Is it ok for a seller to jack up the starting price by $500 just before placing our bid?

[robertybob-46]

It seems the seller jacked the price up by $500 because we inquired if pickup was ok by a commercial operator. Is this permitted?

[queenwaldorf · Accepted solution]

Yes.

[chameleon54]

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@robertybob-46wrote:

It seems the seller jacked the price up by $500 because we inquired if pickup was ok by a commercial operator. Is this permitted?

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Who owns the item at the moment, you or the seller ???

 Its his property and he can do whatever he likes with it, including withdrawing it from sale, choosing who they sell it to by blocking you from buying it and selling it some-one else instead or increasing the asking price if he believes he can get more for it that way. Thats what people are allowed to do in Australia with things they own.

[springyzone]

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@robertybob-46wrote:

It seems the seller jacked the price up by $500 because we inquired if pickup was ok by a commercial operator. Is this permitted?

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It's probably  not best business practice to go changing prices upwards when there are watchers, but if there have been no bids,a seller can change the price up or down as they wish.

You of course do not have to bid.

$500 is a massive rise, it makes me wonder if perhaps the auction was in its final days & the sellers had not had the bids they were expecting & were scared of seriously under pricing it.

In some ways you may be better off they made the change to the price before you bid, as if you had won the auction at $500 below the price they were after, they may have decided not to go ahead with the sale anyway. At least now you know where things stand.

[davidc4430]

seems a great way to warn possible buyers your not a good seller.

i would not buy from this person, who knows what other tricks he/she may pull after you buy.

this action yells AVOID

[collect247]

Unless there were more watchers than just OP then no other potential buyer is going to know the price was jacked up and could possibly buy the item.

This practice has been going on for ages basically because sellers are sick of so many watchers which in fact are 99% of the time the competition lol watching the listing to the end without bidding or buying so they jack the price up as they're peed off in most cases.

I was never a fan of the watching system and still not and it should be scrapped!

[davidc4430]

i sell, i watch, i buy.

i do watch items i have myself up to sell but ive never raised my prices. i have lowered my prices.

i do my maths, set my price and thats it.

i have watchers watching my items who never buy, i'm fine with that as i dont know why they are watching.

could be another seller

could be a potencial buyer

could be a buyer hoping my price might get lowered.

i dont care.

i run through my watched list every week or so, deleting items i no longer have an interest in or have got at a better price elsewere.

i add items to my watched list almost daily

the watched list is tool, nothing more.

[phorum_junkie*]

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@robertybob-46wrote:

It seems the seller jacked the price up by $500 because we inquired if pickup was ok by a commercial operator. Is this permitted?

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The seller obviously wants to discourage you from buying because they must think you think they are a complete nut if they would ever agree to you using your own carrier unless you were fully prepared to pay by bank transfer ot other non safe payment method.

[robertybob-46]

thanks for your feedback. I also use the watching system to ascertain prices before I buy from anywhere. Many crooks have revealed themselves

[robertybob-46 · Accepted solution]

thank you for your concise answer