eBay

ra157 · ‎30-04-2018

Last Friday I had the interesting experience of winning a Nikon 1 J3 mirrorless camera with two lenses at a very good price. I immediately paid for it with Paypal. 19 minutes after the end of the auction, the seller then cancelled the sale, citing the reason as,
" I'm out of stock or the item is damaged".

Plainly she wasn't out of stock, and it strains credulity that she suddenly discovered the camera was found to be damaged within 19 minutes of my winning it. I reported the seller to Ebay.

Ebay's response included,

"I assure you that I have warned the seller and we will monitor their account to make sure that if they continue to cause bad-buyer experiences, we will take further actions which could lead to restrictions or even indefinite suspension."

As best I can see it – sellers can break their Ebay conditions and their contract with me with impunity.

Plainly, if this pattern is repeated by a frequent seller, Ebay will do something. But it appears that casual sellers never have to worry about getting what they perceive to be a dud price for their item. If they do, they can just cancel the sale and claim the item was damaged.

To make matters worse, the camera was listed as not having a charger, which I bought from another seller after winning the camera. Despite my requesting that he cancel the order, it is on its way to me, and I have paid $10.98 for a useless charger.

Anybody else had this type of frustrating auction experience?
Regards,
Renato

collect247 · ‎01-05-2018

Thanks countess it was,and it sucked,twas back when the MBG was introduced and bad buyers got away with the policy being incorrectly used.

Hey but I have moved on so should OP.

4channel · ‎01-05-2018

@collect247 wrote:
You said that if you had a thousand dollar item and it sold for $10 then you would honour it so go ahead and do it then lol.
That's the fib that you're telling right there meaning you wouldn't do it lol.
So don't go saying that if anyone else does it or has done it that they should honour it no they don't have to.
This is ebay's evil ways of making sellers sell for peanuts.
Ebay are now even placing best offers in sellers listings at half the price of their items lol and people are starting to get very angry.
No one will sell an item for nothing even if it sells for nothing so move on.

Stop twisting things atround.

YEAH IF I WAS SILLY ENOUGH to list a "thousand dollar item and it sold for $10 " then I WOULD GO THROUGH WITH IT.

BUT I AM NOT. Got it Amigo. SIGH

digital*ghost · ‎01-05-2018

@4channel wrote:
@ra157 wrote:
Thanks 4channel,
I too have in the past sold a camera lens which wound up being a bargain for the buyer. The thought of cheating my way out of the deal didn't cross my mind - it would be dishonourable.
Regards,
Renato
ra157 , the difference between you and the seller as well as the one or two people here that don't like what you are exposing is that you have honour. I have the same belief and I applaud you for standing your ground here and brining this to attention.

If I have a thousand dollar item and list it for a $10 bid and nobody else comes and the one person who bid wins it for $10 then I have to bear this. The whole reason people list things at a low price is to attract plenty of bids and create excitement which bumps up the price. Occasionally it doesn't work and they end up with an auction ending with low bids.

WELL THAT IS THE RISK THAT THE SELLER HAS TO TAKE AND THE HONOURABLE AND RIGHT THING IS TO GO THROUGH WITH IT.

Are you the arbiter of honour, though?

The thing is, if the OP had simply posted about the frustration of having a seller withdraw an item post-sale, they would have garnered a lot more empathy, but they are also posting about their frustration that the seller is not visibly or financially punished in a way that will satisy them. That sounds like it's motivated by revenge to me, the honour of which is - let's just say - debateable.

collect247 · ‎01-05-2018

Not twisting anything around you are doing that all by yourself going by the shouting that you're doing.

Calm down the world's still going ahead with or without you.

brerrabbit585 · ‎01-05-2018

There's absolutely no honour in seeking revenge - no debate about that at all!

4channel and ra157 both obviously think that when they don't get what they want the other party should be punished to the full extent of the law, and even beyond (ie. kick them off ebay for ONE mistake), no matter what the circumstances. Mercy is obviously a word they've never heard of, though you can bet your bottom dollar they'd expect or be hoping for it if they ever make a mistake! ra157 was hoping for mercy when they asked the seller to cancel the sale for the charger.

Yes, serial offenders need to be punished, but when an inexperienced seller makes a mistake then mercy is far more important than justice. It says a lot about a person's character when they carry on soooo much about how someone should be kicked off ebay for making a mistake. Ebay is a minefield for experienced sellers these days, let alone new or inexperienced sellers, so mistakes are going to happen.

The camera could have ended up broken in the post, or got lost, so it wasn't sensible to buy the charger before they actually had the camera anyway!

countessalmirena · ‎01-05-2018

@digital*ghost, it's a valid perception, and I think that is why members posting on this thread are so uneasy with it. It's not so much the issue of being disappointed by a sale that wasn't completed by the seller, but rather the tone that seems somewhat relentlessly punitive.

I tend to err on the side of mercy, although it IS frustrating if a bargain falls through. I comfort myself, though, that if I fail to win a bargain, I actually haven't lost anything, whereas if a seller sells a bargain, he/she might actually be losing substantially. If any of us judge others strictly by the letter of the law, the gavel in our minds would really never get a chance to rest.

Just as a general statement... Honour isn't something I take lightly... but I do not define honour as being prepared to follow through with an auction sale on eBay after having been giving poor advice by eBay itself so that one enters into creating the listing and setting the bidding price under the impression that the bidding will take off and one will receive a good and fair price for the item listed.

