Ebay "auction" site

[Twozaskars]

This was talked about recently, I sell a fair amount on eBay and use BIN with best offer for 99.9% of stuff I sell. The main reasons are;
Fees - they often do 80% off weekends.
Choice - when you get an offer you can decide whether to sell it to that person or not.
One downside is that when doing research through sold listings you can’t determine true value of stuff because it doesn’t display the actual selling price.
I think eBay want to be of a ‘shop window’ as you say but don’t want to lose their roots in auction action too.

 

[Twozaskars]

Still bargains to be had on buy it now;

KHS Montana FZ Retro Mountain Bike Shimano XT | eBay

The wheel hubs and rims are in lovely condition too. I’ve dealt with hundreds of retro bikes over the years and this one is exceptionally lightweight, probably the lightest bike I’ve ever owned. This bike is in very nice condition for a used 30 year old bike.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[d8mok]

Every time I do an auction , it bids up to more than I would have listed as a BIN. Then the buyer never pays.

BIN is just easier as you have more control to look at the buyer and decide if you want to deal with them. You can tell a lot by looking at what feedback they have left for others.

 

[Tootyred]

Thats very annoying. I though ebay were supposed to do something about non paying buyers! Don't they get " black marks" or anything!

If not hardly seems particularly supportive of the sellers who make their money!

 

[BongoInTheCongo]

Thats very annoying. I though ebay were supposed to do something about non paying buyers! Don't they get " black marks" or anything!

If not hardly seems particularly supportive of the sellers who make their money!

Buyers can pretty much not pay with almost total impunity. You can block buyers with negative strikes but most people don't. It seems feedback is dead also, no one leaves any, unless its to complain or to punish....!

 

[BongoInTheCongo]

Bin is good because it's easier to cancel a sale with a dodgy buyer (I avoid people who barrage you with questions AFTER the sale). Little known fact, you have to wait 4 days to cancel properly, or you won't get your fees back.

 

[Russell]

I’ve not bought or sold on eBay for years.

BIN prices are usually a joke and in auction, one clown will bid over the odds in order to guarantee a win, push the price up and then just not pay anyway, messing about the seller and other buyers.

EBay should should allow sold prices to be searchable, we would soon see more realistic sellers! They won’t of course because lower prices = lower fees and they are a business after all.

 

[Twozaskars]

Thats very annoying. I though ebay were supposed to do something about non paying buyers! Don't they get " black marks" or anything!

If not hardly seems particularly supportive of the sellers who make their money!

EBay is all about protecting the buyers. I just accept that as part of it. Even when listing an item as ‘for parts or not working’ they protect the buyer. I sold a model railway power supply as such a couple of years ago and the buyer complained that it didn’t work, wanted refund etc. Would not engage in any reasonable discussion, just wanted his money back. He did say he was happy to dispose of it himself to save me the return postage costs, no thanks, I will take it back and throw it in my own bin. I’m happy to cut my nose in such situations.

 

[BongoInTheCongo]

Bin pricing I guess leads to a general inflation of market value. Its a smart move on ebays part as is no longer bidders who determine the value of things but sellers setting a price.

Bidding is just as bad, ridiculous now IMO, I don't know how many times recently I'm in a bidding war against a zero feedback (the seller with another account) buyer. I just let them go crazy and then cancel my bids with 12hrs to go. A lot of repeat offenders too.

 

[BongoInTheCongo]

Some of them have the cheek to message 'why did you cancel your bids!' This isn't a new thing, I remember two (in)famous ebay seller pals who did the same thing for years before they got kicked off.