Bids beyond Buy It Now price. How does this happen?

[jrh0]

This is the second time I've had an auction with Buy It Now, where the bid amount exceeds the Buy It Now price.  I'm happy to get more than I expected, but why do bidders go higher when they could just buy it now for less?

[onefootflipper]

I haven't done auctions in over a decade but from what I remember the buy it now vanishes when the bid gets near that price.

[nobody*s_perfect]

The BIN option disappears when the very first bid is placed, unless (1) there is an unmet reserve; or (2) the listing is in one of 4 categories where the BIN option remains available until the bidding reaches 50% of the BIN price.

The 4 categories in which the BIN option remains available until the bidding reaches 50% of the BIN price are:

1. Parts & Accessories (eBay Motors)
2. Tickets
3. Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
4. Cell Phones & PDAs

Many years ago eBay tried to drop the experiment with "sticky BINs" but the programming failed and they never got it fixed. The first 10 or 20 posts in this thread tell the sad tale: 

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


https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/selling-buy-now?id=4109

[rockstar_knife]

I am obviously late to this party but man those two responses are so "1s and 0s" answers... correct in what they are saying but terrible in context. 

I am an avid buyer, not so much seller. but I listed my last Iphone after I upgraded. and within 12hrs of the start of a 7day auction it was over the BIN. 

My only thought is that some of the buyers wanted that exact item specifically but maybe didnt have the money on hand, which is required for the BIN, so to secure the win the bids went over to give them time to locate the money. 

either that, or...

a bunch of 10 yr old kids are new to ebay and raging out.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@rockstar_knife wrote: ... I listed my last Iphone after I upgraded. and within 12hrs of the start of a 7day auction it was over the BIN. 

My only thought is that some of the buyers wanted that exact item specifically but maybe didnt have the money on hand, which is required for the BIN, so to secure the win the bids went over to give them time to locate the money. ...

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 As noted above, the BIN option is supposed to disappear when the first bid is placed (or when the bidding reaches 50% of the BIN price in 4 select categories, including phones).  Potential buyers who come along after that wouldn't even know that a BIN had ever been there.  So it's all up to the earliest buyers (or up to the very first buyer, if the opening bid is already more than 50% of the BIN price).

Apparently your early bidder(s) chose not to use the BIN for whatever reason -- perhaps they didn't have the money for "Immediate payment required," but more likely they thought they could win the auction for less than the BIN price.

In looking at your current listing, I'm confused about they the BIN is still available; the BIN is $325 and the bidding is up to $305.  That seems to be some sort of glitch; the opening bid was $217 so the BIN should have disappeared when the first bid was placed.

[luckythewinner]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:
Apparently your early bidder(s) chose not to use the BIN for whatever reason -- perhaps they didn't have the money for "Immediate payment required," but more likely they thought they could win the auction for less than the BIN price.

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There are "impatient" buyers who want immediate gratification and they are just not interested in the drawn-out auction process. They will pass over an auction that does not have a BIN price.

When I see an item I want - but I am not willing to pay the BIN price - I will immediately place a minimum bid on the item to make the BIN price go away and discourage those "impatient" buyers from looking at it. It is a definite strategy.

[kh-vince]

Hi everyone,

Due to the age of this thread, it has been closed to further replies. Please feel free to start a new thread if you wish to continue to discuss this topic.

Thank you for understanding.