How to respond to various buyers asking for BIN on items listed as auction only?

[njfleamarket]

I'm getting emails on auction only items asking for BIN for the min. bid on some items.

(Multiples on the same item), I listed those items at what I thought would be fair sell prices considering others that have sold and feel there's a chance they may go beyond that. So I'd like to respectfully tell the bidders asking that I'd rather let the sale continue and see what happens. If those items don't happen to sell in the first round, then maybe I'd put up a BIN for that amount and let it run its course for as many weeks as it takes to sell. 

Without coming across the wrong way to a potential bidder, how would most respond?

Or,  Should I just ignore the question and not respond?

[nobody*s_perfect]

" asking for BIN for the min. bid"

That's just stupid. I'd ignore them. If the offers had been for more than the minimum, there might be some room for discussion.

[soh.maryl]

Ridiculous questions can safely be ignored if you wish.  

[rebell45]

You'll always get those on nice items. I just reply, thanking them for their interest but saying "that I'd rather let the sale continue and see what happens".

[dbfolks166mt]

I would let it run it's course. If they do not sell on auction you may want to relist them as FP/BIN with immediate payment required and let the interested buyers know you have reposted it as a FP/BIN now option and even provide them a link to the listing or at least the item number so they can easily find it. 

[njfleamarket]

That's what I was hoping tho hear.

I usually take those kind of offers as that the bidder knows something I don't and is trying to avoid going up against other bidders.

I generally just start my auction listings at the min. price I want it to go for rather than putting a reserve on it, and wouldn't feel cheated if it went for min. bid but when an item has a high number of watchers after only a few hours of being listed, I feel its best to just let the auction run its course.

I wasn't sure if they required you to respond to every question now or not.

I do know that over the years, often as a buyer, I rarely got replies to questions sent to the seller. I just figured they didn't have time to respond.

I don't blame bidders who try though. I just figured maybe a politely worded refusal was better than no reply?

[downunder-61]

Thank you for your interest in my listed item, I prefer to let my auctions run to their end, and wish you good luck with your bidding.

[gjs_16]

Templates for replies to recurring questions.

Copy-paste.

Dear Buyer
Thank you for your interest, we are so glad you like our item as much as we do. For this reason we have decided to put it up for auction and let the highest bidder win.  So please remember now is the time to place your bids.
Sincerely,
Seller

Reply with that to every question of that variety.

Feel free to rinse and repeat as well, perhaps should you run into the hard of understanding.

[jhr-4800]

I just ignore them.  I only have buy it now prices, and have removed the best offer from all the items that I am selling.  The reason, is because of negative experiences, when I took a lower price on items.  The buyer asking for a lower price, tend to return the item.  

[mr_lincoln · Accepted solution]

@njfleamarket   I get that on a regular basis.  For me I handle it a couple different ways depending on what it is.

1. First and foremost, the starting Auction price I use will yield a profit if the auction ends on one bid.

2. If I am ready to get rid of the item I message the Buyer and tell them to place the minimum bid, I will end the item accepting that bid and send them an invoice to pay.

3. If an item has a lot of Watchers or I know will eventually bid higher OR it is the very first Auction listing cycle I advise Buyers that I let Auctions run their full duration when they have as many Watchers as the item has.

4. My listings have "Questions welcome" near the end of every Description (unless I forget to add that but that is rare).  So, regardless of the question I respond.

5. Buyers who message with an offer LOWER than the starting auction price receive a polite thank you but I let them know I would be selling it for a loss at that amount and respectfully decline.  Ironically, a number of those same Buyers wind up bidding and winning the item.  So in my view, "it never hurts to ask" AND I have "Questions welcome" on the listings ...

[njfleamarket]

I felt I needed to respond to several similar offers with "I appreciate your offer but since there are several others watching this item I don't feel it would be fair to change the format or to end the item early". "If the item happens not to sell, I'll consider then listing it with a Buy it Now price".

I also put 'Please ask any questions before bidding' or something to that effect in my ads.

I think if a buyer offered less than my starting bid I'd likely ignore those messages.

The number of watchers on the original item has more than doubled since that question.

Most that emailed me replied with a positive response saying they will be bidding.

[femmefan1946]

Add a Buy It Now option to your Auctions.

You can set it to automatically refuse anything lower than your preferred price, which on an Auction should be higher than your opening.

Note that if anyone bids, the BIN disappears.

But if customers are asking to buy, and if they are offering reasonable prices, why are you using the dying Auction format at all?

If these are items where there are multiple identicals on the market, or where you have multiples, use Fixed Price like 85% of successful transactions.

You can still add a (lower) Best Offer, again with an automatic refusal of too low offers but an automatic acceptance of anything reasonable. (EG Fixed Price is $50, automatic acceptance at $40, automatic refusal at $35)

Fixed price costs you the same for 30 days visiblity and will relist automatically if it doesn't sell.

There seems to be interest, and you seem to be ignoring it.

[mr_lincoln]

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@njfleamarket wrote:

I felt I needed to respond to several similar offers with "I appreciate your offer but since there are several others watching this item I don't feel it would be fair to change the format or to end the item early". "If the item happens not to sell, I'll consider then listing it with a Buy it Now price".

I also put 'Please ask any questions before bidding' or something to that effect in my ads.

I think if a buyer offered less than my starting bid I'd likely ignore those messages.

The number of watchers on the original item has more than doubled since that question.

Most that emailed me replied with a positive response saying they will be bidding.

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@njfleamarket  Thanks for posting and I was going to say something similar in my post ... what I have noticed is that most items that I receive a message on typically sell faster if they are Fixed price or on the same Auction listing cycle that the message was in ...

[coolections]

I would respond with a thank you and let the person know that you always let auctions run their course to be fair to all. On a side note anytime someone goes to ask you a question one of the options Ebay gives them is to make an offer.

[varebelrose]

"...why are you using the dying Auction format at all?"

You have posted several times recently about how useless the auction format is. I just want to point out that it is NOT dying and NOT useless. It certainly is not appropriate for common consumer goods, but for those of us who deal in OOAK items or rare collectibles, auctions are definitely the way to go. I have sold many items that I figured would have sold for $x and at auction end they went for as much as 20 x $x (in some cases, more).

Its just a judgement call on the appropriate items to use it on. And also, for store owners, its a way to list items once the fixed price listings that are paid for are used up.