It certainly seems to be the case (from my poking around in the selling area, just to inform myself) that eBay is almost promising that a low starting price is the way to go. eBay, after all (thinks the inexperienced seller) must know what it's talking about!

It also occurs to me that the seller of this vexed camera might have listed with a Buy Now price, under the impression that the Buy Now price functioned as a sort of reserve price.

At any rate, a seller on eBay is scarcely operating on a level playing field - either with respect to eBay or with respect to buyers. Honourable conduct to my eyes would cover not selling fraudulent items, not selling items that one doesn't have, not sending an empty envelope to the buyer; not launching an avalanche of profanity and ripe curse-word-laden invective at the buyer... that sort of thing.

Refusing to sell an item worth, let's say, $800 for less than a quarter of that price is disappointing behaviour... but dishonourable? Let's agree that if all things were equal, if the seller were absolutely definitely 100% aware of the devil in the details, and was in good spirits, of sound mind, and fully informed, it might possibly then be appropriate to place a scarlet "R" on his or her forehead. (Reneger!)

I don't know whether it ought to be considered out of context, either. Ethical conundrums and riddles of moral dilemmas have teased philosophy students for many years: "A couple on eBay have a sick child who needs medicine. They can't afford the medicine and are in despair. The husband then miraculously remembers that he has an item worth about $800 s/h; they are overjoyed and list the item with hope in their hearts. Owing to eBay's misleading advice, they are stunned to find that it's sold for less than a quarter of its value. The buyer is insisting that the purchase must be completed; the sick child is wheezing miserably in the bedroom; the electricity is about to be cut off and the doctor's prescription remains tantalisingly unfilled. What should the couple do?"

At any rate, I don't think honour can flourish without compassion. But now I feel slightly weird addressing these deep issues on a forum about buying and selling... I think I've not had enough coffee.

EDITED: brerrabbit585 said almost everything that I was posting. Let us raise the coffee cups high.

4channel · ‎01-05-2018

@collect247 wrote:
Not twisting anything around you are doing that all by yourself going by the shouting that you're doing.
Calm down the world's still going ahead with or without you.

The fact that out of the blue you basically call me a liar when disagreeing with my support of ra157 in expressing his frustration in dealing with a quite likely dishonest seller is not a good look. The CAPS were to aid you in reading as I felt you needed it at the time. You were adding in something incorrect.

I will agree that the world will carry on with or without me. That's for sure.

collect247 · ‎01-05-2018

Really? you said it period.

Not calling you a liar because you said it for all of us to read.

Spin it any way that you want to.

And yelling at me won't make any difference to me but it will show the difference within you.

4channel · ‎01-05-2018

Re: Seller Cancels Auction Sale After Item is Paid for. / Bargains Depend entirely on Goodwill

brerrabbit585

in reply to digital*ghost

18 minutes ago

There's absolutely no honour in seeking revenge - no debate about that at all!

While revenge is not a good thing, I think that ra157 has just suffered a nasty and unfair experience. It's a great feeling to win something at a good price. It's a bad feeling to have it snatched away in front of you. Even worse if it is done with dishonesty.

4channel and ra157 both obviously think that when they don't get what they want the other party should be punished to the full extent of the law, and even beyond (ie. kick them off ebay for ONE mistake), no matter what the circumstances. Mercy is obviously a word they've never heard of, though you can bet your bottom dollar they'd expect or be hoping for it if they ever make a mistake! ra157 was hoping for mercy when they asked the seller to cancel the sale for the charger.

Please don't say that and where would you ever see any evidence that I would ......

"want the other party should be punished to the full extent of the law, and even beyond (ie. kick them off ebay for ONE mistake), no matter what the circumstances. ????

To say something like that is not good my friend. If you want to know my thoughts on the matter. I believe the seller should be reprimanded for what he / she did to ra157 and given an opportunity to make right. If not, then the reprimand should ne noted and if further repeitions of this sort occur down the track, then appropriate action be taken.

And you have gone bad to worse with what you have said below.

Mercy is obviously a word they've never heard of, though you can bet your bottom dollar they'd expect or be hoping for it if they ever make a mistake!

I know all about Mercy, I have had people show me great kindness as well as a seller being more than happy to wait a month for payment. I paid him earlier. Oh and I had a seller a whole year later send me a replacement extremly rare item as the first was a bit defective. A stand up guy! I have also given a helping hand to others and let others off for being dilligent in their grading.

What you have said is not a good thing and borders on inane. Really, you had nothing constructive to say sadly.

4channel · ‎01-05-2018

@collect247 wrote:
Really? you said it period.
Not calling you a liar because you said it for all of us to read.
Spin it any way that you want to.
And yelling at me won't make any difference to me but it will show the difference within you.

You are being silly kollector18 . But I will try and explain it to you one last time.

* If, I were silly / reckless enough to put a valuable item up for auction on a low starting bid then I would accept the outcome.

* But, I would never do that. I have been a member on eBay since 2002 (I had to check as I forgot). I know the risks invoved. I have listred a $20 item for a low price in the past.

* If you want to make me out to be a liar just because you disagree with me then go for it. I'm not the one who has to stand in front of the mirror. SIGH

* I said .... "If I have a thousand dollar item and list it for a $10 bid and nobody else comes and the one person who bid wins it for $10 then I have to bear this."

* That's all I said. Feel free to add anything else you like. Be my guest. If you are happy to add a more to it than you have, then you have my pity.