eBay seller keeps canceling auction

[Allen Ginter 99]

I’ve been on eBay a very long time. For some reason this eBay seller keeps canceling the auction. I am assuming because he is not satisfied with the ending price.

He has done this 3 times already.

Why not just set a reserve price on auction.

I’m debating it might actually be a fraudulent item possibly




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[ThatGuyPal]

It does look a bit cheap but some people avoid auctions with reserves and also it sets a floor on your item, I mean a reserve is realistically the lowest your willing to accept for the item, it's not your ideal selling price. If legit it's possible they are just hoping eventually someone bids it up. I would just set to "Buy Now" but at least they are cancelling over using shill bidding to get to a price they want. Rather someone do this with their card as it is theres, than manipulate the whole auction process

[Bosoxfan5990]

I bid on this yesterday or the day before too.

[prospectorgems]

Is the seller ending the auction before it ends or just cancelling the final sale and relisting?

If they are ending during the auction period, they should get hit with fees every time (I think) for ending early. If cancelling the sale at the end, then I hope everyone that is on the end of that leaves negatives for them.

[itsbaytime]

Yeah, leave negatives. He will cut that out really quickly.

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by ThatGuyPal

It does look a bit cheap but some people avoid auctions with reserves and also it sets a floor on your item, I mean a reserve is realistically the lowest your willing to accept for the item, it's not your ideal selling price. If legit it's possible they are just hoping eventually someone bids it up. I would just set to "Buy Now" but at least they are cancelling over using shill bidding to get to a price they want. Rather someone do this with their card as it is theres, than manipulate the whole auction process

It matters whether they are canceling before or after the auction end, and whether there are bids.

Before without bids: it’s not a major deal
Before with bids: not a good look. Seller I think pays fees on highest bid at the time.
After: Terrible look, shouldn’t be doing that, seller deserves whatever negative feedback comes their way.

You mention not manipulating the auction process- all 3 of those are arguably manipulating auctions, but especially the latter 2. Canceling an auction sale is blatant manipulation as the seller is implementing the ol hidden reserve on a no-reserve auction. It’s fraudulent. If seller needs to get a certain price, either do BIN or put a reserve on it- dont list it at auction to pull shenanigans.

[no10pin]

Originally Posted by itsbaytime

Yeah, leave negatives. He will cut that out really quickly.

You can't leave a negative unless you win it, and he's canceling it before it ends.

[beens75]

Seller probably doesn't realize Bell signed a ton before he died in 1991 and his auto doesn't carry that much value. Index card autos of his are like $30-$40.

[itsbaytime]

Originally Posted by no10pin

You can't leave a negative unless you win it, and he's canceling it before it ends.

I was under the assumption he was running the auction and this gent was winning it repeatedly.

[Bosoxfan5990]

Originally Posted by Bosoxfan5990

I bid on this yesterday or the day before too.

It was cancelled when it was still running with my bids.

[itsbaytime]

Brutal

[bub838]

Originally Posted by Bosoxfan5990

It was cancelled when it was still running with my bids.

Well, at least he got hit with fees.

[Tom Oates]

Unless you are Ginter focused for the PC, Bell signed a ton. As far as cuts go, that one is not the most aesthetic. Seller is obviously playing games. Move on or risk getting screwed over a card that’s really not that good looking. If you buy the card and get screwed and then start a thread about how you got screwed over, you are not going to get a lot of sympathy.

For my money I would rather have this Bell , Perez-Steele PSA auto. Not my auction.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/13518251386...Bk9SR8z-yvXgZA

Best of luck
Tom

[Flip024]

Originally Posted by Allen Ginter 99

Why not just set a reserve price on auction.

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Reserves are a waste of everyone's time. If there's a minimum price that will be accepted, start the bidding there. Most sellers assume their cards are worth more than they actually are so maybe they get the hint when there are no bids and lower the price.

[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by Flip024

Reserves are a waste of everyone's time. If there's a minimum price that will be accepted, start the bidding there. Most sellers assume their cards are worth more than they actually are so maybe they get the hint when there are no bids and lower the price.

This ignores the human element involved in auctions. I have seen auctions with a high minimum bid get zero bids because no one wants to be the first bidder at that price. Then the same item will sell at auction with a low starting bid for much higher than that minimum bid. People are strange that way when they get caught up in a bidding war. If you've ever been to a live auction you've seen it play out. The auctioneer always starts with a high opening bid, then drops his request for opening bid until someone finally bites and starts the bidding. The bidding almost invariably ends far higher than that original opening bid he asked for but didn't get. No one wants to be the first bidder, because they hope they can get it cheaper than that. The likilihood an auction surpasses the reserve is much higher if the bidding starts lower and works its way up than if the reserve is the minimum bid. That's the nature of auctions, whether you like it or not.

[Grave252]

Originally Posted by OhioLawyerF5

This ignores the human element involved in auctions. I have seen auctions with a high minimum bid get zero bids because no one wants to be the first bidder at that price. Then the same item will sell at auction with a low starting bid for much higher than that minimum bid. People are strange that way when they get caught up in a bidding war. If you've ever been to a live auction you've seen it play out. The auctioneer always starts with a high opening bid, then drops his request for opening bid until someone finally bites and starts the bidding. The bidding almost invariably ends far higher than that original opening bid he asked for but didn't get. No one wants to be the first bidder, because they hope they can get it cheaper than that. The likilihood an auction surpasses the reserve is much higher if the bidding starts lower and works its way up than if the reserve is the minimum bid. That's the nature of auctions, whether you like it or not.

