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Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)I posed this question last week: 105 views but no replies, which is unusual in our chatty (dare I say opinionated? 
?) group: I just came across another one and wondered if anyone has an opinion.
I may have to write to this Seller to ask, because I'm so curious!
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I've seen ppl write on their blogs & websites and on yahoo lists, that they've posted a private auction for a particular collector. I think they may have been about international payments vs using PayPal's facilities. Has anyone else noticed these posts? Why & how would one do that , other than the currency exchange thing?
OOAK NEEDLE FELTED BEAGLE PRIVATE AUCTION FOR MICHELLE
Item number: 290215066399
This is a private auction for Michelle. Please do not bid unless you are Michelle. This is my newest creation, and custom order. Meet Lucy, a beagle puppy dog.
Past Time BearsI know absolutely NOTHING about selling on ebay, but if ONLY Michelle can bid then she's bidding against herself?
Why on earth would Michelle want to bid at all, and this Lucy beagle was a custom order? For Michelle? So many questions and so little knowledge (me). The whole thing doesn't make any sense. 
Perhaps she put it on Ebay so the buyer had the 'protections' Ebay gives buyers?
Or maybe the buyer contacted her through Ebay to commision the piece and so the seller felt that she should do the custom order sale through Ebay.
Maybe the seller prefers to do all their sales through Ebay?
Personally, I don't think the currency conversion would come into it, since Paypal can do that with off Ebay sales as easily as Ebay sales.
I wondered about this when I viewed your last post but didn't have any suggestions. Maybe the seller doesn't know she can use paypal without going through ebay.
Hugs,
That is just weird.. but I have heard of people who will only buy off ebay. I guess they think it's safer or something.
Hugs!
Melanie
Newcastle, OntarioBobbie,
I wasn't sure what you meant in your last post - I wasn't aware you could do that. Interesting.
hugs,
Brenda
Flying Fur StudiosI have done this twice, both ways.
Both times it was bec. we felt safer going thru ebay bec. they were such random sales. Once I contacted a lady on ebay asking her to make me a bag I had seen before. Once she finished she just posted an auction for me so it was legit. The other time I was contacted to sculpt 4 dragons for a lady and I put them on ebay for her to buy.
I don't think there is a way to really protect yourself other than agree on what time the auction is going up so the buyer can jump on right away to purchase the item.
Not much help other than to say I've done it twice before.
Rufnut Teddy'sWow, I didn't know you could do that, thanks I have learnt something new about Ebay today.
Posts: 8,574I have had sellers contact me and say that something I wanted will be put up at exactly 0900 PST with a BIN price....which gave me the oppportunity to BIN....and not have to deal with all the rest.....
hugs
and thanks for bringing it back up
dilu
Posts: 8,574Oh, and a wig seller has had me bid on one of her wig collections knowing that i wanted 5 of the afro style and then she would just send me the afros.-she got what she wanted the same amount of money for 6 or 8 wigs and I get the 5 afros.....without having to get all the other wigs.
now that one thinks about it there are so many of ways of working deals, even on ebay.
dilu
Maybe it is because Michelle has gift coupons which she only can use on ebay purchases?
Berta
Strange BearsMaybe it is a way to show your latest creation to the public while selling it to the orderer.........maybe ebay should create a new function ........instead of allowing you to block bidders .....one that blocks all bidders and allows only the right bidder to bid..........but then that's not really an auction is it..........hhmmm.
Wild Thyme OriginalsYou know, I do believe that eBay does or did have something just like what Sandra is talking about. You would run the auction, but you'd have to be pre-approved by the Seller in order to bid. The Seller could approve 2 or 200 individually sellected bidders... or even just one. When I first started selling hand sculpted dolls, I used to "auction" my commissions that way... with just the 1 pre-aproved bidder. I did it that way for several reasons...
***I was "new" and needed to build up my eBay feedback
***I felt like both the buyer and I were a bit more protected since we each had the possibility of good/bad feedback hanging over us.
