Unbound Bidding - real estate auctions on eBay - Brief Article

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, Nov, 2000 by Elizabeth Razzi

HOMES -- EBay's online REAL ESTATE AUCTIONS are really just clever classified ads.

THERE ARE TWO funny things about the real estate auctions on eBay, the online site that matches up buyers and sellers of just about anything. First, the houses are not really up for auction. Second, there's the standard warning that the buyer has to pay for shipping.

In response to an increasing number of real estate offerings, eBay has given real estate listings their own category. But the rules differ from those for other groupings. Sellers pay a $50 fee to "auction" a property for up to ten days. But when the auction is over, nothing's really been sold.

That's because bids on real estate on eBay are not binding offers, unlike those for other items. Of course you won't learn that by cruising the property listings. In fact, before you make a bid, you'll see an erroneous warning that you are making a binding offer.

But once an "auction" is over, eBay simply suggests that the high bidder contact the seller to discuss a nonvirtual, legal contract. In other words, these auctions are merely classified ads, and there's no good reason to wait for the end or even to bid. Just e-mail the seller and take it from there. But, says eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove, postings for time shares are real auctions in which bids are supposed to be binding.

EBay and a partner, Ziprealty.com, an online real estate broker, now offers discount services to sellers in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas, San Francisco, Seattle, the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia and Orange County (Cal.).