Offers before auction close

Hi Elaine. the ball is in your court with this one. If you want to accept OR wait and see if others bid that is totally up to you. If I don't want to accept such an early offer I usually answer with... Thanks for your question but I would like to let the auction run it's full time for now.

Sorry, been busy with xmas stuff!

These kind of requests can be awkward, because it can be quite easy to feel pressured. The key thing to remember is that you are the one who owns the item, so you are the one with the power, not them, so if you want the auction to run, then that is what is happening.

Some buyers, try to use the Q&A to bully sellers into things they dont want to do, and you have every right to just ignore if you choose.

I've posted my second auction. For the first one, bidders made offers and at the close of the auction, I was able to accept the highest bid which was significantly higher than my reserve. With this second auction, bidders are making offers and I'm advised the offer only lasts about 18 hours. This is at the beginning of the week of my auction. Once the 18 hours pass, the bid expires. So I'm receiving subsequent bids but at quite lower levels. Why are the bids timing out before the close of my auction?

Kia ora Liz, congrats on making your first sale! It sounds like your first listing was an auction, you had bidders who were bidding on your listing and the top bidder won. There is also the ability for buyers to Make an Offer to the seller, offers are valid for 24hours (it sounds like this is what you are currently getting), during that time you can counter offer or accept one, to make a nice quick sale. 

If a listing doesn't sell you can send out a fixed price offer to bidders and watchers and they can accept or decline. This can be a great way to get a sale too.