messages from non bidders

iwant2savemoney

I sell quiet a few tickets on ebay usually listing them for £48 for 2, and nine times out of ten buyers ask me to sell outside of ebay and I then knock off the fee I would have paid ebay.

ukjoel

I often do this - its not down to trying to circumvent ebay rules but more I watch an item thinking it will go for x amount but due to no bids it just ends at a low price unsold.

In my experence this happens more to items with a relatively high initial asking price as opposed to those with a 99p start.

A current example is a kids climbing frame I am watching at the moment.

Its starting price is £299. New it cost them £499 and is 3 years old.
With the 20% homebase voucher this weekend I could buy new and have it delivered for £100 more than their asking. After I factor in petrol, dismantling time, etc I would rather buy new and I dont think it will sell.

However at the end of auction when it doesnt sell I will contact seller offering £150. If she relists I cant see it going for more than £150 to £200 and if she had started at 99p or even £49 then she would have had more bidders and less watchers.

hermum

s_b wrote: »

fair point but why not just put the first bid on if they arent sure?
its like me going to a car auction buying nothing and moaning
you have to be in to win
see:)

Very few people do, I never & will never bid as soon as I see something, I either put it on goofbay or if I spot something in the last couple of minutes, manually snipe.
I often get people saying that they missed the end of the auction & will I accept x amount. If I'm happy with the amount offered I accept it.

macfly

s_b wrote: »

fair point but why not just put the first bid on if they arent sure?
its like me going to a car auction buying nothing and moaning
you have to be in to win
see:)

Think I've worked out what sb stands for.

macfly

soapyjoe wrote: »

I've had people wanting to buy outside of ebay whilst a listing is a live 'buy it now' to which I've replied that I dont deal outside of ebay and point out that they gain nothing by doing it that way, as I incur the ebay fees, not the buyer. I assume they probably cant bid, due to unpaid bidder strikes but arent letting on.

Your choice, but you haven't said why you take this approach.

SharkyGeorge

I've had a couple of these but I won't sell outside of an auction because (i think) you lose ebay/paypal protection.

theonlywayisup

SharkyGeorge wrote: »

I've had a couple of these but I won't sell outside of an auction because (i think) you lose ebay/paypal protection.

Well if you don't use eBay you will lose eBay protection.

But using paypal gives you paypal protection*.

*If the item is eligible, but that goes for eBay and elsewhere.

RFW

SharkyGeorge wrote: »

I've had a couple of these but I won't sell outside of an auction because (i think) you lose ebay/paypal protection.

Non bidders asking to bid after the sale has always irritated me, more so when I ran live auctions to the public, they would stand and stare as you passed an item with no bid and then come up after the sale and ask how much you wanted for it:mad: So a little of that rubs off when it happens on Ebay, I tend to say it has been scheduled for relisting and if it doesn't sell this time I'll be selling elsewhere or binning it, but that depends what it is, if it's a regular customer who has missed a bid I'll sell it to them.
Most of the Ebay/Paypal protection is for buyers though, not too much in the way of seller protection.

scheming_gypsy

SharkyGeorge wrote: »

I've had a couple of these but I won't sell outside of an auction because (i think) you lose ebay/paypal protection.

what protection? somebody gives you money and you send them the item, if they say it's broken you tell them to sling it and they can't go crying to eBay.

JC_Derby

Had a message a couple of weeks ago from someone asking whether they could collect said yes or could even deliver if they wanted as i worked near to them. Heard nothing since! even relisted the item.