auction at 99p and having a BIN of £50 is a waste of time and money (6p). I start all auctions at the minimum I will accept and have a sexy BIN at around the maximum I expect the item to achieve. OK on the odd occasion I lose out but it keeps me from having heart failure and stops idle thoughts of shilling creeping into my selling strategies!!

I have absolutely no problem with sellers offering BIN when they list an auction, but to do so later in order to sell the item before most of the potential buyers find out you've added BIN is slightly nasty. Though it's not a perfect analogy, I think of it as a bit like a shop advertising a special offer then suddenly withdrawing it. When I buy at eBay auctions, I often watch for a while before bidding. This is normal. Yes, the aim is to get the item as cheaply as possible: that's the way it works. Unfortunately the identities of watchers are not available to sellers, so we can't warn them if an item is to end early. Weaver, I take your point about watchers often being potential sellers trying to ascertain the value of their similar items, but with 7 watchers it's reasonable to assume that at least some are potential buyers. I think usually about half of watchers are potential customers.

Hintza

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

I have absolutely no problem with sellers offering BIN when they list an auction, but to do so later in order to sell the item before most of the potential buyers find out you've added BIN is slightly nasty. Though it's not a perfect analogy, I think of it as a bit like a shop advertising a special offer then suddenly withdrawing it. When I buy at eBay auctions, I often watch for a while before bidding. This is normal. Yes, the aim is to get the item as cheaply as possible: that's the way it works. Unfortunately the identities of watchers are not available to sellers, so we can't warn them if an item is to end early. Weaver, I take your point about watchers often being potential sellers trying to ascertain the value of their similar items, but with 7 watchers it's reasonable to assume that at least some are potential buyers. I think usually about half of watchers are potential customers.

A bird in the hand etc........