Ebay: is a bid below reserve price binding on the bidder?

[NealB]

Sorry folks...I've been looking without succes around ebay for some guidance, and thought I'd try the best advice forum in the world instead.

I've bid on an item (yes, of course.....it's a boat), and got a 'reserve not met' message. That's fine, I don't want to pay more than my bid.

What I'm not not sure about is this: suppose my bid ends up being the highest, and the seller decides to accept my bid, am I obliged to buy at my bid price? Or has my offer been rejected, so I can make an offer for a similar item elsewhere, if I want to?

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Watson47]

NealB ... for a definitive answer, probably best to send an enquiry direct to the Powers-that-be at e-bay.

 

[fergie_mac66]

wot EE said .

however my thought would be that once you had a message
reserve not met the seller/ebay would probably have to email you giving you the option to reconfirm your bid if the seller decided to reduce the reserve. but I have not much expeirience of ebayand in the words of Manuel "II know nooothing!

 

[NealB]

NealB ... for a definitive answer, probably best to send an enquiry direct to the Powers-that-be at e-bay.

Yes.....that would definitely be the safe answer, but I've tried that several times, and they didn't seem to understand the question.

So I thought I'd try here, as I've never, ever known anyone to give a wrong opinion about absolutely anything on here!

 

[prv]

Last time I sold something with a reserve, if it wasn't met by the end of the auction then the item wasn't sold and that was that. There wasn't any option to accept the less-than-reserve bid anyway.

However, that was several years ago so I suppose things might possibly have changed.

Pete

 

[NealB]

Last time I sold something with a reserve, if it wasn't met by the end of the auction then the item wasn't sold and that was that. There wasn't any option to accept the less-than-reserve bid anyway.

However, that was several years ago so I suppose things might possibly have changed.

Pete

Thanks, Pete....according to the ebay guide I've looked at, the seller has the option, but no obligation, to accept the highest bid, even if it's below reserve.

I don't know, however, if it's then an option, or an obligation, for the buyer to buy at that price.

 

[richievtu]

I assume the listing has ended? I understand that the seller can offer any of the bidders a second chance offer to buy at the price they bid, weather the reserve was met or not, but you are not obliged!

 

[landlockedpirate]

I wouldnt worry about it, its very unlikely that the seller will reduce the reserve price below your offer. If this does happen, and you win, email the seller and explain you have bought something else and dont wish to complete the sale.

Most sellers will be understanding (because they have caused the issue), but the worst that can happen is an unpaid item strike (I'm pretty sure you can get 3 before a short ban kicks in).

 

[NUTMEG]

The seller will be offered the chance to make a 'second chance offer' to the highest bidder, if that is you, you do not have to accept. Your bid failed to meet the reserve price so no contract exists between you and the vendor.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Sorry folks...I've been looking without succes around ebay for some guidance, and thought I'd try the best advice forum in the world instead.

I've bid on an item (yes, of course.....it's a boat), and got a 'reserve not met' message. That's fine, I don't want to pay more than my bid.

What I'm not not sure about is this: suppose my bid ends up being the highest, and the seller decides to accept my bid, am I obliged to buy at my bid price? Or has my offer been rejected, so I can make an offer for a similar item elsewhere, if I want to?

Thanks for any thoughts.

If the seller reduces his reserve price to less than your bid, your bid will automatically be also reduced to £1 less than the new reserve price, giving you the chance to bid again, or not, as you see fit.

 

[NealB]

I wouldnt worry about it, its very unlikely that the seller will reduce the reserve price below your offer.

Wow...you sound like you know just how low my offer is.......you're not the seller, are you? It's a small world sometimes!

 

[old_salt]

The seller will be offered the chance to make a 'second chance offer' to the highest bidder, if that is you, you do not have to accept. Your bid failed to meet the reserve price so no contract exists between you and the vendor.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yep, As said above by Sophie19 with with the addition you will be given a time limit to respond, I think it is 36 hrs, the the seller can then go to the next highest or just re-list.
He is not obliged to make any offers he can do as he pleases.

