Did you know: eBay allows a seller to decide not to sell their item after the auction ends?

gregmo32

This just happened to me. I won an auction for over $500. Immediately upon the auction ending the seller emailed me in the eBay system and said he can't sell the cards that cheap. If I want them, the lowest he would go is $750.

I forwarded this to eBay and even spoke to a customer service rep who basically told me, that eBay will note this behavior but they can't do anything about it. The seller told me he spoke to eBay and that eBay does "allow" him to do so.

Can this be real?

alifaxwa2

Yes. I had a buyer make a unrealistic demand after buying an item. I cancelled it with no approval/agreement needed.

mlbfan2

Happened to me a couple of times. All you can really do is leave a neg.

Ebay couldn't possibly force people to ship an item. But, it would be nice if there was a harsher punishment.

jmmiller777

Yes, has happened to me t3-4 times over the last 20 years. When someone starts all their auctions at .99 cents, they should either reconsider $100 + items or start the auction on something higher. I lost out on a Paul McCartney auto once, a Lou Gehrig auto and several older cards.

KendallCat

My question is why do they allow a seller to pull out if they don't like the price. What would keep a buyer who gets buyers remorse from deciding they don't want a card at "x" price and try to negotiate a cheaper one? Don't see the difference.

KC

LarkinCollector

Makes me wonder why a seller would ever set a Reserve.

mtcards

Ebay has been allowing buyers to do it for years. But seriously, you should have a three strikes your out policy on not selling an item AND/OR not paying for an item. Too many idiots on ebay to have to deal with this kind of nonsense

miwlvrn

It is only one example out of thousands of otherwise good transactions, but I have experienced one seller recently who, after I paid the invoiced amount, demanded an additional payment ($12 more or roughly 7% of the invoiced sales price) or they would not otherwise ship the item. Pretty frustrating.

seablaster

@miwlvrn said:
It is only one example out of thousands of otherwise good transactions, but I have experienced one seller recently who, after I paid the invoiced amount, demanded an additional payment ($12 more or roughly 7% of the invoiced sales price) or they would not otherwise ship the item. Pretty frustrating.

Someone tried to do a shakedown for $12? Sounds like that seller needs to find gainful employment.

jay0791

I agree with KC. Ebay has the NPB why not a NSS (non selling seller).
I would at least give him a neg...and I rarely if ever give one.

secretstash

Had this happen recently twice. The one that was most frustrating was a buy it now for 400 OBO. I offered 300, he countered at 325 I accepted. After paid in full 3 days passes and I ask him if he has tracking and he replies with, "I will send the cards if you send $50 more to paypal". lol.

So I left a neg and waited the 10+ days until ebay would refund me.

HighGradeLegends

Leave neg and in limited characters for feedback state what he did

gregmo32

Because the seller immediately cancelled the auction once it ended, there is no way that i can figure out for me to even leave feedback. Since eBay seems to be allowing this, I wonder if the seller is still on the hook for his eBay fees. That would seem to point to why eBay is not that concerned about whether the transaction actually takes place.

secretstash

@gregmo32 said:
Because the seller immediately cancelled the auction once it ended, there is no way that i can figure out for me to even leave feedback. Since eBay seems to be allowing this, I wonder if the seller is still on the hook for his eBay fees. That would seem to point to why eBay is not that concerned about whether the transaction actually takes place.

Unfortunately that isn't the case as far as I know. If the seller selects the reason (buyer has requested cancellation), it is like they are doing you a favor and ebay understands and credits them the fee back. Any other reason I can't confirm if they are charged, but that is the loophole because the buyer never has to agree that they requested to cancel and it is just the seller's word on that.

alifaxwa2

I did get my fees returned.

@gregmo32 said:
Because the seller immediately cancelled the auction once it ended, there is no way that i can figure out for me to even leave feedback. Since eBay seems to be allowing this, I wonder if the seller is still on the hook for his eBay fees. That would seem to point to why eBay is not that concerned about whether the transaction actually takes place.

gregmo32

That is quite a loophole.

Thank you for the comments and information everyone provided. I appreciate them!