*** The transaction, price paid, and photographs showed up in my feedback for however many days... which is a bit like advertising....
Kim Basta
This is the fun of the game, learning all the time. I think it is a great advertising tool, both parties know what they are getting and people being curious will sure have a look to see who /what/ is going on.
Lynette
According to Ebay rules and regulations for using their auction site, if someone has their initial contact with a customer for a special order via Ebay they are required to process that order via Ebay. This is because of the fees, etc due to Ebay for generating that initial contact. In other words if Ebay hadn't been there you wouldn't have gotten that sale so Ebay should get their part too.
Currently the only way for a Ebay generated contact to process a special order to get their fees is for the seller to put up a "Private Auction" just for the buyer. However Ebay doesn't have a way to have an auction be for only one person. So the only way to do this (per Ebay personnel) is to create a regular auction or store item and put wording on it to show that particular auction/store item is for only one specific person. That way if someone else should try to purchase it before the specified buyer gets to it, the sale to the wrong person can be voided out.
It's a messy way to do it but it *IS* required that this be done this way if the initial customer contact was generated via Ebay. I.E. if they sent you an inquiry via Ebay Email, asked a question on another of your times, placed an order with you for a similar item you have up for sale on Ebay (via the Ebay mail system), etc.
/bearhugs,
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)THX Kim, That is a perfect explanation - I can see the sense of it.
I do remember seeing something about pre-approved Bidders and this would be the way to include 1 - 1000, but only give pre-approval to your selected customer(s).
B
I purchased some made to order gates from someone off ebay. When they were finished he told me that they were on ebay for me and I went through the same methods. It was a buy it now.
I think if sellers choose to do it this way they do get benefits from ebay that you may not get outside of ebay.
Maybe they feel a bit more protected?
You should email the seller an ask her.
Shelly 
Creative Design Studio (RKR4CDS)You should email the seller an ask her.
That's what I thought and asked her last Monday. This is her reply:
Hi Bobbie..I didn't have to do anything except what you see in the listing and that was just to make sure no one else bid on it. This is how I sell my commissioned sculptures to the person who ordered it, keeping within ebay rules. Thanks, Karen
Posts: 1,836It's a messy way to do it but it *IS* required that this be done this way if the initial customer contact was generated via Ebay. I.E. if they sent you an inquiry via Ebay Email, asked a question on another of your times, placed an order with you for a similar item you have up for sale on Ebay (via the Ebay mail system), etc.
/bearhugs,
This is silly, or maybe I'm just not seeing the real logic of "ebay's way". (the monetary thing, sure..but not the logic) I list a brown bear on ebay, "the advertiser" as we often refer to it. My bear sells or not and another person contacts me via ebay mail about doing a yellow bear instead of brown. I'm not an ebay exclusive seller or artist. I'm now expected to list the bear, that in and of itself has nothing to do with ebay on ebay..so ebay gets a "finders fee". (sorry, what? I guess I owe TBR, TBF, TT and a few fellow bloggers finder fees! Line up gals, I'll go grab the old wallet 
)
I'm all about following procedures and keeping things on the up and up in life (believe me, I am a nerdy goody at heart..just in case you never got that 
) but I'd just reply that I don't do "ebay exclusive commissions", they can find out more about my business policies via my web site. (easy enough to find without breaking any "link rules" to boot). The thing that's funny about all of this is that Ebay is a business, but so are we. We are allowed to have business policies as well. An auction house sells a single lot of goods from one particular antiques dealer, the dealer then gets phone calls from folks who were at the auction. Must all of the dealers sales for these buyers now go through the auction house? Maybe I'm just missing something (???)
Now that I'm thinking about it I actually had a woman see one of my very first ebay listings a few years back. She wanted a replica of an older and well traveled bear she had lost. This was NOT an easy commission, I can't imagine after weeks of working on this bear having to take the time and (all be it small) finances to list it on ebay! She did in fact email me independently, but if she hadn't..if she had clicked on the ebay mail instead...... well, I still think it's silly.
:hug:
