$.99 bid or best offer?

Question

I have made several bids on Items listed for $.99 or best offer. Offers have been canceled by the seller. If a bid is above the minimum it seems it should be accepted instead of trying to guess where to put an offer within the sellers unlisted parameters.

It seems to be a common practice. Why can't a minimum be listed. If I make a bid I am held to it. Why not the seller?

monroe67 · Answer

"If a bid is above the minimum it seems it should be accepted instead of trying to guess where to put an offer within the sellers unlisted parameters." Assuming the listing is in eBay's auction format -- Are you placing a Bid ? Or are you making a Best Offer ? Bids on auctions are automatically accepted by eBay, on behalf of the seller. If you are making a Best Offer to the seller, that seller is allowed to reject your offer. As my fellow Mentor, eastlaneave, stated below, Bids and Best Offers are two different things, two different actions, two different animals. Sellers are supposed to list auctions with a starting bid that is their minimum acceptable price for the Thing being auctioned. Generally, there are no "unlisted parameters" -- except in the fairly rare event that a seller adds a Reserve Price to their auction listings. In that case, the Reserve Price is unknown to everybody except the seller. The best advice I have seen (and given) to auction buyers is to bid the most that YOU want to pay or can afford to pay for the Thing being auctioned. Yes, there is the chance that some other buyer might bid more money than you do; then you would not be the winner of that auction. You can't always get what you want.

eastlaneave · Answer

@kheldargm

Sellers are held to bids.

No one is held to a Best Offer until it's accepted.

In order to answer your question, I need to know if we are talking about bids on an auction?

Or Best offers that you have made.

They are 2 different animals.