cancelling an auction

[massey_1993]

I had someone who appears to be a registered eBay seller and buyer contact me asking me to cancel an auction for an item and made me an offer for the item. I have been a buyer for some time now but am very new at selling.  This just strikes me as a violation of protocol and just doesn't sit right with me.  Thoughts?

[woodland_gnome]

If you mean you got a "Message from a member" containing an offer, you can (if there are least 12 hours left to run) but it is usually not in the seller's best interest to accept such unsolicited offers. They are frequently made by scammers but even at best are made because the offeror a) doubts that the amount would win if the auction goes to the end and/or b) is 1) chronically and/or 2) situationally impatient. To accept it (if the auction has ever had a bid) you have to cancel all bids and end the listing early without a winner (ticking off your existing and prospective bidders and incurring an extra fee) and then relist the item in a manner that allows the offeror to buy it properly at the correct price, with no guarantee that s/he will do so (it is likely s/he has made multiple such offers).

[inceptions · Accepted solution]

You listed the item as an auction and this person wants to go around your listing terms at the expense of other bidders and potential bidders to try and get a better deal than he thinks the item will ultimately sell for.

My reply would be, "Thank you for your interest in the item. My policy is to allow my auctions to run to completion to be fair to all interested bidders. I hope you'll join in the bidding."

[massey_1993]

I heard back; bidder replied he HAD made a bid, and it's actually the current top bid.  The offer was for considerably more, which makes me wonder if the bidder is legit. Noobie seller that I am, I thought that only happened on CL

[inceptions]

He can bid the most he is willing to pay. Then eBay will keep him in the lead unless someone else bids more than his max. An experienced bidder should know that but maybe doesn't. Here's a link:

https://www.ebay.com/help/buying/bidding/automatic-bidding?id=4014&st=3&pos=2&query=Automatic%20bidd...

You can recommend this if you want to communicate about it further...