Another eBay seller circumventing the rules.......

magellan

Look at his description. Ending auction early and avoiding fees

pc

?

scottsusor

Strange approach but I don't believe its against Ebay's rules as I understand them. As long as the auction ends with the item being sold on Ebay -- early or not -- Ebay still collects its appropriate listing and percentage fees. Its only illegal when the auction item is completely pulled from Ebay and the actual sale takes place outside of Ebay -- such that Ebay does not gets its percentage fees. However, to be legal, the seller DOES have to enter in the actual final sales price and not some lower amount. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong about this.

That said, I have to wonder if the seller in this case is aware that if he doesn't enter in the actual sales price, he is in violation of the rules.

Scott

highend

scott- i'm pretty sure that is correct

DirtyHarry

Odd approach...what would be the rationale for conducting the auction in the fashion.

magellan

I interpreted this : " will be accepting offers through email until sunday and then i will end the auction and sell to the highest bidder if the price is right" as meaning he would sell it off eBay, otherwise why would he want bids via email. Maybe I'm wrong.

qualitycards

<< <i>Odd approach...what would be the rationale for conducting the auction in the fashion. >>


DH - Pergaps the psychology that you better hurry up and give your best price asap or i'll take another offer and the item may be gone...jay

scottsusor

<< <i>I interpreted this : " will be accepting offers through email until sunday and then i will end the auction and sell to the highest bidder if the price is right" as meaning he would sell it off eBay, otherwise why would he want bids via email. Maybe I'm wrong. >>


You're right -- it smells fishy. And if it walks like a duck, you know the rest. I think a better approach would have been to use the "Buy It Now" feature if he has an acceptable price in mind. Of course, that costs extra -- and maybe that's why he's taking bids by email.

Scott

qualitycards

SCOTT - The Buy It Now feature adds only .5 cents to an auction...jay

DirtyHarry

Jay - hear that, just seems so odd. As in, there are some other ways to get to the same end like a shorter listing window, reserve price, BIN as someone else suggests, blah..blah.

I believe the way it works is you can end the auction early when you get a bid acceptable to you. So instead of the verbage used, maybe
"I am anxious to sell this card, and will end the auction early when I receive an acceptable bid. Please keep that in mind if you are planning to snipe. Place your best bid early" or something like that would be more effective. Maybe that was the intent, but they guy is not a wordsmith. I ramble...still seems odd.

Mantlefan

It's clear to me that he will pull the auction listing on Sunday and sell the card off EBAY to save fees.

BTW...he says "the card is not that off-center.." Yes it is!

pandrews

when you pull an auction, whether its because of an error in the description, or because the "item is no longer for sale", you are still charged your ebay listing fee. the only fees this guy would be avoiding is his "final value fee"..

dstudeba

Actually he will get a higher price this way even if he does pay fees, since he can sell it at the highest bidder's highest price, instead of 5 dollars over the 2nd highest bidders price..............

Have a great weekend everyone!

ctsoxfan

He is trying to avoid the final value fee, correct! But, the whole thing just comes off as very amateurish...and damn, that card is way o/c! What is he smoking?