For those of you who have sold items on ebay. If an item is for sale and doesn't have a buy now option, is it acceptable to contact the seller to make an offer outside of the bidding process?
Dave
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For those of you who have sold items on ebay. If an item is for sale and doesn't have a buy now option, is it acceptable to contact the seller to make an offer outside of the bidding process?
Dave
Not according to Ebay rules. However, I will sometimes pull the listing and relist as a 'buy it now' if I am reasonably certain the person will actually follow through and the offer is reasonable. Doing things that way does not violate Ebay rules.
I do have a couple of sellers that I regularly buy from that I deal directly with now. It may cost me a bit, but I can get things faster than going through the auction format. This is for stuff that they have multiples of to begin with, though.
Thanks Kevin. I think I'll just take my chances and go through the bidding process.
I usually wont bid on an item until the last minute or two. A lot of people do this and you will notice the price jumps up real fast at the end. If it is an expensive item, it gives the seller no time to raise the price by bidding on it from another ebay user name. I have seen this happen many times and yes it is against ebay rules.
David
if you know what your willing to pay maximum for an item...even if pushed at the end.... I find it easier to just post my max n let ebay keep it rolling... they automatically bump you up just ahead of all bids unless someone exceeds your max...then you just don't get the item n your not out anything..nore are you tempted at the end to over bid what you already determined to be the most your willing pay/afford.. it's really paid off at the end for me multiple times when someones trying to lowball at the end..when times up...Times up! had a guy email me once after i'd won auction on 9 bamboo rods n he couldn't figure out how i kept ahead of him...I wasn't even home! I was catchin browns at the Penn's when that auction ended!
I sat on an auction for a guitar not long ago and 'dollared' it at the last minute and another guy was doing the same so i waited till the last 15 secs and '2 dollared it which came out to $101 and i got it. I should have just put $100 for my max but the other guy had too and prolly earlier which would have won. Fun to strategize to win but really the 'Max I'll bid" way is the best bet since one doesn't become emotional. I don't go 'off auction' either but the relisting with the buy it now is ok i think.
Cheers,
MontanaMoose
Apparently there is software some use to put in a bid at the last possible bid.
The max bid can be a "safety" factor but if it gets there early the other guy can have plenty of time to jump in higher...I try to "max bid" at the last possible moment.
Just grabbed an Orvis Superfine by bidding my max bid with 12 seconds left. No time for somebody to bid low and then rebid:^) $66!.....It was like Christmas come early:^)
Sniping is the term used to describe the last minute/sec outbidding process. There is software out there but almost none of it is free to use so if you don't plan to buy and use the software frequently you may not find it worth the investment. The good thing about the software is it is WAY more reliable than trying to snipe yourself. Trust me when I tell you the software will react faster than you can and can pop in multiple bids at the last second. One hiccup or pause by your browser in an attempt to slip in a bid in the last seconds will doom non-automated snipes. Trust me I know, I lost a few trying to get cute with too little time left.
If you do win an auction in the last 10 seconds or less you only did so because you were lucky that no-one wanted the item as badly as you or enough to use sniping software.
Sniping it would be:^)