Time to reply to offers - eBay contradicting itself!

[alfabeater]

eBay says you have 48 hours or until the end of a listing to respond to an offer yet messages me to say an offer has ended as it's only valid for 24 hours!

"What you need to know After receiving an offer, you have 48 hours to respond to the buyer."

https://www.ebay.co.uk/help/selling/listings/selling-buy-now/adding-best-offer-listing?id=4144 

[plpmr]

adding to pixiesen2012 good advice -

In fact the offer might only last seconds if the item is sold/purchased or a bid placed.

[alfabeater]

True! The offer wasn't any greater than an opening bid would have been in any case, so they could still get the item with a last minute bid!

[pixiesen2012]

it's up to 48 hours,

the person making the offer can change the time scale

it will tell you on the offer how long you have to respond

[alfabeater]

Thanks, I can't say I'd noticed the time scale, on the rare occasion I've made an offer, but if that's the case, then eBay should still state "up to 48 hours".

[pixiesen2012]

ebay have only recently changed it to allow the buyer to choose the duration of the offer, so the help pages haven't caught up

[alfabeater]

Yes, I just tried it. I'm not sure what benefit there is to a potential buyer, unless the seller gets absolutely no interest, as @plpmr says, the first bid cancels the offer in any case!

[john1297576]

Mostly offers are for only 24 hours I find, but if submitted 5 hours before end of auction then it will only last for 5 hours. However I always accept or decline asap. Rarely do I make a Counter Offer as it restricts my  reedom to amend until the Counter Offer is accepted or declined.

If you have an auction for 48 hours and no responce from seller, then the seller may be waiting for a better offer, but the disadvantage is that while an offer is outstanding then the seller cannot edit in any way.

There are no Contradictions, just read the terms of offer.