there is something I have been thinking a lot for a while when I go to TIG, is about an exange we had about a month ago with Greg (flycusal) who has alway been very helpfull in the past, and I think I haven't been really like a gentleman if we can say think like that when he noticed that I don't have a fair use of ebay when I make a direct offer to a seller.
Since then I have been following several article on ebay that sudently stopped because some else did an offer and I have to admit it is pretty unfair or whatever you want to name it.
the problem is I did not create this way of doing things, it was there before I started collecting two years ago, and actually I learned it from an important collector I will not name here. So I think many people is doing it (I hope you don't think every time it is happening in france it is from me, because actually it happened a lot lately), and if you don't try, sometime you just loose the occasion to get a rare article. This way of doing things is unfair but if the sellers would not accept, there wouldn't be any problem too.
I don't have any clue to this problem today, and this is not the point. I think I was just a little bit pissed off by the message of greg because sometime when you post somethings on forums you don't have any response at all, or worst, you have someone you feel that is spying you and denonce... but my response wasn't appropriate anyway. There are already many suskers around star wars business, I thing we shouldn't argue inside the "community" of this forum. So I hope greg you accept my excuse if you are reading this

It is a topic that comes up occasionally. It certainly is one of those things where there may not be a black & white 'correct' way to handle yourself. But the fact that you have thought about it and can see both sides of the argument shows your good character. Ending live auctions early will always be a contentious subject & one that I will continue not to be involved in.

Hey Nicolas, you don't owe me anything.

Take it easy,

100% agree with James, the fact this is being considered by you is great.

I believe that the onus is on the seller to honor their agreement to list an item for a specified number of days.

It is happening more and more online and something I have done in the past. Not something I do anymore because of my involvement on TIG, but I know loads of collectors that do it. TIG Members opinions, help, friendship, laughs, respect and access to some brilliant items is worth more to me than a deal on a figure. If the consensus of Members is that the practice is "frowned upon" then I won't do it.

But each to their own

This is a subject which has raised it's head time and time again. The activity is so widely spread on the site imo it's part and parcel of using ebay. Lets face it, there are a lot more unorthodox activities happening on there then the ending of an auction.

If a seller decides to end an auction early because he has made him an private deal with someone who are we to say the seller can not sell 'his' item to however 'he' wants and at what price? I do however agree that it is pretty shitty to attempt to scam a seller by offering them a lowball price in the hope that the seller does not realise the 'true' value of the item.

I've been involved in ending auctions early as both a seller and buyer and will not deny been involved in this activity as I have always felt my offers have been at market value. On the flip side as my collection has increased I have always taken the time to offer my spares on the forums before resorting to ebay at what I consider good fair prices.

Yes it's a bitch when it happens to you, but what can be done about it?, in short no a lot!! There are a lot of collectors/scammers/flippers out there that only care about themselves and making a profit.

Over the past two years I've made some amazing online friends who have helped me source numerous items and I have done my fair share in helping others track down rare items for their collections. There's no denying the 'warm fuzzy feeling' you get from this and it's one of the many positives you get from the hobby.

So what niggles me? Been outbid on ebay to then see the same item appear days later on the forums for 2, 3x the value? Something that would have gone into your personnel collection but just ending up been flipped. Hoarders of multiple duplicates of the rarer and harder to find items, after all there is only an infinite amount of some of these items so surely 1 or 2 is enough for anyone??

But then again, each to their own it's their money and their property!

I have to say I'm not a big fan of the practise, but am guilty of it on both sides, in the past I have emailed people asking if they would consider a BIN, but haven't in a while and in general can't be arsed.

On the flip side as a seller, I have been made offers in the past and have accepted some and not others.

I basically have a rule from the side of a seller. If no one has bid on the item then I consider it still mine and can therefore do what I want with it and should someone make a good offer, then I may say yes.
If however anyone has bid on the item then I no longer consider the item as mine and the auction will end no matter what I'm offered.

The big problem nowadays is people seem to think that 'watching' an item is the same as bidding on it, and it isn't, you have to be in it to win it, simple as that.

The other big problem now is snipe programs, people don't bother actually bidding on things and just put a snipe bid in, this of course doesn't show up as a bid, becasue technically it isn't a bid and won't be until the final few seconds. The problem here that it makes it very difficult for the seller to guage the situations. How many people are watching your item doesn't really make a difference either as I regularly watch items just to see what they sell for.
Once up on a time you would sell an item and the bids would steadily come in over the course of the auction time. Now in most cases nothing happens until the last few seconds.

The point being, if I'm selling an item and six days in there is no bids, in the back of my head I'm thinking 'shit, this is gonna go for peanuts' so if someone PM's me and makes a decent offer, I'll probably accept it, and I think that's why it happens now so often.

As I've said in the past, I'm not a big fan of items ending when bidding has already begun, that to me is unfair and goes against my rules.

But as has been said, each to there own

Some very good points brought up about snipers. Never in a millions years is a human going to beat a machine when it comes to bidding in the last few seconds of a auction.

As much as I hated snipers I got that fed up of losing out to them in the end I became one myself.

Ebay is no longer the same place it was 10 years ago, but then again neither is the price of a plastic star wars toy!

I'm still old school and sit there at the last few seconds and tick in my final bid

I don't have a problem with snipe programs, I actually think it's a great idea, especially when bidding on things that are across the globe and may end in the middle of the night here. A human can't beat a machine but his offer can, If I want an item I bid on it from day 1, and ultimately will put in a final bid in the last few seconds with a price I'm happy to pay. If that gets beaten by a snipe program, although I'm gonna be pissed I didn't win it, I'm also not to fussed, as it obviously sold for more than I was willing to pay.

What I meant when I said about snipe programs being a problem, is people don't seem to bother bidding any more from the start, they just whack a snipe bid in and let it go. This results in an auction running for days with zero activity which makes the seller assume no one is interested as he can't see that there might be 30 snipes for the last second. So if someone on day 6 makes an offer on an item which appear to have no activity, I guess it's very easy a seller to think, fuck it this may be my best bet becasue no matter what, if you are selling on ebay, you do want the most money.

I rarely sell on ebay now, it drains me, I just sell on here and only use ebay if I need the cash there and then.

Funnily enough I recently sold a bunch of spare figures on ebay to fund something else, it's the first time I've used it in a while and actually ended a couple of items early, not for a better offer, but because it was friends who asked, and I always prefer to sell to friends.... another reason why I rarely sell on ebay now

the only response I have found to snippers is to put the right price you are ready to pay for a fig. if you see a blue snaggletooth at 10€ and you put 11€, you might loose against snippers, but if you put 90 witch is still ok, you may have it for 70

Very interesting topic this. It is frustrating when an item suddenly disappears before the auction end time. Personally if I make a decision to list something then it goes to completion, no matter what private messages I get.

I think another big problem these days that helps no-one is people bidding up the price with no intention of ever paying. So often I see people re-listing, citing reasons that the previous winner never paid. Really unhelpful because:

1) Someone who genuinely wants the item will miss out, or pay over the odds for it
2) The seller doesn't get their money, and has to spend time relisting
3) It distorts the fair market value for the item

I wished auctions like this distorted the market in the buyers favour