kralizec

This is just to keep people informed. Rocky Mountain Cyclery has auctions on ebay that start at $0.99 every once in a while. I won 3 of them and had to email them many times to get them to send me the combined shipping total. Once I had that I paid for it on September 6th. Then today I get an email saying they don't actually have the item and issued me a refund before I had a chance to talk to them about it.

All I wanted was a seatpost to replace my bent one. Now I have wasted over 2 weeks and the rest of the parts aren't even shipped.

Anyone have ideas on what I can do? Isn't it illegal to list something that doesn't exist?

estabro

They have a huge inventory... maybe it was just a mistake. Maybe they did not want to sell the item for $0.99. Either way, it's best just to move on because there is really nothing to do about it.

scyclops

A lot of ebay sellers that do that kind of volume drop the ball occasionally due to not enough staff, poor inventory system, whatever. I see that almost all of their negative FB is your complaint - slow response/shipping and failure to deliver the item. IMO as long as they provide a full refund within the proscribed period then a neg FB isn't really warranted, but I would leave a neutral and 1-star them on shipping and communication. It won't make a perceptible dent in their overall rating, but that's about all you've got.

cryptid01

If you're buying a 99 cent seatpost, you shouldn't expect retail service.

samburger

Last time I checked the rules were that if a seller is unable to provide the described item, a refund is all that is necessary. This happened to me when I tried to order a wheelset, but they guy said that he continued using them while the auction was going & one of the wheels got taco'd. Annoying, but I appreciate the honesty more than anything.

scyclops

That is still (and always has been) the case.
RMC doesn't have a Top-rated seller badge, nor do they deserve one - and the negative and neutral FBs are the reason for that. Not that I think they are intentionally doing anything wrong, but plenty of other high-volume sellers make the effort to have their **** together, and it shows.

victim

I'd take them to small claims court. This was a serious infraction!!!

Chris s

I bought several items from RMC and allways got the item as described and super fast shipping, seems like a outstanding mom n pop type operation, but then again that was last year or so.

scyclops

If you read just a couple pages of their FB you'll see that OP's experience is not an isolated one. They might mean well, but they clearly have a problem with inventory tracking. Words like ok or decent come to mind, but not what I would call outstanding.

Chris s

They must have gone downhill then, last year and the year before is when I was buying from them.

embankmentlb

Most smart folks just buy a seat post when they need it rather than complain 3 weeks about the inconvenience of not having one. Even at retail price I don't think the cost of a seat post offsets 3 weeks of my time.

thenomad

Sounds like they do that when the price of the auction is below their retail price. This would let them have a bunch of .99 auctions but never lose a penny on an item when someone actually gets a "deal". Does not sound like mere coincidence to me.

scyclops

There's no reason for them to risk negative feedback from a hacked-off buyer when the seller can simply shut the auction down early if there is little or no bidding action on it.
And if the item only brought .99 the first time, what is the likelyhood it will suddenly bring $10 if they relist it?
Desirable, popular items almost always get bid up to their average market value, and high volume sellers don't have time to screw around with nickel-and-dime stuff the way you're suggesting, not if they even halfway know what they're doing.

himespau 

I bought a front derailleur from that that was advertised as new in box. Looks new and came with all the parts including the instruction booklet, but no box or packaging making me think it might actually be an OEM bike take off. Still, it was a decent price, so I didn't complain.