Why is there a countdown for "Buy Now" items?

[total_gamer1]

What is the point of this? Does it mean that the person is only selling this item for a limited time or is it because that's when the seller needs to renew that item's listing? If it is the latter, then why am I seeing it?

[buyingforgoose]

It's when the listing expires. The seller may have it set up to automatically relist or may not so the listing may disapear once it expires. The reason you're seeing it is because if it gets down to 5 minites then you need to decide to buy it or take the chance that it will expire and not be relisted. 

[thatsallfolks]

All eBay listings have an ending time. A listing might be set up to automatically renew, but it will run for a maximum of 30 days before it has to be renewed.

[mudshark61369]

@total_gamer1,

Both of the previous replies are correct, and besides ebay wants to encourage sales, so they make money.  IF a buyer thinks a listing may end and be removed completely,  or relisted with a higher price, showing the time left it is an incentive to get them to buy now, or miss out on the item from that seller, or at the current price.

As a seller who lists most items as auctions, I do sometimes list special price Buy It Now (BIN) listings, to get rid of old stock I have.  I may get many watchers at first, but usually in the last few days of the listing is when I get most sales of those items.  I piggyback on top of ebay's time remaining incentive.  For me it is a win win incentive.

[total_gamer1]

Thank you. That's all I needed to know since I didn't know if this was just some sort of glitch on my computer, or if it was the real deal on the site.

[teygun_0]

So does the countdown mean that it will for sure change prices or possibly come off Ebay?

[soh.maryl]

In most categories, that BIN option expires once there is a bid, and the auction then proceeds as if the BIN had never been there.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Hi, This thread is from last January and the information is obsolete.  

In March, eBay changed their policy about fixed price listings.  Durations  of 30 days or less are no longer available.  All fixed price listing are now in "Good until canceled" (GTC) format, and thus the listings do not show a number of days remaining.  Fixed price listings in the GTC format will roll over automatically every month, until the seller ends the listing or it sells out.  So there is no "end date" per se.

Auction-format listings do show the number of days/hours remaining in the auction.  If an auction  ends without a buyer, then it is up to the seller whether the item relists or not, and also whether the new listing has a different price.

[kh-stanley1]

Hi everyone,

Due to the length of time that has passed since this thread began, we have locked it from future replies. If this is still an issue that warrants discussion, don't hesitate to begin a new thread here.

Thanks.