What to do when a buyer asks if you will end an auction with 'Buy it Now'???

[Cyclops]

Any help appreciated!

I have an auction open atm, it has got two people watching it. A buyer has just asked me if I would end the auction with a BIN offer and how much would I want (answer is I don't know!).

So, WWYD? What is the best course of action? Will it cost me to swap my open auction to a BIN auction? (the start price was quite high so it was not a free listing).

Any insight welcome about the dos and don'ts of doing a swap.

You could look at completed listings for similar items, which might give you some idea what you could get for your item, and set a BIN price slightly higher than that.

I'm not sure whether it would cost you to swap to a BIN auction, but will ask dh when he gets back from walking the dog.

We have done this in the past - it means you get a definite sale at a price you are happy with - and the watchers could have asked you the same thing, so I don't think you would be doing anything terribly unethical in ebay terms either.

HTH

As SDTG says, setting a BIN price may add a fee. Make sure you set the price slightly higher than you really expect to get for it. You don't have to; you can tell them that you will just let it run.
Someone I knew was selling an ornamental collectible and was asked if they would set a BIN price of £60- the bidding was at around £10 at that point. They refused and the auction finished at £271.

Loads of people ask if there is a buy it now price.

Sellers seem to mostly say that they don't know what to price it at and will let the auction run its course.

I think you can end the auction early and sell to the highest bidder at that point.

They just need to put a bid in and you can end the auction and sell to them. Bear in mind that they can't just bid say, £60 for something as their bid will always show as the minimum. You just have to trust them that they will pay the full amount into your paypal account, otherwise any trail just shows a bid of 99p or something!

Many thanks for all your replies, all helpful.

I emailed the buyer back to say that I want the auction to run to the end and he seemed OK with that.

Incidentally, I also looked on the eBay help pages and found this:

------

What if a member offers you a "Buy It Now" price?

You can't add a Buy It Now price once the auction has started.

If a member contacts you to ask you to accept a final price for your item, it's against eBay rules to end the listing then sell the item to them directly. See Transactions Outside eBay.

However, you are permitted to end a listing early and sell the item to the high bidder (via the eBay website). Ask the member to place a bid at the amount they offered to you, then go to the End My Listing Early form and select "Sell to the high bidder".

Note: You should be prepared to sell the item to any other member who places a higher bid before you have a chance to sell the item to the intended member

----

Does the above mean that the you cannot switch to a BIN auction even in the case where a listing has no bids on it? (it's a little ambiguous)

My understanding is that you can add a BIN to an auction that has no bids on it. I'm sorry, though, that I forgot to ask dh about it when he came home with the dog, and he's gone to bed now, so I will ask him when I can.

Thanks!

I think the extract from the help pages is ambiguous because it depends on how they define, '...once the auction has started...'

Does 'started' in this case mean from the point at which the seller submits the listing?

Or does 'started' in this case mean when from the point at which at least one buyer has placed a bid?