Is it compulsory to sell my listing to highest bid?

[amohebbi1]

Should I sell my listing to highest bid,I mean is it compulsory in rules or I can skip it?

[megadestroyers]

No.  If a reserve auction, highest bid might not meet your reserve price.  Even in a non-reserve auction, may have cause for not selling (suspicious buyer?).  And, even with that, highest bid doesn't always mean payment will be made.

Please.  No arm twisting allowed!

[7606dennis]

If your auction closed with a winner, yes, you are required to sell to that bidder.  The only way that you are not required to sell to the high bidder is if the high bidder's bid did not meet the reserve if one was set at the time of making the listing.

[fern*wood]

That's how ebay works. 

Are you saying if you only get the $35,000. opening bid that you would rather not sell your item?  Not shipping when paid will harm your selling account.

[chiaretta]

If you want to see a minus in front of your feedback profile yes, that's a nice way to obtain it

[megadestroyers]

I'm no artiste, at least not with anything that doesn't include numbers.  But......

If that $35,000 painting appraises at $100,000, it's no contest.  Gladly take the "-"!!  Then list in a proper venue!!

[llllady]

Whew...zero feedback seller with a $35,000 item.  If that ain't an invitation to scammers!

[megadestroyers]

Hear dat!!!

Deafening!!

[7606dennis]

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@megadestroyers wrote:

No.  If a reserve auction, highest bid might not meet your reserve price.  Even in a non-reserve auction, may have cause for not selling (suspicious buyer?).  And, even with that, highest bid doesn't always mean payment will be made.

Please.  No arm twisting allowed!

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Actually, this is not quite completely accurate.  A reserve must be set prior to the beginning of the auction.  One cannot simply not honor the winning bid merely because one thinks that the buyer is suspicious.

Of course, the buyer is required to pay before you ship the item.  Bidders that don't qualify to bid such as a bidder with a shipping address that is from a country to which the seller does not ship.  However, these types of bidders are not suppose to be permitted to bid, much less, win.

Once an auction has closed and a winner determined, failure of the seller to honor the terms of the auction could lead to the seller being sued for breach of contract, although it is not usually economically feasible for a buyer to do so.  

[penguins_dont_fly]

1) Seller sets minimum bid and (optional) reserve price

2) Bidders bid on item

3) At the end of auction:

3a) With a reserve - if highest bid is above reserve, high bid wins auction--- go to step 4 - if highest bid is not above reserve, auction ends as "reserve not met"  -- go back to step 1.

3b) With no reserve - highest bid wins.

4) Buyer pays (see what to do about unpaid items if this does not happen)

5) Seller ships

Failure to ship after payment is called "seller non-performance"

Cancelling an auction sale (that has a winning bidder) before payment -- without the buyer's request -- is also called "seller non-performance"

A seller may cancel bids and end an auction up to 12 hours before the auction ends.

[megadestroyers]

"One cannot simply not honor the winning bid merely because one thinks that the buyer is suspicious."

Sure they "can"!  Happens quite frequently.  It may not be nice.  It may come with consequences.  Heck.  Had seller I won an item from last month.  Paid.  Seller cancelled!  Relisted same item a few days later!  Did that exact same thing to two other buyers.  Still active!!!

The brutal, honest truth...........an apparent new member, selling a $35,000 item, auction style, just screams...........LOOK OUT!!!!

Appreciate the idealisms.  Reality may be a bit more difficult.

[gracieallen01]

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@amohebbi1 wrote:

Should I sell my listing to highest bid,I mean is it compulsory in rules or I can skip it?

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The rules of the site say 'yes', if all defined conditions are met (which you should have read over prior to listing).

Ethically, yes.  If you weren't willing to sell it at the stated starting price, you should have entered a reserve, started it at a higher price or chosen a different manner of selling (again, having read the terms and conditions of listing, prior to listing).

If you are asking if you are going to get sent to jail for not selling to the highest bidder - 99.99% no.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Not sure how you will get paid if someone does bid. Paypal will only accept payments up to $10,000.

(Do foreign sellers not have listing limits???? My third selling account has a limit of 100/$1k - not that I will ever need that much, but still....)

[7606dennis]

After reviewing your listing and taking note of your location, I must admit that I'm not familiar with the auction laws in your country.  However, under eBay's rules you would be required to sell to the highest bidder unless that bidder's bid did not meet the reserve.  I would suggest, if you did not place a reserve on the item, that you close the listing before it receives any bids and re-list with a reserve.

The reserve should be the least amount that you are willing to take to be forced to sell the item for.  In the absence of a reserve, the starting bid acts as a reserve since it is the minimum price that someone can bid and acquire the item.  As it is now, the painting could be sold for $35k if there were no other bidders and you would be required to sell for that amount.

Frankly, I doubt that I'd be willing to risk listing a piece of art of that high a value on eBay.  It is more likely to fetch a better price at a well advertised specialty auction. Of course, the risk of being defrauded would be considerably less.

[megadestroyers]

The flip side...........and again, art mental midg (small person here).........

The painting appraises at $2,000.  Bidder wins, doesn't pay cuz he finds out.  Bidder happily takes the UPI strike, etc.  Says "Phew!  Lucky!!"  

Whose gonna clamour for payment to be made?

Jails just aren't full of ebay buyers and sellers, for a reason.