Making an offer

[tate963]

I made an offer on an item not thinking I was then commited to buying. I thought that I would have the oppertunity to confirm my bid if it was accepted.

On being advised that it could take days for the seller to respond i decided to go ahead and purchase at the full price from the same seller.

The seller is telling me that they "cannot do something now after the unpaid strike is opened"

I now have the item I required and don't need a second one.

What can I do??

[the3coopers]

I made an offer on an item not thinking I was then commited to buying. I thought that I would have the oppertunity to confirm my bid if it was accepted.

Just for info of yourself and other readers...

Look at this screen capture: http://i48.tinypic.com/347ikua.jpg

[shoesonthegoau]

The problemis as a seller, the amount of items purchased by mistake, incorrectly ormjust customers have changed minds is deffinetly on the increase.the customer would have had a minimum of 4 days to let the seller know they didn't want the item and to explain the situation which I'm sure that the seller would have done a mutual cancellation. The problem is is that the buyer didn't communicate. If a seller just keeps taking the hit when items don't get paid for it adds up, on my account this monthive had 14 non paid items or purchased by mistake and thats in. The first 10 days I would as the buyer contact eBay and see of there is a way to manually change to a mutual cancellationas long as the seller is happy to agree.

[papermoon.lady]

I have always bought every single item I was supposed to pay for, and I was also happy with that, just to make it clear, because I am always careful before making an offer or placing a bid.

But I was just thinking... maybe there could be a penality or a fee if somebody changes their mind? I don't know if it would work out though, I am not into commerce... 😉 Maybe buyers would be more careful and at the same time if they really make a mistake (which can happen for many reasons) they wouldn't have to pay for the whole item.

[the-kazbar]

If you can't make them pay for the item how do you propose to make them pay the penalty?

[papermoon.lady]

Well, if it is only 5 dollars for example I guess everybody could pay. Sometimes people change their minds, but sometimes they really can't pay because they place bids without thinking, sometimes just because they are annoyed that somebody has outbid them, then they want to outbid them too. Once I was watching an item where two buyers started a fight and the last bid I saw was higher than if they had bought the item new (and it was not new). And this was days before the end of the auction! Obviously I removed that item from my watch list...

If they don't pay the $5 their account could be suspended for a week for example. Or is it too hard? One week is not that long.

[lyndal1838]

Oh Mariq, you have so much to learn about ebay and how it works.  They will NEVER penalise buyers in any way in case it frightens them away.

Apart from the fact that it will not happen, how do you think they could force buyers to pay a penalty if they cannot force them to pay in the first place.

[papermoon.lady]

Well, as I said they could have their account suspended for a week if they don't pay the 5 dollars, but this is commerce, and it doesn't sound friendly, so they (eBay) wouldn't do it because it has to sound attractive to buyers in the first place.

Libraries for example do have penalities if people don't return books on time, but this is a different story of course.

[papermoon.lady]

Of course it also depends on the circumstances.There are circumstances when a buyer makes an honest mistake because he/she doesn't know how eBay works or doesn't read carefully (like the rule that if you make an offer you have to buy the item).

But when two buyers start fighting like children about who places the highest bid and then cannot pay it is really silly and they should know they have to think before placing a bid.

[jennyrobynpayne]

I am not sure if I want to pay a penalty for making an honest mistake.....nor should a seller if they have made a mistake in the item on offer. I have had sellers cancel the sale after I have won an auction...once because she couldn't find it, once because it broke during packing. I accept these things happen, but I don't

think a $5 penalty would be attractive to a seller OR a buyer. eBay make a fair amount out of fees now. Banks are now being held accountable for the fees they charge...how is this scenario any different? $5 for making a mistake? I think not.

[papermoon.lady]

Well, of course there must also be some mutual understanding and communication, but if someone is a a repeated offender who really doesn't care it is a different story (maybe there already are rules for repeated offenders anyway).