The Close-The_Auction Early Phantom

Somebody out there keeps pulling the close-the-auction early routine with tikimugs.. if you're reading this, that's not too cool, and is just going to result in everyone else having to break down and do it too. Including me- and you don't want me to start doing that hahaha

so be a man and let em run pleeze

Exactly. You're not Zazz. You're Klez!

closing the auction early is something i've thought of doing in the past to discourage doing the "wait-til-the-last-minute-to-bid" thing, which works well for the customer, but not the seller.

I mean, if its guerilla warfare they want...

I'm not a big Ebayer myself. But Rain, why does an early close benefit the seller as opposed to the last minute buyers?

I can see it helping the highest bidder at that time, but I would think that (rational thinking) leaving the auction open to it's full time frame would only increase chances for a higher dollar bid.

What am I missing?

last minute bidding keeps the price low, because there is only so much time for people to bid against each other in that last few seconds.
i never did it (threaten to end early), but i figured if people thought the auction might end at any time, they would just go ahead and bid what they were willing to pay up front, rather than wait until the last minute. i tend to think last-minute bidding is a guerilla tactic, myself.

this is the scam:

basically you have some little old lady with a crane bowl up on ebay. She thinks she might get a couple bucks for it, yet we all know it'll break $100 easy.

Somebody sees it early on and emails her, saying "hey I'll give ya $40 for that silly old thing, but you have to close it now"

so maybe there's 15 people waiting to bid on that thing- maybe even a couple already have.. doesn't matter.. if she goes to close it, she can cancel all the bids, etc.

This is actually AGAINST ebay's rules, but people are doing it anyway. I've done it myself before, I'll admit it, but its a pain- they seldom want to close the auction unless you offer some real high amount, and then I've often seen an item i offered $50 for and got turned down close for $28 anyway, so i realized its stupid.

But its still happening out there- the problem is, its annoying to those of us playing fair, 50% of the time it backfires on you anyway, and if you do score, you basically knowingly scammed the seller (little old lady)

thank you
over and out

[ Edited by: fatuhiva on 2003-02-03 23:26 ]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I think it is snakey!

You should hear the crap excuses people come up with for why they want an auction to close early - my mom (who runs higher dollar item auctions than myself) tells me about people trying to do this to her all the time. It's not so bad when they email and say "How about 500 clams to close early" but when they break ou the sob story "I leant a 50's lucite purse just like that to a friend and they lost it, how much to close the auction early" that's when it's just sad.

The few times I've had someone ask me to close and auction early, I have always said no (cause my theory is that if they want it that bad they'll bid that much and more) and every time it has happened I have sold for at least two or 3 times what they offered.

The early auction close request is speading, and it sucks. It is Klez.

Fatuvia- I know the scam. My question was directed to Rain because I did not understand the "benefit to the seller" to close early.
I still don't.
Say there is a Stephen Crane Bowl, and there are 100 TikiCentralites just waiting to bid (all of us wanting to get the best possible bargain though, right? Pay as little as possible?) and at the last minute I say, "Okay, $100 is my limit - that's what I'll bid." Now another collector may say, "Gee, I bet that Stingray dickhead is gonna bid at least $125...I'll go $150 thats my limit."

I am still oblivious to the benefit to the FAIR seller to close early because even when bidders wait till the last minute, they are probably going to bid high in order to win.

(I say FAIR seller because I DO realize a potential benefit to a seller if the bidder offers a high amount of money to close. And again, that practice is supposedly prohibited on Ebay.)

So, in closing, I'd like to point out that I understand the process and the reasoning, just did not fully understand the comment made by Rain.

On 2003-02-03 20:59, Rain wrote:
i tend to think last-minute bidding is a guerilla tactic, myself.

Personally, I have no problem with sniping. Waiting for the last second to bid to keep the price low is no more guerrilla than listing the item on eBay in the first place instead of offering the item at a set price. Seller wants the highest price, buyer wants the lowest -- can't fault either for trying to accomplish that.

Rain -- would you state in the auction that you are going to end it early and the high bidder at that time wins? That would be the only way I could see ending an item early inspiring people to bid right away.

-Mike

I am still oblivious to the benefit to the FAIR seller to close early because even when bidders wait till the last minute, they are probably going to bid high in order to win. > Rain -- would you state in the auction that you are going to end it early and the high bidder at that time wins? That would be the only way I could see ending an item early inspiring people to bid right away.

and for the record, i totally agree about the paying-people-to-close-the-auction-early thing.

it's crappy.

as is the post-auction - "i forgot to bid - can i offer you less than your original bid price for the item?"

My thoughts on the "end auction" and electronic sniping on Ebay are already documented. I don't understand this, however:

"as is the post-auction - "i forgot to bid - can i offer you less than your original bid price for the item?"

How is that unsporting or bad form...or "crappy"? I have seen many auctions that have a too high starting bid, and they received no bids. I have on many times emailed the seller and said,"If you take 'x' it's sold". That's business, very typical in live auctions wherein the auctioneer has to lower the bid to get things going...nothing bad about that at all.

midnite

yeah, that's fine. just don't lie and say you forgot to bid.

you're right, though, i'm convinced.

i guess i'm just sore because i can't sell stuff for higher prices. meanwhile people will pay $50+ for a REALLY badly done ripoff of shag. and on PAPER, no less.

i still say sniping sucks, though.

On 2003-02-04 15:44, midnite_tiki wrote:
How is that unsporting or bad form...or "crappy"?

Midnight, I don't think your scenario is unsporting at all, but here is a situation I think could be called "crappy."

I had a framed Shag "Leeteg Tribute" on eBay a while back, and I set what I thought was a low reserve -- less than what unframed versions of that print have sold for in the past (BTW, I don't scalp Shag prints -- I had a bunch of early Shags framed for my office and when I moved out I decided to get rid of them as I had no room in the house. I also abhor the eBay Shag scalpers).

I think the auction was too close to Christmas, but it closed $5.00 below the reserve. Within SECONDS of the auction close, I got an email from someone asking what the reserve price was and if I would consider selling it for that. I looked to see if he had bid on it, thinking if he had already bid on it, I would sell it to him but this clown didn't even bother bidding on the item. If he had, he would have won it.

I told him what the reserve was and said I would relist in a few months.

If he wanted it that bad, he could have bid on it.

Hmmmm, it might be time to relist that item. It's just sitting in the darkroom waiting for a good home.

-Mike

Ebay is a sellers advantage. If there are lots of bidders, the seller is ahead. The only advantage the buyer has on Ebay is to wait as late as possible to bid to keep the price down. It's the only advantage you have. So don't knock it. You have the power as a seller to set a starting price and a reserve price, so you are assured of getting your money if it sells.

The best thing to do with Ebay is try to sell as much as you buy. Keep the books even.