Classic & Vintage - Ebay Should Penalize Sellers

This has happened to me about half a dozen times already. A seller decides to cancel or de-list an item up for auction. There were at least a dozen bidders for this particular item on the very first day it went up for bids. I'm sure someone offered the seller a price he couldn't refuse. I think Ebay should start coming down on these types of transactions. Here's the item of interest:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3660870290&category=56197&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWA%3AIT&rd=1

As an eBay seller, I have to disagree. I once had to delist an item because it was damaged by a room-mate who didn't know I was selling it on eBay. I couldn't sell a broken item so I had to take down the auction. Sellers MUST have this option, even tho some will abuse it!!!

Cycletourist....
I understand if you have a damged item.....but as a seller, how often does that happen? Some sellers abuse this convinient feature and sell their items outside of Ebay, avoiding fees. I sell on Ebay from time to time as well. I put up for auction an Ibis Scorcher about a year ago and I received several emails from people wanting to buy that item, outright. I thought it was not the right thing to do so I let the auction ride out. I might have gotten a better price for it had I de-listed it and sold it. I would have saved on additional Ebay fees as well.

I'm a bit surprized by this one. I've dealt with Sellwood,
and they are really reputable seller.
George, did you e-mail them to find out what happened?
I've had items bought out from under me that way,
and while it stinks not much you can do about it.

Marty

You can report it; happens often enough, and ebay will suspend them for fee avoidance. Also, if the buyer contacted them thru ebay's server (ask seller a question link), ebay can investigate and suspend the seller, since they have a record of that email. If you feel this is what has happened, I'd file and let ebay sort it out. It's my experience they never notice anything (like, say, shill bidding) unless someone complains.

I might have gotten a better price for it had I de-listed it and sold it.

The whole point of contacting you privately is to AVOID bidding and get a better price. Usually, you will get a better price if you leave the item listed and make everyone bid.

I agree with Cycletourist on his last point. What is the benefit to the seller to end the auction early. If a prospective buyer is interested in the item, he/she can put their bid in with everyone else. If their bid is the highest, they get the item. Why would the seller want to cut out other prospective buyers from the process? Seems to me that they would just be cheating themselves.

I have sold items on ebay and had people contact me to buy something directly. I think they are sometime hoping that the seller doesn't know the true value of the item and can get it cheaper by offering a sure outcome. With ebay, you never know what will happen with an auction. I have had items sell for both much more and much less than expected. Look at the sales for similar items and final prices will be all over the place. Bidding on items can also be time-consuming and some people may want to avoid investing the time.

I have considered prematurely ending an auction, but only when I realized there was something wrong with the listing itself. Once there are bids, there is a lot you can't change on the listing. I had a listing that had the wrong picture and considered delisting it, but ended up adding a note to the description notifying bidders of my goof. I have had bidders or potential bidders point out inaccuracies in my listing. It has either not been something serious enough to delist the time or, in one case, was pointed out two hours before the end of the auction when it was too late to do anything. I do not respond to emails asking "What will it take for you to end the auction now?".

ebay isn't going to come down too hard on the sellers, they're the ones paying the bills.

Big deal - whatever you're looking for, there will be another one up next week. It's about the only reliable source for vintage parts these days.

the thing that I hate is when a seller posts something, like, say a frame. it'll be some crappy no-name aluminum frame, and they'll say, "aluminum frame racing bike, TREK, litespeed, colnage, klein, bianchi, etc", just to get their crappy item to come up in someone's search.

When I first started with ebay, someone contacted me through my auction and asked if I would consider a trade. It was a good trade so I took it off ebay.
I had NO bids, so I thought it was ok. I wouldn't have if there were bids.
Afterwards several people emailed me saying they were going to bid on it. Oh well!

Now I never end a auction early just to give people a fair shot at it. People always ask to end an auction early or trade but I just let it ride and tell them I'll consider it if it doesn't sell.

Thanks for all your responses. Well, I've learned my lesson on this last round. If it's a must have item, I'll contact the seller and hopefully close the deal......before someone else does.

George

Funny.....happened again with another seller....similar item....
I started another thread here regarding this problem. Thanks.

George

I once sold a canceled an auction because I had someone come to my house and offer me cash. Really hard to turn down 5 hundred dollar bills at 8 am. Also I didn't have any bids yet so It didn't seem to matter.

Well, this is a new one on me. I just bought Barron's Mastering Spanish on eBay. It sells for $60 new and usually goes for $45 on eBay. So I waited and watched patiently for about two weeks until I saw one that was about to sell cheap- I jumped in with less than one minute to go and got it for $31.

After 3 days the seller emailed me and said "Oops, sorry. We just realized that item is out of stock and we can't send it to you. Here is a refund."

