Seller cancelling auction after I have paid

[niddienaddy]

I recently bought fair and square a car owner's manual for $40 through auction. I was the only bidder and won. I paid for the item which had free postage and the next day I got a message saying it was on its way to be posted. Then I got a message saying it had been fully refunded and that the seller was sorry and forgot to put in the postage costs.

It was then put back on ebay and with a postage cost of $15 (its small enough to fit in a $9.95 satchel), and has put it on auction again or the option of buy it now for $65.

I was put off by this, I know eBay is not perfect by all means but as a seller, I would never do this. I really need the manual so Im in the bidding again, and prepared to pay the postage fee but its really quite bad customer ethics, I have to wait many days till the auction is over and pay more despite winning the auction in the first place! 

Has this happened to anyone else like this? Surely im not the only one, and is this allowed?

[papermoon.lady]

It has never happened to me, but it has happened to quite a few people, if you search the forum.

Sellers can cancel a sale or an auction if they wish, but it will mean a defect for their account when they cancel. You can't force the seller to honour a sale. All you can do is giving feedback, although if you really want that manual and intend to bid again, maybe you should wait, or the seller might block you.

[repentatleisure1952]

Yes... have had this happen to me several times... I moved on.

If it was not "allowed" then it would not have happened.

[jellybirddesigns]

The seller is entitled to cancel a sale for any reason. Auctions are not what they once were and if they want a higher price, they are entitled to try and get it. If the seller forgot to add the postage then they understandably don't want to pay out a fair chunk of the money to get it mailed. 

What is the item number?

[gutterpunkz05]

I highly doubt that a car manual will fit in a small ($9.95) satchell, but in any case the sell is entitled to add handling charges as well as the ebay fee on the postage component.

[janeababe]

Is eBay the ‘only’ site you’ve found one for sale? 
Have you even tried to see if the manual is online available for download? 

It’s a pain in the butt, yes! Annoying, yes! ….. but if it happened to me I wouldn’t be giving him a second bite at my wallet! No way! That would be like rewarding bad behaviour (IMO).
What manual you’re after?

[joztamps]

Yes, sellers failing or refusing to honour auctions after buyers have won them happens quite often.

It is a longstanding blight on the ebay system, but ebay offers no recourse to the cheated buyer, and shows no sign of doing so.

All you can do is move on, or wear it if you really want the item at the higher relisted price (it's always higher, funnily enough).

[springyzone]

It happens. 

It's not what ebay likes to see happen. As papermoon lady said, sellers can get defects on their accounts if they do the wrong thing. 

But realistically, ebay can't make a seller post an item, all they can do is ensure you get your goods OR a full refund and at least you've got that.

Some sellers would absorb the extra cost, some won't.

I'd be pretty annoyed to tell the truth, if this happened to me. I expect a seller to take a bit of care with a listing. I don't see how they could 'forget' about postage costs, but honestly, we have read of lots of examples on here where people (both sellers and buyers) don't engage their brains before hopping online.

It sounds as if you've struck a bit of an inexperienced seller who isn't overly bright and isn't prepared to take on responsibility for their own mistake.

I don't know if it would fit in the $9.95 satchel. Is the manual fairly small and lightweight?

If you really want it, don't pay for the buy it now because there is every chance you'll be the only bidder again and get it for $55.

If you win, wait till it arrives then give factual feedback. If it comes in a 9.95 satchel and you've paid $15, you can mark down their stars for postage costs too because a manual in a satchel shouldn't need a lot of extra for packaging.

[davewil1964]

What everybody else said.

I'm just wondering where you get $9.95 for a small satchel from. Does that include YOUR partial fee offset, as a seller?

AP certainly don't charge $9.95 for a small satchel.

[domino-710]

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@springyzone wrote:

It happens. 

It's not what ebay likes to see happen. As papermoon lady said, sellers can get defects on their accounts if they do the wrong thing. 

But realistically, ebay can't make a seller post an item, all they can do is ensure you get your goods OR a full refund and at least you've got that.

Some sellers would absorb the extra cost, some won't.

I'd be pretty annoyed to tell the truth, if this happened to me. I expect a seller to take a bit of care with a listing. I don't see how they could 'forget' about postage costs, but honestly, we have read of lots of examples on here where people (both sellers and buyers) don't engage their brains before hopping online.

It sounds as if you've struck a bit of an inexperienced seller who isn't overly bright and isn't prepared to take on responsibility for their own mistake.

I don't know if it would fit in the $9.95 satchel. Is the manual fairly small and lightweight?

If you really want it, don't pay for the buy it now because there is every chance you'll be the only bidder again and get it for $55.

If you win, wait till it arrives then give factual feedback. If it comes in a 9.95 satchel and you've paid $15, you can mark down their stars for postage costs too because a manual in a satchel shouldn't need a lot of extra for packaging.

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Why - just why - when the OP - has been answered.