# Another ebay "your opinions wanted" thread. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 15, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ebay-your-opinions-wanted-thread/188518 "2003-07-15T00:06:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ebay-your-opinions-wanted-thread/188518/1 "2003-07-15T00:06:55Z")
I’m selling a used hard drive on eBay; most of my other listings are BINs, but this one is just a plain vanilla auction, starting price £1.00. I got an email: > [@](#): > > add a ‘buy it now’ thing please? I need a hard drive fast:) mine is almost deaD The user has one negative feedback(NPB) and one positive. His user name strongly suggests he is in the computer trade. OK, so that’s all I have to go on, but my gut feelings (based on a little similar experience) are: He wants to buy it cheap to resell. I’m not sure that I _can_ add a BIN without cancelling and relisting, but even if I did, he might not buy it anyway and I might end up selling it for less than at auction. If he did buy it, I suspect he’d ask for it to be sent out before the cheque clears or some such. Maybe I’m being unreasonable. At the moment, I don’t intend to even reply, I may even block him as a bidder - what would you be thinking and what would you do? BTW, if anyone wants to add their own questions and turn this thread into a general ‘eBay: what should I do?’, that’s fine by me (Mod willing) ---
**Author:** ![Suse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@Suse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suse)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ebay-your-opinions-wanted-thread/188518/2 "2003-07-15T00:25:35Z")
Trust your gut feelings. I don’t know if I would block him as a bidder - before you do that, you might check with the person who gave him negative feedback - but I wouldn’t attempt to change the auction for him, either. ---
**Author:** ![MannyL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@MannyL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MannyL)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ebay-your-opinions-wanted-thread/188518/3 "2003-07-15T01:29:27Z")
If you have no bids I believe you can add a buy it now, but if he needs one fast wouldn’t it be faster for him to go to a local store? ---
**Author:** ![Marconi\_Schmeese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@Marconi\_Schmeese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marconi_Schmeese)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ebay-your-opinions-wanted-thread/188518/4 "2003-07-15T03:09:55Z")
Yeah, doesn’t sound good. Leave it alone. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2003, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-ebay-your-opinions-wanted-thread/188518/5 "2003-07-15T07:44:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MannyL \* > \*\*If you have no bids I believe you can add a buy it now, but if he needs one fast wouldn’t it be faster for him to go to a local store? \*\* Yeah, or buy one of the dozens of hard drives that _are_ listed as ‘Buy It Now’. Blocking a bidder probably is a bit drastic in this case; I had one (pre-bid) email conversation that went like this: Him: The postage is £1.20 - why? Me: The postage is based on the weight of the item, plus the materials/consumables required to pack it, plus a very small margin to cover my time, effort and other related expenses. Him: Well, I think it’s too much, what posting method do you use? Me: Ordinary post; please let me assure you that postage is a non-profit item for me on eBay. Him: When you say ‘ordinary post’, do you mean first or second class? Me: Most items are sent out by second class post, if the weight allows it. The postage alone on this item will be about 80p. Him: I still think you’re charging is too much …and so on; I blocked him (I don’t know if he tried to bid as I don’t know how the system works for blocked buyers) - I simply don’t want to deal with someone like that.