eBay - ending auctions early

[Siv]

I generally snipe on eBay and have noticed several times that auctions have ended early because the seller pulls the listing due to "an error in the listing"

 

On closer examination, it seems that the seller is ending it if the price on the item hasn't got to a level their happy to sell at. Usually these items all have a $1 starting.

 

Example:

Listed end date: 07/30/2008 18:58:49

Early end date: Jul-29-08 23:48:50 - price when ended $0.99

 

Is this cheeky or is this allowed?

[jmignault]

I generally snipe on eBay and have noticed several times that auctions have ended early because the seller pulls the listing due to "an error in the listing"

 

On closer examination, it seems that the seller is ending it if the price on the item hasn't got to a level their happy to sell at. Usually these items all have a $1 starting.

 

Example:

Listed end date: 07/30/2008 18:58:49

Early end date: Jul-29-08 23:48:50 - price when ended $0.99

 

Is this cheeky or is this allowed?

It's probably allowed, but I think it borders on the unethical. Set the starting price high enough that you can live with it if it sells at that amount. You could also set a reserve price, but I still don't understand what's good about reserves and I avoid auctions with hidden reserves. They just annoy me.

 

I've seen some auctions recently where a pretty nice pen was yanked for not selling for enough despite pleading in the description for how much the seller wanted for it. If that's what you have to sell it for, list it at that price. If it doesn't sell for that much either sell a different pen or take what you can get. That's generally how the free market works.

[david i]

I generally snipe on eBay and have noticed several times that auctions have ended early because the seller pulls the listing due to "an error in the listing"

 

On closer examination, it seems that the seller is ending it if the price on the item hasn't got to a level their happy to sell at. Usually these items all have a $1 starting.

 

Example:

Listed end date: 07/30/2008 18:58:49

Early end date: Jul-29-08 23:48:50 - price when ended $0.99

 

Is this cheeky or is this allowed?

 

Often the pen has sold backchannel.

d

[donwinn]

I generally snipe on eBay and have noticed several times that auctions have ended early because the seller pulls the listing due to "an error in the listing"

 

On closer examination, it seems that the seller is ending it if the price on the item hasn't got to a level their happy to sell at. Usually these items all have a $1 starting.

 

Example:

Listed end date: 07/30/2008 18:58:49

Early end date: Jul-29-08 23:48:50 - price when ended $0.99

 

Is this cheeky or is this allowed?

It's probably allowed, but I think it borders on the unethical. Set the starting price high enough that you can live with it if it sells at that amount. You could also set a reserve price, but I still don't understand what's good about reserves and I avoid auctions with hidden reserves. They just annoy me.

 

I've seen some auctions recently where a pretty nice pen was yanked for not selling for enough despite pleading in the description for how much the seller wanted for it. If that's what you have to sell it for, list it at that price. If it doesn't sell for that much either sell a different pen or take what you can get. That's generally how the free market works.

 

The seller is usually taking a gamble, either with the listing price or the reserve price. eBay charges a listing fee, based upon either the starting price or the reserve price, thence the very low starting price. The reserve is hedging the bet a little, as the percentage is lower for a reserve price than for a starting price.

 

Sellers are all over the map on reserve pricing, though. some have fairly low reserve prices, and bargains to be had. Others have fairly high reserve prices. One seller, who has been discussed at length in the Good the Bad the Ugly thread, has had the same model pen for different reserve prices in different auctions. I had sniped at a low price, got a Reserve Price not met. Then noted that an identical item sold for $1 over my higher bid. So, next time around I upped my bid by $1, and Reserve Price Not Met again.

 

Donnie

 

[fatehbajwa]

I generally snipe on eBay and have noticed several times that auctions have ended early because the seller pulls the listing due to "an error in the listing"

 

On closer examination, it seems that the seller is ending it if the price on the item hasn't got to a level their happy to sell at. Usually these items all have a $1 starting.

 

Example:

Listed end date: 07/30/2008 18:58:49

Early end date: Jul-29-08 23:48:50 - price when ended $0.99

 

Is this cheeky or is this allowed?

 

 

It is allowed but IMHO very unprofessional and unethical.

 

if you study the pattern of a few sellers, you will realise that some do this much much more often than others.

[Siv]

This has happened to me about 4 times with the same seller (I am NOT implying that it's the same seller as in my original post).

 

If this is a one off listing by an individual then I expect something like "this item is also for sale privately and I reserve the right to end the auction early if sold" in the listing. If they are a retail outfit (i.e. they have 100s of listings) with other means of selling then they should keep better stocks of their items!

[matt385]

what does it mean when a bid is listed as "private" in the bid history? The other bids have some sort of letters and # of items bought with their names.

[winedoc]

this is no difference than having an item withdrawn in a live auction as auction houses allow this.... AS LONG AS there are no bids. In this case, if there are no bids, then I do believe the seller reserves the right to end it early for whatever reasons. However, if there are bids, then I think it's wrong to end it early (other than truly for legit reasons, but of course, this is difficult to figure out).

 

Kevin

[Maja]

I generally snipe on eBay and have noticed several times that auctions have ended early because the seller pulls the listing due to "an error in the listing"

 

On closer examination, it seems that the seller is ending it if the price on the item hasn't got to a level their happy to sell at. Usually these items all have a $1 starting.

 

Example:

Listed end date: 07/30/2008 18:58:49

Early end date: Jul-29-08 23:48:50 - price when ended $0.99

 

Is this cheeky or is this allowed?

From this page: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/end_early.html

 

Note: Sellers are not permitted to cancel bids and end listings early in order to avoid selling an item that did not meet the desired sale price. This is considered to be reserve fee circumvention. Although there are legitimate reasons for ending a listing early, abuse of this option will be investigated.

 

It happened to me once (I was the only bidder on an item with a day or less to go in the auction) with an unethical pen seller...and that's all I'm going to say about this practice.

[jmignault]

From this page: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/end_early.html

 

Note: Sellers are not permitted to cancel bids and end listings early in order to avoid selling an item that did not meet the desired sale price. This is considered to be reserve fee circumvention. Although there are legitimate reasons for ending a listing early, abuse of this option will be investigated.

 

It happened to me once (I was the only bidder on an item with a day or less to go in the auction) with an unethical pen seller...and that's all I'm going to say about this practice.

 

Ah, so it's NOT allowed. I've seen at least one pretty major violation of this this week. The item's been relisted and there are again bids on it for far less than the seller says he NEEDS to get for it in the description. I've also seen the item for sale elsewhere (wink) so I'm curious to see what happens. That's all I am going to say as well.

[MYU]

So it sounds like a good way to prevent the item from being withdrawn is to drop a low-ball bid on it, then place your higher bid later on. The only thing is that FleaBay auction psychology states that an item with a low bid will often attract another bidder. I guess even the momentary "I'm ahead of someone" feeds a need.