I received "Good news, you've got an offer" on standard auction item. How did this happen?

[markw9432]

I have sold many things on ebay. I thought the process was simple - put it up for auction, whoever makes the highest bid wins. Now I get a message "Good news, you've got an offer for (item) it's valid for 23 hours". I have no idea what this means or what I should do about it. I checked my listing and I can't find any way as a buyer that I could send an offer like this. Can anyone explain this to me? 

[kopenhagen5]

eBay sometimes put make offer on a listing before any bids are placed.

But you now have a bid on the watch so just decline the offer if it's less than the current bid.

If it's more but you want the auction to run it's course then suggest to the offerer to bid on the item.

[zanadoo_56]

I've noticed a couple of items I am interested in have Make Offer and so far there are no bidders.  I've made offers on BIN items but never on an auction item.

What kind of offers are sellers getting?  If someone bids does that override an offer?  I've found making offers on BIN easy but I'm not so sure of sellers' expectations when an item may end up with keen bidding near the end of the auction. 

[tazzieterror]

Offers are cancelled once a bid is placed. The seller needs to accept the offer before anyone bids.

[curraone]

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@markw9432 wrote:

I have sold many things on ebay. I thought the process was simple - put it up for auction, whoever makes the highest bid wins. Now I get a message "Good news, you've got an offer for (item) it's valid for 23 hours". I have no idea what this means or what I should do about it. I checked my listing and I can't find any way as a buyer that I could send an offer like this. Can anyone explain this to me? 

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It is under "contact seller" option -  ebay now allows buyers to send an offer, even if the item has not been listed as make an offer