Selling by arrangement after bids received

hollydays

We don't know what you are selling, I only know that I always check the " sold" price of similar items to get an idea of what I can expect. I always start items at 2/3 of the final selling price , I rarely start at . 99p

It's easy to get caught in the panic of " it might not sell" , I'd better take the first offer.
You may as well list it buy it now- have patience.
But I've never found people who want to come the next day and pay cash EVER come up trumps and I've added buy it now to listings- to never hear from the interested party again.
I just find that listing a few times while being in no hurry is best for my profits.

Fromply

I've agreed a price with a buyer (£90) who says that he wants to come and collect it tonight (cash on collection). I hear the warnings about these people not always turning up, but he sounds interested.
The auction still has 4 days to run, and the current price has gone up to £25 (11 bids). 69 Watchers.
Any recommendations on my next moves?
Should I try and cancel the auction immediately? Or wait and see if it all pans out? Is there any risk that this goes through tonight, I no longer have the item, and then I am unable to cancel the auction?
Do I need to be careful about reasons for cancelling the auction, or is this all totally legit?


I've also been thinking more about ebay charging the FVF, and to be honest, I've no issues with that - my goal isn't to avoid the FVF (though it'd obviously be nice ...lol) and if the auction runs its course, then I'd have to pay the FVF anyway.

soolin

Fromply wrote: »

I've agreed a price with a buyer (£90) who says that he wants to come and collect it tonight (cash on collection). I hear the warnings about these people not always turning up, but he sounds interested.
The auction still has 4 days to run, and the current price has gone up to £25 (11 bids). 69 Watchers.
Any recommendations on my next moves?
Should I try and cancel the auction immediately? Or wait and see if it all pans out? Is there any risk that this goes through tonight, I no longer have the item, and then I am unable to cancel the auction?
Do I need to be careful about reasons for cancelling the auction, or is this all totally legit?


I've also been thinking more about ebay charging the FVF, and to be honest, I've no issues with that - my goal isn't to avoid the FVF (though it'd obviously be nice ...lol) and if the auction runs its course, then I'd have to pay the FVF anyway.

Firstly , no this is not 'legit' as far as ebay is concerned. They will consider this a breach of their terms and conditions. That's really why they imposed the charge for ending an auction early. Technically you could get a warning on your dashboard for this, in reality I can't see how they would find out unless buyer complains later and there is anything showing in your ebay messages about dealing outside of ebay.

All you can do is wait until the cash is handed over, then pull all the bids on the auction and end it- using one of the prescribed options, ie 'mistake in listing'.

Avoriaz

Fromply wrote: »

I've agreed a price with a buyer (£90) who says that he wants to come and collect it tonight (cash on collection). I hear the warnings about these people not always turning up, but he sounds interested.
..

Do nothing until he has turned up, paid and taken his item away as apparently many of the "very interested" buyers never follow through.

Having said that, I've done similar a few times and not yet been either let down by the buyer or had any comeback from eBay. All my "off eBay" transactions have gone smoothly.

Theoretically eBay might sanction you as you are abusing your account but, in practice, I imagine nothing will happen as, even if they think you have done a deal off eBay, they cannot prove it.

If they banned everyone suspected of off eBay deals, they would probably half their user base as I imagine it happens regularly.

Fromply

Fromply wrote: »

I've agreed a price with a buyer (£90) who says that he wants to come and collect it tonight (cash on collection). I hear the warnings about these people not always turning up, but he sounds interested.

Avoriaz wrote: »

Do nothing until he has turned up, paid and taken his item away as apparently many of the "very interested" buyers never follow through.

Guess what? He never turned up! No message or anything.... Luckily I followed advice and its still listed.


The number of messages I've had through now asking for "buy it now" prices is getting ridiculous ..... I'm just politely declining them all now. For example, one of my auctions has 79 watchers and 12 bids so far with 3 days left to run ..... I figure that's enough to be reasonably sure it will get to a fair market price isn't it?