I put 2 items for sale on Ebay yesterday,both quite rare old British bike bits.i have gone down the auction route,and there is quite a bit of interest.I had a guy email me asking if I had a buy it now price. I replied I hadn't,but looking at previous sales of similar parts I had a rough idea of their worth.I emailed him that if he would like to make an offer I would consider it. He replies that one of my items is not complete-and what would I want for them including post and packaging. Am I being too harsh in thinking he is a time waster? If I am asked to make an offer on something I want, I always do-I know what is worth to me and if I need it and the item is fairly rare I will offer a fair and reasonable price. Comments appreciated as I think perhaps I might be turning into a miserable old buffer and do not know the correct etiquette for these negotiations.
If there is a fair bit of interest in your items,politely decline the offer saying that you want to let the auction reach it's conclusion.
Thankyou John.Sounds sensible to me-if he can't be bothered to make an offer he can't be that serious on acquiring the parts.I am not desperate to sell-I am just de cluttering stuff which will not be used and is just taking up space needlessly
Generally with eBay I find if I'm selling the buyers an ars@hole and if I'm buying the sellers a tw@t. Not always, but generally.
If I have an auction I let it run, and just point out to the person asking that that is the only fair way. Generally they only ask if they want it and are trying to get it cheaper...
I find the people that like to play e-mail or text tennis, usally with an opening gambit of "How much to end it now mate?" are a waste of time. It's either someone who's after getting your parts on the cheap or a messer. I find a serious buyer will probaly just let the auction run or ask to speak to you on the phone about an item. Timewasters don't like to use the phone. A statement on the auction that you will not end the auction early can help.
That is probably a good summing up.It seems nowadays the ars and the twa@ts outnumber the few genuine people out there.It comes as a bit of a suprise to deal with someone decent-I have met them though in the past.
I've watched bits on auction with a starting price of £100, get 0 bids, you message to say "what would you take?" And they reply £120 +PnP! Really! Nobody bid at £100!
This is what I do. Generally speaking, an experienced ebayers knows the drill. I rarely email a seller unless they appear to be new to selling on eBay, if I do it always comes with an actual offer and how I've come to that value. Anyone who emails "how much?" gets short shrift from me. Make me an offer or don't bother wasting my time!
Many thanks for all the useful replies.I have sent polite answers to two,more than likely chancers,that due to the interest I will let the auction run.
In my experience, most are chancers, trying to get it on the cheap. I did get a guy to end an auction early a few months back, but I wanted the part urgently, and offered him more than it probably would have got by the auction end. I also spoke to him on the phone so he knew I was genuine. That way it worked for both of us.
my experience of people wanting to end auctions early is that they want it on the cheap and do not want to bid against other buyers Unless they offer a decent amount of cash and you are happy with the cash offer walk away, or better still block them from bidding or contacting you ever again as they are time wasters
"Cash waiting for the right price" is my favourite. Along with the completely baseless "I think your item is worth ......." Followed by "good luck with the sale". Stick to eBay and at least you have a little protection.
Ha, yeah those are classic lines - "good luck with you sale" was used on an R1 pillion seat I had for sale a few weeks ago. He came back with the asking price the following day.
ive on quite a few occasions asked folk if they would consider ending early, usually when its a fairly new auction, have had luck but would only do this if I really wanted the item and its pretty rare, never offer a silly price as you only usually get away with the one offer, if they don't accept theres no second chance, I don't muck around just make my offer and that's it, you will have a good idea how rare and sought after the parts are, may make good money letting the auction run its course
