I thought I'd try an auction for the first time in ages - never again.

[binderzz]

I haven't run an auction in a long time. It was - once upon a time - kind of fun to run an auction and see what price the item finally sold for.  When the non-payers became more frequent we switched to BIN with immediate payment required.

I thought I'd try an auction again. Five minutes after the auction closed, the buyer says the shipping is too high (it's a 30-lb item and big and postage is the actual cost) and then he goes silent.  I'll wait 48 hrs, then the 96 hrs and relist as a BIN with immediate payment required.

Auction? Never again.

[turquoisetulips]

I gave up on auctions . About half of the winners paid late or never paid at all . Not my thing .. Tulips 

[bghtrade]

Agreed

[zylor4200]

As a seller I use fixed price format 99.9% of the time - as a buyer I avoid auction items like the plague.

[moldy5]

There's squirrely buyers on both types of listings. I use both BIN's & auctions but personally the auctions used to be more fun. To see bidding wars & exciting to watch the price go up. BIN's always were boring since they used to just sit until "blink" they're gone.    

Used to because like most sellers who post here-the sales have gone south. One or 2 a day are the norm.  Last night someone sneaked in, bought an item, paid then requested to cancel all within 2 minutes. While I was listing something else.  Now why did they go thru all that clicking just to cancel? For me to have PayPal steal fees I'll never get back? Did they even know it would cost me? IDK but certainly unpleasant.  Ticked off last night but this morning am over it & moving on. Yep, blocked them. 

Happy last day of March everyone. We are not alone. We will get thru this virus & the squirrely buyers just fine!

[fern*wood]

As with most issues on ebay, it generally varies depending on what you sell.

I generally only use auctions small dollar items that I don't want to use fixed price freebies on. I start them at the dollar amount I'm happy with.   So, if I get a bid, and there are no watchers, I usually end the listing making the bidder the winner.  That seems to work pretty well for getting paid quickly.  

Some items that I can't determine the value of, but seem desirable, I list at auction and once in awhile there is actually some nice old timey bidding that ended way above what I would set for fixed price.   Non-payers for me haven't been much of an issue--maybe a couple a year.   I do have my preferences set to block repeat offenders.

[a_c_green]

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@fern*wood wrote:

As with most issues on ebay, it generally varies depending on what you sell.

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I would say that's the determining factor right there. 

Speaking as someone whose 16th anniversary on eBay is tomorrow (yikes), I've been running auctions almost exclusively, with the exception of some obscure vintage items whose values are as replacement parts, so those are BuyItNows. The auction format is ideal for rare or vintage items whose value is flexible depending on the market, rarity, condition and so on, where you benefit from really good descriptions and clear, accurate photos. 

I would never bother listing new items at auction, nor would I auction off current items with a known retail value. Those should go as Fixed Price (with the usual precautions: IPR, Signature Confirmation where required and so on). eBay isn't a one-size-fits-all medium, and different items are best sold in different ways.

[binderzz]

So, it's been six days and I can finally close out the NPB resolution process for a fee refund and relist as a BIN.

Yippee.

[binderzz]

The NPB thing closed.  Fees were refunded.  The "buyer" got his strikes.  The item was relisted BIN with immediate payment required.  It sold immediately for ~$300 plus $50 freight.  Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.