Question for ebay sellers & buyers.

fsjeter

I see quite a few posts about deadbeat buyers, and I have dealt with some. I have a question about sellers tactics. According to ebay rules, a bid is considered binding and it is very difficult to retract your bid (which is not something I either do or condone). Why, then, is it so easy for sellers to "pull" an auction after bids have been placed? Why aren't sellers just as obligated to honor that contract as the buyers are? I see alot of mid to high dollar auctions pulled because the item is "no longer available for sale." I was just curious if this tactic of "pulling auctions" bothers anybody else when it happens. If I list an item without a reserve, I let the bidding determine where the auction closes.

BigKidAtHeart

bottom line.
ebay makes money on sellers
not on buyers.
so they are going to favor the sellers
and not the buyers.

Aknot

AND say I have an auction for a 86/87 Jordan Rookie. For some reason or another Im an idiot and spill coffee on it. What should I do if it is already on Ebay and has bids?

Now granted if it happens over and over something aint right.

What I am saying I guess is there are "valid" reasons to pull an auction and there are other "questionable" reasons. How can you differentiate the two?

We have been through this on the boards before so you will get (possibly) different views. Whatever you can sleep with at night...

pandrews

i could be mistaken, but I dont think its any hard to retract a bid, than it is to end an auction early.. ?

envoy98

maybe they should make an "Auctions Ended Early In The Last 6 Months" similar to the bid retractions that show up on feedback. That would be helpful I think. I do hate when I am bidding on an auction and thinking I am about to get a pretty good deal, only to have the seller end it early with a minute left. That pi$$e$ me off.

It's not so bad when they do it on the first day or two, but the last day, last minutes is very irritating.

sjeanblanc

fsjeter,

As a bidder, nothing cheeses me off more than having something I bid on pulled before the auctions legitimate ending. I will not deal with sellers that do this to me, I put them on a self maintained list of sellers to never do business with.

I as a seller believe that once an auction has bids, it should run its course for good or bad.

Sellers basically pull auctions for one of three reasons.

1) If a seller is worried about losing money on an auction then they should have protected the item with a Reserve or an acceptable starting bid amount.

2) The seller was offered an amount of money off eBay to end the auction early, by another bidder. Very stupid thing to do, if it was an item I was bidding on, since I almost always either win or push the bidding farther than it would have gone normally.

3) A mistake was made in the listing and it could or is having an impact on the auction. This is the only legitimate reason I feel for ending an auction early, but it should be excersised as soon as possible and "ALL" of the bidders should be emailed and told of the situation.

My 2 cents,

Scott Jeanblanc
jeanblanc@iconnect.net
Ebay UserId : sjeanblanc
----------------------------------------
Collecting Nolan Ryan cards (68-94)

Aknot

pffft It shouldnt be allowed at all. If you did this practice in "real life" some people would take a bat upside your head after to many "infractions". The anonymity of the internet, gotta love it.


****EDIT****
Shouldnt be allowed in great frequency and only allowed if the product had a mistake in the listing and it could or is having an impact on the auction or the item had been "damaged" prior to sale. There are as I said before good reasons but you should only be allowed to "go to the well" so many times.

Stone193

Here's a thread from a while back that had a debate on ending auctions early if anyone is interested. This is one of the more interesting topics that will cover just about every emotion and point of view on the planet.
Mike

Spigrimace

I've pulled an auction twice out of over 300 auctions. Someone emailed each time with a very generous offer to end the auction early. It's probably against ebay rules but more due to circumventing final value fees vs. upseting a bidder

As for the "contract", no binding contract was made! Your bid was only an offer to buy. The contract becomes binding at auction's end to which at auction's end, I agreed to sell it to the highest bidder and the highest bidder agreed to pay. if you think about it, by pulling the auction (assuming it was for a generous offer) you weren't the highest bidder.

let's put it on a grander scale. You have your house up for sale. I make an offer to buy your house. If you don't accept the offer, even if it was the highest offer, did we break a contract? No. if we went to contract and you back out once it's binding, most attorney's will have put in right to pursue damages into their contracts.

Bottom line is you cannot force someone to sell something until a binding contract is made. An offer does not count.

I know why you're feeling what you're feeling, but this situation doesn't happen that much. I guess about 1% of the time.

cspeier1

My personal opinion is that there is no way on God's green earth the you shouldn't be able to not end a auction if you desire. It's still your property. If Ebay didn't allow this or if Ebay "thought" it was a contract, you wouldn't be able to do it. It happens ALL THE TIME. I used to think that if the auction started, it should end. All of the has gone away since Ebay won't protect the seller. One reason is for $20 you can get the feedback removed, that's BS.. Now you may loose business, but everyday Ebay gets more and more newbies. If this wasn't the case, none of us sellers would be having any problems.. I've had a Powerseller tell me that if didn't like them pulling the auction early, don't bid on there stuff.. Good enough for them, good enough for me..

Chad

Spigrimace

I agree 100% with you on the it's still the seller's property until the deal closes.

