eBay etiquette 0

[ExNihilo]

I don't sell much on eBay, but I posted an item for sale below the BIN price of other listings.  It's a book I'm just looking to get rid of and be done with it, hence why I priced it low.  Within an hour, I get a message from what I can presume is a shill account (no items for sale, very few feedback) asking me to raise my BIN price so as to "not ruin it for other sellers."  I didn't respond to the shill account, but I did increase my BIN price before ultimately delisting while I ponder what to do.

Has this happened to you?  Or what is your take on it?  I mean, I understand no one wants to be undercut lest the value of books continue to fall, in which case, nobody wins.  I could also just set it up as an auction and let the market dictate the price.  But the bigger question has to do with I suppose the morality (probably not the right word i'm looking for) of the situation.  Or better yet, what would you do if confronted by a mystery seller looking to prop up the market price of a book?

(NOTE: no books have been sold on eBay yet, so a market price has yet to be determined.  And if that mystery seller happens to be a fellow boardie, well I'm all ears.)

[Gaard]

Sounds akin to your neighbors anonymously complaining about the height of your grass. (yes, I've received a letter from the city before)

I always price my books lower than the rest of the BINs. I'm not looking to set a new high FMV point. I, like you, just want to sell my book. As for other sellers - it's none of their business what price I set on my books. I've never received a message like you, but if I did, I'd probably tell him to go pound sand.

[RockMyAmadeus]

38 minutes ago, ExNihilo said:

I don't sell much on eBay, but I posted an item for sale below the BIN price of other listings.  It's a book I'm just looking to get rid of and be done with it, hence why I priced it low.  Within an hour, I get a message from what I can presume is a shill account (no items for sale, very few feedback) asking me to raise my BIN price so as to "not ruin it for other sellers."  I didn't respond to the shill account, but I did increase my BIN price before ultimately delisting while I ponder what to do.

Has this happened to you?  Or what is your take on it?  I mean, I understand no one wants to be undercut lest the value of books continue to fall, in which case, nobody wins.  I could also just set it up as an auction and let the market dictate the price.  But the bigger question has to do with I suppose the morality (probably not the right word i'm looking for) of the situation.  Or better yet, what would you do if confronted by a mystery seller looking to prop up the market price of a book?

(NOTE: no books have been sold on eBay yet, so a market price has yet to be determined.  And if that mystery seller happens to be a fellow boardie, well I'm all ears.)

That is, of course, complete and total nonsense. You have the right to sell your book for as much...or as little..as you wish. The only way for the value of a book to continue to fall is if there is more supply than there is demand. A finite supply and a level of demand puts brakes on the price falling too far.

You know what's never said by anyone...? When a book sells for quite a bit more than average, no one says "hey, cut it out! You'll ruin it for other buyers!"

That should tell you the validity of such a claim.

The mystery seller is a coward and a sleazeball. If I were confronted by such a message, I'd laugh at them and tell them to learn how to compete. You're not running a museum...you want to sell a book. You have no obligation to match other sellers' expectations on price.

[Gnasher]

Put it into auction at 50 cents higher than your original BIN price. You've then complied with the mystery buyers request, and hopefully will get a better price when it sells. Good luck.

 

 

Edited July 3, 2018 by Gnasher

[ExNihilo]

14 minutes ago, Gnasher said:

Put it into auction at 50 cents higher than your original BIN price. You've then complied with the mystery buyers request, and hopefully will get a better price when it sells. Good luck.

 

 

I liked this idea so much I put it up for auction a penny higher just to be petty.  Thanks.  

[01TheDude]

19 minutes ago, ExNihilo said:

I liked this idea so much I put it up for auction a penny higher just to be petty.  Thanks.  

be sure to block that complainer so they don't screw up the auction.

[Kramerica]

1 hour ago, ExNihilo said:

Within an hour, I get a message asking me to raise my BIN price so as to "not ruin it for other sellers."  I didn't respond to the shill account, but I did increase my BIN price before ultimately delisting while I ponder what to do.

Has this happened to you?  Or what is your take on it? 

The seller thinks you're all part of some eBay Illuminati and he's the leader of this secret cabal. He presides over the banking barons of back issues from the darkened corner of a Denny's, influencing the 8.0 and above market while he enjoys his double grand slam breakfast and a Coors Lite. Guy is a dolt and a whack job and I can hear the malevolent organ music playing in the rafters. He actually has a shill account that he uses to enforce the sacred laws of back issue BINs  No wonder our planet is in such trouble. Please God; send an asteroid now. A big one.

[Gnasher]

 

Also good advice to block  given by 01 The Dude. Don't want no auction wreckers.

[Number 6]

5 hours ago, ExNihilo said:

I don't sell much on eBay, but I posted an item for sale below the BIN price of other listings.  It's a book I'm just looking to get rid of and be done with it, hence why I priced it low.  Within an hour, I get a message from what I can presume is a shill account (no items for sale, very few feedback) asking me to raise my BIN price so as to "not ruin it for other sellers."  I didn't respond to the shill account, but I did increase my BIN price before ultimately delisting while I ponder what to do.

Has this happened to you?  Or what is your take on it?  I mean, I understand no one wants to be undercut lest the value of books continue to fall, in which case, nobody wins.  I could also just set it up as an auction and let the market dictate the price.  But the bigger question has to do with I suppose the morality (probably not the right word i'm looking for) of the situation.  Or better yet, what would you do if confronted by a mystery seller looking to prop up the market price of a book?

