I smell a rat - am I over-reacting?

MadelinesMum

Hi, this is the second time this has happened to me.
I start an auction at 99p on an item I have a feeling will reach a good price. I then get a message asking me how much I want for it and will I change to Buy It Now. Interestingly both people said it was for an imminent birthday of their child.

I declined both fearing that they were trying it on, but is there ever a time you would change to BIN or would you let the auction run it's course? For both items there was nothing to compare it to, so I had no idea how much the end price could reach.
Thanks for your advice.

UnderPressure

For me it depends on what the item is more than anything, what is your item?

The reason I ask is you can generally get a good fell for how much things go far by searching completed items, it can be a bit hit and miss but will give you an idea.

Also if it is an established ebay member asking with good feedback then there is nothing to be feared or worried about as a general rule of thumb, if it was a newbie with no feedback then that is a different story.

cestlavie

there was a thread in a similar vein about this a few days ago. i always leave auction to run its course. you may like to check how many people have viewed yr page or the number of registered watchers if you want to get an idea of how hot yr item is.

Sambucus_Nigra

I don't stop the auction, I send them a money request direct and if they pay it, then I stop the auction.

Kirri

I never stop an auction and get fed up of people asking for this - it's usually only when something is likely to go for a good price I find and they want it on the cheap.

Had some woman literally begging me before.. best just to ignore them!

UnderPressure

Kirri wrote: »

I never stop an auction and get fed up of people asking for this - it's usually only when something is likely to go for a good price I find and they want it on the cheap.

Had some woman literally begging me before.. best just to ignore them!

It can work the other way though sometimes, things you think are going to go for a good price and then go for peanuts, it is a gamble granted but if you have a figure in your head to begin with and the potential buyer seems sensible then there is no harm really.

I think really it all depends on what the item is more than anything.

Kirri

UnderPressure wrote: »

It can work the other way though sometimes, things you think are going to go for a good price and then go for peanuts, it is a gamble granted but if you have a figure in your head to begin with and the potential buyer seems sensible then there is no harm really.

I think really it all depends on what the item is more than anything.

True, but then if someone is offering x amount of money, they have probably been watching similar items go recently and know what it could reach. The watchers usually build up fairly quickly anyway if it's something likely to sell well. I wouldn't spend the extra 40p (?) just for someone else's impatience or keenness to win it cheap and I don't really respond well to the sob stories that invariably come with it although granted the odd one might be true!

pulliptears

Let it run.

I've told the tale here before of a toy I bought from a charity shop for £10. I started it at £10 and within minutes I was getting offers of £30, £50, £100 for a BIN. Fortunately I decided that something was afoot and let it run where it ended around the £800 mark.

Many years ago I was heavily involved in a community that dealt with My Little Pony. There was a member who was scouring eBay for rare toys that would sell for a few hundred and offering to buy them off eBay as it was their 'child's birthday and that was the one pony they were missing', for a third of their value. Sellers often didn't know what they had and would part with a £200 toy for a tenner. This member would then resell them and make a tidy profit.
Fair game I guess, but genuine collectors were annoyed enough to begin scouring themselves and actually warning sellers not to accept offers like that. Some sellers even took to replying to the question on the auction with "Sorry 'ebayusername' but Im going to let the auction run' so that other members could see who was at it lol

Point is, from experience I've found people desperate for BIN's for birthdays etc know the item is worth more.

Crowqueen

UnderPressure wrote: »

It can work the other way though sometimes, things you think are going to go for a good price and then go for peanuts, it is a gamble granted but if you have a figure in your head to begin with and the potential buyer seems sensible then there is no harm really.

I think really it all depends on what the item is more than anything.

I agree, there's no point gambling if the up-front price is good enough. The people who quote the price they are prepared to pay in the first email also strike me as the more serious people, so if it is a good figure around the completed listings price I'd go for it - there is nothing to lose here and much to gain. Because they need it quickly they may even be offering a premium.

I'd usually do it through eBay by uploading a Buy-It-Now price but that obviously depends on whether there are bids on the item. I sell fixed price on Amazon and often on eBay so to be honest, I don't often gamble on auctions if someone is prepared to offer me reasonable prices for things.

The times I won't do it is when there is already bids on an item (I just tell people to bid) or when they ask me what my price is (since I often overvalue things). But more often than not I don't care, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and I don't think a customer offering cash up front is to be sneezed at.

@Pullip - maybe true, but on the other hand most of the time I've refused to end auctions I've usually been disappointed. I'm not usually selling much of any value either - things that can be got elsewhere - but I can differentiate between offers as to whether I think they are serious. Collectable items quite often get bids but e.g. media items are not rare enough to attract that sort of thing. The one time I lost out badly was when I was selling off a series of DVDs individually and someone offered me £12 for the lot (inc postage). I declined but I made less than that on the individual auctions. I now consider offers a little bit more carefully and advise people to be flexible.

nikki1520

Generally I'd do it if the offer is the same or more than I wanted to get for the item, if I have no bids on the item yet. Once there is a bid, the auction runs to the end, even if it does end up being less.

And I won't do it at all for anyone who calls me hun, or hunni! Especially self righteous individuals who point out I will probably get less for it if I let the auction run. I'm also a bit disinclined to try and decipher text-speak - it makes my head hurt. Sometimes, I can't even make out what someone wants! Probably my loss, but there you go.

pulliptears

Crowqueen wrote: »

@Pullip - maybe true, but on the other hand most of the time I've refused to end auctions I've usually been disappointed. I'm not usually selling much of any value either - things that can be got elsewhere - but I can differentiate between offers as to whether I think they are serious. Collectable items quite often get bids but e.g. media items are not rare enough to attract that sort of thing. The one time I lost out badly was when I was selling off a series of DVDs individually and someone offered me £12 for the lot (inc postage). I declined but I made less than that on the individual auctions. I now consider offers a little bit more carefully and advise people to be flexible.

I think a lot depends if you can search eBay and find similar items, certainly in the cases of the ponies unless you actually knew the names of the one you were trying to sell you probably wouldn't find a price comparison.

As you say though for items like DVD's and things you can actively research then yes, its probably worth considering.

It just seems odd that OP has had 2 people wanting to buy it now using the age old child excuse. That would probably make me think it was worth a little more.