Auction item received 4 buy it now offers so far.

[mozartbach1971]

I listed a World War Two greeting card with a letter written on it by a paratrooper on Sunday and so far I've received 4 messages from people asking about a buy  it now. The last person offered $350 for it.  I've never received this many offers for any item for an entire auction.  Should I assume this will sell for a lot more than the last person offered?

[lamber9347]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

I listed a World War Two greeting card with a letter written on it by a paratrooper on Sunday and so far I've received 4 messages from people asking about a buy  it now. The last person offered $350 for it.  I've never received this many offers for any item for an entire auction.  Should I assume this will sell for a lot more than the last person offered?

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Well congratulations as it seems you've listed a very popular item for sale. There are no guarantees on anything. Many people do not want to wait for an auction to end, or perhaps they won't be available on the day the auction ends. You may want to seriously consider one of those offers as the card may end up selling for less than $350. It's a gamble, such as life is, so either you take your chances and leave it for auction or you accept one of your generous offers. You never know as it could sell for even higher than that. Best of luck to you.... 

[luckythewinner]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

I listed a World War Two greeting card with a letter written on it by a paratrooper on Sunday and so far I've received 4 messages from people asking about a buy  it now. The last person offered $350 for it.  I've never received this many offers for any item for an entire auction.  Should I assume this will sell for a lot more than the last person offered?

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Perhaps the interest stems from the fact that it appears to have been written by a soldier who was portayed in the movie Band of Brothers and who warrants his own wikipedia page. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Winters

[mozartbach1971]

@mozartbach1971 wrote:

I listed a World War Two greeting card with a letter written on it by a paratrooper on Sunday and so far I've received 4 messages from people asking about a buy  it now. The last person offered $350 for it.  I've never received this many offers for any item for an entire auction.  Should I assume this will sell for a lot more than the last person offered?

Perhaps the interest stems from the fact that it appears to have been written by a soldier who was portayed in the movie Band of Brothers and who warrants his own wikipedia page. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Winters

Thanks for the information. I wish I could put this information in the description, however someone already placed a bid on it.  Does anyone know if you could post the link as additional information at the end of the description?

[duncanvr]

end the listing. Put it back up on buy it now for $600 with best offer auto decline under $350. Its probably something to do with the name on it.

[jayjaspersgarage]

This is a classic case of NOT doing basic research on a historical document before writing a listing.  Ending the auction early could be bad for your reputation and unethical.  You made a listing mistake and should let it run its course.  If four separate members took the time to write you then it should bring a frenzy of bids on the last day.

You can write an addendum to any auction after the first bid is taken.  It should show up as an additional box under the description box.

In closing, how would you feel if a seller stopped an ongoing auction you bid on because of greed?

[lamber9347]

@mozartbach1971 Yes you most certainly can update your listing even after bids entered. You cannot change pricing or shipping options but you can add details such as the new info you now have. Best of luck to you....

[stephenmorgan]

You can post additional information to the description after a Bid has been received.  Be sure to add information that may come up in a search.

I am not sure about posting the link.

Read here what you can and can not do.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/revising-listing?id=4356&st=3&...

[mozartbach1971]

@mozartbach1971 Yes you most certainly can update your listing even after bids entered. You cannot change pricing or shipping options but you can add details such as the new info you now have. Best of luck to you....

I just added some additional information at the end of the description.  

[maros9416]

It's always nice when you list something and instantly get views, watchers, and offers. You have something rare worthy of a WWII museum. You don't know the price, and it's only pointing skyward so I would let it ride. Typically, the offers are always less than the final bid price. I think the same guy who offered $350 will bid $350 so I don't think you'll lose his money...I'm not sure, but it's worth a try; try to add a second title description line.  The one that costs an extra $1 and gives you an extra 60 characters or so under the main title. I would also add any other features like highlighted and enlarged gallery photo just to make up for some attention you may have missed out on. An item like this is the essence of what makes an auction fun and intriguing. Please let us know how it turned out. 

[mozartbach1971]

It's always nice when you list something and instantly get views, watchers, and offers. You have something rare worthy of a WWII museum. You don't know the price, and it's only pointing skyward so I would let it ride. Typically, the offers are always less than the final bid price. I think the same guy who offered $350 will bid $350 so I don't think you'll lose his money...I'm not sure, but it's worth a try; try to add a second title description line.  The one that costs an extra $1 and gives you an extra 60 characters or so under the main title. I would also add any other features like highlighted and enlarged gallery photo just to make up for some attention you may have missed out on. An item like this is the essence of what makes an auction fun and intriguing. Please let us know how it turned out. 

Does anyone know if you can add the subtitles after there is a bid?  When I revised it I think that area was closed off. 

[stephenmorgan]

You can only revise certain things.  If the area was closed off then you can not make changes to that section.

[electrola_man]

Generally when I have had an auction in which I received multiple unsolicited offers early, the auction ended up doing very well; better than the amounts of any of those offers.

[slippinjimmy]

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@mozartbach1971 wrote:

It's always nice when you list something and instantly get views, watchers, and offers. You have something rare worthy of a WWII museum. You don't know the price, and it's only pointing skyward so I would let it ride. Typically, the offers are always less than the final bid price. I think the same guy who offered $350 will bid $350 so I don't think you'll lose his money...I'm not sure, but it's worth a try; try to add a second title description line.  The one that costs an extra $1 and gives you an extra 60 characters or so under the main title. I would also add any other features like highlighted and enlarged gallery photo just to make up for some attention you may have missed out on. An item like this is the essence of what makes an auction fun and intriguing. Please let us know how it turned out. 

Does anyone know if you can add the subtitles after there is a bid?  When I revised it I think that area was closed off. 

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Sub-Titles are not all that useful because they are not searchable, in some cases they can be used as an additional selling pitch but in your niche I don't think it would do much.

You have a big following, I would not be surprised if you have followers who check out your listings quite closely looking for people and places that would indicate a potentially higher value item.

I have zero interest (but lots of curiosity) in your items, sometimes after you post here I go and skim through them for interesting things even though I have absolutely no intention of buying anything.

My curiosity leads me to wonder.......

Where did all this paper stuff you've been selling (on eBay for 20 years) come from?

How much space does it take to store thousands of paper items?

Will mozartbach ever run out of stuff?

How do you keep it all organized?

How do you decide which items to list this week?

It's always cool to see a seller who basically hasn't changed their methods of selling on eBay in 20 years in spite of all the changes that have gone on with both eBay and buyers.

If a new seller came to these boards and asked if starting all listings at 1 cent and  shipping via untracked lettermail was a good idea 99.9% of responders would tell you it's a very bad idea.

Yet you have done very well with your stuff and continue to do so.

[nevermore_antiques_and_books]

Every time I got offers to end an auction early, the item ended up selling for a lot more than the highest offer.  I.e. person offered me $600 and item end up selling for over $1100, and another time person offered my $500 and item sold for $1500.  If you are getting multiple offers it's most likely because people are trying to get a deal since they think it's going to go high.  As a side note, I never end auctions early as I want people to believe in the integrity of auctions.