one reason not to end auctions early

[keziak]

Not a question, a comment. I wrote on another thread about how I've found it useful for my operation to sometimes end auctions early to sell to the first bidder. I am aware of the arguments not to do this but I expect I'll hear them again. The  main problem I'm running into is....people aren't paying! I had to cancel two unpaid orders and now I have a third not paid for. I wonder about the buyer psychology. Are they suspicious? Did they bid but not actually want the stuff? So I guess this strategy has played itself out.

[slippinjimmy]

Are you communicating with these buyers before you end and sell to the high bidder?

[thexphilatelist]

They're serial bidders: they bid with no intention to pay because there are little to no consequences.

With actual auction houses you may be able to get away with this once, but not over and over.  Furthermore, most auction houses are in a collective, consortium, that allows them to vet bidders.  You stiff one auction house and your blacklisted. 

I could get into the entire buyer transparency debate but I'll leave it for another day.

[keziak]

No, but if I try to use this tactic again I will contact them first, thanks for the suggestion. 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

As you now know, the result was predictable.

If the item is not worthy of an auction, selling at auction is a waste of time.

Bidders who have no interest in owning the item are common if the starting bid is low. Non-paying bidders is commonplace.

Eliminating the auction as a listing type is not possible since the first thought many people have when they hear Ebay is auction.

Since many sellers use auctions to rid themselves of inventory they cannot sell any other way, the auction continues to get less and less respect.

Ending auctions early is another way to disrespect Ebay auctions.

[janet9988]

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@keziak wrote:

Not a question, a comment. I wrote on another thread about how I've found it useful for my operation to sometimes end auctions early to sell to the first bidder. I am aware of the arguments not to do this but I expect I'll hear them again. The  main problem I'm running into is....people aren't paying! I had to cancel two unpaid orders and now I have a third not paid for. I wonder about the buyer psychology. Are they suspicious? Did they bid but not actually want the stuff? So I guess this strategy has played itself out.

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You find it useful?  Yet you state buyer do not pay.  HOW IS IT USEFUL TO YOU?

[keziak]

That is the point of my comment. It was useful to me (to clear space) until people started not paying. Now it's not useful. I am just left wondering why they didn't pay if they placed a bid. The occasional non-paying bidder sure, but it seems to be a mini trend. 

[chapeau-noir]

@keziak  How often is this happening? Sometimes we run into bad patches. I periodically send out offers - people who take the offer almost always pay, but then I hit a bad patch where some didn't pay, now they're back to paying.

[inhawaii]

Everything comes in "spurts" ... I guess even non-paying bidders.   😉

[keziak]

Well, on one day I sold to 2 people and they never paid. I relisted the auctions with Best Offer and sold one that way immediately. A few days later I ended one and actually mentioned to the buyer what has been happening and now they are not paying (it's been a few days, not yet time to cancel). I don't get many NPB's so it's just weird that a high percentage of these sales have gone un-paid for. Possibly people do not understand why they won even though I thank them for bidding and say I"m ending to sell to them so they don't have to wait to see if they won. Right now I don't have any auctions with bids I want to end anyway because I don't know if they will be bid up. One guy asked me to end an auction but I told him that I don't know whether it will be bid up or not so I am letting it ride.

[dbfolks166mt]

     I was actually suspecting to start to see an increase in unpaid item cases which sellers have screamed about for years. EBay attempted to implement a auto-pay capability which had started to see the number of postings about this issue decrease rapidly but sellers complained about it so much eBay remove the capability. 

     I use the auction format almost exclusively simply for time management reasons and while I do not get many non-payers when I do I just shrug it off and keep on going. Unlike BIN where you know the buyer is sitting at their computer or on their app with an auction a bidder may place a bid well in advance of the end of the auction. Lots of things can happen between the time the bid is placed and the auction ends: death, medical emergency, natural disaster, the changed their mind, they found it cheaper elsewhere.............. If you end an auction early difficult to say what bidder is thinking although in the case of sport bidders it may cause some interesting dynamics especially if they are working in collaboration with another individual to manipulate the final selling price. 

[dbfolks166mt]

As you now know, the result was predictable.

If the item is not worthy of an auction, selling at auction is a waste of time.

Bidders who have no interest in owning the item are common if the starting bid is low. Non-paying bidders is commonplace.

Eliminating the auction as a listing type is not possible since the first thought many people have when they hear Ebay is auction.

Since many sellers use auctions to rid themselves of inventory they cannot sell any other way, the auction continues to get less and less respect.

Ending auctions early is another way to disrespect Ebay auctions.

     I have always used the auction format almost exclusively but do it for time management reasons and nothing more. I actually find it VERY beneficial and anything but a "waste of time". I get a few non-payers but no biggie. I would contrast that to the number of postings I see on this forum about BIN items where the buyer requested to cancel right after purchase or after receipt requested a return because they changed their mind, found it cheaper elsewhere ............ 

[tobaccocardyahoo]

I suppose if you are not able to fulfill orders continuously, that would be a reason for "time management".

But with a 20% sell through rate and most sales on single bids, although you do have some multibid auctions, I would find it less work to list as fixed price, and would expect to bring in more money.

I haven't tried comparing your results to fixed price sales but you know what works for you.

I know that when I buy on an Ebay auction I pay between 25 and 50% less than fixed price listings. I admit that I may have to bid on multiple auctions before I win one, but maybe that is why there is an NPB problem, some bidders do not want to wait weeks until they win and bid on multiple identical items.

[dbfolks166mt]

I suppose if you are not able to fulfill orders continuously, that would be a reason for "time management".

     It's not that I am not able to fulfill orders continuously it's that I have no desire to do so. I am semi-retired, all of my auctions end on Sunday and most buyers have paid by Monday evening so everything gets packed and to the post office, less than 1 mile away, on Tuesday morning. I then have the rest of the week to fish, hunt, go camping or hiking, spend time with friends and family or even take short trips. 

     I use the schedule feature on the listings so they can be posted about anytime but I NEVER get on eBay from my cell phone. 

But with a 20% sell through rate and most sales on single bids, although you do have some multibid auctions, I would find it less work to list as fixed price, and would expect to bring in more money.

     As noted above it's not always about the money. This is more of a hobby for me although I do turn a profit on most sales. If I were listing as BIN the price I would put on the BIN would be the same as the starting price on my auction which is why a lot of my items sell with a single bid. 

I haven't tried comparing your results to fixed price sales but you know what works for you.

I know that when I buy on an Ebay auction I pay between 25 and 50% less than fixed price listings. I admit that I may have to bid on multiple auctions before I win one, but maybe that is why there is an NPB problem, some bidders do not want to wait weeks until they win and bid on multiple identical items.

     Agree with you on this one there seems to be a lot more instant gratification among buyers these days. I don't buy much on eBay these days but I do purchase a LOT of items from local auction houses. It used to be one of my major sourcing venues but the selling prices are getting insane these days. I have seen a lot of items bring 2-3 times what they can be purchased for from an ecommerce site plus there is generally a buyer premium added to the final bid price. It only takes two determined bidders to push an auction price into the stratosphere.

[keziak]

Do you feel that using BIN on auctions also disrespects them? Or Best Offer? I don't use a BIN price but when I re-list I usually add Best Offer a nd sell some stuff that way.