Auction etiquette

[mcq-6690]

I currently have a collectible up for auction that one of the potential buyers pointed out there is an error which increases it's value significantly. Instead of buying it at the buy in now price that is still well under it's value they decided to bid and attempt to get it for the lowest possible amount.  Would it be in poor taste to revise my description highlighting the error and making it more desirable to others? This my first auction so I'm just wanting to avoid something that you shouldn't do. There is still 38 hours left so still enough time to end the listing if that would be more appropriate.

[bonjourami]

you cant revise a listing with a bid on it, you can add it to the description on the bottom.

[lacemaker3]

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@mcq-6690 wrote:

... Would it be in poor taste to revise my description highlighting the error and making it more desirable to others? ...

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@mcq-6690 , no, you can add the information to the description. That's advisable, in this situation.

If you end the listing early, you would have to pay final value fees on the current high bid amount, so that's not necessarily a good thing to do, unless you think that relisting it with an updated description would result in a higher sale price in the end.

[femmefan1946]

Do you have more than one bidder?

Is your corresondent the high bidder?

You don't know what his maximum bid is, only his high bid which is one increment higher than the underbid.

If you bid $50 on something and I bid $100 on it, I would be the high bidder at $51, but if another bidder came along and bid $75, my bid would automatically rise to $76.

Most bids arrive in the last few moments of the auction. If you have multiple bidders, you may also have a few Watchers who have put an automatic bid in with a sniping company or who plan to snipe manually.

they decided to bid and attempt to get it for the lowest possible amount.

Yes.

That's how auctions work.

You open at a price you would be content to get, and hope the price will go higher.

You put in a BIN at the price you expect to get and hope someone takes it, tying up your item for as little time as possible.

The bidder is acting well within the rules.

[nobody*s_perfect]

"Would it be in poor taste to revise my description highlighting the error and making it more desirable to others?"

Of course not!  This is a business transaction, not grandma's tea party.  If you add to the listing description, you should notify all the bidders that there has been an update.  

I would probably just end the listing, and then relist with appropriate corrections (description, title, price, etc.).  Before ending the listing, I'd add a section (below the Description) explaining why it was ended early.

[inhawaii]

I haven't done auctions in a long time but we used to be able to cancels the bids and end the auction ... i think there had to be more than  24 hours left.  I don't know if that's still proper protocol?

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@femmefan1946 wrote:

Do you have more than one bidder?

Is your corresondent the high bidder? ....

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OP has only one auction-format listing. It has 5 bids from 5 different bidders.  

They said that the info about the item's value came from a "potential bidder."

The problem with adding to the Description and letting the auction run its course is that the new information won't be seen by potential bidders who have already looked at the listing (including watchers and any who are planning to snipe), nor those who sort their search results by "newest first." Even the 5 current bidders won't know the new info unless the seller notifies them.  Thus it's likely that the final bid will be lower than it would have been if the correct information was in the original listing, or if the seller cancels this listing and relists with corrections.

[buybuy42]

They see you as a rookie seller and are preparing to take advantage of you.

This is my advice: write their bidding User ID down and then -

click on  Site Map (page bottom) click on SELL/Block Bidder/Buyer and block their User Id

Then cancel their current bid from your Selling page.

They will no longer bother you or try to take advantage of you.

At this juncture you may want to end the listing from your Selling page and try again.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@inhawaii wrote:

I haven't done auctions in a long time but we used to be able to cancels the bids and end the auction ... i think there had to be more than  24 hours left.  I don't know if that's still proper protocol?

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The seller can cancel the auction and end with no sale if the auction has more than 12 hours left.

[inhawaii]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

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@inhawaii wrote:

I haven't done auctions in a long time but we used to be able to cancels the bids and end the auction ... i think there had to be more than  24 hours left.  I don't know if that's still proper protocol?

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The seller can cancel the auction and end with no sale if the auction has more than 12 hours left.

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Yer so smart.   😉

[kensgiftshop]

@mcq-6690 

As long as I got what I wanted for the item, I would let it go.

But I would make sure I checked other items better so it wouldn't happen again

[maxine*j]

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@buybuy42 wrote:

They see you as a rookie seller and are preparing to take advantage of you...

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If I were trying to take advantage of a rookie who had missed something important that adds value to what is being auctioned, I would surely not tell the seller about the mistake and would hope that no one else notices it. 

=

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@buybuy42 wrote:

They see you as a rookie seller and are preparing to take advantage of you.....

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IMHO you have this completely backwards.  Why would a buyer notify a seller about the added value of an item if they wanted to take advantage of them? It looks to me more like they're doing the seller a favor.

[a_c_green]

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@mcq-6690 wrote:

I currently have a collectible up for auction that one of the potential buyers pointed out there is an error which increases it's value significantly.

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I have to say first that the potential buyer's (or current bidder's) actions make no sense. Why tip off anyone (seller or rival bidders) that the item is worth more for some reason? Why not just quietly bid to win?

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@mcq-6690 wrote:

Instead of buying it at the buy in now price that is still well under it's value they decided to bid and attempt to get it for the lowest possible amount. 

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Unless you're referring to the person who put in the first bid back on October 12, there is no BuyItNow price to purchase anymore. The BIN price goes away once bids are received.

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@mcq-6690 wrote:

Would it be in poor taste to revise my description highlighting the error and making it more desirable to others? This my first auction so I'm just wanting to avoid something that you shouldn't do. There is still 38 hours left so still enough time to end the listing if that would be more appropriate.

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Let the auction run. If the error is as desirable as the first guy said, then other collectors will almost certainly have spotted it too. You can add additional description below the existing text after bids have been received as long as there is... um, either 12 or 24 hours remaining, something like that, though I would definitely recommend verifying that bidder's story before adding it. (What is the supposed error, anyway? I'm looking at the Micro Machines Cadillac collection that I assume is the focus here, but nothing really jumps out at me. The 1959 is facing the other way, though I assume that's deliberate in order to show off the fins.)

I don't think you need to worry about having it sell for less than it should, especially given the interest so far. That much bidding activity (plus 12 watchers at the present time) before even getting to the last day of the auction means that you have something of interest here.

[simba6]

You are sure they are correct?  That can be used as a ploy to get out of a bid. Trick the seller into ending the listing?   Seems strange a bidder would tip their hand like that.....