Auction website - Buy now feature?

[Paidric]

Hello,

I'm stuck in a doubt with this one...
Once someone has bid on an auction, should the "buy now" feature be disabled if the bid (and proxy) is lower than the buy now price?

I'd say no... but what's your opinion?

To make it clear :
Auction start : 1M
Buy now price : 3M

Someone bids 1,5M
Should it be still possible to buy the item directly for 3M?

Thanks.

 

[Kiminality]

I'd agree.
The buy now price is the price set by the seller as a "I would sell for this amount"
That fact doesn't change, when someone starts bidding.

Although, buy now prices tend to result in auctions being used as a glorified item mall.

 

[Kith Kanan]

Keep the option open until buy now price is reached

 

[Becca]

The buy now fieature is also there because some people are willing to pay top dollar to have the item immmediately. Therefore if the auction continues
there is really no point to the buy now at all.

 

[Paidric]

Well, that's my vision aswell. It also gives the bidders to opportunity to use the buy now if they don't want to lose the item to someone else ;-p

But I agree with Kiminality. It can turns the auctions a bit in an online store. Though, if people use it, it means there is a demand for it. So not that bad I guess.

 

[Sir Kenga]

In your example. If auction goes for 2 days, little by little price reached 2m mark, then some rich guy comes in, see there is demand for that item, and wants to buy it without being involved in price battle =) So if he know there IS Buyout price, he can buy it right away.

 

[Paidric]

Well, thing is, he'll pay more than the other people, so it sounds fair to me.
But I'll follow the thread and see how people feel about before making the change a way or another.

Right now I put it in the spirit of uo-auction. Buy now option remains even if someone bids.

I can change it back rather easily.

 

[The Scandinavian]

Hi there,

I have used all uo auction sites since the first uo auction and my opinion is that the buy now option should be available even after first bid is made.

Why?

Lets say that there are a good item for sale but I dont want to use the buy out feature.Item is good enough to actually be worth close to the buy out price but I want to buy lower because I just love to make good deals.

So what to do?
I make a bid at the start price to so to say BLOCK others from using the buy out feature.After that I hope that others just forget about the ending time...

There are actually no reason at all to remove the buy out option because bidding has started,not as I see it anyway.


Regards
The Scandinavian

 

[ultima online]

yeah leave it as is, what ebay do with buy now prices is, they are kept till the last few hours or so of an auction coming to an end, and removed if there are any bids on said item

 

[Bobar]

It should be left as it is - The whole point of 'Buy now' is in case someone really wants the item and is willing to perhaps pay a little over the odds to get it.

It is not the same as reserve price which is the one that tends to make auctions a glorified mall.