topic Re: Bid canceller in Buying

Bid canceller

chapter532 — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 09:01:12 GMT

Seller lists items for auction at $1 start and then cancels if price doesn't go high enough. Done to me on six different listings. Poor form.

Re: Bid canceller

padi*0409 — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 08:18:52 GMT

Every listing has a "report" button, use it to notify eBay of their actions.

Re: Bid canceller

davewil1964 — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 10:18:37 GMT

The seller obviously has no idea how eBay works.

After six failed attempts to get something for not much maybe try another seller, or expect to pay what the item is worth or go elsewhere.

Re: Bid canceller

*sons_n_daughters* — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 12:57:38 GMT

@chapter532 wrote:
Seller lists items for auction at $1 start and then cancels if price doesn't go high enough. Done to me on six different listings. Poor form.

I had a seller a few years back who pulled a similar stunt. I kept reporting him. They eventually banned him from selling (or he gave up trying when his items only ever got one bid of 99c). I was happy to pay what the items were worth, but he kept ending the auctions early. They were the type of item that could well have had last minute bidding wars. I know with other sellers there was that last minute war. 5 minutes out item is still at 99c, auction finishes and sells for $100. I even messaged him once to express my disgruntlement and he said he wasn't going to let the items sell for 99c. Well, don't start them at 99c!!!

Re: Bid canceller

sandypebbles — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 21:41:50 GMT

You went back six times?

Have you reported the seller?

Have you send them a link to how eBay works?

You are'nt allowed to name and shame here, as you agreed to when signing up so really

What was it exactly you were expecting to get for a dollar?

Re: Bid canceller

springyzone — Fri, 05 Jan 2024 22:33:33 GMT

@chapter532 wrote:
Seller lists items for auction at $1 start and then cancels if price doesn't go high enough. Done to me on six different listings. Poor form.

Extremely poor form and what is more, the seller is an extremely slow learner. You'd think by now he would know to start at a higher price.

It's his right to require whatever price he likes before he sells a thing, but on ebay he needs to realise that the end price at auction is what he'll get so to set the minimum accordingly.

What is he doing, exactly? Is he cancelling after the sale to you, because he didn't get his price?

Or is he cancelling the auction eg the day before it is due to end, because it doesn't seem to have enough interest?

I think you were patient enough, but 6 is just too many. Report the listings.

Re: Bid canceller

chapter532 — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 01:22:07 GMT

1. Moderator removes seller ID in post for violating "name & shame" policy.

2. Report items cancelled, which included buyer's business address in listing, and get this response on every one:

Hello chapter532,

Thanks again for reporting the listing(s) you found.

What happened:
We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.

Re: Bid canceller

sugar249 — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 01:35:17 GMT

@chapter532 wrote:
1. Moderator removes seller ID in post for violating "name & shame" policy.
2. Report items cancelled, which included buyer's business address in listing, and get this response on every one:
Hello chapter532,
Thanks again for reporting the listing(s) you found.

What happened:
We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.

Why persist 6 times, I would have given up on the seller after the first attempt. You are just encouraging their behaviour

Re: Bid canceller

countessalmirena — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 02:09:10 GMT

I agree. It’s like the saying “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me” — only worse.

“Don’t go through with the sale after my winning bid once, shame on you. Don’t go through with it six times, shame shame shame shame shame on me.”

However, OP, if you wanted to report the seller, did you do so using the Report Seller option?

https://www.ebay.com.au/help/buying/resolving-issues-sellers/report-issue-seller?id=4022 - scroll down to the blue button.

The next screen shows the various report options:

Select the “violated one of eBay’s policies” option.

The screen after that drills down further:

Select “Seller doesn’t want to complete the sale”.

Add only succinct and clear information; don’t make it long or complicated.

But… be careful. If you report listings that are again and again determined not to be violating eBay policies, you could fall foul of the policy about falsely reporting violations. I’m not saying you couldn’t or shouldn’t report the listings… only advising caution and knowledge about correctly reporting.

Re: Bid canceller

domino-710 — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 03:25:05 GMT

@chapter532 wrote:
1. Moderator removes seller ID in post for violating "name & shame" policy.
2. Report items cancelled, which included buyer's business address in listing, and get this response on every one:
Hello chapter532,
Thanks again for reporting the listing(s) you found.

What happened:
We looked into your report and didn’t find the listing to be in violation of our policy. This determination was made using automation or artificial intelligence.

Usually you do not know the outcome - due to privacy reasons.

Re: Bid canceller

back.to.the.flicks — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 08:05:33 GMT

The items I bid on were all running concurrently. I also bid a lot more than 99c, but no-one else bid the prices up, so the seller cancelled all the listings a day out. That's not me encouraging their behaviour, that's a seller who has no intention of letting an auction run.

I reported all the listings a second time, with the reason being "contact information". No ebay messages since, so I guess the AI found their business address in the text.

Initially, I wanted to warn other members about the seller's practises, which are not genuine. Kind of pointless if you can't name & shame.

Thanks for listening to my gripe! I am moving on, hopefully to better experiences with trusted sellers.

Re: Bid canceller

sugar249 — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 08:11:29 GMT

@back.to.the.flicks wrote:

I reported all the listings a second time, with the reason being "contact information". No ebay messages since, so I guess the AI found their business address in the text.

