I just listed a cubby house on eBay for a client and the strangest thing happened. It’s a $0.99 listing with a Buy It Now of $1250.00. After launching I revised the listing to add another link to the Ask the seller a question section.
Ten minutes after listing I received a question from a potential buyer asking where the Buy It Now link was. When I checked, it had vanished and someone else had already bid on the item. I thought maybe in revising the listing I’d managed to delete the buy it now price.
It turns out eBay’s Buy It Now process is counter-intuitive. As soon as someone bids, the Buy It Now option vanishes. Instead of allowing the bidder to end the auction early, it only allows the first to bidder to stop the auction from starting.
What is the point of offering sellers the option of Auction or Buy It Now? An auction allows you to see what the market demand is for something. The Buy It Now should be for sellers and buyers to cut the process short, and bidders who don’t Buy It Now should know that the listing could end.
Am I just being thick?
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