Current Events > Can Ebay sellers cancel postings if they don't get as much as they wanted?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I couldn't fit my entire question in the title, but for items that sellers want people to bid on, can they cancel the sale if there's, for example, half an hour left and the max bid is less than what they wanted? Or is there some sort of policy where once a certain amount of time has passed the posting can't be cancelled/deleted?

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I'm pretty sure you can set a minimum amount it has to reach for the auction to be successful
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Its called a reserve, but I have no fucking idea why its a thing. I fucked myself selling gear to buy Paul Gilbert's old Mel Bay Rocket amp, with the bidding starting at 1600, going up to 2400, and then him not coming through because he wanted 3000. I was an idiot and sold a bunch of gear for it, so Im a little biased and salty.

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It seems pretty scammy to me to be wasting peoples time bidding back and forth at a price youre not even considering.

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Jerry_Hellyeah posted...

Its called a reserve, but I have no fucking idea why its a thing. I fucked myself selling gear to buy Paul Gilbert's old Mel Bay Rocket amp, with the bidding starting at 1600, going up to 2400, and then him not coming through because he wanted 3000. I was an idiot and sold a bunch of gear for it, so Im a little biased and salty.

Dang, that's messed up. How long ago did this happen?

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reserve prices need to be set from the beginning of the auction, and there's a bright red "reserve not met" warning for everyone to see.

i think they're dumb, because you can just start your auction at that number in the first place. they aren't seen much anymore, so i think most people agree.

without a reserve price set, the seller is obligated to ship at whatever the final price becomes. but there's no real way for ebay to force someone to put an item in the mail. they will suspend accounts who repeatedly violate this rule, though.

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I think it is probably possible, but if you want a certain amount for something, you can set the starting bid at however much you like.

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GATTJT posted...

Dang, that's messed up. How long ago did this happen?

Man, I am about to dive sooo deep into the old Racer X message boards and find out now. This is gonna be fun.

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Fckkkkkkkkkkkkk, the message boards look like theyre down now. I hope theyre not wiped....lotsa good times.

I was just starting my degree, so it wouldve been 2009-2010.

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They're supposed to set the auction up with a reserve price letting you know whether or not the reserve is met. They're not supposed to just cancel the auction.

Jerry_Hellyeah posted...

Its called a reserve, but I have no fucking idea why its a thing.

Say there are 30 other listings for a similar item that I'm not willing to sell for less than $400 but bidding can get up to $600. If I start my auction at $400, people are just going to start bidding on the auctions at a lower price and my item won't get any bids despite the fact that I'm willing to sell at less than the prevailing price. By setting a reserve price, it allows a bidding process on that type of item.

It would also guarantee me that I would make at least reserve price on an item instead of next highest bid plus an increment, assuming high bid met reserve price and next highest bid didn't.

But again I emphasize that reserve price needs to be set at the beginning, not just a situation where the buyer just decides not to sell.

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