Buy It Now after a bid was placed

[cdaiber6]

So I have been looking for information and this and can't find any.  I have had maybe 3-5 auctions recently that had an anchor bid.  Somehow the Buy It Now is still offered and another buyer comes along and wins instantly using the Buy It Now.  I am confused.  Technically this has totally worked in my favor.  Has anyone else seen this happening?  The only thing I question is a few weeks ago I had an item with no purchase history on Ebay.  I winged it and give it a start bid and Buy It Now bid.  My item ended up selling way over the Buy It Now bid.  This is one situation where I know I would have lost money.  I would have never known my items true value if I had lost it to the Buy It Now function.  Am I not noticing some function in my set up?  I am not complaining, I just don't understand how the Buy It Now is active.  Any comments?

[eburtonlab]

@cdaiber6

In most auction categories, if a bid is placed, the Buy-It-Now opportunity disappears. In four categories -- Atomotive Parts, Tickets, Clothing and Cell Phones -- the BIN remains active until bidding reaches a preset level. In auctions with a reserve, the BIN remains until the reserve is met.

[nobody*s_perfect]

In those 4 categories, the BIN is supposed to disappear when the bidding reaches 50% of the BIN price.  OP had a cell phone with an opening bid and a BIN of $119.  Somehow after it got a bid somebody was able to use the BIN purchase option. That's not how it is supposed to work.

[jcozine]

Same thing happened to me on a cell phone I was selling (item 303162506193) - bid was placed for $150 then 3 hours later someone was able to select Buy It Now for $220. **bleep** ebay.

[ittybitnot]

According to the "time" stamps in the red box.  The BIN was registered at an earlier time? 

[gre829]

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@jcozine wrote:
Same thing happened to me on a cell phone I was selling (item 303162506193) - bid was placed for $150 then 3 hours later someone was able to select Buy It Now for $220. **bleep** ebay.

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@jcozine 

The bidding could have stopped at 150, so you got $70 more than your start price. Why complain?

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@jcozine wrote:
Same thing happened to me on a cell phone I was selling (item 303162506193) - bid was placed for $150 then 3 hours later someone was able to select Buy It Now for $220. ...

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Yikes, that is indeed  the same glitch as above -- the BIN option should have disappeared when the $150 bid was placed, since that clearly more than 50% of $220.  Yet as pointed out in the other post, the auction had been running for several days already, and likely could have ended up with the bidding not reaching $220.

Maybe you should start a new thread, in the "Technical issues" board.

[jcozine]

Just spoke with an ebay customer service rep about this for 15 minutes - she explained that there is a 30% above starting price threshold that has to be reached before BIN goes away. First I've seen or heard of that.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Of course you've never heard of that before; she made it up. Or at the very least, got confused when thinking about the rule that the BIN price must be 30% higher than the opening bid.

[lacemaker3]

The BIN lasting longer than it should is an issue that has been around since they first tried to end their test of Persistent Buy-It-Now. eBay tried to end the test, but they couldn't, and it has been a feature of the four categories they were "testing" it in, ever since.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Auction-Listings/Longer-Lasting-Buy-It-Now-Now-in-more-categor...

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Auction-Listings/Longer-Lasting-Buy-It-Now-Now-in-more-categor...

At one point, they experimented with using a 70% threshold instead of 50%. That would be consistent with the current case ($150/$220 = 68.18%).

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Archive-Motors/New-Semi-Persistent-Buy-It-Now-A-Test-in-Motors-Parts/m...

[7606dennis]

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@eburtonlab wrote:

@cdaiber6

In most auction categories, if a bid is placed, the Buy-It-Now opportunity disappears. In four categories -- Atomotive Parts, Tickets, Clothing and Cell Phones -- the BIN remains active until bidding reaches a preset level. In auctions with a reserve, the BIN remains until the reserve is met.

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Frankly, I've always wondered how eBay got by with having "Sticky Bids" in those categories.  As with Best Offers being permitted on auction format listings, it could lead to legal complications fir sellers under the auction laws of some states.  The only thing I can figure is that no one has deemed it feasible to challenge it in the courts.  Of course, chances are that it would be the sellers and not eBay that would run the risk since eBay is merely a venue.

[7606dennis]

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@jcozine wrote:
Just spoke with an ebay customer service rep about this for 15 minutes - she explained that there is a 30% above starting price threshold that has to be reached before BIN goes away. First I've seen or heard of that.

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I wouldn't put too much faith in what an eBay CSR says.  The BIN has to be set at 30% above the starting bid price, but once a bid is placed, the listing becomes an auction and the BIN should disappear.  If it doesn't, there could be legal issues in some states for the sellers.  

[coolections]

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@jcozine wrote:
bid was placed for $150 then 3 hours later someone was able to select Buy It Now for $220. **bleep** ebay.

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You offered your item BIN for $220 and are mad because someone bought it for $220. OK

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@lacemaker3 wrote:

The BIN lasting longer than it should is an issue that has been around since they first tried to end their test of Persistent Buy-It-Now. eBay tried to end the test, but they couldn't, and it has been a feature of the four categories they were "testing" it in, ever since....

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But  even in those 4 categories the BIN usually goes away when the bidding reaches 50%.  So this is a glitch-within-a-glitch.

[7606dennis]

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@coolections wrote:

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@jcozine wrote:
bid was placed for $150 then 3 hours later someone was able to select Buy It Now for $220. **bleep** ebay.

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You offered your item BIN for $220 and are mad because someone bought it for $220. OK

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I sure as hell would be if eBay's programming caused me to have legal headaches or my licensing to be suspended or revoked.  Yep!  I would be mad about that.