E-bay Question

bosox

I am a relative newcomer to purchasing on e-bay (67 positive feedbacks, zero negative). Today I thought I was going to win an auction at a great price and then, about one hour before the end, the seller withdraws the item. I am now PO'ed and thinking the worst about this seller. Then I see this:

Linky

Am I missing something here? Can anyone give me a logical explanation of this other than a seller who routinely withdraws the items for sale when he thinks the bids are too low?

hookedoncoins

Unfortunately, eBay allows seller's to do this. I know where you are coming from. I have had it happen to me on several occasions.

bosox

Actually E-Bay has a stated policy against doing that. Besides I cannot withdraw my bid whenever I want. How can sellers be allowed to withdraw the item anytime they want? Sorry, like I said, I'm pretty PO'ed about this guy.

hookedoncoins

I'm not sure about any new changes, but the way I remember it seller's are allowed to withdrawl at any time in case the item is "no longer available" as well as some other reasons. I always thought this was unfair since bidders aren't allowed to do so, but bidders aren't the ones paying $$$ to eBay.

I make it a rule to not buy from sellers who pull auctions at the last minute. Although I have seen members on this board advocate withdrawling as a seller's right, I think it is downright wrong.

Edit:

Damn. I just looked at the coin. That would have been a sweet snag.

bosox

Check the note at the bottom of this page.

syraq

He will never know what it was going to fetch. Most bidders place last minute snipes when they're seriously interested .

newsman

<< <i>Check the note at the bottom of this page. >>



It doesn't usually work that way. The seller could say he sold the item off eBay, or misplaced it. There's a certain big eBay seller of greyside items who lists them and then pulls them because of "an error in the listing" or an "error in the reserve price" if the bids are too low. EBay lets them get away with it, and if you question it the seller will place you on their blocked bidder list.

wybrit

This happens to me all the time as well and it is infuriating.

People can end the auction for an error for pretty much any reason and be technically truthful. "I forgot to add a reserve" or "I see a typo." ebay will have a tough time enforcing their rule.

Another "hidden reserve" scam works like this: an item sells for too low of a price. The seller never sends the paid-for item. After a sufficient amount of time goes by, the buyer asks about the item, the seller says "I sent it a long time ago, must be lost in the mail." The seller then "graciously" provides a refund. Exactly this scam happened to my dad, who won a stamp on ebay for a ridiculously low price. The stamp never arrived and he got his money back. The crummy deal about this is that you can not prove that the seller is lying, unless you have the item sent insured.

Askari

All you can do is complain to eBay ... and maybe encourage all the other canceled bidders to do the same. I've rarely had anyone do that to me, but the few who have I've never done business with thereafter. Interestingly, at least a couple of them were later NARU'd.

bosox

Okay, I reported to E-bay that I think this seller is violating their reserve policy. I got a cryptic e-mail answer written by a computer. No wonder sellers and buyers can routinely violate E-bay's rules. Anybody who complains can't reach a real person!

CIVITAS

I don't see anywhere in the ended auction that the seller ended it early due to "low bids." I just see "Item is no longer available for sale." Until you see this item listed by the same seller with a reserve or a higher opening bid, it's all speculation. Of course I don't think "his dog ate it" or anything like that.....