Having a seller end an eBay auction early

[kneerat]

Hi guys,
Just wondering what your opinions are on asking a seller to end an auction early in order to buy the item right away, as opposed to waiting for the auction to end.
I know this is against eBay rules, but people do it all the time.
Have you ever done this and what are your thoughts?

[geoff]

I did this 1 time on a bat that I really wanted but was a little bit worried about dealing off of EBAY because of the policy that they had.The Transaction I made was smooth and would do it again if I really wanted an item.

Geoff

[Birdbats]

I've made offers and have been successful a few times. Just as often, I've been turned down and ended up winning the bat for less than I offered.

[XPFO]

I just did it last week, from a seller that had two bats I wanted. He accepted my offer for both and I think I got a great deal....easily saved myself $200.

[Yankwood]

I've done it a few times and I've been offered deals too but never ended one early. Mostly because I wasn't blown away by the offer. The times I have offered and was accepted, I always offered a good high price. Probably too much.

[sylbry]

It is my opinion (based on making offers, receiving offers, and offers made on items I was watching) that people who ask to end auctions early do this because they know they won't be able to afford it in the end if the auction is allowed to run its course.

[XPFO]

It is my opinion (based on making offers, receiving offers, and offers made on items I was watching) that people who ask to end auctions early do this because they know they won't be able to afford it in the end if the auction is allowed to run its course.

Not the case with me.....just knew I wanted the two bats, they both ended at the same time and I didn't want to be swiped on one or both of them. I know I have overpayed on some items as well, but they were items I had to have. You never know when your internet provider crashes or there is a rolling blackout or something..strange things happen!!!

[3arod13]

I will ask sellers to add a "buy it now" price so I can purchase the item immediately.

It's frustrating to watch an auction that has 8 days left, when you know you want the item really bad.

[otismalibu]

It is my opinion (based on making offers, receiving offers, and offers made on items I was watching) that people who ask to end auctions early do this because they know they won't be able to afford it in the end if the auction is allowed to run its course.

I would agree that this is the case, more often than not.

A few months back I saw someone listing an item on eBay that I thought would fetch a nice price. I knew that this seller was probably getting blasted with lowball offers. I emailed them and told them what I figured it would go for. So they shot me a few emails back every time they got another offer. They also made the auction questions public...which often makes for an interesting read, when you recognize names. I figured the item would go for $2000-2500 easy. Perhaps $3000 with a bidding war. They got some offers in the $500-1000 range. Eventually, someone offered a fair price and they relisted the item with a $2500 BIN. Turned out I knew the guy who won. He just happened to email me later and mention his latest win. He also said he would have paid more. :)

[34swtns]

I'm constantly making offers to sellers to end auctions early. I always offer a fair market value for whatever I'm interested in buying as I don't want to insult a potentially educated seller. My problem is that I don't like to wait for auctions to run their course and really hate to see a dozen "amateurs" dinking and dunking bids at an item during the course of an auction when you, as a seasoned bidder, know that it's best to throw your big bid in at the very end. The amateurs just cause the "big bid" to have to be, unnecessarilly, much bigger.