Need help with unethical seller

[lady-jekyll]

Hello-

I need some help/advice as I am having a hard time navigating ebay's help information for actually filing a report or finding anyway to speak to a rep.

A couple of weeks ago, a seller listed a collectible item with a buy-it-now of a couple hundred dollars ( can't remember the exact amount, but it was definitely over $200 ) and a minimum bid of only .99 cents and no reserve. So I bid and 6 days later, I won it for 99 cents. Immediately following before I could pay, the seller put in a cancellation request which I originally denied. He claimed he 'lost the item' while I was sure it was simply remorse he didn't put a reserve on the item and it sold for only 99 cents. We went back and forth for days, and he never budge on his 'I lost it' story. When he sent a second request days later, I didn't know what to do but accept it because he kept repeating 'sorry, I lost it. Nothing more I can do.'

Well, to my 'non-surprise' a couple days after I accepted the cancellation the auction is relisted with a minimum bid set much much higher than the original auction I won.

I contacted the seller and it 'magically' reappeared in his home and I can bid now again if I want! Of course, this time it's much higher and there are other bidders this round.

I find this extremely unethical and I feel users like this shouldn't be permitted to use eBay if they are going to exercise such fraudulent, unethical practices in their selling techniques. Please, what I should do? This is really upsetting.

[gkcn1959]

I have just had the same thing happen to me and see the exact same item placed up for $10 more, there are places for sellers to report buyers but not the other way around, the seller that does this should be taken off ebay I recon, this is infuriating.

[lady-jekyll]

Well, I reported the seller to eBay via theircustomer service number but I will probably never know if they do anything about it, because they told me they don't follow up with you regarding any action they take ( which is a poor policy if you ask me ) but otherwise, the second auction ended with the high bid a little over $100, when I originally won it for 99 cents.

I'm a little disappointed in how eBay leaves you in the dark once they forward a complaint to a supervisor, but at least I can still have the satisfaction of leaving the seller the bad feedback they deserve.

[putney32]

whilst I agree it is very bad form on the part of the seller, it is also partly eBay's fault for encouraging new sellers to start their auctions at 99c to ''get more bids'' -- which clearly in this case did not happen.

just for your general information, there is no such thing as a Reserve on ebay australia for collectable items (only cars/bikes/boats).

[***super_nova***]

. Ebay rules are that If I bid and want to take back has to be in 12 hours. Maybe if the sellers keep playing these games buyers should to.

NOT true, you can retract anytime up to 12 hours before the end.  In the last 12 hours you can still retract but it has to be done within 1 hour of the bid being placed.  Bid retraction mess up the auction as other bidders may be put off; it has been noted that sometimes when one bidder retracts others become suspicious and may follow.

[fitzroy14]

You lost the item by giving in to the buyer.

You can complain but E-bay is not intertested in your little problem. I have reported sellers with fake items, no action taken. E-bay just makes money, so forget it and move on.

[belindabargainhunter]

you are correct that's retracting bids is not fair, but at the same time sellers listing things with a low auction amount then not selling because the bid is to low also stuffs around the buyer who could have not wasted there time or missed an item sold by another seller.