I'm so darn mad!

[otismalibu]

If 10 people email a seller about buying a listed item directly, how many of those 10 are offering substantially less money than they think it will go for?

I'll say 9.

And that might be low.

[Vintagedeputy]

My feelings are that when an item is listed for sale on ebay, its like an ad in the classifieds of the local paper. Sure, ebay wants you to finish the auction so that they realize all their fees. When I approach a seller and ask what they are looking for on an item, they have the opportunity to say "I wont end the auction early".

If they give me a price, I either accept what they are asking, with maybe some slight negotiation, or else I say thank you very much and move on. This particular seller stated to me that his best possible prcie would be $150, and that he just put it up on ebay to see if there was any interest. Obviously for a week, there was no interest in his $175 starting bid, so he offered it to me for the $150 value quoted by someone at a show.

What happened here is that he made a verbal agreement to sell the item, yet decided either by choice or by accident when a bid actually came in, to let the auction run its course. We had a gentleman's agreement which he could have lived up to at any point. When he saw that he would be leaving $205 on the table, he went for the money.

As for Ebay's "circumvention" rules, I personally could care less. Ebay made a listing fee off the seller, my once a month attempt to purchase something isnt going to break their budget, nor do I consider them to be the auction police. If a seller has an item and we agree on a price, then ebay is nothing more than the daily classifieds of my local newspaper or a garage sale.

[otismalibu]

Obviously for a week, there was no interest in his $175 starting bid, so he offered it to me for the $150 value quoted by someone at a show.

Anyone who's been on eBay, knows that seasoned bidders snipe at the end. It's not like only one person bid. There obviously WAS interest in his $175 starting bid.

I'm not saying he should make a deal and break it, but this is exactly the type of auction you never want to end early. If he was sitting at $9.99 with a day left, I could see him getting nervous. But he set his opening high enough to get what he thought it should fetch, so let it run. The worst that could happen was that he could have sold it to you for $150. Best case scenario...he gets multiple bidders.

It's the sports memorabilia market - there are no rules.

[Vintagedeputy]

I understand what you are saying. I think actually that his high starting bid scared some folks away. I figured that by the last day there would be a bid. Since there wasnt one, I took the chance and emailed him.

[otismalibu]

I understand what you are saying. I think actually that his high starting bid scared some folks away.

Yeah, that seems to happen with high opening bids.

Ebay is hard to figure sometimes. I watched an item end with no bids and was almost going to email the guy and make him an offer. Then I saw it re-listed for a little less. I kept an eye on it and it ended higher than the original auction. Go figure.

I like when sellers allow the submitted questions to be seen by everyone that views the auction. Sometimes that can be entertaining, seeing everyone's approach.

[Vintagedeputy]

I've done well so far with emailing the seller on ebay auctions. I snagged a game used Posada bat that I photo matched and a nice 2003 Mark Grace gamer from his last season, cheap.

I guess it's hit or miss. I like my odds.

Jim

[NYRangers]

I'm glad he backed out of the deal with you. I have had to resort to contacting the sellers of every item that I am interested in and ask them not to sell off-line so I will have a fair chance at an item I like. I look forward to the day that someone posts on here and says that they sent payment for an off-line deal and got nothing in return and they have no recourse through ebay.

[Vintagedeputy]

I'm glad he backed out of the deal with you. I have had to resort to contacting the sellers of every item that I am interested in and ask them not to sell off-line so I will have a fair chance at an item I like. I look forward to the day that someone posts on here and says that they sent payment for an off-line deal and got nothing in return and they have no recourse through ebay.

Well, that's a very callous thing to say.

You have more than a "fair chance" at every item. Why dont you email the seller and make them an offer like every one else instead of begging them not to sell it off line. If you emailed me and begged me not to sell something offline because you wanted to bid, I'd tell you to pony up an offer like someone who was interested in getting the item.

[5kRunner]

I don't see anything wrong with emailing the seller and asking him to end it early. I did it recently and it backfired on the seller. I offered, the seller declined, I was the only bidder.

The seller has all the power, all they have to do is decline to sell it early.

[TNTtoys]

I don't see anything wrong with emailing the seller and asking him to end it early. I did it recently and it backfired on the seller. I offered, the seller declined, I was the only bidder.

The seller has all the power, all they have to do is decline to sell it early.

I do this once in a while when I want the item bad enough and do not want to get into a bidding war at the end. Usually it works... and I try to offer at least fair market value for everything, so nobody is losing. I usually offer more.

Ironically, the last 2 times I made an offer and it was refused, I won the items for far less than my offer. Granted my offers were "more than fair" but I suppose that they brought out the greed in the seller (if he were offering x, maybe I can get x+$100 if I let it ride)...