What would you do? Ebay question

toyz4geo · January 21, 2012 9:36AM

One of my items sold on eBay with 3 bids, the first my starting price, the second bid shown on the bid record is is about $40 more. The 3rd and winning bid is the requisite $2.50 more. So the winning bidder messages me that he has 2 eBay accounts and accidentally bid on the coin using both accounts (he is the 2nd and 3rd & winning bidder). All 3 of the bids hit within .14 of a second second of each other with the 2 accounts by the same person showing the exact same time, down to the hundreth of a second.
The winning bidder is asking for a discount off His winning bid, basically about $10 above the starting bid.
Anyone have a similar experience?
What would you do?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
George

RYK · January 21, 2012 9:42AM

Two words come to mind: Tough luck

I think that he was using the two accounts to block someone from outbidding him and then negotiate the lower price.

I would probably report him to ebay.

mrpotatoheadd · January 21, 2012 9:43AM

<< Anyone have a similar experience? >>

No.

<< What would you do? >>

Tell the buyer that the final bid as shown on eBay is what he owes.

AMRC · January 21, 2012 9:45AM

He should pay the highest bid that won the coin. If he gives you any trouble report him to eBay. it is not appropriate to have multiple accounts. Smells like a scam.

SamByrd · January 21, 2012 9:45AM

no is my response. He was bidding on 2 accounts that's quite improper. He needs to pay the bid and not manipulate the bidding again in that manner.
I for sure would report it to ebay as well.

LanceNewmanOCC · January 21, 2012 10:02AM

.
you can have multiple accounts. I even read ebay literally encouraged this in the literature i read quite some time ago.

8 emails per paypal account = 8 ebay accounts per person per paypal

i personally am confident i can manage a dozen accounts or more at 100% feedback but i digress

sellers of various types of items do this just as a clothing store doesn't sell yogurt. (that i know of)

i am sure there is a policy in place in the event a bidder bids on an item with 2 accounts whether honestly or deceptively they are still liable for the highest bid.

if it isn't a large amount of money i wouldn't make a fuss but it is your decision.

the bottom line is, do you lose the sale for not negotiating and/or can the buyer be trusted. look at the feedback for both accounts
.
what do you think you should do?
.

mrpotatoheadd · January 21, 2012 10:08AM

<< the bottom line is, do you lose the sale for not negotiating >>

I don't negotiate the winning bid. Maybe other people do?

Pokermandude · January 21, 2012 10:21AM

Something seems off about the situation to me. IMO he owes the final, highest, winning bid.

tightbudget · January 21, 2012 10:37AM

Never had a similar experience and as everyone else has said, the final bid is what he owes, period.

WinPitcher · January 21, 2012 10:38AM

The winner is the winner, who cares if the runner up is the same person?

You shouldn't.

JamesMurray · January 21, 2012 10:39AM

<< One of my items sold on eBay with 3 bids, the first my starting price, the second bid shown on the bid record is is about $40 more. The 3rd and winning bid is the requisite $2.50 more. So the winning bidder messages me that he has 2 eBay accounts and accidentally bid on the coin using both accounts (he is the 2nd and 3rd & winning bidder). All 3 of the bids hit within .14 of a second second of each other with the 2 accounts by the same person showing the exact same time, down to the hundreth of a second.
The winning bidder is asking for a discount off His winning bid, basically about $10 above the starting bid.
Anyone have a similar experience?
What would you do?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
George >>

While ebay does allow multiple accounts it is mandatory that only one account per email address be created.In light of this i'd ask how does one bidder with two accounts bid from seperate accounts within .14 of a second.I might ask him to message me from both accounts to establish account ownership or i might just hit the send button on the invoice,depends if im bothered about the probable neg coming if i dont play ball.

TheBigB · January 21, 2012 10:58AM

Not your problem.

MsMorrisine · January 21, 2012 11:29AM

if you're anywhere close to thinking about believing this, then I'd go for what JM said::

ask for an internal eBay message from both accounts. If he can't do that, then forget it.

What was the starting price and closing price???

BAJJERFAN · January 21, 2012 11:33AM

<< 

<< One of my items sold on eBay with 3 bids, the first my starting price, the second bid shown on the bid record is is about $40 more. The 3rd and winning bid is the requisite $2.50 more. So the winning bidder messages me that he has 2 eBay accounts and accidentally bid on the coin using both accounts (he is the 2nd and 3rd & winning bidder). All 3 of the bids hit within .14 of a second second of each other with the 2 accounts by the same person showing the exact same time, down to the hundreth of a second.
The winning bidder is asking for a discount off His winning bid, basically about $10 above the starting bid.
Anyone have a similar experience?
What would you do?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
George >>

While ebay does allow multiple accounts it is mandatory that only one account per email address be created.In light of this i'd ask how does one bidder with two accounts bid from seperate accounts within .14 of a second.I might ask him to message me from both accounts to establish account ownership or i might just hit the send button on the invoice,depends if im bothered about the probable neg coming if i dont play ball. >>

I'm guessing that you could bid from 2 accounts at the same time with a sniping program. I've only ever used the free snipe at www.vrane.com which only allows you to have one active snipe open at a time.

JupitarCoins · January 21, 2012 11:34AM

No you should just play by the rules and he's going to have to pay the final price afterall you'll have to pay final value fee's on that price.

airplanenut · January 21, 2012 11:35AM

Too bad. The high hid wins. Period.

The one experience I had with a two-account bidder was when he paid for one of the items, I shipped it, and then he got mad that I didn't combine the two items or ship the second for free. He recently asked to be unblocked. I reminded him of the emails he sent about our little situation last summer and told him no.

jt88 · January 21, 2012 11:37AM

<< 

<< Anyone have a similar experience? >>

No.

