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It
might not happen often, but there will be times when you'll need
to close an auction. When is it appropriate to pull the plug?
What if your auction already has bids? Read on for tips on when,
how, and why you'd want to close an auction.
Stuff
Happens
No one is immune to the curveballs that life occasionally
throws. Whatever the reason (death in the family, unexpected
travel, medical emergency, or an auction site's system failure),
you'll no doubt be faced with the situation of not being able to
follow through on a particular auction. Canceling an auction
might seem extreme, but it does not violate most auction sites'
terms of service.
It's usually easy to end an auction early if there are no
bids, or, in the case of a reserve auction, if the reserve price
has not yet been met. However, if bids have been placed, you are
still obligated to sell the item to the highest bidder. In most
cases, you must first go through the process of retracting the
bids before you can then cancel the auction itself. eBay allows
sellers to post a message explaining why the auction was
canceled. Of course, it's always best to visit the help/FAQ
sections of individual sites to clarify their policies on
canceling auctions.
Suspicious
Bidders
While monitoring your auction, you might recognize the name of a
fraudulent bidder--perhaps a chronic deadbeat you've encountered
before. Or maybe you check out the bidder's feedback profile and
discover something that gives you cause for concern. In these
cases, it's certainly appropriate to retract bids and/or cancel
the auction itself. To prevent things from having to go that
far, Yahoo Auctions offers a blacklisting
service that bans designated buyers from bidding on your
auctions.
It's
Worth How Much?
Here's an interesting scenario. You have an item up for auction
(say, an old fountain pen). During the auction, you find out
that the pen isn't just any old fountain pen, it's what Ernest
Hemingway used to write The Sun Also Rises. Suddenly, you
realize that you have a major coup on your hands. But the
auction is already underway, and the minimum bid is set at a
measly 10 bucks! What do you do?
Cancel the auction and relist it at an appropriate price,
that's what. Some might debate the ethics of such a move, but
the bottom line is that you don't want to get short-changed when
you have a potentially lucrative item in your inventory.
Don't
Abuse It
Although auction sites permit the closing of auctions, they
don't condone it as a regular practice, particularly when it
comes to stopping auctions that have winning bidders. Don't
abuse this capability. Amazon.com
Auctions will terminate your account if you cancel too many
auctions. Furthermore, if you kill a lot of auctions you can
expect to get your fair share of negative feedback from
disappointed bidders. Cancel only when it's truly necessary.
Lastly, if you're unwilling to part with an item, try to
figure that out before you put it up for sale. You've
heard of buyer's remorse? Well, there's also something called
seller's remorse. Avoid it.
Back to Auction tips &
tactics
by Vendio Services
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