ebay help please.

mrskitty · 01-09-2006, 19:54

I have an item that i have put on auction and someone has sent me a message asking if i will put it on 'buy it now' for her,can i do this although somebody has bid on the item (but the sender of the message is currently the highest bid) and if so how can i do it?TIA x

K.S.H · 01-09-2006, 20:00

I'm almost sure you will have to close the auction and set another up as buy it now, to be honest I wouldn't do it, people ask you to do that quite orften but in most cases you will get more for the item if you let the auction run

buttonsmum · 01-09-2006, 20:28

Two things to be wary of,

1) some 'dodgy people' will offer a buy it now (but not through ebay) to try and scam you with offers of bank drafts/cheques etc. Remember that when you pay anything other than cold hard cash in then it takes up to 3 weeks before something can bounce. Do NOT send any item before your bank assure you the payment cannot bounce in any way shape or form, get them to write it on a compliment slip so if there are any issues you can get your money back from the bank

2) Some people who have similar items try and persuade you to do a buy it now so that there is only their item for sale on a particular day/week to maximise the sale value they get(they back out after stringing you along). There are many ways to scam on ebay, it just takes someone with a devious mind like mine to work them out.

If you believe it is a genuine offer then you need to kill the item and restart it with a BIN price(be wary this costs you more, ensure you know what this entails.)

There is a dodgy way for you to protect your price. basically, tell the person that you will bid one bid short of what they want to pay( say the BIN price is £50, you get someone to bid £49 with say 10 mins to go, they offer £50. they then hope no-one outbids them in the last few seconds . They get it for the price they agreed (or you sell for more than that

). At worst, if someone outbids them and they complain to ebay you play dumb(make sure your 'friend' has no obvious connection to you, dead easy if you know who to ask

) Emails can be forged easily enough.

Technically its against ebay rules but hey, its business!!!

(Ian, posting under Julies account)

WillowTheWhisp · 03-09-2006, 07:46

There is a Q & A message board on eBay (look under "Community" then "Discussion Boards" then "Help Boards") where members offer advice and help to each other. It may be worth putting a toe in the water there.

I wouldn't recommend doing the "dodgy way" which is known as shill bidding and can get you banned from eBay if it is discovered. If the person you are dealing with is a rival who wants your item out of the way so theirs has a free run and then you suggest a shil to them they wouldn't be above reporting you to eBay to get rid of you permanently. Yes there are some very unpleasant people out there who would actually stoop so low. When I first joined I had no idea of half of what goes on!

KIPAX · 03-09-2006, 08:18

End it and start again with buy now is simple....... BUT no one is even thinking about the poor soul who has bid.. you are in effect crapping on a fellow ebay member by offering something for auction and letting someone bid.. then pulling out through greed.

Harsh but true.

mrskitty · 03-09-2006, 11:26

As far as i can tell from the board willow guided me to its not allowed anyway, you can only end an auction if nobody at all has bid,but i decided not to if i could anyway because of what Ian said.Thanks so much guys X

Gayle · 03-09-2006, 13:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by misskitty

I have an item that i have put on auction and someone has sent me a message asking if i will put it on 'buy it now' for her,can i do this although somebody has bid on the item (but the sender of the message is currently the highest bid) and if so how can i do it?TIA x

Beware of this type of thing - this person's obviously trying to scam the item for the price now and doesn't want the bids/price to go up. Just say no. I don't put much on ebay but I've had the odd one or two people trying to blag something at a lower price or stuff - just play by the rules, it's easier in the long run.

Madhatter · 04-09-2006, 12:30

You can't end an item someone has bid on unless they are the only bidder. Do yourself a favour and just leave it on. If they are the highest bidder they will get it anyway, they will just have to wait. I can't understand this obsession with speed in ebay, why does everybody want it deliveredf or collected now this second. People have a life, they have work, some only sned and list at weekends. people have even left me negative for something that I paid for but decided I didn't want so told them to keep it/reauction it/bin it. Some real screw loose people on ebay.

Also beware, if you do end it and put it on bin there's no obligation for them to press that bin button, and you haven't get a second bidder to offer it to then.

I've done deals on stuff that won't sell Gayle, a bit of bartering is good, they don't have to lower the price. Sometimes the postage or cost to collect an item makes it not worth the price.
Then you get some things that are worth going to fetch especially if your most of the way there.
I fetched some stuff from margate in the week because I was already at london.

Gayle · 04-09-2006, 15:04

Whilst I agree that the odd bit of bartering probably isn't a bad idea between regular users, there are dealers on there who are going to buy things at the cheapest price and then put it straight back on to make a profit.

mrskitty · 04-09-2006, 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madhatter

I fetched some stuff from margate in the week because I was already at london.

My last home-town in Kent-hope you said hello to everyone for me

entwisi · 04-09-2006, 19:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Madhatter

people have even left me negative for something that I paid for but decided I didn't want so told them to keep it/reauction it/bin it. Some real screw loose people on ebay.

I would say you need to be looking in a mirror if you think they have a screw loose

Pay for it then don't bother to collect ??????????