eBay question (1 Viewer)

[AdrianOC]

I have a question for anybody who can help with regards an eBay auction I was bidding on.
It was for a NYC Toy Fair 2002 Silver Darth Vader figure.
This was one of the few auctions for the figure that DIDN'T go over the $100 mark so I figured I'd put in a bid. I really wanted to get the figure (being a star wars nut!) but the fan club ran out before I could get an order through.
When I logged in the following day to see how the auction had gone, I saw that I had received an email saying that my bid was cancelled.
When I went to the auction page I saw that all bids were cancelled and the seller just relisted the item - his excuse was : "The seller ended the listing early and cancelled all bids."
My thought were, seeing that he just relisted the item that he didn't get the price he wanted, so cancelled the auction just before it was due to end so he wouldn't have to sell it. Isn't that what reserve prices are for???????????????
Is this allowed??
Any thoughts?
Regards
Adrian

 

[Jeffrey Forner]

You're right. He should have just set a reserve price rather than cancelling all the bids and closing the auction.

Look at it this way: At least you didn't lose any money on the deal.

 

[AdrianOC]

I didn't get the figure either! :frowning:

 

[Eve T]

I didn't know that was allowed. I've cancelled bids before on one of my items due to the fact that the product I was selling had become damaged. From what I understand, you need to have a pretty good excuse for cancelling bids. The person made a big mistake because when that happens and the item is relisted many fellow Ebay junkies won't touch one of their bids with a ten foot pole. It's bad business and consider yourself lucky you didn't have to go through a transaction with this joker.

 

[CRyan]

Yep, pretty bad business. What a loser.

On a side note, I had to cancel an auction once. For some reason, a few people (or one person with several accounts) decided to blast my auction for a Nokia cell phone of all things. I expected $30, but with one day remaining, the fool(s) had bid it to above $2000. Have no idea why they chose my auction to blast this way. Might have been one of the "professional" Nokia sellers thay have over there.

I did have a similar occurance when I was selling a PS2 in the early days of release. This one, they kept coming back to bid after each cancellation, and I could do nothing but close the auction and restart another day. There are a lot of self-righteous pricks in the world I guess.

C. Ryan

 

[Marc S Kessler]

I've seen some sellers state that they have the right not to accept a bid from someone who has unfavorable feedback. I guess if you're a seller you need to guard yourself from idiots as well as buyers needing to be cautious of fraud.

 

[Brian Perry]

I think you should be able to leave negative feedback if you were the high bidder and the seller cancelled all bids only to relist the same item to try to get a better price.

 

[Don Black]

I don't believe a seller can cancel an auction within the last few minutes/hours/day? of an auction.

 

[DennisHP]

Another reason eBay sucks.

 

[Craig]

Sometimes sellers cancel bids because the item is for sale locally. I've stated in a couple of my auctions that I'll cancel bids if the reserve hasn't been met and I sell the item locally, although this hasn't happened with anything I've sold.

There's also an option on the cancel page to cancel and declare the high bidder winner. I've used this when only one person has bid, they've met the reserve and they just want to get it over with.

None of this is against the rules on ebay.

 

[Jeffrey Noel]

Hmm, I didn't think you could cancel an auction if there were bids on it. That's pretty cheap! Hope he doesn't get any more money on it!

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Another scam some jokers pull is to cancel the auction early to avoid the ebay fees, then try to negotiate with the high bidder privately, which is strictly against ebay rules.

I've seen auctions yanked because the bids weren't high enough on several ocassions. Folks using the $1 opening bid on an expensive item and seeing it at $10 hours before auction close.

I used to like ebay, but now it's really hard to get a deal, or on the other side, actually sell an item with so much scamming going on.

 

[Don Black]

Don't see how that's a scam. It works out cheaper for both parties. Buyers often ask sellers to do this as well.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

It's a scam because not only does it cheat ebay out of their fees, but it also doesn't allow for a fair shot at winning the auction, and removes any protection the buyer has through ebay's services. Many people wait until the last minute to bid - I do to avoid being shilled up to my maximum.

 

[Eve T]

I've seen some sellers state that they have the right not to accept a bid from someone who has unfavorable feedback. I guess if you're a seller you need to guard yourself from idiots as well as buyers needing to be cautious of fraud.

Nothing wrong with refusing a bid, but if you don't get the amount you wanted for an item tough cookies...the seller should have put a reserve on his/her item to protect his/her investment and to get the highest amount on the item that he/she thought acceptable. CANCELLING bids at the last moment just because you were an idiot and didn't put a reserve on it and didn't get what you thought it was worth and then RELISTING it next day was and is wrong period.

 

[BrianB]

Just had that happen to me - a cancelled bid/closed auction because the bid at the /very/ end wasn't high enough. Was for "errors in the listing" - the only thing wrong was that he didn't set a high enough reserve or advertise it enough!

Was for a fairly 'rare' videogame - nothing too high price, but it was one I was after. Bah. Really sucks. First time I've had this happen to me on eBay.

 

[Don Black]

You can complain about eBay not getting their fees once they stop raising prices despite posting record profits. I'm a capitalist at heart and fully support eBay's business actions. However, so too do I support the right of any seller to sell to anyone in any way he chooses. In the same way that a buyer can not buy from any seller he chooses to boycott.

I fail to see how this is a scam in any way. If you wait until the last minute to place a bid, then that's a tatic you use to try to get the lowest price. Some might call that a scam because you're not communicating your true intentions to the seller. Again, I see nothing wrong with that. It's how auctions work and its certainly within your rights.

Cancelling an auction because a seller got a higher bid offline or online is also a tactic. Sellers use it to get the highest price from buyers. If you're not happy with it, don't buy from that seller. That's the beauty of a free market system.

Buyers have the freedom to shop elsewhere. Sellers have the same freedom to take their business where it's most profitable.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I don't see how you can defend avoiding paying ebay's fees for your listing - you are using their service, abide by the terms. The item may never have sold otherwise.

I'm not defending their fees. I think they are too high to make selling there worth while for most things now, but condoning ripping hem off while using their service to attract buyers is a scam, period.

In a perfect world, the ebay system with proxy bidding is great, but too many people figured out they could bid on their own auctions to jack up the pricing, which is why many people try for the snipe at the end. If the system didn't allow as much corruption as it does, it would be far better, but there is such a lax policy as far as new bidders and rip off artists, it is not worth the effort most of the time to participate any more.

 

[Don Black]

Jeff: Point taken on the fees. There really is no excuse beyond the fact that sellers think that eBay overcharges and it's their way of making some of it back.

 

[AdrianOC]

Well I queried eBay on this and there reply was typical B.S. :

Thank you for writing with your concern.
If you would like to see a change in an eBay policy or have other
suggestions, we would encourage you to write to our Product Marketing
Department by using the web form located at:
Link Removed
Our Product Marketing staff and eBay Management welcome the input of our
users and will gladly review your comments.

I give up...