seller cancels sale due to not reaching a high enough price, failed to set reserve

[jon8634]

g'day, had s seller cancel a sale due to listing not reaching price wanted,didnt have a reserve, seller cancelled 'due to postage address problems'  has postage listed in ad...immediately re-listed ad, no reserve set again..

[takumi83j]

You didn't quote anything i said, you labeled me as a "vindictive" buyer.

[lyndal1838]

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@takumi83j wrote:

 Is there anything i can do to get back at the seller for what they did?

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That says to me that you want to get back at the seller......and in my book that is being vindictive.

[michellebartley]

@takumi83j Getting hot under the collar doesn't solve anything.

[takumi83j]

I meant as in reporting them to ebay or something like that. No more vindictive opening case with a seller. You have taken one part of what i said and made out i must have some personal vendetta against the seller. I have apologised for my bad choice of wording, it was not meant with that kind of intent.

[4channel]

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@jon8634 wrote:

g'day, had s seller cancel a sale due to listing not reaching price wanted,didnt have a reserve, seller cancelled 'due to postage address problems'  has postage listed in ad...immediately re-listed ad, no reserve set again..

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Hi jon8634, I'm sorry to hear of your plight. Anyway, reserve shouldn't even come in to this. What you have experienced is most likely a dishonest seller. Many sellers list items at a low price in order to attract more bids and generate "bidding excitement". They get much more money this way. But when things don't go their way and they don't get enough bids and the auction ends on a lower than desired bid, some shirk their responsibility and come up with elaborate excuses as to why they can't supply the item. Basically totally disregarding the feelings of the buyer and squashing any joy and excitement they had when winning the auction.

I'm of the opinion that you have been unfairly treated.

Below is the now classic and somewhat tragic example of ra157 /  Renato's unfair treatment.

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Seller Cancels Auction Sale After Item is Paid for. / Bargains Depend entirely on Goodwill
on ‎04-30-2018 01:24 AM

ra157
(860 )
View Listings

Community Member
Posts: 115
Registered: ‎04-30-2018

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

https://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Buying/Seller-Cancels-Auction-Sale-After-Item-is-Paid-for-Bargains/...

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I was somewhat dismayed at the lack of understanding towards ra157 / Renato's plight.  Renato was  very pleasant poster too.

[4channel]

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@takumi83j wrote:

You are incorrectly making assumptions about me. I have never ever left bad feeback and have always been good to sellers for many years. I do also sell at times and have experienced bad buyers. I haven't named the seller. I'm sorry if my wording came off harsh I am just tired of being lied too and messed about with nothing that can be done about it.

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You have nothing to apologise about. Your reaction is normal and totally understandable. This has gotten beyond a joke with sellers now more and more not honouring their sales.

They want to get bigger bucks by listing at a lower price and attracting a bidding frenzy. But when things don't go their own way they come up with excuses and lies (some of them do) as to why they can't supply the item to the winning bidder. Well, they can't bloody well have it both ways!

[davewil1964]

Renato was not pleasant. Which is why he's never been back.

I'm not sure how you think ancient history is relevant to today, nor why you automatically assume the seller is a shonk.

Occam's razor.

[takumi83j]

Well it's good to hear some understanding from the buyers point of view. Yes that's always been the risk you take if you start auctions low. I have done it and some auctions went badly but i always followed through with the sale.

[countessalmirena]

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@joztamps wrote:

It's a blot on the system.

At the very least, defaulting sellers should be permanently banned from re-listing the same item or similar items.

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I agree - with caveats.

eBay should stop encouraging the practice of listing for a low price. Either tacitly or blatantly, eBay are telling sellers that this is the correct thing to do. In my view, it would be better practice for eBay to include something like this when a seller goes to list an item in auction format:

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Set your starting bid price at the lowest price you are willing to accept for the item. Remember that if you only receive one bid, you're expected to follow through with the sale. (Also note that the Make An Offer button will disappear if a potential buyer places a bid on your item. Make an Offer does not function as a reserve price.

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From the buyer's side... I agree that it can be frustrating for buyers to make an offer and believe that they have scored something of a bargain, only to find that the seller has cancelled the purchase.

[4channel]

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@takumi83j wrote:

Well it's good to hear some understanding from the buyers point of view. Yes that's always been the risk you take if you start auctions low. I have done it and some auctions went badly but i always followed through with the sale.

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Good on you for following through. This shows your integrity. I myself have sold items at a low winning price and never shirked my responsibility. My reasoning is that the winner deserves it at whatever price they won it at as this is what auctions are all about. Also doing the right thing creates good karma.

I have always believed that the majority of sellers are decent and I never assume that they are dishonest. However a small percentage are unfortunately. Your experience is an example of that! There are also another category of bad sellers which thankfully is in the minority. These are the sellers who don't intentionally start out to do bad and for the most part are fairly good. But, when it comes to a certain issue they have created by either bad grading or an error, they are either incapable of fixing the issue or simply refuse to.

At the end of the day, a seller should never refuse to fix an issue they caused by whatever. mistakes or miscalculations they have made. They should take the position of looking after the innocent customer. Now if the seller was hoping to have that bidding frenzy and have a whole heap of bids and feel euphoric about their achievement, I say good one to good work. And if an item that was purchased for $1.00 can be turned into a $185.00 winner then I say, great stuff and good for them. But if it doesn't go their way then they should put themselves in the shoes of the customer and say to themselves ....  "Well, I didn't get the bids I wanted but the winning bidder should get the item they want. I'll list a bit higher next time".  

I have a good feeling that if a seller does right, good things will come soon the next time around or not long after.