Seller refuses to sell.

[goodnightwalter]

Purchased and paid for item. Contacted seller to arrange pickup. Seller says someone else is coming to look at item and if they don't buy I can have it.

Where do I stand?

[padi*0409]

4channel, you appear to be trying to compare apples with oranges, it would seem that the item the OP is talking about was a pick-up item and so likely to be from a small seller (and possibly inexperienced). None of us know if that is true or not since the OP has not elaborated  on the details.

When you talk about that world-wide record-selling website the seller still has to input their stock level of any sold item (or end it on other sites), so there is still a distinct possibility that if an item sells on more than one selling platform within a short period of time, and the seller isn't be able to end the item before it "sells" twice, then as others have said here, the only fair outcome is if the first to buy gets the nod before the second buyer.

In fairness the OP was told that they could have a "second chance offer" if the original buyer pulled out, and was refunded promptly when it sold to the first buyer.

Yes it is a practice where a seller can come unstuck (and has probably earned a defect on their selling account) and if I were a seller I  wouldn't do it - but I doubt if a new or inexperienced seller would be aware of the ramifications of doing so.

[brerrabbit585]

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@4channel wrote:

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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@4channel wrote:

The seller's reckless, cavalier or selfish practices have now impacted on a a buyer who was involved in a transatcion that invovled a lot of money $$$$.

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eBay doesn't get priority just because it's eBay - the seller clearly was trying to honour the first interested party who had already arranged to view their item. Wouldn't their actions be just as open to criticism if they'd instead told that person, 'I know I said you could come 'round and buy it, but I've just sold it to someone else so now you lose out'.

Ideally, the seller would have either cancelled the listing, or at least temprarily set it to out of stock, while negotiations were taking place with the first person, so I agree there are better ways to handle cases where you are advertising an item on multiple platforms, but don't have multiple items to supply, but it's not necessary to crucify each and every person that makes an error or decision that results in an eBay buyer not getting what they want.

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The seller would have known what time the auction or listing was ending and should have said to any potential buyers and enquirers, I am tied up for a bit longer on this. Can you call me back in 2 hours or whatever. Then the potential buyer could have said   ...  "OK, look, I'll offer you an extra $50". Anyway, that's just one of the many scenarios that would be possible. Without knowing a bit more about the circumstances it's hard to say.

Put it this way, if I was to sell an item and list it on multiple sites, the one that involves the process an automatic electronic financial transaction would take priority over anything else.

I'm not talking about crucifying "each and every person that makes an error or decision that results in an eBay buyer not getting what they want.", I'm just talking about sellers here on ebay following the rules and not putting up bogus, flimsy or "Cancel-it-If-I-Feel-Like-It" listings. Please keep in mind that goodnightwalter had paid the seller over or around nine hundred dollars and that went into the sellers PayPal account.

Some record sellers on ebay list their items on Music Stack and other websites.  Peple can click on the item they want and wait to see if the item is still available, if so the seller then confirms it and sends an invoice to pay via paypal. If the same item has been snapped up on ebay, the potential buyer will get a message saying not available. These sellers usually update their listings quite promptly. They are professional.  The seller that goodnightwalter was not!

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Surely you're not suggesting that the person second in line could "bribe" their way to being first in line?

[countessalmirena]

I consider that the multi-platform issue can potentially be a big problem for sellers.

Ultimately, I suppose it is up to the seller to determine how best to handle any possible clashes. Whatever action they take, there will possibly be some sort of fall-out. I wouldn't necessarily think that eBay has the right to a higher priority than another venue, but certainly a seller deciding to honour a sale through other means should be aware that eBay consequences are very likely if he's unlucky enough to have a buyer on eBay purchase at almost the same time.

[springyzone]

I think for a lot of small sellers (and I am guessing that as this is a pick up item, this is a private seller), they get to the stage they decide to sell and just want to get it all done quickly. They have no idea how easy or hard it will be to sell their item or how long it will take or even which selling platform will be the most likely to move their item.

So they try a couple at once, because when you do decide to sell, you usually go all out. Most people don't want the process to drag on any longer than it has to.

The difficulty comes when you get a sudden flurry of interest all at once (is that Murphy's law or someone else's?). On ebay of course, it could mean the item has been sitting there all week with not a bid and the seller thinks it's a fizzer, so of course if someone from FB or gumtree shows interest, they are going to arrange for them to come around. From their point of view, it is the first interest shown in the item & maybe their only chance to get rid of it.