 

[eastcoastbernie]

I sell loads of stuff on eBay - I'm a PowerSeller - whoo hoo - so I am pretty clued up on how it all works.

I don't sell stuff using the auction format very often, prefering to sell items on a Buy It Now format, so I am not an expert on reserves.

However, I can tell you that people complete sales with me all the time but neglect to pay. If they haven't paid after a few days, eBay sends them a reminder to pay. If they still don't pay, eBay cancels the transaction and I am refunded any fees eBay would have charged on the sale.

Buyers also click on Buy It Now, then change their minds. They contact me and ask me to cancel the transaction. I agree to the cancellation and everyone lives happily ever after.

So, in my experience buyers are allowed to get out of their commitment to buy even if they have offered to buy at the asking price. So I can't imagine you would be bound to purchase having made a 'reserve not met' offer.

 

[Croak]

I bid on a boat once, it was on at a starting bid of £99, Reserve not met.

I was intrested and thought I would put a bid in so there might be an option of talking to the seller about how much he wanted for it.

So I put a bid in for £104 at the last second Just incase some other bidder decided to put a bid in for £99 at the last second aswell.

I pressed the confirm bid button and was shocked to be told that I had won the item.

At first I thought I must have got the decimal place wrong and have bidded £1040.

But on checking it seems I bought it for £100 reserve met, only me bid.

Three things from this:-

1. Ebay raised my bid, in theory it should have said £99 reserve not met.

2. Why did the seller start an auction at £99 then put a £100 reserve on it

3. I had to wait till the wife came home, to tell her I had bought another boat.


As it happened by the time she got home I had got used to the idea and am extremely happy with my purchase.

I have also been in a situation where someone lowered the reserve price, making me the winning bidder. Fortunatly I was outbid.




I used to bid on things happy that I was under the reserve price, content that I Wasn't going to win, but I don't do it any more.

 

[NealB]

Thanks to everyone who's replied...the consensus view reflects my own thoughts precisely (ie my bid has been rejected).

 

[NealB]

Croak...very interesting, thanks.

"I had to wait till the wife came home, to tell her I had bought another boat". My wife is pretty used to hearing that from me over the years!

 

[prv]

1. Ebay raised my bid, in theory it should have said £99 reserve not met.

No - if your bid limit (the £104 in your case) is over the reserve then your bid is automatically set to the reserve price. Anything else would be daft - you've indicated that you wish to buy, and are prepared to pay over the reserve price, so what would be the point of a system that didn't then put you in a buying position?

I used to bid on things happy that I was under the reserve price, content that I wasn't going to win

Why?

Is it like fishing in a pond with no fish?

Pete

 

[Croak]

No - if your bid limit (the £104 in your case) is over the reserve then your bid is automatically set to the reserve price. Anything else would be daft - you've indicated that you wish to buy, and are prepared to pay over the reserve price, so what would be the point of a system that didn't then put you in a buying position?


Pete

As it is an auction the value of the item IMHO is determined by the amout that is bid on the item, not by the reserve price.

If I won an item like this and didn't want it, I would not pay.


The wife fishes without any bait on her hook......

one reason I do it, is when I suspect the reserve is high but I want to be the highest bidder. then I can communicate later with the seller. There are other reasons.

 

[NealB]

As it is an auction the value of the item IMHO is determined by the amout that is bid on the item, not by the reserve price.

If I won an item like this and didn't want it, I would not pay.


The wife fishes without any bait on her hook......

one reason I do it, is when I suspect the reserve is high but I want to be the highest bidder. then I can communicate later with the seller. There are other reasons.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you....you bid £104, which was above the reserve of £100, so you 'won'.

 

[Croak]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you....you bid £104, which was above the reserve of £100, so you 'won'.

But I bid thinking that I wouldn't win.

If I had bid £1000, And the reserve was £900, And someone else bid £38, I would have expected the bid to be £40 reserve not met, not £900 you win. Because the value of the item is only £40.

Obviously I was wrong.