is this against EBay rules?

mrcol1000

I never ask buyers to pay direct to my Paypal account but will gladly accept them suggesting that. The problem is that adding a buy it now price is not possible if there are bids. Then you have to add the buy it now price and hope the buyer buys it before someone else bids on it. Or restart the auction as a buy it now. Also you can do all of the above and then the buyer does not bother to buy the item meaning you have lost the cost of adding a buy it now price or have to start all over again.

I'd never dream of asking someone to buy it now off Ebay due to the risk of being reported but I don't blame the buyer for asking to as it is a lot easier even ignoring the fees you save.

sequence

I personally would have no problem dealing outside of ebay.

soolin

sequence wrote: »

I personally would have no problem dealing outside of ebay.

eBay will still get their listing fee, and PayPal still get their fees. All eBay will lose is the FVFs.

However, it is clear whether an item on eBay has a BIN price or not, it shows clearly on the listing. That does rather appear to be an indication that a buyer asking for a BIN is in fact asking for a private sale...if someone asks me if I have a BIN price in mind I take that to mean they want it now and without the hassle of waiting for eBay.

System

Thankyou for your replies. I have asked sellers for a buy-it-now price before (though it's not something I do very often) and they have simply changed the option to B.I.N. Until the other day no seller had ever interpreted it to mean that I want to deal outside of EBay which is why it threw me a bit. I've since managed to order the item I was after via another online retailer for just £1 more than this seller was asking, and brand new, which seems a more sensible option to me in this case.