So, if you're not selling, you must be......

[designers*n*more]

Buying?? Sound right? I mean, what else do you do on eBay, you buy or sell. Simple I would have thought.

sold an item to a "newbie".  Now I suppose we've all had the "Please cancel, my kid bid on this by mistake". Well now I've seen it all. Just received this message......

"Hi, my mother in law, Xxxxxxx, bought this item by accident! I just signed her up to eBay and she doesn't know what she's doing on it just yet. I would really appreciate it if you could cancel this purchase and apologise for the inconvenience."

MIL seemed to know exactly what she was doing as you have to confirm a bid before it becomes a live bid!!  OMG the flippin' excuses just get better!

[foxette-in-sox]

Sorry but your 'non buyers' excuse doesn't even come close to some of the stupid reasons I've read

on these boards for cancelling a sale ie lady said she was breastfeeding and her boob pushed the

buttons on her phone

[enigmabear]

Then she can jolly well use milk money to pay

Honestly, some of these fools must think we are as big an idiot as they are liar 

[lane-ends]

Does it matter, what the reasons are, you will never know the truth, even if its legit its often private. By expecting reasons you push people into making up white lies.

People are either going to pay or not, why bother what reason they give.

[enigmabear]

Why bother making fake bids at all?

If someone can't pay for a genuine reason, why make up such complete and utter rot?

I don't expect any reason whatsoever, I expect if a person bids,they pay instead of making up bs

[maranock]

Actually I can believe this one. I have an elderly father who likes to look and very occasionally buy on Ebay but gets confused a lot. This is something I fear every time he is on the computer. I am just glad he can still use a computer at all and will help him out if he makes mistakes - either by asking a seller to cancel or completing his purchase and sorting out problems for him. 

[enigmabear]

I was referring to the breast one, being rubbish 🙂

[phorum_junkie*]

The boob bidder was definitely up there with the top most ridiculous excuses, there have been some really creative ones over the years. IMO you either make up a daft enough excuse that it can be shared on the boards and give amusement and entertainment to all or just fess up and say I stuffed up, would you mind cancelling (if it is pricey) or pay up and save yourself the embarrassment of qualifying as a numpty nominee.

[*tippy*toes*]

Gildfish are very good bidders, as are African violet flowers. Gotta watch them buggers. The worst offenders though are the neighbours brothers wifes uncles sister in laws fathers work mates mothers sisters cousin in laws accountants grandmothers pet pig. Those little pointy trotters can press those buttons in a microsecond.

I had a (multiple) repeat buyer contact me last year saying her fridge and TV blew up within a few days of each other, would I be able to cancel the 3 items she bought. I had no reason not to believe her as she's bought quite a number of things from me in the past. She has since bought more and had no problems paying.

Some of the excuses remind me of stories I've heard of people who insert objects where they shouldn't. They all use the excuse they were performing some activity naked, like housework, sitting on the lounge, walking back from the bathroom, they tripped over and it just slipped in there. One person slipped over on some water on the kitchen floor and fell on 13 potatoes. Why not just tell the truth? The medical people already know the truth and are already laughing themselves stupid.

[zanadoo_56]

One of my cats once took a flying leap and landed on my laptop keyboard.  Yes a paw hit the buy button confirmation.  Luckily I was planning to buy the item anyway.  I'm just glad she didn't jump up a few seconds earlier and hit the quantities button as well.  I only wanted one. 🙂