A bit of advice...is this gazumping???

rebeccauk

Hi All

I'm selling a used babywalker on ebay. I listed it at 99p to start things off as I'm not sure what it's worth. I got a bid at 99p straight away. I've since had two messages from someone who lives really close to us (End of the street we think) who has offered £20 for us to sell it on a B.I.N. As someone else has bid 99p do I have to honour their bid and see the auction through and sell to them even if the price of the item doesn't increase or can I withdraw the listing and sell to the neighbour? I do feel mean doing that but the bottom line is getting rid of the thing asap...am I opening myself up to bad feedback?
Rebecca:(

cyberbob

As long as there are more than 12 hours left you can cancel the auction so FB isn't a problem

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/end_early.html

nickboyd

Do a google search on "withdrawing an item from ebay" and the first link will explain the general position. On the other hand you might sell it for £25. Most bidding starts towards the end of the auction rather than the beginning.

Crowqueen

It's up to you. I've done it before for a guaranteed £5 so if I felt the person was serious - and people who offer a definite amount up front usually in my experience are serious - I'd do it.

The person at the end of the street would take it off your hands for a guaranteed price, there would be no courier costs to pay, no waiting in for someone who might not show, no person coming then trying to haggle or walking away leaving you to have to relist it, no worries about Paypal on collection (which seems to be endemic to baby items, of all the absurd things) and so on.

Personally at the moment, given how slow I've found eBay selling to be recently due to the economic situation, I'd cancel the auction and take the guaranteed £20. I'd rather a definite sale than a gamble on the state of the online market at the moment. Your call though.