Ending Ebay Auctions early

[Major_Grooves]

I've just started trying to sell things on Ebay. When I sell bike things I always get emails asking "how much to sell it now?" I always think I won't make much money so accept whatever they offer (within reason).

However I noticed the Ebay bit that says I should report emails asking me sell outwith Ebay.

Is that just so Ebay makes more money, or am I missing something here? Do most of the people that wheel and deal on Ebay from here just ignore these emails and let the auction run? I'm always worried I'll just end up with no bids.
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[Smoto Bob]

doesn't matter if you end it early people do tend to bid at the last second though.

Ebay just doesn't want you accepting an out of ebay offer like that whole laptop thing, as you could get screwed over

But with a bike they got to come and get it so its just a private sale
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[carvell]

I always tell the other person to bid whatever they want on the actual item and that they could get it for less. Usually people only offer money because they think they may be able to get it for less.

However, when someone who lives 2mins away from me saw my bike on eBay and offered me £1,100 for it, I couldn't say no as I knew it would end nowhere near that.

I obviously didn't report them to ebay and I never would if they were offering money to close it early.
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Yamaha TDM 850

[RSixer03]

When i sold my bike on e-bay i had the norm amount of e-mails asking what the reserve price was and did i want to sell it now for x amount.....and even though after 6 days there were no bidders i had a indication that people were interested in the number of views my add was getting and the number of e-mails....so my advice let the auction run its course, if people are really after what you are selling they will bid!...normally on the last day, so just hang in there!


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"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough."
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[izzi81]

I think this only really happens with big sales like bikes, I've sold a lot of things on ebay and never encountered it but when I was looking into getting a bike I noticed it seems quite common with bike sales for ebay to act almost as an advertiser more than an auction house. Bikes get no bids but actually there could be 2 or 3 people dealing with the seller - I lost out on a bike which ended with no bids because there was another guy as well as me dealing with the seller by phone and he was willing to pay more than I was! (why he didn't bid if he was willing to pay the asking price I don't know )

[dainesefreak]

Ending the auction early can save you a fair amount in fees, remember the final amount you pay is calculated on the value it sells for. If someone is offering you a decent price then it can pay to end it early, sometimes you can get a few people emailing and calling outside of Ebay.

Not that I ever do this, I always report people who email me and I only end an auction early if it sells somewhere else first!