eBay Fall Seller Update - Fee for ending auctions early.

[katieneack]

I will be actually more inclined as a buyer to throw out higher bids earlier on really rare cards with this rule. Almost every card of the player I collect that is really rare gets pulled early because of sellers taking offers outside of Ebay. Some sellers don't do this, but they are definitely the minority, not the majority. Maybe buyers will decide to not wait to the last second to bid, knowing that will make the card less likely to get pulled early if the bid gets higher? Just a thought.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

I will be actually more inclined as a buyer to throw out higher bids earlier on really rare cards with this rule. Almost every card of the player I collect that is really rare gets pulled early because of sellers taking offers outside of Ebay. Some sellers don't do this, but they are definitely the minority, not the majority. Maybe buyers will decide to not wait to the last second to bid, knowing that will make the card less likely to get pulled early if the bid gets higher? Just a thought.

Couldn't agree more, this is great and much more fair to collectors.

 

[gmsieb]

I will be actually more inclined as a buyer to throw out higher bids earlier on really rare cards with this rule. Almost every card of the player I collect that is really rare gets pulled early because of sellers taking offers outside of Ebay. Some sellers don't do this, but they are definitely the minority, not the majority. Maybe buyers will decide to not wait to the last second to bid, knowing that will make the card less likely to get pulled early if the bid gets higher? Just a thought.

This seems fair, but would sellers stop auctions, if people made high bids early?? I'd think they be inclined to let it run.

 

[Crewfan82]

yeah, not sure how this is screwing anyone. It's protecting ebay. You are using THEIR business to get YOUR product the attention you wouldn't get anywhere else. If someone contacts you through ebay to do a deal offline, that would have never happened without ebay and they don't get a cut.

From a business standpoint, it's a great move on their part.

Sure they do. eBay owns Paypal so they collect their Paypal fees. I say 99% of the deals made off eBay still run through Paypal so the buyer is protected. Does eBay get as big of a cut, no, but they still get a pretty nice piece.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

The more sellers act professionally the better the hobby will become.

 

[Sly]

I'm hoping to someday get to one of their yearly reunion shows around Chicago.

Would love if they do a huge reunion show ... I saw them back on Valentine's Day in '97 in Seattle and my wife still reminds of that day when I dragged her to see Hum instead of taking her out for a nice Valentine's Day dinner. Oh well, she still married me!! And now back to the topic at hand ...

 

[gmsieb]

The more sellers act professionally the better the hobby will become.

That goes both ways. When I was selling a lot last year, I was getting paid around 70% of the time. While I was filing NPB's, the buyer would continue to bid and decide to pay on other auctions. Buyers would win auctions on big items and then wait their 8 days to see where the item went and then not pay because the card sold $10 cheaper to someone else. Had this happen on 2011 bowman jumbo cases. The same person, using 2 accts won the same case twice. I waited the full 8 days the first time. 2-3 days into the second sale, I figured out it was the same buyer. Ebay, let me stop the sale. In this time, I lost around $150 on case. Meanwhile, ebay knowing what this buyer was doing, did nothing. He was allowed to contiune to bid and niether acct. was shut down. How many times does a seller have to lose money before, he/she decides taking an offer off ebay is fair game?

 

[sportscardtheory]

Would love if they do a huge reunion show ... I saw them back on Valentine's Day in '97 in Seattle and my wife still reminds of that day when I dragged her to see Hum instead of taking her out for a nice Valentine's Day dinner. Oh well, she still married me!! And now back to the topic at hand ...

Awesome. At least you got to see them. I'm so getting to one of their reunion shows ASAP. I told my GF we are definitely going the next time they play.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

That goes both ways. When I was selling a lot last year, I was getting paid around 70% of the time. While I was filing NPB's, the buyer would continue to bid and decide to pay on other auctions. Buyers would win auctions on big items and then wait their 8 days to see where the item went and then not pay because the card sold $10 cheaper to someone else. Had this happen on 2011 bowman jumbo cases. The same person, using 2 accts won the same case twice. I waited the full 8 days the first time. 2-3 days into the second sale, I figured out it was the same buyer. Ebay, let me stop the sale. In this time, I lost around $150 on case. Meanwhile, ebay knowing what this buyer was doing, did nothing. He was allowed to contiune to bid and niether acct. was shut down. How many times does a seller have to lose money before, he/she decides taking an offer off ebay is fair game?

Yeah, I know it can be bad for small sellers, sorry about that. But I'm still more comfortable buying from big, professional sellers who are more consistent in their services than small ones and can better withstand losses like the one you describe. Frankly, I'd like to see fewer sellers in the hobby so this all fits into my agenda.

 

[katieneack]

This seems fair, but would sellers stop auctions, if people made high bids early?? I'd think they be inclined to let it run.

I'm hoping that is the end result as a buyer. I think that everyone using the sniper service contributes to a lot of auctions getting pulled early. People bidding earlier and often would benefit both the seller and the buyer.

 

[Casebusters]

Most of the time, Its a buyer that wants to buy now and not wait for an auction to end...
so if someone wants to end an auction, its because its not selling high. So pay a little fee and you don't lose out on the card...
But most off-ebay sales Ive done are from BINs with best offer...
If they want to pay a lot less, then I ask them to buy without using ebay so the buyer is actually getting the fee (in savings) and not ebay.
So its the buyers fault, because I try to base my prices with ebay fees factored in, and if a buyer wants to pay less, then I do a sale off ebay.
Another way to avoid off-ebay sales is to keep a Buy it now until the auction ends or is hit...

 

[mrwhitesox30]

This might be a terrible idea, but Ebay could institute a BIN for every auction. Instead of the seller setting it, the bidder makes an offer. All bidders only get one offer, all offers are only good for 24 hours, and all offers expire with 3 days left in the auction. As long as the seller doesn't accept any offers, the auction ends up going to the winning bidder just as it always has.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

Why not cancel all bids, raise the auction price to a high amount, and then let it end on it's own? Or can you not change the price after bids are made, even if they're cancelled?

In that case, cancel all the bids, then change the description of the auction to indicate THE CARD HAS BEEN LOST/DESTROYED/EATEN.