A rant against "end the auction early" offers on eBay
Ok, this is annoying me so much I have to post about it. As mentioned in my previous post I have put a number of things up on eBay. Since doing that last night I have had two questions, both asking me if I would end the auction early for a certain amount.
People who know me will be aware that I tend to answer stupid questions like that rather sarcastically.
For example, the first question I got was on the iMate JasJar auction and went like this…
Q: Hello, I just wondered if you have a price (or rough idea of a price) you would accept for a quick sale (Buy It Now)? Thanks. Best regards, Damien.
A: It’s an auction without a buy it now price. If I had wanted to have a buy it now price I would have added one. Bid what you think it’s worth, that’s how this auction stuff works.
That was early this morning. This afternoon I got another one, this time on the iPod auction…
Q: Hello, I just wondered if you have a price (or rough idea of a price) you would accept for a quick sale (Buy It Now)? Thanks. Best regards, Damien.
A: It’s an auction without a buy it now price. If I had wanted to have a buy it now price I would have added one. Bid what you think it’s worth, that’s how this auction stuff works.
“IT’S A FRICKIN’ AUCTION” is basically my response.
I can see why they do it. I’m sure there are people out there who put their stuff up on eBay with no real clue how much it’s worth, will see offers like that and jump on them. I, of course, see things differently.
I will not close an auction early for any amount of cash less than at least twice what I expect to get. And no, I will not tell you what I expect to get. If I were to accept an offer, it’s possible it would be higher than I would get if the auction had run its course, but in my mind the chances are slim to none.
For anyone considering sending me an offer like this, please don’t. If you have an amount in mind that you would be willing to pay, simply bid that amount. You may get it for less in which case you win and I’ll have lost out. However, chances are that your bid is lower than the item is actually worth, otherwise you would be confident that your offer will beat any other bids and would therefore be happy to take part in the auction properly.
In short, please don’t waste my time!
What’s the harm in asking? It takes 5 seconds to reject it. It removes risk on both ends — you know what you’re gonna get, and so does the buyer. If the offer is a real low-ball, I can see what you mean. But if you’re auctioning something off, where the last ten sold for $90-$110, and someone offers you $110 to get it a bit faster, and without risk, why get all prickly about it? You can always refuse.
Actually Jimbo it really only removes risk for the buyer. A buyer would only make an offer to end the auction early if they thought they could get away with paying less than the price the auction will naturally reach.
The only other reason I can see for such an offer to be made is if the buyer needs it urgently, in which case they should be willing to pay more than the going rate. Unless the offer is significantly above the expected selling price for the item then any seller would be daft to accept it.
There is a small risk that the auction will not naturally reach the price offered, in which case why the heck is the buyer making the offer?
In short these offers usually only benefit the buyer so I would urge the few sellers who still use eBay to carefully evaluate the buyers motivation behind any offers they get of this nature before accepting them. They will very rarely be to your benefit.
I totally agree, and it is starting to piss me off. Even when I explicitly put in the description that I won't end early, I still get people asking me.