Of course, on ebay, the flurry of bids is just as likely to happen in the last hour or so, which makes for trouble when someone on ebay wins & pays.

It's not ideal & as I think padi said, a seller may find their account is affected. But as padi also said, occasional sellers don't always know that. 

[4channel]

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4channel, you appear to be trying to compare apples with oranges, it would seem that the item the OP is talking about was a pick-up item and so likely to be from a small seller (and possibly inexperienced). None of us know if that is true or not since the OP has not elaborated  on the details.

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Not apples with oranges padi. Just disussing an ebay issue that has affected an ebayer

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When you talk about that world-wide record-selling website the seller still has to input their stock level of any sold item (or end it on other sites), so there is still a distinct possibility that if an item sells on more than one selling platform within a short period of time, and the seller isn't be able to end the item before it "sells" twice, then as others have said here, the only fair outcome is if the first to buy gets the nod before the second buyer.

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Those other sites I talked about don't confirm sale of the item until the invoice is sent thus confirming availability. One of them I believe has a disclaimer regarding this. So in effect, the item does not "sell twice"

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In fairness the OP was told that they could have a "second chance offer" if the original buyer pulled out, and was refunded promptly when it sold to the first buyer.

Yes it is a practice where a seller can come unstuck (and has probably earned a defect on their selling account) and if I were a seller I  wouldn't do it - but I doubt if a new or inexperienced seller would be aware of the ramifications of doing so.

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Seller may have been covering themselves. Remember, ebay is a site that involves financial transactions. A large amount of money was sent to the sellers paypal account.

A bad look for the seller and to tie up nearly a grand worth of money from the buyer is not good! If someone is going to list an item on a website that allows a large amount of money to be paid into their account then that has to take priority. The OP paid nearly a grand into the sellers PayPal account and then gets told "sorry someone else is getting it". 

Very uncool.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@4channel wrote:

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

4channel, you appear to be trying to compare apples with oranges, it would seem that the item the OP is talking about was a pick-up item and so likely to be from a small seller (and possibly inexperienced). None of us know if that is true or not since the OP has not elaborated  on the details.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Not apples with oranges padi. Just disussing an ebay issue that has affected an ebayer

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

When you talk about that world-wide record-selling website the seller still has to input their stock level of any sold item (or end it on other sites), so there is still a distinct possibility that if an item sells on more than one selling platform within a short period of time, and the seller isn't be able to end the item before it "sells" twice, then as others have said here, the only fair outcome is if the first to buy gets the nod before the second buyer.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Those other sites I talked about don't confirm sale of the item until the invoice is sent thus confirming availability. One of them I believe has a disclaimer regarding this. So in effect, the item does not "sell twice"

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

In fairness the OP was told that they could have a "second chance offer" if the original buyer pulled out, and was refunded promptly when it sold to the first buyer.

Yes it is a practice where a seller can come unstuck (and has probably earned a defect on their selling account) and if I were a seller I  wouldn't do it - but I doubt if a new or inexperienced seller would be aware of the ramifications of doing so.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Seller may have been covering themselves. Remember, ebay is a site that involves financial transactions. A large amount of money was sent to the sellers paypal account.

A bad look for the seller and to tie up nearly a grand worth of money from the buyer is not good! If someone is going to list an item on a website that allows a large amount of money to be paid into their account then that has to take priority. The OP paid nearly a grand into the sellers PayPal account and then gets told "sorry someone else is getting it". 

Very uncool.

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Yes, and they were promptly refunded, so it wasn't really tied up for long. 

As a seller of breakable and fragile items, there have been a few of times where a buyer has paid, I have retrieved the item to package and dropped it on the floor. The results were the item smashing. It happens. All I could do was send a message to the buyer apologising profusely, refunding and accept any bad feedback I might get (they're usually understanding).

As for those music sellers being professional, I have been selling for years and don't consider myself to be a professional. I sell in my spare time. Yes, I am more than a hobby seller because I buy stuff to sell and make a profit, but I am far from being a professional. My main occupation is a professional role. Unless the OP comes back to clarify, we can only assume their seller was a small time seller and not a professional that sells thousands of items every month.