How to report a seller who wont sell?

tomfrh
Community Member

The seller is refusing to sell because he's not happy with the final price. He cancelled the sale before I could pay and then relisted it.

 

How do I report him? The ebay report seller links don't seem to go anywhere.

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Re: How to report a seller who wont sell?


@shoppingbag* wrote:

Is is sad to see that people are so quick to judge another who is complaining because they don't stand in their shoes or have forgotten the feeling of disappointment,and would minimize and ridicule someone else's disappointment. One small problem can seem huge at the moment to the recipient, but when seeking some sympathy, it is so sad to see how many would beat the person down rather than try to lift them up. Someone once said there are only three types of people in this world, those who are up but would beat you down, those who are up and will try to lift you up, and those who are down who will drag you down too. This whole thread has been a real eye-opener to me. Just how mean spirited some can be, while others admit they would renege on deals also. Is it in any way honourable or right to beat someone down when you do not stand in their shoes?


You're very quick to judge us without standing in our shoes. It goes both ways. If I had a dollar for every time a seller cancelled a sale because they didn't get the price they wanted, I'd never have to work or sell on here again. Sure, it's disappointing, but it's not the end of the world. 

 

I'm just surprised that we didn't hear the old "I'm a single mother/pensioner, with an autistic kid, on a low income, and I have rights, blah blah blah" 

 

Yes, it is disappointing for the OP, but did they lose money? NO. Did they lose their life? NO. Life will go on for them. Throwing sympathy at them isn't going to get them the item. I reserve sympathy for those who deserve it. Those who have lost a loved one, or those who have lost everything in the fires/floods. "Wasting" 15 seconds of your life, doesn't warrant sympathy. We can acknowledge their disappointment, but offering sympathy only encourages.

 

 

Spoiler
There there
Spoiler
there there
Spoiler
There there
Spoiler
Nope, still no item.

 

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Re: How to report a seller who wont sell?


@shoppingbag* wrote:

. . . while others admit they would renege on deals also.

 


 

I went back over the posts and could not find any post where a poster has admitted they would renege on a deal . . . unless you class not insisting the seller send the item as reneging.

 

If I am missing something then please show me which post.

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Re: How to report a seller who wont sell?


@k1ooo-slr-sales wrote:

@shoppingbag* wrote:

. . . while others admit they would renege on deals also.

 


 

I went back over the posts and could not find any post where a poster has admitted they would renege on a deal . . . unless you class not insisting the seller send the item as reneging.

 

If I am missing something then please show me which post.


 

oooops, found ONE, but not more than one . . . and that was a hypothetical.

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Re: How to report a seller who wont sell?

tomfrh
Community Member
I’m not looking for sympathy and I don’t need a “psychologist” I just want to report a user who is shamelessly holding out for another 10% at close of auction.

Bizarre that eBay doesn’t have a way to report such behaviour, as it makes a mockery of the entire eBay auction concept.
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Re: How to report a seller who wont sell?

Have you ever been to a bricks and mortar auction? The auctioneer can at his discretion pass in lots that don't achieve high enough bids. Even when they don't have a reserve.

You still haven't told us what your winning bid was and if it had free postage attached, letter or parcel. You've been a bit sketchy about the detail in my opinion, or revealed if the seller was likely to make a loss after posting. You did say the seller is experienced and I get that you're disappointed but for heaven sake, there are more important things going on in the world. Ask anyone who has a terminally ill child if they care if you get your bargain sheesh

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Re: How to report a seller who wont sell?

LOL, so this thread is 2 pages long and nowhere within any of those posts has someone answered the OPs question?

ROFL - some things never change in this place!

OP, there is a way to report a non performing seller but it's not something I've ever done so I can't help you, I'm sorry. I don't think. But I will try.

Umm, if you're in classic view, at the top right of page there should be a "help" tab. Try in there and follow the links and prompts to request a return call from eBay.

An eBay rep will then call you back fairly quickly and you can state your case from there.

I'm on a mobile device so that's just from memory and I haven't yet got the gist of swapping between screens so I can google, but give that help tab a go?

Just know that whilst eBay allegedly keep a track of behaviours such as this that you will unlikely see or hear of any actions that eBay do take.

eBay can't force the seller to honour his contract with you - they're not a party to the contract between buyer and seller. The only contract they can enforce (if they choose to) is the contract that exists between them and the Seller (or between them and the buyer where relevant)

So ultimately, it's all going to come down to how badly you want the item. ARE you prepared to negotiate a higher price with this seller?

If so, ONLY COMMUNICATE THROUGH eBAY MESSAGE System and negotiate a mutually agreeable price for sale, including any postage costs.

THEN ask the seller to relist the item for you at the agreed upon price and terms as a BIN ( Buy It Now).

You will have to work out with him what time he relists and or get him to direct you to the new listing ( a link maybe or an exact search term known only to you?)

Once you find the new listing, check that the terms and price are correct and then Buy it and pay for it using a safe payment method.

Don't try and communicate off line with the seller or be tricked into trading outside of eBay.

By following these steps your eBay buyer protection will remain in force and if you pay by PayPal you will also qualify for BP with them.

