Ebay Auction Extender Policy

[whomewhat]

Excuse my ignorance, but what on earth is Ebay spokesperson, Sarah Brubacher, talking about when she states the following:

"***Policy Clarification: Auction Extensions Prohibited***

January 29, 2007 | 02:07PM PST/PT

Hi...This is Sarah Brubacher with eBay's Global Policy team in Trust & Safety. We're making a change to our Fee Circumvention policy to clarify that auction extensions are not allowed on the eBay marketplace.
Third-party auction extender tools allow sellers to automatically extend auction-style listings beyond their stipulated duration. Auction extensions using these tools, or done manually, are banned."

I have been selling on Ebay for more than six years and I have never heard of such a thing. People have been able to just extend their auction by utilizing outside software and this was permitted, until now? That just seems crazy to me and would absolutely seem to be a circumvention of fees since Ebay does charge a fee for auctions of certain duration. I have never heard of this practice and, as Ebay tends to do, they tell you the practice is barred without explaining what they are talking aboout.

 

[bigbadbuff]

wrong forum...

 

[whomewhat]

Okay, if this question does not belong in the buying and selling thread, where does it belong?

 

[rnoldh]

Try general chat.

Many, many SF members are avid Ebay buyers and sellers, and I think this subject should/could be discussed.

I have no idea what Ebay is getting at. But I would like to know.

Regards,
rnoldh

 

[Tarmac]

I'm a pretty sneaky ebay seller, and I have never heard of this, nor can I think of a way to do it.

edit: and yet, I just found this:

The extention process....

eBay allows you to change the listing duration if the auction has more than 12 hours left and there are no bids.

The application should automatically extend the one day auction to a three day auction just before the 12 hour period.

If no bids at the 12 hour point on the three day auction, it should extend again to a five day auction.

If no bids at the 12 hour point on the five day auction, it should extend again to a seven day auction.

If no bids at the 12 hour point on the seven day auction, it should extend again to a ten day auction.

------------

Anyway, I presume the best value is to start with a 7 day, then extend it to a 10 day if there are no bids? This would be cheaper than a 7 day and then relisting under a 3 day.

 

[whacked]

Anyway, I presume the best value is to start with a 7 day, then extend it to a 10 day if there are no bids?

I believe it's best to start with a 3 day listing, then keep extending the auction along with lowering the (initially outrageous) minimum bid. Never tried it myself but I heard that this tactic works especially well during those flat-rate listing fee promotions...

 

[Tarmac]

Originally Posted by whacked

I believe it's best to start with a 3 day listing, then keep extending the auction along with lowering the (initially outrageous) minimum bid. Never tried it myself but I heard that this tactic works especially well during those flat-rate listing fee promotions...

hmm i havent done a 1 or 3 day auction, but I know a 5 day costs the same as a 7 day, and a 10 day costs slightly more. And it costs quite a bit to start at a outrageously high price.

 

[rnoldh]

I'm not quite sure of the above strategies.

Let's say a seller has a Kiton tie, or whatever, with a start price of $49.99 in a 7 day auction.

After 6 days and 10 hours there are no bids. So the seller extends the auction to 10 days.

But 2 people had set up last minute snipes, and one person had planned to bid in the last minute. What happens to those potential bidders?

Will they hold off on their bids? Does the sniping software do this automatically? Perhaps not, and they won't bid at all.

So, I think that by extending the auction, it's possible to lose a sale!

 

[spertia]

Originally Posted by rnoldh

Will they hold off on their bids? Does the sniping software do this automatically? Perhaps not, and they won't bid at all.

You're right -- the sniping software would not recognize that the auction had been extended, and the bid that originally had been set up simply would not go through.

 

[dkzzzz]

I watched the shoe auction recently that was extended like that 3 times. each time for 3 more days. I was wondering why that seller prefers to waste his money that way. Now I know it cost him nothing. I wish I knew of this trick before. I see some people keeping completely hopeless merchandise on Ebay forever months and months. Perhaps they use similar trick to circumvent Ebay fees.
Oh well more power to them.

P.S. I hope some day clothing auction site will be separate from all other merchandise. Just like art auctions are separate from the real estate auctions.

 

[EL72]

If you extend a 7 day listing to 10 days (I've done this before), eBay will obviously charge you the extra $.10 or whatever it is. As far as snipes, I'm not sure but I would think the software can pretty easily detect a change in the auction end and adjust the bids accordingly.