<< What would you do? >>

Tell the buyer that the final bid as shown on eBay is what he owes. >>

I agree.

fcloud · January 21, 2012 11:39AM

Wow.

I am with the "you bought it at the highest sale price" thought.

WestySteve · January 21, 2012 11:53AM

I'm trying to work through this.

Let's suppose your minimum bid was $500.

Some stranger comes along and puts in a bid. He must have put in a (max) bid of around $537

How do I know that? Because the 1st snipe bid beat the $537. so the 1st snipe bid (AKA, the second bid) must have been for $540.

Then the second snipe (third actual bid) came in at $542.50. So it must have been even higher than the first snipe bid. For all we know, that was a $600 bid. But it's immaterial how high it could have gone.

Here's the thing: Seems to me that even his first snipe bid was $540, because that's how high it needed to go to beat the very first opening bid. So that is a minimum he should pay, because that was what was required to beat it.

My point is, that conceivably, you could cancel the winning bid, nullifying his second snipe, and you should only give up the minimum bid of $2.50 at most, because the $537 bid was needed just to outbid the opening bidder (a complete stranger).

I'd cut and paste this post into an e-mail, and give the guy (at most) a $2.50 discount. That's all he should get based on the logic of it all. If he never entered one of the snipes, that's where it would have ended up.

Steve

mr1931S · January 21, 2012 11:54AM

He should pay the higher amount.

It's not your problem he can't keep his accounts straight or whatever he is claiming.

Gemineye · January 21, 2012 12:58PM

I think it's unanimous...!!

comma · January 21, 2012 1:29PM

Say no.
If he persists, report him to ebay.
If the bids were less than 1 sec. apart, sounds like fowl play to me.

JamesMurray · January 21, 2012 1:43PM

derryb · January 21, 2012 1:53PM

he sniped with two different accounts hoping one of them would come in second so he could play the game he's playing. How you handle it is up to you but keep in mind his feedback may reflect how he feels about your decision.

droopyd · January 21, 2012 2:09PM

<< Tell the buyer that the final bid as shown on eBay is what he owes. >>

MsMorrisine · January 21, 2012 2:36PM

<< he sniped with two different accounts hoping one of them would come in second so he could play the game he's playing. How you handle it is up to you but keep in mind his feedback may reflect how he feels about your decision. >>

this is quite possible.

The weird thing is that the guy supposedly bid two different amounts with two different accounts.

why were the bids different? It's possible they were entered on different days and he forgot. It's also possible this is a great scam to get something for $10 more than the opening bid.

notwilight · January 21, 2012 2:49PM

<< He should pay the highest bid that won the coin. If he gives you any trouble report him to eBay. it is not appropriate to have multiple accounts. Smells like a scam. >>

There is nothing wrong with having two accounts and I have two accounts, one is for buying and one for selling but now I'm selling non-coin items on the buying account and I buy some coin items on the business account. So the lines blur. My sniping is done on my buying account. I have accidentally placed a bid with my business account and then sniped with my buying account thus paying one bid increment more than I needed to.

The bid increments aren't that big on ebay. In my case above, I just paid it and I did send the seller a note telling him what a dolt I was and that he luckily got an extra $.

In the case of the OP, the buyer's second bid could have blocked another snipe one bid increment above his original bid. Plus, the OP has to pay fees on the higher amount. A $2.50 bid increment means this is a fairly pricy item and the buyer is pretty gutsy for asking for a discount. He shouldn't have.

But as a seller, I would probably offer to split it with him and make him happy and cover the fees.

--Jerry

notwilight · January 21, 2012 2:52PM

<< Say no.
If he persists, report him to ebay.
If the bids were less than 1 sec. apart, sounds like fowl play to me. >>

Both were obviously snipes fired from sniping programs.

--Jerry

coinman23885 · January 21, 2012 3:46PM

<< Two words come to mind: Tough luck

I think that he was using the two accounts to block someone from outbidding him and then negotiate the lower price.

I would probably report him to ebay. >>

notwilight · January 21, 2012 4:25PM

My guess is most of the posters telling you to be a hardass don't sell on ebay. $2.50 for goodwill is cheap. It is less than shipping and these same posters probably liked it when ebay rammed free shipping down sellers' throats. --Jerry

toyz4geo · January 21, 2012 11:55PM

Thank you all for your insights. My take is that the guy bid what he was willing to pay, probably used a sniping program, and outbid himself, intentional or not. He felt he would have won at a couple of bucks over the opening bid, but there is no way to know how many bids were rejected because of his higher bid(s).
It just seemed fishy to me.
I am going to invoice him his highest bid. It seems that is what he was willing to pay.
Thanks again,
George

PerryHall · January 22, 2012 12:15AM

<< 

<< Two words come to mind: Tough luck

I think that he was using the two accounts to block someone from outbidding him and then negotiate the lower price.

I would probably report him to ebay. >>

>>

TwoSides2aCoin · January 22, 2012 12:32AM

I'd just cancel the auction and put a buy now price at the winning bid price.

astrorat · January 22, 2012 1:14AM

The buyer is doing this over $2.50! It's not even worth the time taken to argue over this amount ... geez!

Another way to look at it is this way ... what will eBay do? That's easy, your fees will be based on the highest bid. So, the buyer wants a discount and you pay fees based on the higher, final bid. It's lose-lose for you.

Perhaps you could have the buyer contact eBay, plead his case, and maybe he can convince eBay to reduce your fees and you can give it to him at the discounted price? One thing is for sure ... he probably never will have worked so hard for $2.50 in his life!

Edited for spelling.

What would you do? Ebay question

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