(NOTE: no books have been sold on eBay yet, so a market price has yet to be determined.  And if that mystery seller happens to be a fellow boardie, well I'm all ears.)

You increased it?

I would have DEcreased my price by a dollar.  And continued to decrease it by one dollar increments every time he messaged me. 

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

I will be teaching a Capitalism Class at 1:30 PM today, for those that do not understand the concept.

Please take particular note of the Banana endorsement.....

[Batman1fan]

I'll never understand situations like this. None of us has the right to tell anyone else what to do or how to conduct their own business. When I sold on ebay, I always priced my items to sell, and most of them did. My reasoning was that if there are 6 copies of Batman #1 from the new 52 for sale for $40.00 to $50.00 each, conditions being equal, why would a potential buyer look twice at my copy if it was priced the same? But, if I priced my book at $30.00 to $35.00, I had a better chance of selling mine and more often than not I did. You price yor items the way you want to, and you don't owe an explanation of your price or reason for it to anyone. Anyone who sends you a message like the one you referenced, well, thats what the blocked user function is for.

[mattn792]

Respond with a number of four letter words and move on, it’s your book so price it however you like.  Or, sans four letter words, you could have suggested to eBay warrior that he buy your book at the price you had it listed at, and then he could flip it for a profit since it supposedly should be priced higher.

[RockMyAmadeus]

1 hour ago, Batman1fan said:

'll never understand situations like this. None of us has the right to tell anyone else what to do or how to conduct their own business.

If you live in the United States, that's not true.

You have the perfect right to tell someone what to do or how to conduct their own business.

You don't have the right to enforce what you tell them, for anyone who is not under your authority.

Big difference.

Just like ExNihilo has the right to laugh in this seller's face and tell him to pound sand in return, and list his book for whatever price he wants.

"You can't tell me what to do!!" No, I can't force you...but I can certainly express my opinion about it. That's the cost of having that freedom: everyone else has it, too.

[mrwoogieman]

Tell the seller to buy your book so that he protects his market!

[RockMyAmadeus]

1 hour ago, mattn792 said:

you could have suggested to eBay warrior that he buy your book at the price you had it listed at, and then he could flip it for a profit since it supposedly should be priced higher.

Exactly. You think it's priced too low? You buy it and make the money I "left on the table."

That usually ends the discussion.

I've gotten the "but so and so has it for lower than you're asking", to which I reply "by all means, if you like that price, you should go buy that one, quickly, before someone else does!" Same situation in reverse.

[ExNihilo]

1 hour ago, mattn792 said:

Or, sans four letter words, you could have suggested to eBay warrior that he buy your book at the price you had it listed at, and then he could flip it for a profit since it supposedly should be priced higher.

 

11 minutes ago, mrwoogieman said:

Tell the seller to buy your book so that he protects his market!

 

8 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

Exactly. You think it's priced too low? You buy it and make the money I "left on the table."

That usually ends the discussion.

I've gotten the "but so and so has it for lower than you're asking", to which I reply "by all means, if you like that price, you should go buy that one, quickly, before someone else does!" Same situation in reverse.

I actually thought about doing this, but figured starting eBay arguments with mystery sellers probably wasn't worth my time or effort.

[Not A Clone]

9 hours ago, Gnasher said:

Put it into auction at 50 cents higher than your original BIN price. You've then complied with the mystery buyers request, and hopefully will get a better price when it sells. Good luck.

 

 

Ha! I was gonna suggest lowering it by about that much, lol. 1 sale isn't going to crush a price point. Someone is just going to get a good deal.

[D84]

Report to eBay.  This sounds like an attempt at price fixing which is a federal offense.

[CAMPER49]

All my eBay "BIN or Best Offer" auctions offer free shipping.

While no one has ever suggested that i should bump up my BIN price, I get a lot of buyers sending me a "best offer" which is ridiculously lower than what i can even ship it for...even though my auctions clearly state "reasonable offers only please".

So I reciprocate by sending them a counter-offer at a penny lower than my BIN.

 

[Number 6]

11 hours ago, ExNihilo said:

Or better yet, what would you do if confronted by a mystery seller looking to prop up the market price of a book?

 

I’ve never had someone try and dictate the price of an item I had for sale, but did have someone challenge what I was charging for shipping. 

When I was selling vintage carded action figures (each in an acrylic case which itself weighs over 1 lb) I was charging $18 for Large Priority Flat Rate shipping. 

Someone sent me 2 messages back to back accusing me of overcharging and “ripping buyers off”. Laid on a guilt-trip about what my buyers could do with that exta money I was stealing from them. He knew for a fact that it cost no more than $8 to ship such figures and if I would just “be reasonable” he might consider buying from me. 

Checked his feedback and what he had for sale. Turns out he was selling similar figures (with no acrylic case) and was charging $4-$7 more than what he stated was the ‘approved’ amount. 

When I messaged him back to point out that he had just outed himself as padding his shipping cost suddenly I was a “psycho” who was “stalking” him and he threatened to complain to eBay if I continued to message him. Funny how that works. 

I did actually have someone win a raw Hulk #271 a couple of years ago and immediately message me and say that he didn’t actually want to win it as he has several copies already but was confortable with the price so he would go ahead and pay for it (how magnanimous, lol)

Not sure why he felt the need to message me that but I guess that’s an example of someone who wanted to protect the price and was willing to put his money where is concern was...at least in my case.