Ebay BIN Etiquette

[LadySatine]

What is the etiquette for buyers contacting you before an auction ends and asking for a BIN? I *think* that technically ebay rules say you can't do that, is that right? 

Yesterday I had someone contact me to do this and I was kinda...put out. Not mad or anything, but...I don't know. Annoyed is the word I want to use! I kindly declined their offer because I had 4 watchers on the pony and who knows, maybe the pony will go higher than the offer. And I personally have been affected by this and I was slightly annoyed that the seller did it. Must've been a legen*waitforit*dary offer.

What is everyone's take on this?

Edit to add: I'm not naming any names and this is not a witch hunt or anything. This buyer may be a member on here. I am not trying to single you out at all honey, I'm just curious as to what others think and this is my personal opinion. 

[ponylady]

I believe it is pretty frowned upon here.    It's not really fair to your current bidders or someone who plans on bidding.

But ebay does allow it to an extent:


http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/rfe-spam-non-ebay-sale.html


The thing is that people who contact you to end an auction early usually do not have your best interests in mind.  It is usually for their benefit and noone else's.

If you like you can PM me the ID, I am curious to know???

[Sarahlacewing]

Generally speaking people do that when they expect a bidding war and want the item for cheaper than it is worth. Here on pony forum we frown on doing this as pony lady said. We also generally frown on asking people to split trades and pull out the valuable item because people may not realize how negatively it will effect their lot and how much profit they will lose.

But if they are offering a fair price and they just need it quickly for a gift or a swap I could understand. It would be rude to your current bidders but if they are willing to pay higher prices for the bin they probably would have won the auction in the end anyway.

[LadySatine]

Pm'd you ponylady!

Sarah, I don't think it was for a swap, I went back and looked at their profile and now I'm sure they're not a member here. I think maybe they were going to try and "flip" my pony for a profit. 

I'm going to tell who the pony was though! Candy Cane. I'm not sure of her value, but this person offered $5. I think she's worth more than that, but I'll let my bidders decide. 

[Sarahlacewing]

G3 Candy Cane was a target Christmas exclusive early on wasn't it? So they can go decently high if NIB or mint condition. It kind of depends, but $5 is definitely an under offer in my opinion.  That's usually the way it is with these buy it now people.  They think they can pull a fast one because folks want to sell it quickly or don't know what it's worth.  Not always the case, but unfortunately I have found more often than not.  I think you have every right to be annoyed.  Maybe she will go high and maybe she won't but she is worth more than $5. And that kind of sneaky behavior is just... I don't know perturbing. Gl and I hope she sells high!

[lovesbabysquirmy]

It's one thing if the listing says "OBO".  Since Ebay offers BIN instead of OBO for a sales transaction, this means that a seller should only be offering the lowest price they want to see it go for as a BIN, or letting an auction play through and possibly getting a high price.  It's incredibly rude to end an auction early without a good reason (and we don't hear many).  It is a category on my Traderlist so I guess that says a lot right there. 

[LadySatine]

Thank you both! I think it is also rude. It very recently happened to me with the accessory swap on an auction that I had been watching. I thought that I missed the end date, so I pm'd the seller to see if she was going to relist and she said someone made her an offer.

lovesbabysquirmy, would you like me to pm the name?

[Maniah]

I personally don't see the harm in ending an auction if it has no bids on it. If someone was watching it with the intent to bid at te very end and snag it at a low price rather than have a bid war, well... Imagine how the seller feels when they get screwed out of a good bid price because of that mentality. So if an offer comes along on an auction that has been posted for a few days with 0 bids, and they feel like the offer is fair, no one should shame them for taking it down and relisting it with a BIN. With no bids, there is no contractual obligation.

I do see how doing this with an item that has bids is bad however.

[LadySatine]

Well Maniah, a lot of people like to wait to bid until the final hours and minutes to place their bids. This particular pony already has four watchers and that was just one reason I didn't accept. I simply put myself in their shoes because I know how annoying it is.

[banditpony]

No bids, or bids, it's still a nah-uh thing to do. If they want it for $5, then they should put in a $5 bid and see if they get it or not -- that's my opinion.

[kitkatvintage]

This has been frowned upon by the community for years... since the early days of eBay & the online pony community. It used to be that buyers caught asking for auctions to be ended early were shunned by the community. This sort of thing happens pretty often with rare & high value ponies, usually ending with the unknowing seller giving away a high dollar pony for a fraction of its actual value.

[hathorcat]

This has been frowned upon by the community for years... since the early days of eBay & the online pony community. It used to be that buyers caught asking for auctions to be ended early were shunned by the community. This sort of thing happens pretty often with rare & high value ponies, usually ending with the unknowing seller giving away a high dollar pony for a fraction of its actual value.

^This sums my opinion up on it perfectly - I have always thought it a bit of a shady thing to do and something that is frowned on. I havent encountered it too much in recent pony auctions but when I was selling MH dolls...wow! just about every auction had someone asking for this. Weird!

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Thank you both! I think it is also rude. It very recently happened to me with the accessory swap on an auction that I had been watching. I thought that I missed the end date, so I pm'd the seller to see if she was going to relist and she said someone made her an offer.

lovesbabysquirmy, would you like me to pm the name?

Yes please!

[Endocat]

I have to make a little comment to this thread.  Here in NZ it is common place and acceptable to ask for a 'Buy Now' on our auction site "Trademe", so when I first joined ebay I was guilty of asking for the equivalent  'Buy it Now'.  (Needless to say I don't now!!)  So, my point is if this person has low buy numbers, they might not realise it is frowned upon?  However they might know just what they are doing....  Do they have good sales/buy numbers on ebay?

 

[fingerpaints]

I have stated in all my auctions to please not ask for a BIN price as I do not wish to offend anyone, however, I do still occasionally get people ask.

I prefer people not to ask as I would have put it up for a BIN price if thats what I was after, and I really don't want to hear about some person's sob story about how hard their or their daughters / sons / nieces / nephews / grandchilds / mothers / dads / pets problems or about some sick child on their death bed that "All they want in the world is (insert your random item here)" I get my back up about those sorts of posts, I would feel terrible if there was an actual sick child, and would happily GIVE them the item and post it for nothing, but, I have heard it way too many times to believe it now.

I think that asking for a BIN isn't cool, but, people will try it on if they think they can possibly get an item cheaper from a seller that may not know better, its not a good trading practice in my opinion.