How would you do this?

[steve_stuff]

Person makes only bid on item - then messages an offers of five bucks more if we sell it now and 'get it done' After explaining we - as far as we know can't add the $5 to that sale - We know we can end the auction and relist as fixed ... but also 'know' the guy not gonna 're-buy' it - Have done the above a few times and most 'buyers' never return.

We have done the 'ended early...sell...highest bidder' bit before and in this case we would add $5 to the shipping cost - most times they pay and If they don't at least we can ding them for wasting our time - .

What we don't know is if we can add a bin to an item with a bid - not that it matters in this case as the 'I'll pay $5 more' price is below the 30% over auction price bit. For future reference.

The only way we can think of to make this work is adding $5 to the shipping and ending early.

Any other way?

Thanks to any/all who reply ... with an answer we like [last part a joke]

(B)

[stainlessenginecovers]

You CANNOT add handling if there has been a bid on the item. You cannot edit it at all as a matter of fact.

For $5, just not worth the grief. Tell the buyer

"Sorry, this item is on an auction and we will let it run it's course going to the highest bidder" (assuming you don't have a reserve)

[nobody*s_perfect]

As noted in the other post, you can't add a BIN to an auction that has received a bid, even if you cancel the bid. If the auction had originally had a BIN option, it would have disappeared when the bid was placed, and would re-appear if you canceled the bid.

Yes, you could end the auction early choosing to sell to the  high bidder, and then immediately send an invoice with $5 added to the shipping cost.  You might want to contact your bidder first, to see if he is OK with this strategy. Otherwise, I'd just let the auction finish.  

Remember that any bidder has their own best interests in mind, not yours, and the most likely reason for his request is that he expects to get the item cheaper this way.  So if you decide to just let the auction run its course, you might politely point out to him that he might get the item for less if there aren't more bids.

[1tuna]

I sell  lots of auction items at one dollar start so this is common with me

my normal answer is "i dont have a buy it now"

its easy enough to end it with the bidder as the winner and just add the $5 in for extra shipping

I have flat rate shipping anyways so its no big deal

I am not the type to want to cancel and make a new auction with a buy it now

that is not "getting it done" to me, it just feels like more work for a big "maybe"

@steve_stuff 

[dbfolks166mt]

     Not sure which of your items this pertains to and how much time is left on the auction. The individual may have the only bid at the moment but do you have other watchers that may or may not bid at the last moment? I often find this is the case with auctions. If you have other watchers that may bid and you end early and sell to this individual you may upset those that may have bid on it in the last few hours. 

     As you noted there is the possibility that this individual may not pay but that is always a risk with auctions. About the only time I end listings early is when the item has sold on another venue. 

[steve_stuff]

You mentioned the end early could be invoiced - Forgot it would show unpaid on the sold  ... I mean ordered page, and be invoice 'eligible.

Wound up adding the only thing we could, a third shipping option for $5 more then the real service for him to choose when he paid - which he did 1,2,3. Will be mailed today.

Thanks everybody and I hope you sell more then yesterday.

[itsjustasprain]

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@steve_stuff wrote:

Wound up adding the only thing we could, a third shipping option for $5 more then the real service for him to choose when he paid - which he did 1,2,3. Will be mailed today.

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You ended an auction early for only 5 bucks more than you opened it at? And to a buyer who just wants to 'get it done'? 😯

Buyers have their own interests at heart - NOT yours. This guy was clearly worried that if he did not get you to end the auction early to sell to him then it would most likely end with a much higher price that he did not want to pay or could not afford to pay. 

There is nothing so urgent that he could not wait until the end of the auction to win it. How many watchers were there and how much more time was left in the auction?

The phrase 'leaving money on the table' applies here. Sorry.

[steve_stuff]

OP

In this case not really leaving money, just 'getting money' - as these boots [different ID] were first listed for same $40 price on 3/29/2019, so probably has been up for sale 40 times before. After fees and our two buck investment made thirty something. Good enough.

[traditonalproducts]

My concern here, red flag, would be if the buyer then protests the adding of the $5.00 during the bid process. I would think the Bay would side with the buyer? I let auctions run its coarse. 

[steve_stuff]

OP

First of all used the wrong price in other posting - price was $25 with $5 added for $30 total, not $40.

Now what's that saying - you think you're done and they ...

It's not us or the buyer, it's EBAY.

Below is the invoice - as you can see the $5 charge is there and the total is $48.

And now the total from whatever that page is

Total is charge-less  $43.

THANK YOU EBAY.

Buyer is a preacher and said would mail money to return address. We'll see

At this point I'm gonna smoke a big .... fish for dinner.

Between this and getting crazy frank out of the store it's been an interesting day

[a_c_green]

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@steve_stuff wrote:

Below is the invoice - as you can see the $5 charge is there and the total is $48.

[...]

And now the total from whatever that page is

Total is charge-less  $43.

---

I've read this entire thread. First, I agree with those saying to not end an auction early in order to sell to someone prematurely, and since you had a bid already, you knew it was sold; at that point it was just a question of for how much. I get those requests from time to time, and always encourage them to bid instead; they might even get it cheaper in the end that way. I understand that the guy asking to end the auction was the one who bid, but your advantage by declining an early end is that it leaves the door open for someone else to bid it even higher.

This payment weirdness is a separate issue. I would suggest trying to verify what the buyer really did pay, not just going by the two screens you posted. You did add a $5 surcharge in the field intended for it (or seller discounts), and the total reflects that. What I'm wondering about is the "What your buyer paid" screen, which doesn't show the Seller Discounts/Charges field at all. If the coding for that page failed to even look at the Seller Discounts/Charges value internally, the total shown on that page (if it's calculated from the retrieved values shown) would be incorrect. 

I assume that the buyer did not pay before you issued the invoice, right? An invoice will override the Pay Now price shown in the listing, but only if it's issued before the buyer's payment. Even a few seconds' difference could be enough to confuse things. You cannot issue an invoice after the buyer has paid, but if you're both on your keyboards at the same time, this could happen. (Did you send yourself a copy of the invoice?)

[steve_stuff]

OP

Let's see.

"don't end early" - listing is almost four years old and the odds of a second bidder were nil -and unless guy one made a proxy bid for $29, another bidder would have raised it a buck aka less then what we got.

"I assume that the buyer did not pay before you issued the invoice..."

Correct - We ended and immediately sent invoice, then send him messages saying we 'would' be doing that - so no early warning.

"...send yourself a copy .."

Copy was used for the photo.

Did i cover everything? Wait

"How was the fish?"

Came out great.

[reallynicestamps]

Buyer is a preacher and said would mail money to return address. We'll see

Religious people make the worst customers.

I sell occasional theological works, any religion,  and a friend sells hijabs, so it's not just the religion, we both have the same problems.

Good luck.

[steve_stuff]

OP

I think that 'Dr Billy Sol Hargus of the first church of the gooey death and discount house of worship [right there in the gold buckle of the bible belt, Del Rey Texas' - is honest. And I can't believe I just did that from memory - 

[wastingtime101]

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@steve_stuff wrote:

"don't end early" - listing is almost four years old and the odds of a second bidder were nil -and unless guy one made a proxy bid for $29, another bidder would have raised it a buck aka less then what we got.

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Why are you using auction format for an item like that? Not criticizing - genuinely curious.

Item under $50 with low demand usually sells better as fixed price because it gives time for search engines to index the listing and most buyers don't want to wait a week to see if they win when they can buy it now from the next seller.

So to me using fixed price makes more sense, which is why I wonder why you chose to use auction format.