Why would you report them as ''contact information'' , you arent provided contact information until after a sale is made. Thats to protect Ebays interest in stopping dodgy buyers dealing outside of Ebay.

Re: Bid canceller

padi*0409 — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 08:27:32 GMT

@sugar249 wrote:
Why would you report them as ''contact information'' , you arent provided contact information until after a sale is made. Thats to protect Ebays interest in stopping dodgy buyers dealing outside of Ebay.

Clearly the OP didn't read countess' advice in her post.........................

Re: Bid canceller

countessalmirena — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 10:10:23 GMT

@back.to.the.flicks wrote:
I also bid a lot more than 99c, but no-one else bid the prices up, so the seller cancelled all the listings a day out. That's not me encouraging their behaviour, that's a seller who has no intention of letting an auction run.

That’s a different story.

You mean that the seller’s auctions did not end with your actually winning the items, because the seller cancelled your bids and ended the auctions…? In that case, there was no transaction. The seller can end the auctions.

If you mean that the seller ended the auction early without cancelling your bids, they probably don’t realise that doing so means you won the items. The early finish doesn’t cancel the bids (and thus the transaction), just the running of the auction.

Did you receive notification that you’d win the items? (That would clear up that issue.)

But it’s concerning - for you - that you reported the seller’s listings on the basis of contact information, when that was not an issue. Buyers need to be careful not to report falsely as it will impact their account.

Re: Bid canceller

*sons_n_daughters* — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 13:10:10 GMT

What happened to the OP, was what was happening to me. Any items that were still at the start price of 99c 12 hours out from auction end were cancelled. I kept persisting because some items did sell, so I hoped that some of the items I bid on might sell too, hopefully to me.

I think it's a bit unfair on the OP to say fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice (or 6 times) shame on me. I did wonder whether the items for the OP were all running at the same time, so when they placed their bids, they didn't know they would be cancelled 12 hours out.

As I said in my earlier post, I kept reporting my seller and he ended up either losing his selling privileges, or simply gave up selling after a few months. Even after I gave up trying to buy his items, I still kept reporting the listings, until there were no more to report. He's NARU now and has been for a few years.

Yes, the OP went about reporting the wrong way. Some sellers can have contact information in their listings. I think business sellers and those with Anchor stores (or whatever the highest, most expensive store is). Happy to be corrected on that though, but I know several years ago the highest priced store could have contact information. They should have used the seller doesn't want to complete the sale option. There were different options when I was reporting way back when, but that would be the closest now.

Re: Bid canceller

countessalmirena — Sat, 06 Jan 2024 15:00:49 GMT

@*sons_n_daughters* wrote:

I think it's a bit unfair on the OP to say fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice (or 6 times) shame on me. I did wonder whether the items for the OP were all running at the same time, so when they placed their bids, they didn't know they would be cancelled 12 hours out.

Yes, I agree. I initially had the impression that the OP tried consecutively to bid on that same seller’s items.

Re: Bid canceller

4channel — Mon, 08 Jan 2024 07:13:49 GMT

@chapter532 wrote:
Seller lists items for auction at $1 start and then cancels if price doesn't go high enough. Done to me on six different listings. Poor form.

Hi there, I'm very sorry to hear that this has happened to you. I hope that you don't have to go though it again. As far as I'm concerned if a seller starts an auction off for a low amount and it ends on a low amount then they must honor the transaction.

Way before I started selling all those years ago, I knew that whatever an auction closes at is what the item should go for. I actually knew it as a kid by watching TV etc.

Re: Bid canceller

springyzone — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 00:39:28 GMT

I agree it is very poor form.

It does sound as if the seller had 6 listings on the go and cancelled them all.

I think the difficulty with auctions is that in many real life ones, there is a reserve. If the price doesn't reach that, then the item is passed in.

You'd think would be sellers on ebay would read up about terms and conditions but the trouble is, ebay encourages sellers to start their listing low to get a flurry of interest. I am sure some sellers think there will be a bidding war and panic sets in towards the end of the auction when there has only been one bid at eg 99c.

Of courrse, if they let the auction run its course, it may get bids in the last hours or minutes. Then again, it might not.

I think a new seller can be forgiven for making a mistake, listing too low and then refusing to sell something valuable at that sort of price. But not indefinitely. They need to learn from the mistake and list properly next time around.

Re: Bid canceller

sugar249 — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 01:47:37 GMT

@springyzone wrote:

I think the difficulty with auctions is that in many real life ones, there is a reserve. If the price doesn't reach that, then the item is passed in.

If done properly Ebay auctions do have a reserve price, and they are passed in at that price, it's simple really, if my reserve price for an item is say $23.95, I start the auction at $23.95, if no one bids it is passed in, if someone bids than it sells.

Sadly to many people think of a reserve like a real estate auction, where the agent and seller can change thier mind on the fly, thats not a reserve that just playing games.

If you are silly enough to start your auction at 99cents that it effectively the reserve price, accept for sellers who think they are playing real estate.

Re: Bid canceller

*sons_n_daughters* — Tue, 09 Jan 2024 09:18:48 GMT

I also set my low bid at the minimum I'm willing to accept. If it sells, great. If it doesn't, there's always next week. I sold several items last week that were first listed 4 years ago. That is my reserve and it works for me.