Nooo! my item retails $199 sold for only $0.99!

[mime225]

omg I auctioned my PocketWizard and it ended up selling for only $0.99! New it retails for just under $200. Is there anything I can do or do I have to send over the item for less then a dollar?

[*tippy*toes*]

Why did you start the auction at 99c? NEVER EVER start an auction at 99c unless it's something like the current iphone whereby there will be lots of bidders. Always start at the lowest amount you're willing to accept and assume you'll only get one bidder......because most of the time that's all you'll get.

You have 2 options. Send the item and end up losing money (your fees alone will be more than the 99c for the item, let alone the cost of the item) or send the buyer a message explaining that you are new to selling and that you followed eBay's recommendation of starting an auction at 99c, which was a really bad recommendation. You can't let it sell for that and ask if they would be willing to cancel. Be prepared for negative feedback, especially if the buyer has low feedback, but at least then you can relist for a higher amount.

Edit: I just had a look at the listing and when you do relist, check the description because there's a lot of I have no idea what down the bottom which needs to be removed. A jumbled mess of words and symbold.

[floorjansen]

How come you didn't list it with a starting price you would have been happy to part with it for?

If you start an auction with a low price like that, naturally there is a chance it will go cheap.....what did you think would happen out of curiosity?

[*tippy*toes*]

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@floorjansen wrote:

How come you didn't list it with a starting price you would have been happy to part with it for?

If you start an auction with a low price like that, naturally there is a chance it will go cheap.....what did you think would happen out of curiosity?

---

Unfortunately new sellers get caught with eBay's recommendations. During the creation of the listing they recommend to start the auction at 99c to attract more buyers. What they don't tell you is, the days of bidding wars are over for almost all but the Chinese. Majority of the time auctions end with only 1 bid and a lot of new sellers are getting caught. EBay don't care. They'll still do OK out of the sale, while the seller loses money big time and ends up in the red.

[enigmabear]

The best this is NOT to start an auction for at item like that at 99cents

If you are not happy with that price, would put that as the starting bid? 

[floorjansen]

Totally agree there, if I was in OP's shoes, I would wear this as a lesson, send the item, and not list so low when I want more money from an item next time.

No doubt, considering they went to all the trouble of posting a "what should I do?" message here, they are after advice, and they have been honest in what happened.  Seems they just assumed that the item was guaranteed to go a lot higher. 

😞

[thecatspjs]

Having a look at your seller feedback it appears that you may have had some great results for auctions previously. 

As others have posted, this is not always the case.

Unless you are prepared to sell for the price you start an auction at, in your own best interests should really put the lowest price you are prepared to accept as the auction start price.

[*tippy*toes*]

Unfortunately, eBay in a roundabout way "guarantee" it with their wording of starting at 99c to attract more buyers. It just doesn't happen these days. I noticed the buyer only has 16 feedback, so unless they are understanding, the OP is almost guaranteed of getting a neg if they cancel. Low feedback buyers tend to react with the red button rather than be understanding about a mistake.

Me personally, I'd try and get the buyer to cancel and relist with a higher price, or list as a buy it now. A neg will be gone in 12 months. If the OP replied with an honest reply to the feedback, something like "very sorry, my mistake, followed eBay's recommendation", then anyone else who sees it will see that they are admitting fault. If I saw a similar reply it wouldn't turn me off buying from them. I'm only turned off by abusive replies.

[mime225]

Thanks for the resposes guys. I've listed items for $0.99 in the past and was happy with the results so I thought I'd do the same again. Considering the popularity of the item I was sellling I didn't think there would be an issue.

Ahhh I really don't want to let the item go for $0.99 for obvious reasons. I feel like deleting my Ebay account 😞

[*tippy*toes* · Accepted solution]

Just send the buyer a polite message explaining what's happened and with any luck they'll be understanding and cancel. You could even offer to relist it at a discounted buy it now price for them so they are still getting it cheaper than what they would have elsewhere. If you were hoping for say $150 for it, offer it to them at $100 or $120. If they know what they are, they'd know they were still getting a bargain.

If they are willing to do that, tell them you will relist it for a very high price, say $1,000, with best offer. If they make an offer of the agreed price, then you accept it and the jobs done. You then only pay fees on the price you accepted, not the full price you listed for. Listing for a really high price stops someone else jumping in and buying it before your buyer sees it.