Is there a policy against canceling an item with bids to sell it BIN to another buyer?

[plasticmemories]

I am frequently asked by potential buyers to cancel auctions and instead sell them items at a set BIN price (or Make An Offer for an agreed price). Most often, this happens when there is already a high bid from another user on an item, and that is the reason I give for declining such an offer. It does not feel right to sell an item out from under bidders to take an immediate offer, unless MAYBE that person was the current high bidder.

BUT, is there an eBay policy that disallows this practice?

For one thing, I don't want to cancel an item with bids, so can I create a separate auction for the same item with a BIN or Best Offer price and hope the interested buyer quickly comes through? (I did this once for the high bidder on an auction who was in a hurry, and lo and behold, they did not buy the item, forcing me to cancel the second listing, and ended up trying--and failing-- to win the auction at a lower price.

Thanks for your help!

[heckofagame]

The practice is discouraged, and you might be charged FVF on the high bid and then again when you sell it fixed price.

[eye_of_the_tiger]

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Hello, 

While you can cancel an auction with bids, eBay doesn't recommend it, and you may be charged the Final Value Fees based on the highest bid. Good luck with selling! 

[cubano4u]

@plasticmemories  Here is the link to the policy for canceling auction items, when you can and what the consequences will be:

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/ending-listing?id=4146&st=12&p...

[glasser · Accepted solution]

I don't think there is necessarily a policy as long as you keep the sale on eBay. However, not a good practice. It makes you look bad to current (and hopefully future) bidders and just isn't a good practice to cancel an auction with bids unless you have too. For example, you find damage you didn't see at first, the item breaks, or it's something you have listed somewhere else, and it sells there.

I would tell the potential buyer that you really don't want to cancel the auction and encourage them to did the amount they want to pay. Who knows maybe they will get it for less.

[plasticmemories]

This is exactly my feeling. Someone is making a very generous offer on some fairly rare items because they want them ASAP to give as a gift. I want to oblige and it's a good deal, but it does strike me as bad practice for an eBay seller. Puts me in a time-sensitive dilemma. I also appreciate the helpful info that has been offered about eBay policy.

[heckofagame]

If a potential buyer is being overly generous, beware of scams. Just saying...

[plasticmemories]

Totally valid concern. Theoretically, if I created a separate listing to make an offer and they paid, is there anything to worry about? It's still being kept within eBay.

[d-k_treasures]

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@plasticmemories wrote:

This is exactly my feeling. Someone is making a very generous offer on some fairly rare items because they want them ASAP to give as a gift. I want to oblige and it's a good deal, but it does strike me as bad practice for an eBay seller. Puts me in a time-sensitive dilemma. I also appreciate the helpful info that has been offered about eBay policy.

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I would say it's more like they think that the auction is going to go higher than they want to pay, so they make an offer that is lower hoping you will accept it.

[dryophelia]

@plasticmemories 

You WILL pay final value fees based on the last showing bid even when you cancel all bids. 
Are you going to work that fee into the email offer. (Yes, I can sell it to you for your emailed offer, but I will have to add the fees eBay is going to charge me for cancelling the current listing.) 

There may also be a defect against your seller metrics when you cancel a viable auction. No money covers that scar. 

Why can’t this person bid like everyone else. 

I’m sure if you offered the item to any of the current bidders at the price this emailing wheeler dealer offered, they too may snap it up. 

This wheeler dealer knows this is a hot item and is hoping to sneak in and avoid the trouble of paying the full price. 

My opinion, invite them to participate like all the other bidders. You set it up as an auction. If you wanted to entertain offers, you would have set it up that way. 

[femmefan1946]

You do not know what the high bidder's MAXIMUM  bid is.

Selling BIN may be leaving money on the table.

Invite the customer to bid and tell him he may get it at less than his offer.

Plot twist.

He won't.

And by the time you rework the auction to meet his needs, upload it, have it index and have him buy, the "need it yesterday" has passed.

[plasticmemories]

That does seem to be the case in most situations, absolutely. The most recent offer I received is, I think, generous and born out of urgency. I could be misjudging the expected auction performance, though! In any case, I don't exactly love tossing out best seller practices as long as the offer is good enough. 😕

[7606dennis]

Actually, depending upon your state's laws governing the conducting of auction sales you could face legal issues by doing what you say some people want you to do.  Bidders have the right to have an auction in good faith and once the bidding has begun they could claim that it was not in such circumstances.  While it is true that the owner can withdraw an item from a sale up until the hammer drops, it must be done correctly.

If you really want to accept such an offer, you should first end the listing provided there is time enough to do so under eBay's rules.  Then relist the item in the fixed price format for the price of the offer as an IPR and let the one making the offer know the listing number.  Of course, this isn't going to make you popular with bidders and may hurt your sales if you list in an the auction format in the future.

If there isn't time to do so without having to sell to the current high bidder, you would have a problem and that bidder would have a legitimate beef.  In that case I would decline the offer and advise the one making it to place a bid.

[7606dennis]

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@plasticmemories wrote:

This is exactly my feeling. Someone is making a very generous offer on some fairly rare items because they want them ASAP to give as a gift. I want to oblige and it's a good deal, but it does strike me as bad practice for an eBay seller. Puts me in a time-sensitive dilemma. I also appreciate the helpful info that has been offered about eBay policy.

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I would recommend that you check your state's auction laws as most have them in place to cover auctions conducted by electronic means such as those conducted here.  Those selling at auction (using the auction format) are subject to these laws just as any other auction business.  While many allow sellers of property they own some slack regarding licensing, the laws are in place to protect consumers from what is considered unfair practices in the operation of an auction. 

[dryophelia]

@plasticmemories 

If course he’s making it seem urgent!! He wants you to react before you have time to process the whole thing. Gee whiz! Don’t be blinded by dollar signs. 

Remember, you set this up to sell to the highest bidder in your shipping area, why does this guy get to bypass all that? 
Uf he is willing to pay this mystery amount, there is someone else (at least ONE) who is also willing to pay that. 

Urgency? What urgency?  There is less than 5 days left at most to wait. 5 days is nothing. Let those 5 days show your listing to all potential buyers. There are some who haven’t even found your listing yet.