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Hack 26 Manipulating Buy-It-Now Auctions
Save money with the loopholes of the Buy-It-Nowfeature.The Buy-It-Now feature that appears in some
auctions allows a bidder to bypass the bidding process and end an
auction early at some predetermined price. Whether or not this is a
good deal for the buyer, however, depends on the Buy-It-Now price the
seller has chosen.The Buy-It-Now option remains visible on the auction page until the
first bid is placed, after which it disappears. (The exception is
reserve-price auctions, where the Buy-It-Now will be available as
long as the reserve hasn't been met, regardless of
the number of bids.) There are several ways to use this to your
advantage.
3.8.1 Start with the Obvious
Some of the best deals I've gotten on eBay have been
Buy-It-Now items, where the seller specified too low a Buy-It-Now
price, and I snatched it before anyone else got a chance. If you see
a good price, why wait? Just click Buy-It-Now and end the auction
without bidding.
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auctions will appear first. This gives you a good chance to catch
early deals, as they're unlikely to last more than a
few hours.
3.8.2 Undercut the Buy-It-Now Feature
Auctions with too high a Buy-It-Now price are just as common as those
with a low Buy-It-Now price. But there will always be some yahoo who
doesn't know any better, and will come along and buy
these items anyway. If, however, you place a bid right away
say, the minimum amount the Buy-It-Now option will disappear,
and bidding will proceed normally. This will not only give you a
chance to win the item for less than the Buy-It-Now amount, but will
also give you more time to decide whether you really want the item.
(This is an example of when it pays to
bid early, a strategy contrary to
that of [Hack #21].)This works best on auctions with artificially low starting bids,
because bidding is likely to exceed your first bid and
you'll be under no obligation to buy. For example, a
few weeks ago, I undercut an auction with a Buy-It-Now of $12 by
bidding the minimum of $1. The item ended up selling for less than
$5, but it could easily have sold for $12 if someone who really
wanted it got there before I did.
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exceeding the original Buy-It-Now price. But if the Buy-It-Now price
were more than you were willing to pay, you would've
lost the auction either way.There's also a chance that the auction
won't get any other bids, and
you'll end up winning the item with your starting
bid. Assuming the bid was low enough, you should be happy to get a
good deal. However, if you suspect that you may be stuck with
something you don't want, you should probably
retract your bid (see [Hack #27]).
3.8.3 Let's Make a Deal
Buy-It-Now is an optional feature, chosen by sellers on a per-auction
basis. A seller may not wish to include a Buy-It-Now price if she is
unsure of the value of the item, or if she doesn't
want to scare away bidders with too high a price. The Buy-It-Now
option is also available only to sellers with a feedback rating of 10
or higher, so sellers new to eBay won't be able to
include it even if they want it. And as stated at the beginning of
this hack, the Buy-It-Now feature disappears once bids have been
placed on the auction.For whatever reason, there will be auctions without a Buy-It-Now
price, but that doesn't mean you
can't "buy it
now." Simply contact the seller and make an offer in
exchange for ending the auction early.Beware: there are good and bad ways
to broach the subject. As in many aspects of using eBay, diplomacy is
very important here. The idea is to get what you want, but also to
make it worth the seller's while.Here are some good ways to request a
Buy-It-Now:"Do you have a Buy-It-Now price for this
item?" This is polite and non-confrontational, and
the seller will typically respond with a price or ask you what
you'd be willing to pay."Would you consider adding a Buy-It-Now price to
this auction?" This is similar to the previous
example, except that it doesn't send the message to
the seller that you're trying to circumvent
eBay's rules. Use this only if the auction
hasn't yet received any bids. (See [Hack #50] for details on how sellers can do
this. Remember, sellers with a feedback rating of less than 10 will
not have this option.)"Would you be willing to end the auction early for
$250?" Pique the seller's interest
by including a specific offer in your first email. Even if
it's too low, you can always raise it later.
About half the sellers I've contacted with offers
like these end up agreeing, and the other half have preferred to
wait. In nearly all cases where a seller has declined to sell early
to me, though, I ended up buying the item for less than my original
offer. Let this be a lesson to both buyers and sellers!Here are some examples of what not to do:"Would you sell me the item for the current bid
price?" Why would any seller sell at the current
price when they can wait and most likely get more money? Remember,
make it worth the seller's while, or they
won't give you the time of day."I'll give you 50 bucks for
it." The tone here is condescending and aggressive,
and most sellers will respond poorly to it (if at all). Furthermore,
if the bidding has been healthy and your offer is not much higher
than the current price, the seller will probably take it as an insult
that you'd expect them to sell so cheaply.
You're asking the seller a favor, so be nice!"What would it take to end the auction
early?" Again, the tone is too aggressive, and the
message offers the seller nothing for her trouble. Furthermore, it
pressures the seller to quote a price right away, which is never
good. Sellers put in this position will quote you a higher price for
fear of quoting too low. It's much harder to haggle
a seller down than to increase a low opening offer.
If a seller seems disagreeable to the whole idea,
you're unlikely to convince them otherwise (unless
you offer so much money that it's no longer worth
your while).
choices. One, you can wait for the seller to add a Buy-It-Now price
to the auction, and then purchase the item normally. Just make sure
to check the auction page frequently and purchase it as soon as the
option becomes available, lest someone beat you to it.If the seller can't use Buy-It-Now for whatever
reason, you can always bid and become the high bidder, with the
understanding that the seller will then end the auction early and
sell to you at the agreed price (regardless of the closing price of
the auction). This allows both you and the seller to leave feedback
for one another and use eBay's other services.The other option is for the seller to cancel all bids, end the
auction early, and then sell to you outside of eBay. The seller may
prefer this, as it will save the eBay fees[3]
normally charged to successfully completed auctions, but there will
be little advantage for the buyer. Any transactions not completed
through eBay aren't eligible for feedback, fraud
protection, or any other services.[3] Strictly
speaking, it's against eBay policy for any users to
intentionally circumvent the fee system. But eBay also
can't prevent members from completing transactions
any way they choose, even if the end result is a coincidental
lowering of the fees eBay ultimately receives.
