Buyer wants to 'Buy it now'

s4cha

Im selling an item on ebay for the first time. I have 2 bids on the item already, but have received an email from someone who would like to buy it now as they need it for saturday.

My first question is:

1. Can I end the auction before its due to end? Is this against ebay rules?
2. Is it reasonable to sell it for the same amount i paid for it? (I originally paid about £9 incl p&p) I dont want to rip the buyer off but obviously a small profit would be nice.

Btw the proposed buyer hasn't placed a bid yet.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Sacha

wigginsmum

When I used Ebay, I always refused to end auctions early; it would be particularly unfair on your current bidders. I believe it's actually against the rules to do it anyway. If the person wants your item so badly, let them bid for it and wait for delivery. Usually when people ask you to end an auction early they're trying to get an item at a low price without the hassle of bidding against other people and seeing the price rise with the competition. You might well end up with less profit that way.

If you do close your auction early for a fake reason and they then decide they don't want to buy it outside the Ebay system then you've lost your fees and are back at square one as well as having broken the Ebay rules. Let the auction ride - you could be in for a pleasant surprise pricewise.

darktrader

s4cha wrote:

Im selling an item on ebay for the first time. I have 2 bids on the item already, but have received an email from someone who would like to buy it now as they need it for saturday.

My first question is:

1. Can I end the auction before its due to end? Is this against ebay rules?
2. Is it reasonable to sell it for the same amount i paid for it? (I originally paid about £9 incl p&p) I dont want to rip the buyer off but obviously a small profit would be nice.

Btw the proposed buyer hasn't placed a bid yet.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Sacha

Politely decline. I do. If I want "Buy-It-Now" that's how I sell it. On auctions I NEVER end early. Why please one person and risk upsetting millions of others?

s4cha

Thanks to you both. I agree its not fair on those that have already bid. I will decline the offer.

highguyuk

On another point of view, your selling for money. If this offer benefits you, then why not take it? Yeah, a couple of people have bid but your not there to help everyone else out ... you want some return!

I would personally see how much they are willing to offer, and take it from there.

wigginsmum

If you sell it outside an official auction on Ebay, you won't be covered in case of problems, and if they find you out they'll probably ban you. Your call.

Thefunkygibbons

Look at completed auctions, for many things the action happens at the death

Me, I bid in the last seven seconds using a sniper

Let the auction find its own price

s4cha

Knowing my luck I would accept the offer then the buyer would change their mind, and I would be stuck! I'd rather do it properly, I don't want to be banned on my first attempt at selling.

I've declined the offer now.

Hopelesswithmoney

I will happily consider offers to Buy It Now if there are no bids on the item.

I ask the interested party to make me an offer and more often than not, I get more than the item would have fetched at auction.

It depends on how badly and quickly somebody wants something.

I would never consider it if there were bids on the item though.

pin

On pretty much every auction over the past year or so I've listed which is of a reasonable value, I've had someone asking if I could close the auction early. The worrying thing is that on many occassions the people asking were fairly experienced ebayers.

I've never closed auctions early, and I tell them that I won't be closing the auction early. I also make sure the question gets posted onto my auction, so others know this.

Hintza

Not really relevant from my point of view because I start most of my auctions at the minimum price I am willing to accept normally at or a couple of pounds below current market price trends with a BIN at or slightly above the current market trend.


As has been pointed out if the BIN offer is at or above market rate then I would probably accept the offer. A bird in the hand and all that.

If I didn't know the market price I would probably decline.