Yeah - also surprised me why people are hell bent on BIN vs auction. I sell a lot of $100 - $250 cards. Usually I will list for BIN at below last comps and I rarely get sales that way. Then 99 cent auction and it goes for 10-15% higher than what my BIN listing was. People like to "win" auctions and they do indeed get caught up in the game of trying to win.

[timber63401]

Originally Posted by Grave252

Yeah - also surprised me why people are hell bent on BIN vs auction. I sell a lot of $100 - $250 cards. Usually I will list for BIN at below last comps and I rarely get sales that way. Then 99 cent auction and it goes for 10-15% higher than what my BIN listing was. People like to "win" auctions and they do indeed get caught up in the game of trying to win.

I agree that's the way to go a lot of times but some cards and instances aren't made for .99 cent auctions. I've had a lot of problems lately with my auctions getting hung up in the system and numbered cards or autos of popular players getting 0 views for 2 or 3 days then I cancel the auction and relist and have 20-40 views in a hour. Also lets say you have a 1/1 of David Eckstein you might have 1 guy that would pay $30 for it but he's going to get it for $.99 if listed that way.

[IndySportsCards]

It's a real card, I saw it pulled. The seller is a customer of the shop I go to.

[timber63401]

Originally Posted by IndySportsCards

It's a real card, I saw it pulled. The seller is a customer of the shop I go to.

Tell him hes a ass next time you see him.

[Quake1028]

Originally Posted by timber63401

Tell him hes a ass next time you see him.

[hammertime]

Originally Posted by Tom Oates

Unless you are Ginter focused for the PC, Bell signed a ton. As far as cuts go, that one is not the most aesthetic.

Agreed and agreed. If I was the seller I'd be thrilled to get $100 for that.

[IndySportsCards]

Originally Posted by timber63401

Tell him hes a ass next time you see him.

will do!

[DynaEtch]

Originally Posted by Grave252

Yeah - also surprised me why people are hell bent on BIN vs auction. I sell a lot of $100 - $250 cards. Usually I will list for BIN at below last comps and I rarely get sales that way. Then 99 cent auction and it goes for 10-15% higher than what my BIN listing was. People like to "win" auctions and they do indeed get caught up in the game of trying to win.

I think a lot of this depends on what type of card you’re selling. If you could do statistical analyses on auction vs BIN prices on ebay I have no doubt that generally auctions tend to yield lower prices, and there are some obvious reasons for this. Some sellers even operate mini-businesses on this price discrepancy.

I rarely run auctions because I almost always get clobbered in them. It also somewhat depends on what kind of seller you are and what other listings you’re running. If you’re a sporadic seller with a random auction or two, it could be a harder time with an auction than a large volume consignment seller with event auctions etc and lots of people following it. Or a seller auctioning a ton of listings in sequence (like one of each card from a rare set or vintage set or something)- that helps with auctions.

I only do auctions when I want to liquidate something and don’t care that much about what price it goes for, or maybe when it’s a rare/unique thing like a 1/1 sketch card. eBay auctions are generally buyer-friendly. I’m not saying bidding wars can’t happen (usually more on unique/rare things), but that’s not the usual on ebay in my experience.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by Grave252

Yeah - also surprised me why people are hell bent on BIN vs auction. I sell a lot of $100 - $250 cards. Usually I will list for BIN at below last comps and I rarely get sales that way. Then 99 cent auction and it goes for 10-15% higher than what my BIN listing was. People like to "win" auctions and they do indeed get caught up in the game of trying to win.

This is because buyers want to pay market prices -- not artificial prices set by sellers. Auctions are a way to establish market prices, even though they are not perfect.

[OhioLawyerF5]

Originally Posted by DynaEtch

I think a lot of this depends on what type of card you’re selling. If you could do statistical analyses on auction vs BIN prices on ebay I have no doubt that generally auctions tend to yield lower prices, and there are some obvious reasons for this. Some sellers even operate mini-businesses on this price discrepancy.

I rarely run auctions because I almost always get clobbered in them. It also somewhat depends on what kind of seller you are and what other listings you’re running. If you’re a sporadic seller with a random auction or two, it could be a harder time with an auction than a large volume consignment seller with event auctions etc and lots of people following it. Or a seller auctioning a ton of listings in sequence (like one of each card from a rare set or vintage set or something)- that helps with auctions.

I only do auctions when I want to liquidate something and don’t care that much about what price it goes for, or maybe when it’s a rare/unique thing like a 1/1 sketch card. eBay auctions are generally buyer-friendly. I’m not saying bidding wars can’t happen (usually more on unique/rare things), but that’s not the usual on ebay in my experience.

Absolutely. The vast majority of cards, and the vast majority of sellers will realize lower prices at auction, for the reasons you mentioned (easily accessible cards, and sellers who can't get lots of eyes on their auctions). However, for big cards where a reserve might be considered, those factors don't apply and auctions are often the way to go. That said, I don't think this particular card is one of those cards where a reserve seems rational. And frankly, a BIN for what you want from the card is the better way to go.