Here's a great example: I was selling the family lakehouse and threw a final bash the weekend b4 a wednesday closing. The buyer uninvitedly showed up (this was NOT the final walkthru) and was aghast to see kegs and about 30 people having a blast. He was steamed, asked what in the hell I was doing, cursed and yelled at me and said if anything was missing, broken or stained, etc. I was to pay for it and could screw up the whole deal. I promptly called the police and had the jerk physically removed and told him if he came back any other time before the closing but for the final walkthru, he'd be charged with tresspassing. It made for a "pleasant" final walkthru that following wednesday morning and closing that afternoon.

The point being, until the deal closes, it's mine. And no one likes to be told what to do with their own stuff! Your bid gives you no right to that property. When you win the auction and pay for it, that's a different story.

pandrews

this guy reserves the right to end his auctions "eary"..

fsjeter

I am by no means a powerseller on ebay but, like most everyone here, I buy and sell. I hate getting stung by by a bad buyer just as much as I hate getting stung by a "pulled auction." It is always been my policy to let the auction run it's course. I've had offers to end auctions early on two occations and both times I declined and the auctions ended higher than the offers. Interestingly enough, neither one of them won those two auctions. I guess the debate rages on.

ZodiacMindwarp

I copied this nugget from the auction that pandrews noted:

Shipping and handling:
(within United States) Standard shipping service: FREE

Shipping insurance: Not offered
Will ship worldwide.
Seller's payment instructions & return policy:
SHIPPING WILL BE $4.50 ON ALL ITEMS AND WILL BE SHIP WITH A TRACKING NUMBER, INSIDE THE US,,, OUTSIDE THE US SHIPPING WILL BE $10.00 AND WILL BE SHIP WE A TRACKING NUMBER

EagleEyeKid

I hate sellers that pulled their **it within the last minute. It is possible that their dog took a big dump on their cards, or he/she had sex on it but to do it over and over is BS. I stay away from them after that and never bid on their crap again. Hope all their stuff burn in hell.

iamthegreatcornholio

Well, the last time this was discussed it got pretty heated as Stone pointed out. I'm not trying to dig up any skeletons but my views are still the same. Technically it is reserve fee circumvention. Normally, I just live and let live, but if it really peeves you, you can report it to ebay under “selling” offenses and they’ll investigate. As a seller, I use reserves or high starting prices when I feel necessary to protect my investment so it angers me when someone circumvents this and of course as a buyer when I’ve been watching an item all week and suddenly the item has been “lost” is equally frustrating.

Brian

cspeier1

Ebay won't do jackshi$ if you report someone, been there done that.. The bottom line, if you don't like how they run there auctions, don't bid on their stuff!! But, we all wouldn't let someone steal something now would we? And the high starting bid and reserve fees are only making Ebay filthy rich. Sorry guys, Ebay is a game and if you want to play you need to learn how to play the game...


Chad

Aknot

Again if this were "Real Life" it would not happen. If you put an ad in your local paper and said $200 OBO (or best offer) and the "little" town you lived in had only 15 people and you pulled the "ad" 1 day after you got 10 offers and decided not to sell you would have some pissed people that would AFFECT (or is it effect get them mixed) your life ESPECIALLY if you do it again and again.

But being on the internet and having access to millions of people that you will never meet puts up that invisible wall. So what if hank05 gets upset that I pull my bid. Who cares as long as I get what I want.

You should always "act" the way you are "IRL" as on the internet. But most do not. Well unless they are that way in real life.

BigKidAtHeart

<< <i>Ebay is a game and if you want to play you need to learn how to play the game... >>

right.

and let me reiterate my point from earlier...


bottom line.
ebay makes money on sellers
not on buyers.
so they are going to favor the sellers
and not the buyers.

fsjeter

I see your point bigkid but wouldn't ebay be making more money if the auction continues till the end. Seems to me they are losing out on a large amount of Final value fees if the auction is pulled. I was looking at a lot of 275 PSA graded '75 Topps that was at $1,100.00 when it got pulled by the seller and there is another thread in the Vintage forum regarding an early Lampo Cassius Clay that got pulled at a bid of $5,500.00. A few lots like this and ebay is missing out on some serious FV fees. So it seems they make a fair penny off of buyers as well.

RedRomad275

BKAH, You are exactly right. I couldn't agree more. But there should be a limit on it.

Shouldnt be allowed in great frequency and only allowed if the product had a mistake in the listing and it could or is having an impact on the auction or the item had been "damaged" prior to sale. There are as I said before good reasons but you should only be allowed to "go to the well" so many times.

cspeier1

I also must add. I've personally NEVER ended a card auction early, with bids.. I've ended car auctions, and car part auctions. The reason why, I got tired of newbie people signing up that same day to bid on a auction. If it's happened to me ten times, it's just not worth it. I sold a vintage 1927 Ford to a guy in NY. I honestly think he thought he could DRIVE IT HOME.. He refused the auction saying it wasn't described properly in the describtion. I said OK, I'd sell it to someone else. HE LEAVES ME NEG FEEDBACK!! I had to spend $20 to get it removed. This clown left me neg feedback because he couldn't drive it HOME, that's what he said in the feedback!!!.. Alright I can deal with stupid people, my problem is this.. Ebay will only refund the listing fee, not the final value. Well it cost me $43.00 to "LEARN A LESSON" and $20.00 to get it removed.. I have no problem with Ebay, just Ebay rules- there aren't any!! It's the best place on the planet to get more money for something than you want..

Chad