The Cherries that got away

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by Casman, Oct 18, 2021.

  1. Jaelus

    Jaelus The Hungarian Antiquarian Supporter

    Do you want to get the cherrypick or not?

    For your information, it's built into the software. You can ask the seller a question. Any seller can send an individual buy it now offer to any bidder who has initiated a question on the item.
     
    kazuma78 likes this.
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  3. Jaelus

    Jaelus The Hungarian Antiquarian Supporter

    I didn't say to bid high I said to bid early. Bidding early and high is great if you like paying more money than you have to, and literally is of no other use. Bidding early and low can be useful, however.
     
    john65999 likes this.
  4. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    Sorry! My mistake!
     
  5. Jaelus

    Jaelus The Hungarian Antiquarian Supporter

    It's fine. I should have specified I meant a low bid. The idea is to let people know that someone else has spotted the auction as well so it may discourage them to see a bid on there even if it is only 99 cents. I don't want someone seeing an auction with no bids and ruminating over winning the lot for themselves to the point where they put in a crazy bid later. Let them see it has some bids and move along (hopefully).

    Or, as I said, just putting in a bid, even 99 cents can disable the buy it now option on an auction.
     
    john65999 likes this.
  6. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    I still think this is a bad idea. By placing that bid, you've distinguished the auction from a million others that start at 99 cents and aren't worth even that much. You're giving information to other bidders (and the seller). Don't do that; hoard as much information as you can for as long as you can.
    And that's why listing something at $100 BIN with a 99-cent starting bid seems incredibly stupid to me. If it's worth $50 but you think someone might pay $100, list it with a $50 start and $100 BIN. If you want a bidding war, start it with a somewhat lower starting bid, and forget the BIN. A high BIN and a low starting bid does not get the seller "the best of both worlds".
     
  7. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    There is a website where you can enter an item number and it will show how many people are following a particular item. Unfortunately, I've forgotten what it is called.
     
    -jeffB likes this.
  8. Casman

    Casman Well-Known Member

    Sure, however I’m not going to break laws to get it.
    Also, FYI for true auctions with bids there is no way to end it with a buyitnow offer.
     
  9. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    http://www.watchcount.com/
     
  10. Jaelus

    Jaelus The Hungarian Antiquarian Supporter

    Ok, let me explain how eBay works a bit because there seems to be some confusion.

    If you click on contact seller on an auction - any auction - there is a section that clearly describes the process for making an offer on an auction where Make an Offer is not enabled.

    Here it is:
    2.jpg
    eBay literally tells you to go ahead and message the seller with your best price.

    Now follow me here because once you have sent a seller a message on an auction, it enables another eBay feature called Private Offers.

    Read what eBay has to say about this in their own documentation:
    1.jpg
    So what does this all mean exactly? If you send a seller a message saying you're interested in buying out the item and you can agree on a price, the seller can then send a Private Offer for that price directly to you, and it will close the item. This is not illegal and it is not against eBay rules. eBay has explicitly designed their system to work this way to facilitate this type of transaction.

    The one thing you cannot do is do this on an auction that has existing bids which if you read my previous posts, is why I advocate for making an early low bid. When an auction has a bid it severely limits the options of the seller to close an auction early without violating eBay rules. There are still ways for them to do it without breaking rules that are in a grey area and eBay would more than likely be unable to prove any wrongdoing, but it forces the seller to essentially do something shady like cancel the auction and relist it or cancel existing bids. Once they have cancelled any bids, they are free to then send a Private Offer, but at least putting a bid on there makes it more difficult for them.

    So make no mistakes about it, you can absolutely communicate with a seller to close the item out early with a private offer to you, and it breaks no rules. As I said, if you really want to cherrypick an auction, you either need to do this yourself or put in a nominal early bid to prevent someone else from doing this. It's one or the other.
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2021
  11. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    At one point, eBay's own instructions said that if you end an auction early, you agree to sell it to the current high bidder at the current listed bid (not their hidden maximum or any other price). If you want to end the auction and not sell the item, according to the instructions at the time, you were to cancel each bid on the item first. As I recall, the instructions pointed out that this might make your bidders unhappy, but it wasn't against the rules.
     
    Jaelus likes this.
  12. Casman

    Casman Well-Known Member

    This looks interesting and I stand corrected. Not sure in practice how it would play out for a coin at best worth like $10 with an existing bid at $7. I’d expect one would have to make an offer the seller wouldn’t refuse, which in my opinion, if I was selling a $10 item, rather common, and somebody offered too much I’d wonder why?
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2021
  13. Jaelus

    Jaelus The Hungarian Antiquarian Supporter

    Right that's why I call it a grey area. They do ask for a reason for bid or auction cancellation and presumably in those scenarios you'd need to be dishonest to get rid of a bid, but it would be very difficult to prove.

    After they got a flurry of bids they'd wonder, sure. But if someone is just asking to buy it and they are offering what seems reasonable, why would you say no? It could simply be for time constraints if it's a gift for example. Or they could be interested in a similar item on another auction or two and want to nail something down. Doesn't seem that unusual.

    It's not just for cherrypicks. Agreeing on a price and closing the deal is a hedge against the unknown final value of the auction. Any number of things can happen that result in you losing an auction. If you know you definitely want an item and you can come to a mutual agreement, what's the downside?
     
  14. Kentucky

    Kentucky Supporter! Supporter

    @Jaelus I think the problem was the phrase "end the auction early". I have made sellers offers that have been accepted even though there was no "make offer" notice.
     
  15. Jaelus

    Jaelus The Hungarian Antiquarian Supporter

    I suppose, but that is what is happening isn't it? To someone who was watching the auction intending to put in a last second bid, they would simply see that the auction ended before the end time.
     
    Kentucky likes this.
  16. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    Well, for the seller, the downside is capping the price of an auction that the buyer most likely thinks will go higher.

    And for eBay, the downside is lower FVFs as a result of that cap.

    For the buyer? It's all sunshine and roses.
     
    mlov43, Jaelus and wxcoin like this.
  17. cpm9ball

    cpm9ball CANNOT RE-MEMBER

    -jeffB likes this.
  18. john65999

    john65999 Well-Known Member

    i have lost quite a few error coin auctions because my bid was 1 cent or 1.00, with no other bids, then mysteriously poof the listing ends for some unexplained reason..the other day won a clash cent for 99 cents with 4.00 shipping, he canceled it and told ebay that i initiated it, which was false, i def. left bad feedback for that a-hat
     
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