General view on closing auctions early when bids have been placed?

[Skeen]

I guess then that if there was a private offer involved, it wasn't someone in the pony community.

You'd be really, really surprised what people in the pony community will do to get Ebay auctions on the cheap. 

[kitkatvintage]

The stance still remains the same here Taffeta on fellow collectors asking that an item be ended early  We don't tolerate it.

In general the collecting community still looks down on people who ask for auctions to be ended early. Back in the day this was a serious offense and it could get someone blacklisted from the community. Sadly there's an alarming number of collectors who think asking for deals outside of eBay is ok. Nowadays people aren't banned for getting caught doing this and some people even openly admit to asking sellers to end auctions. It's really unfortunate that some collectors lack the integrity that this community was built on. However I will say that people who get caught (or admit to) asking for deals outside of eBay are not forgotten by those paying attention.

[Whippycorn]

It annoys the heck out of me.   

[bluerose9978]

It annoys the heck out of me. 

Me too! Both as a seller and as a buyer!

[Taffeta]

What KKV said is also what I remember. I know too that there are ponypeople from the Arena who try this because some sellers make the questions asked of them public and I have seen a few with names on that give the game away. I admit have already mentally blacklisted those people. I don'tvwant to trade with someone who thinks they are above ebay rules, because if they can cheat ebay, they can cheat me on a price or a sale too.

I remember especially because this happened so much in Jem at the time and I really admired the integrity of the pony comm in trying to stamp it out. It is very sad that it isn't seen as such a serious issue.

Be interesting if comics appear for trade here any time soon.

[bluerose9978]

To me, if the seller is open to offers, when they set up their auction/BIN, they'll click the "accept offer" button! But I guess this is just me. It's very annoying to me to have people message me and ask if I will sell it cheaper or off eBay or even if I will send as a gift (overseas). Thankfully most of the messages I receive are just people asking if I combine shipping (which is actually stated in the auctions if they'd read) or how much shipping costs if they'd buy multiple ponies.

I just think it's not only the sellers fault, though, for making the sale off eBay. I'd put a large part of the blame on the people making the offers. They know that it's wrong but they do it because they know that they get away with a deal.

[Taffeta]

I just think it's not only the sellers fault, though, for making the sale off eBay. I'd put a large part of the blame on the people making the offers. They know that it's wrong but they do it because they know that they get away with a deal.

I was talking about the buyers, in terms of my blacklisting. I reread what I wrote and I realised it was a bit unclear! I was talking about the option sellers have to publish any questions sent to them about their item. I think the option is so that if someone asks about shipping, the seller can answer it once and then publish it to show anyone else with the same question. SOME sellers hit publish on buyers who make private offers. I guess they do that because they don't like the habit - but when they publish those questions, it often gives away the name of the person asking. Those people are the ones I've mentally blacklisted, because when I see an auction I'm watching and I see someone trying to buy it for much less than it's ultimately going to be worth - I really don't like the idea of trading with them. The chance of them offering me too little for my item is very high - so I write them off in my mind. Those kinds of offers are only acceptable on auctions with the BEST OFFER option on there. If that's not there, nobody should be making private offers at all (and especially not if the item has bids)

I dunno whether I would publish a question like that, it's a bit of an inflammatory thing to do - but at least it shows that the seller is honourable and isn't going to entertain any sneaking around behind the scenes (thus discouraging other people from trying the same trick).

Of course, if the community still blacklisted it, it might happen a lot less...but then I'm very old school

[Galactica]

Regarding "watchers" - I don't think whether a listing has a watcher or not is at all relevant. There are ALWAYS watchers, even for items that never get a single bid! I figure they must just be watching out of curiosity, or to see how much a particular item is going for, or in the hopes the seller will re-list with a lower price.

That last one is what I sometimes do. Because I want the thing but I think their price is too high so I wait for the seller to lower it.

Yeah sometimes I "watch" for the above reasons too-  or sometimes if I have the same item and I want to know how much it will go for (to help me price it fairly)

[Ringlets]

The stance still remains the same here Taffeta on fellow collectors asking that an item be ended early  We don't tolerate it.

In general the collecting community still looks down on people who ask for auctions to be ended early. Back in the day this was a serious offense and it could get someone blacklisted from the community. Sadly there's an alarming number of collectors who think asking for deals outside of eBay is ok. Nowadays people aren't banned for getting caught doing this and some people even openly admit to asking sellers to end auctions. It's really unfortunate that some collectors lack the integrity that this community was built on. However I will say that people who get caught (or admit to) asking for deals outside of eBay are not forgotten by those paying attention.

This and this ^^   I hate when people make offers to the seller when there are already bids on an item. I find it really cheeky and annoying when the same people come and admit they did it and brag about it.  ok there can be legit reasons for a seller cancelling an auction but the kind of situation we're talking about here (a buyer offering to buy items for a certain price if the seller agrees to cancel the auction/bids)  still happens a lot and I wouldn't personally deal with someone I know does this. I've had it happen where I've been bidding on something only to find  that the seller has cancelled the listing due to someone else coming in and offering to buy it outright  . I've even had it happen where I've won the auction and then someone has stepped in a told the seller they would pay more and so the seller refused to ship to me and made some excuse -in my situation a really ridiculous one- about the items having been sent to a charity shop instead (one of the ponies in the lot was baby sapphire)  , when the seller had answered a question about agreeing to international shipping just before the auction ended (it was posted so everyone could see it  the auction had been UK only originally).
sorry for going OT a bit
I'm old school too!

[Taffeta]

I'm actually glad the feeling is so strong. That story about the Baby Sapphire lot is awful. I know that availability is limited with some ponies but to me it isn't justified. I have no time for people who believe their collection is more important than anyone else's, and go to any lengths to get things they want.

Ringlets, I hope you reported your seller. I think these things need to be reported to ebay as they do also amount to fraud (in your auction's case, avoiding the fees for the item at the price paid) and ebay say they take it seriously. If sellers knew ebay would be on them for it, they would be less likely to accept offers. If ebay can read msges sent, too, they will be able to identify buyers doing it. I don't say they would look at every incident but if the same details kept coming up it might spark them into action, esp if they are losing fees on it.

[Ringlets]

  thanks Taffeta . I did report the seller , I also gave them a big ole Neg (at which point their messages also became abusive and they gave me a false positive - which also got reported to ebay and removed) ,  they ended up in a big thread in TS here and they went on the bad trader list too   it wasn't recent (back in 2010 I think)  , just an example since these things still go on with other buyers/sellers unfortunately

[Haruna]

Regarding "watchers" - I don't think whether a listing has a watcher or not is at all relevant. There are ALWAYS watchers, even for items that never get a single bid! I figure they must just be watching out of curiosity, or to see how much a particular item is going for, or in the hopes the seller will re-list with a lower price.

That last one is what I sometimes do. Because I want the thing but I think their price is too high so I wait for the seller to lower it.

Yeah sometimes I "watch" for the above reasons too-  or sometimes if I have the same item and I want to know how much it will go for (to help me price it fairly)

Yeah, sometimes I'll watch an item because I'd like it and want to show the seller there's interest in the item, but I don't bid because I'm waiting for them to lower the price.

And Ringlets, so sorry about the Baby Sapphire lot. That must have stunk!

[Tiggums6]

Meh I was bidding on a couple of auctions on a New Zealand site and they were suddenly pulled...I messaged the seller through some other items she had listed and asked why she took them down and she happily replied that she had just decided to keep them. I was rather ticked off, I haven't been doing much buying of late and wham!!!.... as soon as I try, I'm thwarted lol. Dodgy and rude in my books anyway.