I think he just didn't want to sell it that cheap. The same item is back up for sale again.

Well, this is a new one on me. I just bought Barron's Mastering Spanish on eBay. It sells for $60 new and usually goes for $45 on eBay. So I waited and watched patiently for about two weeks until I saw one that was about to sell cheap- I jumped in with less than one minute to go and got it for $31.

After 3 days the seller emailed me and said "Oops, sorry. We just realized that item is out of stock and we can't send it to you. Here is a refund."

I think he just didn't want to sell it that cheap. The same item is back up for sale again.
for sale by the same seller?
Contact the seller, say you won it before, its in stock now so
you would like to finish the transaction from before.
threaten to report it to e-bay safe harbour or whatever e-bay's
fraud reporting site is. If the seller balks, send a copy of the
original auction, the e-mail confirming your win, the paypal receipt
and then the out of stock email and current auction to e-bay.
Be interesting to see what he says. I'm betting you get it.

Marty

Well, this is a new one on me. I just bought Barron's Mastering Spanish on eBay. It sells for $60 new and usually goes for $45 on eBay. So I waited and watched patiently for about two weeks until I saw one that was about to sell cheap- I jumped in with less than one minute to go and got it for $31.

After 3 days the seller emailed me and said "Oops, sorry. We just realized that item is out of stock and we can't send it to you. Here is a refund."

I think he just didn't want to sell it that cheap. The same item is back up for sale again.

Since you were the high bidder, I would go ahead and post a negative feedback on this guy if he's got the same item back up for sale. Maybe you should threaten him with negative feedback if he doesn't want to honor your win.

George

Nah, don't neg him until you've filed a non-performing seller report. Let ebay make him nervous. If he does send you the item, don't bother to leave him FB until he leaves you some. Do not under any circumstance threaten him with negative FB-- this is a suspendable ebay offence!!!! Don't even mention FB in any communications with the seller.

If he doesn't send you the item, drop the neg bomb on his butt. But file all reports first.

Feedback is already done. He left positive for me. I left neutral for him - "I waited days and then was told the item was out of stock." I was tempted to leave negative but he DID refund my money.

Cycletourist......he took a chance with you with leaving a positive feedback for you, assuming he didn't know what feedback you were going to leave him. You could have easily hit him with a negative in this case. But looking back, lotek and Poguemahone were right in suggesting taking proper procedural measures before leaving any kind of feedback.

George

Since we are on the subject of online auction houses... is eBay the only one?

Is it just me or have prices on eBay gone crazy lately? Used DVD's and books are selling for more than new ones. And bikes and parts are selling for such crazy prices that I don't even bid on them anymore.

tis the season. . . .

tis the season. . . .

ah ha!! I should have known :-(

I've seen a number of cases where auctions have been discontinued by the seller. Usually this happens just before the item closes. The items usually have no reserve price and a low opening bid. My speculation is that the sellers use low opening bids and no reserve to minimize the insertion fees. Then if the item is not getting the price they expect, they discontinue it in the last minutes.

I have also noticed the recent trend for the disclaimer 'auction will be discontinued if item sells locally'. I can appreciate how this would frustrate an Ebay bidder, but a person should be allowed to advertise their item in as many ways and media as they desire. If the item sells to a person who saw it in a local newspaper, then I have no problem with it. Ebay still got their insertion fee, which is all they are entitled too. There are also other valid reasons for disconitinue auctions, as already dicussed. However, when the auction is discontinued in the last few minutes and the item gets relisted, then that's when I would be supicious and contact Ebay.

I saw a variation of that. Someone had an item for sale with a rather low start price, and then right at the end of the auction, the price nearly quadrupled in the matter of two bids. Then, not 5 minutes later, the original seller had the same item back up for bid. I rather suspect the seller had 2 ID's going, "bought" the item from himself because the price wasn't high enough, and then promptly relisted.

Does anyone know if E-bay really does anything anyway? I had a motorhome sell on ebay and the buyer would not respond to emails for payment or any other emails, thus winding up in a no sale. I reported this through the proper channels at e-bay and never heard a peep from them. Go figure!

From what I've seen e-bay does more when its a complaint etc. about
a seller than for a buyer.
I've never heard of a non-paying buyer getting anything other than
negative feedback.

Marty

From what I've seen e-bay does more when its a complaint etc. about
a seller than for a buyer.
I've never heard of a non-paying buyer getting anything other than
negative feedback.

Marty

I had one buyer who was suspended shortly after I had placed a non-paying buyer complaint. I can't be sure that it was linked to my complaint, but it did appear likely as he only bought items with the account. The funny thing is that the fellow contacted me about one month later to purchase the item.