Two items, same bidder has first bid on both, has offered to BUY NOW but wants a discount.

[david_r_feeney]

I have two items currently available.  There are several more days left on each item, and several WATCHERS of each item.

The same bidder has placed the first bid on both items. 

That bidder messaged me, offering to BUY NOW for both items, but wants a discount for buying both items now.

Is that allowed?  Is it ethical?

If it is allowed and OK, what steps would I take to accommodate this bidder?

I am fairly new to EBAY sales, and have a 100% rating that I want to preserve!

Thank you for any advice you can share.   David

[david_r_feeney]

Feel free to look up any/all of my prior posts, and continue your ongoing review. Your in-depth (and unsolicited) remarks are very... generous of you.  🙂  David

[a_c_green]

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@david_r_feeney wrote:

I have two items currently available.  There are several more days left on each item, and several WATCHERS of each item.

The same bidder has placed the first bid on both items. 

That bidder messaged me, offering to BUY NOW for both items, but wants a discount for buying both items now.

Is that allowed?  Is it ethical?

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This is an interesting conundrum (which sounds like some kind of intestinal disorder, but isn't). I think your buyer is hoping to get you so focused on the details of a discounted combined purchase that you won't recognize that

1. Shipping is Free anyway (technically, you factored it into your opening price, but Free is Free as far as no additional charges are concerned beyond the purchase price),
2. You have a bunch of other watchers, many of whom may be seasoned bidders waiting to swoop in during the final seconds with a bid that no one else will have time to top, and
3. There are several days remaining left to go, during which all kinds of interesting bidding activity may occur.

With this much interest from just one guy already (and I can see why; I was looking at comparable sales out there), things can only get better from here; he is clearly afraid that if he doesn't persuade you to end your auctions and sell to him now, the bidding will quickly exceed what he wants to pay. I would definitely thank him for his interest and encourage him to continue to watch the auctions.

"Dear Peripatetic Pinchpenny,

I appreciate your interest (and your bidding), but my items are already available with Free Shipping, so please feel free to only bid what you believe is a fair price for each, and there will be no extra charge for Shipping at the end.

Regards,"
etc...

[david_r_feeney]

Ha ha! Great response and super helpful, thank you! David 🙂

[7606dennis]

I would probably cancel their bids and put them on my BBL.  The time to ask any questions would be before placing a bid.  Although I wouldn't agree to accept an offer outside of the normal auction w/BIN procedure, the time to ask would be before placing a bid. 

Of course, if the bidder was merely inquiring if I would discount the shipping if they won both auctions, I would consider there to anything wrong with that question.  However, I would suggest that they ask it before bidding on the second item if my answer was critical to their decision to buy.

I set all my fixed price and BIN listings to IPR so using the BIN would not help them very much in getting discounted shipping.

[tunicaslot]

dav - I see the two items are the holsters - my family are shooters and I know how much the Galco holsters go for. Looking at completed auctions for these  - you'll probably get less than 1/2 what they are worth but hopefully you'll have a bidding war.

In the future - for something like this - I would probably do a Buy It Now and set your price about 20% below what other sellers are listing them for. I'm sure the bidder who contacted you realized what a great deal they were - for a low price and knew if they couldn't use both of them - he could probably sell the one for enough that his item cost him nothing. 

I don't think there is any scam here - just someone who knows a good deal on these holsters when he sees them. Good luck!!

[tunicaslot]

You don't happen to have any bug bite holsters for right hand do you?

[david_r_feeney]

Sorry, no such items. David

[a_c_green · Accepted solution]

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@labs118 wrote:

They didn't want to pay your price on BIN so I would not end any auction early for them.
Let your auction ride out 

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...aaaand that went well for the OP. Both items just sold for over eighty bucks apiece. The offer to Buy Now was for a discount off of $49.95 each. It was definitely better to decline the offer and let the auctions run to the end.

[david_r_feeney]

Yes indeed! Another WIN for the helpful feedback from you folks, thanks much! David