cancelling an ebay auction
goodriddance189
Posts: 2,388 ✭✭
i sold a card listed on ebay offline, and i need to know how to cancel the listing asap. thanks
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i figured out how to do it
On one hand, they allow a seller to cancel an auction (and any bids) by simply choosing one of several reasons. "Error in listing" is one. Probably the most-used is "Item no longer for sale," which covers a multitude of innocent and not-so-innocent situations. To all appearances, any reason the seller sees fit is a suitable reason to end the auction early.
On the other hand, eBay does not care for selling "off the books" after using eBay to advertise your item. eBay also does not care for ending an auction to avoid selling an item too cheaply. They see this as a way to avoid paying their reserve fee, which is not cool in their eyes.
These policies are in place but not at all obvious to new sellers. Usually you have to violate the policy before you become aware of it. A bidder will complain to eBay that he didn't get your 1983 Joe Shlabotnik PSA 10 for only $1.50 because you ended the auction early. eBay will look at your auctions and issue a warning if they see a pattern developing.
A lot of this could be avoided if eBay would not make it so easy to cancel an auction, and not make it sound like just about any reason is OK with them when you get to that stage. They need to make their policies clear right up front when you start to cancel, not wait until someone complains after the fact.
You don't have rights to an item until you have a binding contract. Your bid doesn't bind the seller. It's still his property. When the auction closes, if you are the high bidder and have met any reserve price, then the seller is bound to sell it to you.
You can even look at it that the $1.50 high bid at the time the auction was pulled wasn't really the highest bid as the private bid that came in trumped the $1.50 bid anyhow.
You can also look at it that you made an offer to buy, and your offer was rejected.
We understand your feelings. You wanted or needed the card real bad, you took time to look for it and bid on it, but for some reason people seem to disassociate an auction and a straight "for-sale" where they feel an auction in-progress binds you to sell an item, while "for-sale" gives you the right to reject offers. This is simply not true. They are both "for sale" and unless there is a binding contract, you can pull your auction or not sell your "for sale" item.
Even with a "for sale", Let's say I have my '78 Camaro with a 305 and T-tops for sale at $2000 and you come to me with $2000 cash and say that you would like to buy this car. I can still say no, even if I have no more offers. It's like houses that sell for above asking price. That happened left & right over the last few years with the low interest rates. Just because you meet my price, I don't have to sell it to you.
All in all, it's my card and I will sell it to whomever I want for however much money I want. I never intentionally do it, but if the $$$ is right, I take the better deal. I will admit that I have been letting my auctions run out lately though.
TheRoach
<< <i>We've done this b4 on this board.
You don't have rights to an item until you have a binding contract. Your bid doesn't bind the seller. It's still his property. When the auction closes, if you are the high bidder and have met any reserve price, then the seller is bound to sell it to you.
You can even look at it that the $1.50 high bid at the time the auction was pulled wasn't really the highest bid as the private bid that came in trumped the $1.50 bid anyhow.
You can also look at it that you made an offer to buy, and your offer was rejected.
>>
In an auction "without reserve", which the UCC now calls without the right to withdraw the goods, "after the auctioneer calls for bids on an article or lot, the article or lot may not be withdrawn unless no bid is made within a reasonable time. "
I would argue that it IS a binding contract when a bid is placed on a lot that is put up for auction without reserve. Of course internet auctions may present a different wrinkle in the law, but I think they still are considered "auctions" for the purposes of the UCC and § 2-328 would apply. Enforcement would prove difficult, though. At least that would be MY take on the law.
I had an old car that I was selling after I bought a brand new one. I listed it in the local Auto Trader book, but also listed it on Ebay.The Auto Trader generated 3 calls. The Ebay listing, after just two days generated 23 calls and 15 emails.
I met with a guy who was a mechanic who saw it on Ebay and wanted to buy it right then- but it would mean I would have to cancel my auction. I did, and it ended up costing me 1/3 of what the Auto Trader did because I didn't pay closing fees.
