Tell me what you think. There was a coin on ebay that I was interested in, but the minimum bid was waaayyyy too high. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who thought so because the item received 0 bids. Would it be unethical for me to contact the seller, now that the auction has ended, and offer what I was willing to pay? Steve
Not at all unethical...I do it all the time. In fact, if I were a seller and my listing didn't get any bids, I'd be happy to see replies with offers. Of course, you're always going to have a jerk that will take offense to your offer but usually I find that they're happy to hear there's some interest. Who knows, maybe they were just testing the waters to see what the market would bear and now realize they need to back down. Good luck!
Technically, Ebay frowns on this type of activity and if you get caught, you could be suspended from Ebay. But it happens all the time.
The only reason E-bay doesn't like it, is because they don't get the money they would if you sold it.... Yes--e-mail and make a offer...I have done it a few times and would do it again.....but somebody always bid on what I want..... Speedy
It is quite simple really--You ask the seller "a general question" regarding the item--He reply's (usually) walla, sellers email that from that moment on you can email without going thru ebays system--The only reason it is against ebays policy is also very simple--They lose out on the fees, both feebays, eeerr ebays and perhaps playpals--eerrr paypals >>The bad part is that if the seller screws you, if you will, the buyer will have NO recourse and could perhaps lose all his/her money, UNLESS of course the buyer is smart--Anybody wanna guess what I mean as far as a SMART BUYER outside feebays or anybodys system:: Eh? you say wha?? --Now please understand, I have not used these tactics, but hey, I never needed to----YET--But I will not, not do something just because it is against the law--right??Don't you speed everyday??Run a stop sign here and there?? Run a red light??--come on now tell the truth--
Cisco, The truth is I have run a few stop signs. But their's not a traffic light in the whole county where I live. Course it's not the biggest county in the state.
Don't want to be out of synch on this, but I've only done something similar to this once. I contacted the seller and asked if would consider lowering his price and relisting the item. He thought I was crazy. He did lower the starting bid and relist. He ended up getting about $125 more for the item then his original starting bid. My net. If ebay provides the contact they are entitled to make some money on it.
I've done this exact same tactic noted below. It works perfectly most of the time. However, I think the seller can elect to answer the question "publically" on an item still for sale, therefore passing up the private e-mail to private e-mail opportunity. I have a feeling eBay may get wise to this and close the loop hole. By the way, ethically I see NO problem with this at all, especially if the coin didn't sell. In fact, it encourages the seller to keep using eBay for other items whereas they will earn their fees.
