Trade Me Tip – Where did my Buy Now go?
PinnedBuy Now is a useful option to add to your auction – it allows a buyer to skip the bidding process and buy the item right away, if they’re happy with the price you’ve set.
If bidding starts on your auction where you have a Buy Now price, the ability to use Buy Now will no longer be available once the reserve has been met. This means no one can swoop in and use the Buy Now while a bunch of keen buyers are bidding. If people are already bidding on your auction it may even sell for more than your Buy Now price.
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This is quite frankly the worst ever change to trademe. The option should always be available regardless of whether there are bids. SO annoying.
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This caught me out too. I listed with a buy now and no reserve hoping that someone would see the value in the buy now. Ive got people asking about the buy now and its gone because someone has bid $1. Trademe really should be clearer with this for sellers.
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This is a truly moronic setting. There is nothing wrong with somebody swooping in and buying. If a bidder wants it badly, they should be able to use buy now even if the reserve has been met.
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No, I am saying that the buy now is on the listing from the beginning but the option for a prospective buyer to buy now disappears once another person has added a bid. This is a recent change. Before, you could always purchase using buy now even if there were bids on the listing.
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This really sucks! Buy now should be available even after the reserve price is met. I don't see any reason to hide it. It is bad for buyers, sellers and trade me. If the bidders are bidding around $100 and someone wants it urgently and is happy to pay buy now of say $300, why would you prevent this?
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Callum, it doesn't mean the seller is able to alter the buy now price after bidding has started, only that the option to buy now is always there.
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The buy now price isn't showing on my listing that the public see, but is showing on my view. Why is this and how do I fix it? People are wanting a buy now which I would be happy with.
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@Callum, we are not talking about adding buy now after the auction has started.
Tm removes the buy now you've set up from the start as soon as reserve is reached , this is what this post is about.
Buy now is the premium price a seller hopes to get. Buyer gets instant gratification as s bonus if they pay the premium. Reserve is a minimum price selker expects to get. Once the minimum is reached, tm should not remove the premium price. It makes no sense
Sure, someone who was leading would be disappointed if buy now is used. They would also be disappointed if they are outbid. That's life.
But trade me should not disable my buy now. At least make it an option for seller to chose if they want this behavior.
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This caught me out and I have a very upset prospective buyer. Nothing in the set up stage to warn sellers about this. Unscrupulous buyer asks for buy now when the auction is in progress. Must be a common ruse!
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Can the Buy-now price be adjusted once a bid (under the reserve price) has been made?
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Callum Community Superuser
I do get what you are saying but I just can't see it ever changing. It would be a brave move for it to happen. This concept has been ingrained into Trade Me and all other auctions since day 1. Once reserve is met, buynow goes. The confusion it would cause if it were to change would be huge. I go to a lot of live auctions for example. Once bidding has started and reserve is met someone can't yell out "I'll buy it for $600" and the auctioneer immediately closes it at that price. eBay is the same as Trade Me, as are all the other website auctions I know of.
You do get a notification if you are outbid so you can increase your bid if required. So being outbid is not really an issue. Sometimes you are waiting for an answer to a question so you can be confident the item is what you want before you increase your bid. Many people put in a small bid to lock in their interest with the intention of increasing it later as further details of the item come out, or their own financial situation changes.
Possibly, like you say, having a seller able to choose might be a concept to put to trial though.
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ZL2REDEdited
So why after I placed a bid on an auction today someone else was able to use buy now and take the item from beneath me, to be clear I made the start bid, someone else made a second bid (buy now) price
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
Probably as the auction had not met reserve, in which case the Buy Now is still there until reserve is met at which time it automatically dissappears.
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"If bidding starts on your auction where you have a Buy Now price, the ability to use Buy Now will no longer be available once the start price or reserve has been met." Buy Now will no longer be available once the start price has been met meaning that starting bid removes buy now
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
Yes, that's correct, IF the start price was also the reserve. If you post the listing number we can have a look to check for you.
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It clearly states that once the start price has been met, so starting bid, your welcome to look into it, cause this has pissed me off to no end, what's the point of an auction if you can just steel it from under people that are bidding
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
What was the listing number?
In the help pages it says
- Some auctions have a Buy Now, alongside bidding.
- Buy Now is available until the reserve is met – after that, buyers need to bid until the auction ends.