Basically Ebay acted as a cheap (and effective) way of advertising at a small cost because I could cancel the auction..
I usually do 10 day auctions and the very few times I have ever cancelled due to receiving a good offer is with like 7+ days left in the auction. With that amount of time left, the bidding typically hasn't heated up by then, so one who had a bid in shouldn't get so nerved at that point. Also, people know what's stuff's worth. I usually start cards that may be worth $100 at $1 with no reserve and typically the card sells in that $100 range anyhow. And sometimes someone pays too much and other times I'm happy to say someone got a good deal. I cannot think that because someone had a bid in at $1 on day 2 of a 10 day auction would think they were going to win it for that price if the auction ran it's time.
Damages -- how can you determine you were damaged if you weren't afforded an opportunity to purchase a card?
Collecting Bowman Chrome Phillies Rookie Cards and Mike Schmidt certified auto cards.
Let's say you are correct and in a auction without reserve, it has to sell once a bid is made, One could argue that the item was still sold to the highest bidder (which he probably received the bid in a private email). Does that section you quoted state anything about time and/or due dilligence of informing bidders because a typical auction in the non-eBay sense doesn't have a set end time. The auctioneer ends it.
Now if the rebuttal is I had a max bid higher than the sale price, I'd argue that when ebay explains the workings of a max bid, eBay even says "we'll bid for you" as the offers go higher and higher thus my arguement is since "ebay will bid for you", ebay never entered that higher amount as a bid. e.g. I bid max $100 but that initially made me the high bidder at say $75. The auction then gets pulled and the item sold for $90. Thus I only bid $75 and NOT $91 or $100. The bidder or eBay acting as the bidder's agent in a max bid did not ever physically enter that bid. I'd also argue that your bid was indeed $75 and not $91, $92...$100 because that would make your bid ambiguous and thus you cannot "have your cake and eat it too".
Regards
Plus, as a legal matter, the fact that eBay ALLOWS sellers to cancel their auctions early because "item is no longer for sale" seems to be an answer in itself.
As far as I know, there is little case law on the issue. I suspect because of the relative difficultly of pursuing a claim and the uncertainty of damages. However, provided that you could deal with jurisdictional issues, subpoenas to eBay to get the seller's information and you chose a particularly rare card, so that damages could be resolved by an order of specific performance (i.e. forcing the sale of the card), there certainly would be other difficulties to enforce your bid.
The first thing that I as a seller I would point out would be the difference between a traditional auction where each lot is by default WITH reserve unless EXPLICITLY stated to be without reserve. Ebay functions in the exact opposite way. Every auction is without reserve unless you specifically PAY to have a reserve placed on your auction. This of itself could be reason enough for the UCC section on auctions to not apply to electronic or eBay auctions. Then as stated, you would have to prove that if the auction was allowed to run, you would have been the high bidder and at what price? This is pretty speculative and riddled with "what ifs". Damages could take normal breach remedies: market value, replacement value, expectation of profit, etc. But, these are very speculative as well, which is why I would choose an ultra rare card, where the court could order enforcement of the sale to proceed.
It would be interesting to see what a court had to say on the matter, but in reality, it's probably unlikely given the relatively small dollar amounts we're talking about in the majority of auctions. Maybe someday a bidder on a T206 Honus Wagner could try to enforce it, but after paying the lawyer's fees, it really would amount to a Pyrrhic victory.
<< <i>jesus people, i pulled the auction only because 1. there were no bids, and 2. because there was no one watching it. if there were bids, i would not have pulled it. >>
I think the question kinda grew beyond your specific case, because people are interested in this. It's a paradox: eBay lets you cancel your auction if you want to, right up to 1 second remaining, bids or not, for whatever reason you want. But it has rules and policies that you probably never heard of until someone complained and eBay got on your case. I say make it simple. Either allow cancellations or don't.
Good luck in your studies!
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Cheers