Don't do anything to jeopardise your buyer protection. This includes paying for your purchase in two separate payments (don't do that it voids BP) hence the need for a new listing with the new total price to be paid showing.

........

If you do not wish to negotiate further with this seller, in addition to reporting him, remember that you also have the option of leaving factual feedback for him.

.....

Another thing, if the seller asks you to agree to a cancellation of the original listing - obviously don't unless you do decide to proceed with the 2nd listing

AND

If the seller opens up a non payment claim for the dishonoured auction contract against you, simply find that help tab I told you about earlier and contact eBay and let them know why you didn't pay so that you won't get an undeserved strike against your account.

*phrw*

I hope at least some of that helps you out at least a little bit?

Good Luck
Message 26 of 50
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Re: How to report a seller who wont sell?

OP, I do agree with the general consensus of this thread in that there are bigger hills to die on but regardless of the circumstances, your winning auction bid at the time the electronic auction ended did create a legally binding contract between you and the seller.

Note that there are different laws surrounding electronic auctions compared to B&M ones btw.

So you have formed a legally binding contract with the seller and you are entitled to enforce that contract and require performance of the seller. BUT this is something you will have to pursue independently at your expense as it is not a service that eBay offer.

eBay are simply a platform to introduce trading partners and facilitate contract negotiations between them. They cannot intervene into this contract and force it's performance on your behalf.

Hopefully, if you don't secure this item at this time then hopefully another one will become available soon. And who knows, maybe it will be better and/or cheaper!

Best Wishes
Message 27 of 50
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Re: How to report a seller who wont sell?


@crikey*mate wrote:


So ultimately, it's all going to come down to how badly you want the item. ARE you prepared to negotiate a higher price with this seller?

If so, ONLY COMMUNICATE THROUGH eBAY MESSAGE System and negotiate a mutually agreeable price for sale, including any postage costs.

THEN ask the seller to relist the item for you at the agreed upon price and terms as a BIN ( Buy It Now).


 

@tomfrh

 

DO NOT FOLLOW THE ADVICE I HAVE QUOTED FROM bear*in*the*woods*.

 

The reason being that eBay bots monitor messages between members.  The bots pick up key words likely to be used by members trying to arrange an off-eBay transaction.

 

Negotiating a price would most certainly be picked up by the bots, especially as there is no longer a current listing.  eBay will interpret your negotiation as an attempt to buy off-eBay even if the messages back and forth mention that the seller will do a listing at the negotiated price.

 

BUT, there are not likely to be messages back and forth as eBay will intercept the messages and you and the seller would be sanctioned.

 

There are numerous threads on these boards regarding the messages between members being intercepted.  In one case, if I remember rightly, a seller received a message from a buyer about organising a sale outside of eBay and the seller, without replying, was sanctioned.

 

@bear*in*the*woods*

 

Please do not recommend buyers trying to negotiate a price with a seller through eBay messages.  It is bad advice, and is actually open to moderation by Khoros under the posting policy.  Bad bear, Jesus would not be happy!

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Re: How to report a seller who wont sell?

Whoa - I specifically warned the OP about NOT trading off eBay! And to communicate only through eBay messages as opposed to phone contact and other tricks that a nefarious seller may employ to circumvent eBay fees.

Happy to hang my head in bad bear shame.

BTW, since you're a regular and you presumedly know your way around eBay. Since we're now onto the second page of this thread, how about YOU try and help the OP out with an answer to his original question instead of having a go at my attempts to help him?

What would Jesus do?

(FTR I'm actually not even religious so NFI why I originally referred to Jesus. Wish I had have thought about and used Santa like some other poster did! )
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Re: How to report a seller who wont sell?


@crikey*mate wrote:
Whoa - I specifically warned the OP about NOT trading off eBay! And to communicate only through eBay messages as opposed to phone contact and other tricks that a nefarious seller may employ to circumvent eBay fees.

Happy to hang my head in bad bear shame.

BTW, since you're a regular and you presumedly know your way around eBay. Since we're now onto the second page of this thread, how about YOU try and help the OP out with an answer to his original question instead of having a go at my attempts to help him?

What would Jesus do?

(FTR I'm actually not even religious so NFI why I originally referred to Jesus. Wish I had have thought about and used Santa like some other poster did! )

 

I am in no way recommending that member’s communicate outside of eBay to try to negotiate a price with the intention of a seller making a listing on eBay, BUT, communicating outside of eBay would be less of a risk of being sanctioned by eBay as they would not have any idea you were doing so unless one of you let your guard down and mentioned it in an eBay message.

 

I’m still on page 1 of this thread as I display 50 posts per page (makes it a lot easier).

 

My not trying to help the OP with their question about how to report the seller has more to do with me being pragmatic than not offering an answer.  As others have posted, reporting the seller will not likely result in any action from eBay that would be more than giving them a slap on the wrist.

 

I did post with some advice for the OP to help them . . . and it appears that they are ignoring the advice I gave and are choosing to have this transaction occupy more of their headspace than they should.  What can I say, I tried.

 

I posted in reply to your post to help the OP as your attempt contained advice likely to land the OP in hot water.  If they freak out over a cancelled transaction then how will they cope with a “You have been suspended for trying to trade off eBay” email?

 

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