Ending Ebay Auctions Early to Sell: any opinions or insights?

bjork73

How do you respond to offers from people that want you to end auctions and sell to them? Does anybody actually end auctions, or at least think about it? It seems to me like if a person wants to offer a certain amount of money, that they should just bid that amount and leave me alone instead of asking me to do something that I think breaks Ebay's rules and is antithetical to the purpose of holding an auction in the first place.

That said, here's the specific offer:

I have an 2005-06 Topps Chrome Superfractor (true 1/1) of Austin Croshere that I'm selling on Ebay. Somebody offered me $40 to end early. What Would You Do?

Any thoughts would be appreciated

yawie99

If the item already has bids, I'll almost always let the auction run its course. If not, I don't see any problem with ending it early.

detroitfan2

<<asking me to do something that I think breaks Ebay's rules and is antithetical to the purpose of holding an auction in the first place.>>

bjork73, you hit the nail on the head with this line. Don't do it if you care about your ethics and integrity. There are a defined set of reasons for ending auctions early. Getting a paid offer to do so is not one of those reasons.

fdnyladder7

Yesterday, someone offered me $275 for what he reported in an earlier offer "it's a $150 SMR valued card". The issue of honor and integrity really mean little with buyers -until they wish to sell. Personally, I'm just gonna let the auction run. *Auctions posted in the Buy/Sell forum.

GlynRParson

I recently had a buyer offer me $125 to end an auction early the same buyer ended up winning the card for $375. 1950 bowman tony Canadeo PSa 7. So no, i never end auctions early.

Stingray

I would never end an auction early, based on what happened to me. I asked someone to end an auction early for an item I wanted, no one had bid on it. Well the person agreed and did not pull the auction in time and someone bid on the item. Told the seller to pull auction right away if he agreed to my buy price. Anyway as a buyer I would not ask a seller to do that again, nor as a seller would I end early.


Stingray

Bosox1976

I don't end early except via buy-it-now. Otherwise I fell that I have said it's a true auction. You win some , you lose some this way - but snipes are the wild card. It is hard to say how an auction is doing until the end.

smallstocks

I never end my auctions early if there is so much as a single bookmark on my auctions. I have had board members tell me point blank that they will not bid on my auctions because I did not offer the item to them directly off ebay or won't end the auction early for them. I honestly thought the people on this board were better than that. Anyway, that is the exception to the rule.

larryallen73

I never end auctions early. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose but I let an auction run it's course. Semi-relevant story to share: Sold some basketball tickets last week. NOSE bleed, Oakland regional, NCAA, pair of tickets. They appeared to be going for about $185-200 in other auctions. Offered them to a Gonzaga friend for $165. He declined. I put them on the Bay, 24 hours, with a $199 Buy it Now, people started bidding... ended at $405. Best part was I had paid $365 and that included the Thursday tickets which I used. Sweet deal. You just never know how high an auction may go!

bjork73

The item already has bids. It seems like $40 for a Superfractor of a semistar/minor star level player from that set is a strong price, but Croshere does have Euro appeal. I'm just going to politely tell the person that I'd be happy if they would bid $40, but I can't end the auction early.

ajmoeller81

I really don't see what ethics has to do with it.

If anyone involved is unethical it is eBay and the "look the other way" approach they take with their business.

As long as they're getting the listing fee they could care less about fraud, forgeries, etc.

The only reason they don't want you to end an auction early is so they can get more listing fees. Has nothing to do with ethics. Has to do with greed.

Boopotts

<< <i>I really don't see what ethics has to do with it.

If anyone involved is unethical it is eBay and the "look the other way" approach they take with their business.

As long as they're getting the listing fee they could care less about fraud, forgeries, etc.

The only reason they don't want you to end an auction early is so they can get more listing fees. Has nothing to do with ethics. Has to do with greed. >>



Agreed. This is not an ethical dilemma. It's your card, not the potential bidders'. If you want to end an auction early that's entirely your business.

idunnodou

It's business ethics in that you agreed to eBay's policies and fees when using their services. eBay provided the means for you to sell this item and they want their cut.

fiveniner

NO! just ride it out both ways although I have given it thought a couple times from both ends.NO NO NO NO!!!!!

Knuckles

I won't do it.. although I will send the odd e-mail to sellers asking if they would take X amount to end an item.. as a seller I would never end an auction early.


My reply is always something along the lines of: Sorry I'm going to let the auctions run their course. Good luck in winning!

ctsoxfan

It always seems that the offer you get is lower than the final price will be. Let the auction run.


By the way, as much as some people love to hate Ebay, it is unethical to end an auction early. You used them to broker your sale, and then didn't pay them their cut, as the agreement to use Ebay clearly states. I can't see how you would argue this.

Allen

Certain cards bring lots of "X amount to end early" emails. I have sold some Iverson Autos and recieved like 20 offers in the first few hours, same for Jordan rookies, especially graded 7.5 and below.

blacksoxfan

It's illegal and stupid to end an auction early. Period.

ajmoeller81

Love the irony of the black sox fan preaching legality.

ArchStanton

It has happened to me two times with buyers make stong offers to end early. In each instance, the card ended up selling for more than the offer.

I just thanked them for their interest in the card and kindly told them that I would prefer to let the auction run its course.