how does bidding work? I bid on a product and ebay said to give seller 24 hours to respond, how?

[rock.star]

That was not a bid it was an offer.

[lady_madonna · Accepted solution]

@smf1949nm1974 

It sounds as if you made a Best Offer, not a bid.

The seller has 24 hours to either accept, decline, counteroffer or may let your offer expire.

[woodland_gnome]

Too many people confuse "bid" and "Best Offer." Those are two entirely different things that the seller handles differently. People who come here and use the wrong term (what does the message or display ACTUALLY say you got?) often get the wrong answer (actually it's the right answer for the question asked but not what s/he needed to know).

A bid is part of an auction. Sellers don't "accept" them (eBay accepts them if they are valid bids: meet the minimum bid requirement as of the time they are received, received before the end of the last second of the auction, buyer is not prohibited from bidding on that auction because of a restriction by the seller or eBay). A seller can cancel any bid up until the auction ends (or eBay might if the buyer is suspended before the auction ends or the bidder might retract the bid for a very short very specific list of valid reasons) but otherwise the bid remains active until the auction ends, at which time a winner and price is set from the bids that were accepted by eBay and not cancelled/retracted before the end. The seller is obligated to sell for that price (if the buyer pays, provides valid address that seller agreed to ship to etc.) and the buyer is obligated to buy.

A Best Offer is simply an offer that the seller can take or leave. S/he can accept it, reject it, make a counteroffer (which acts as a rejection of the offer), or do nothing and the offer expires (at the duration the buyer chose when making it up to 48 hours,* or earlier if there is a "bid" placed--Best Offer is no longer available after the first bid on the auction, or when the listing ends for whatever reason). The seller is under no obligation to accept any offer or respond in any way to a particular offer or any offer at all.  If the seller accepts the offer (or the buyer accepts an offer or counteroffer from a seller) each is bound to complete the sale.

*ETA:  eBay keeps changing this.  Currently the most common times are 24 hours for a buyer-given offer and 12 hours for a seller-given offer to a potential buyer.

[smf1949nm1974]

Thank you, your information was helpful.  Like you mentioned, I made the mistake of saying "bid" when I actually made a "best offer" to the seller.  Since I have had no response, I must assume that they are not interested in accepting it.  Thank you

[woodland_gnome]

Don't "assume"  anything from a lack of getting a message.   When the time is up check your My eBay: Bids/Offers: Offers to see the status of the offer.  If it was accepted it will be in My eBay: Purchase History and needs to be paid for.