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Well what's the point then, having the buy now still available after bidding has started completely defeats the point of an auction, I don't care that I lost the auction as such (if it was a fair auction) it's the fact that I placed a bid and someone else is able to just na I'll take that.
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
Yes, was definitely bought using Buy Now $80 above your bid. The thing to look out for is to see if the Buy Now is still showing after you bid. If it is, then you know you haven't reached reserve price. You can at that point say I am going to risk someone else using Buy Now, or you can choose to bid higher to get closer to the reserve. Not sure if it still does, but it used to give you a message saying you are within 15% of the reserve, so you knew. Once you have bid above reserve, the buy now option goes and the winner is the one with the highest bid at close time.
It's a bit like real life auctions that often start bidding low, but they don't usually have a Buy Now, and the auctioneer may say at some stage... Selling now, ie the reserve price has been met and it's going to sell to the highest bidder.
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I think this is simple: give people the choice! There are plenty of people who aren't happy with this - perhaps plenty who are, you won't please all the people all of the time, but ask, "why does trademe exist"? For me, generally to get rid of things quickly, or buy something and not have to wait until an auction runs it's course. What do the masses want? I say, allow the seller to decide - don't take away the decision from them. If they want it gone quickly and someone offers a price GIVE THE SELLER THE CHOICE, it is their item they are selling. A bidder may miss out but that is life. If both parties are happy, anyone can swoop in, who cares, it is a level playing field?
A solution to this could be a "make an offer" option, when this happens, all current bidders get the option to counter, and they have 60 mins, after 60 mins, the seller can accept any offer - not necessarily the highest, but could be the closest/highest feedback. This way, everyone gets a say, no serious bidder misses out, can shorten the auction to meet the sellers needs. And if the seller genuinely wants to have a buy now as it works now, or let it run, they can do that now. Everyone wins. But at the moment, I am not winning. I want something today, but any auctions that don't close to day that have met the reserve will not go on my list, as the seller is losing a genuine buyer - Conclusion, this is not good functionality, whatever you may say!!!
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Thanks for the explanation! It makes sense because I think this is the first time I have put up a listing that wasn't higher than the start price. I know for the future. Regards!
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Callum Community Superuser
Hi Lance. If a bid has been made (and reserve met) the buynow disappears. It is not a recent change. Always been that way. Always will be.
You may be getting confused because if the seller has set a hidden reserve, and a bid is made that doesn't meet the reserve, then the buynow stays. There has been no change there either that I am aware of. Again - always been that way, always will be.
For example. Auction 3539666735 Has a bid, reserve not met, buynow still available.
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
Hi Lance. No, it's not a recent change, it's always been the same that the Buy now disappears once bids above reserve have been placed. It's been like that since I started selling here in 2004. The only time the Buy Now stays when bidding is going on is if the seller has paid to have a hidden reserve, in which case the buy now doesn't disappear until bids have been placed that meet or exceed the reserve. Again, always been like this.
If it's set up as an auction, then a bidder can also place a bid that equals the buy now, rather than using the buy now. Have seen many auctions go way above the buy now price many many times.
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
Lynda, it probably means it has a bid above reserve, ie it's going to sell. I can look at my listings that have met reserve and can see the original start pricing including the Buy Now, but buyers can't of course. Once any auction has reached reserve the Buy Now option is no longer available.
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Callum Community Superuser
Dejan It's pretty obvious why it is like it is. Are you telling me that if you were the lead bidder on that item and were prepared to go to $600. You might even have had a $600 autobid locked in. Then someone comes along, asks for a buynow of $300 and the seller says yep, I'll sell it to you, too bad about Dejan you would honestly be happy with that?
How can that be good for the seller, when they miss out on a much larger sale price, and Trade Me when they miss out on a much larger comission, and you when you miss out on the item you wanted because someone else come in and stole it?
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Callum Community Superuser
Lance. How do you mean worst ever change? It has always been like this on Trade Me. And hopefully, always will be.
So you are telling me if you are bidding on a $1 reserve auction that you really really want. Happy to pay upto $500 for it. You put your bid in. Then while you are away someone asks for a $200 buynow. The seller says OK. Adds a $200 buynow. That person grabs it. How do you feel?........
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Gary-NZStocked Community Superuser
Andrew, the Help pages are quite clear, but it can take a bit to get your head around hidden reserves.
- Buy Now is available until the reserve is met – after that, buyers need to bid until the auction ends.
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