Been offered WAY TOO MUCH for something!

[onlythereal]

Hello.......This possibly isn't a usual query, but I'd appreciate some feedback. 

I put something up for auction earlier, starting from £0.99.  And just one £0.99 bid has already been made, it being very early yet.  I did leave the offer facility, though, and I was surprised to actually receive one pretty much immediately. I was expecting it to be a too hopeful pre-emptive low offer, and that I would say I'd let the listing run. But I was absolutely astounded to see that it was LUCICROUSLY HIGH instead! It's in 4 figures, and more than 15 times what I was expecting the auction to fetch!  I was hoping for a bit more, but I'd have made myself be happy enough with £150. But I've been offered an insane £2.5K! And just to be clear, there's absolutely no chance that I've mistaken what I'm selling and that I'm underestimating its value. Not a proverbial snowball's chance! I've not been deceptive re how I've described it either, as if it might really be something other than it is.  

I'm obviously not complaining, but I'm still a bit nonplussed. And I'm not sure whether I should take it or not.  What if he/she's not quite the full ticket? And I don't want to stop the auction if it's some sort of game or joke (there's a small group of things finishing at around the same time, which I don't want to make less interesting as a smaller group). I've only started selling by auction again recently, and already there've been people who win auctions but who then don't pay. And if he/she does actually pay, the money would be very welcome indeed1 But I would never take advantage of someone who might be vulnerable in real life, and just because I have no way of knowing if this is online stupid instinct is still to tell them, fairly gently,  that they need to be a bit more careful with their money!

What would other people here do?

[the_book_seekers]

I've gone to look at the listing and there's nothing against the account you're posting on. Based on your post, if it were me I'd be thinking the person making the offer has entered the wrong value and I would send them a message to clarify this. 

[ile136yz]

As the Auction has now started with a Bid of 0.99p any offers you received do not count.

If there are no more bids the item may sell for 0.99p or a lot lower than the £150 you said you would have been happy with.

[onlythereal]

Hi.....Thank you for the reply!

I deliberately didn't attach the query to the actual item. Although I don't
come here often, I have noticed that there is a certain type of person who
posts here whose imperative is just to find opportunities to be snarky and
critical and unpleasant. And I was seeking to avoid that.

Apologies for the last lines of my post too, which don't make too much
sense. I think a line or two of type managed to disappear and I didn't
notice. Sorry.

I did consider the possibility of a wrong amount entry. But I was thinking
the amount didn't make sense re that. But if they typed 2500 without a
point, it wouldn't make best sense for £250, but it could make sense for
£25.00. That would be a bit of a ludicrous price the other way, though. And
if that is the case, when I really dislike abuse of the privilege of the
offer facility, I think they would deserve my giving them a kick up the
proverbial by accepting the offer as it is.

[redwick1]

As already said if there is a bid the chance to offer disappears.

If it is as you say a very high offer then the potential buyer has either made a mistake or is just messing around.

Personally I would block any buyer I was not happy with. Hard to say why or what they are doing but better safe than sorry.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/setting-buyer-requirements?i...

I would always start an item at a sensible price rather than 99p. I know ebay push the 99p start but if you only received one bid at 99p then that is what you would have sell at.

[dancewithadingo]

Good Morning Only

Personally I think that you have had a lucky escape. That is an insane amount. That said now that you have received a bid the offer facility will have disappeared from your listing and you will have to hope that the price/bids keeps rising otherwise you will be selling it for what you feel is far below the market value.

Don't ever start your auctions  at such a low figure. If you feel the item is worth £150.00 then start it at that figure or close to it. You have nothing to lose and it won't cost you anything.  You appear to started the complete opposite way to what you should be doing and the way that I would approach it.

I would also put the very high bidder on your blocked list otherwise he/she might bid and win and it could all end in tears. It may still end up like that unless you receive more bids. Let this be a learning curve.

Good luck.

[myriad*seller]

Sounds like an overpayment scam was about to go down

Well done for spotting it

You could report the other account as hijacked to help the real account holder

[department28]

Did you already have the opening bid on the item before the offer was made? I just wondered how they had made the offer, if the 'best offer' option had disappeared with the opening bid.

I expect you had a look at their feedback to see if they were a low feedback/'new' ebayer. If their feedback looked normal, it could just be a mistake. It would be interesting to know what they say, if you decide to message them.