Buyer's child bid on item....

[all-my-worldly-possessions]

Hello all,

I have a situation where the buyer's child bid on an item and won the auction.The buyer has messaged that " you can raise a resolution if you wish as I do not wish for my daughter to have this "item" - pretty or not. I hope that we can resolve this like two adults and avoid any resolution action however I am prepared to stand my ground on this. " after I sent the invoice.

What are my options? On one hand, I sympathize with the buyer's situation where the child inappropriately bidded.On the other hand, I am irked by the fact that there is an irresponsible ebayer who has let the child access the ebay account and has made no apology for it.

I am also a newcomer to ebay and hence feedback would be important to me.Is this buyer able to leave negative feedback is things do not progress their way?What are my rights?

Thank you

[foxette-in-sox]

The buyer has messaged that " you can raise a resolution if you wish as I do not wish for my daughter to have this "item" - pretty or not. I hope that we can resolve this like two adults and avoid any resolution action however I am prepared to stand my ground on this. " after I sent the invoice.

The mother sounds like a right royal pig IMO & I'd open a non payer dispute also & to heck with any neg you receive.:|

[foxette-in-sox]

Was it the hat?

Hope not as that person has bid on 84 items in last 30 days.

[aj111003]

"Give her the benefit of doubt the last thing you need is disgruntled customer. And you can do a mutual cancellation and move on."

True, you could do that, but you need to remember that with a cancellation, she could still leave you neg fb anyway.

If you open a dispute, then she pays she can also leave neg fb as well.

But if she's going to stand her ground as she states, chances are that she won't pay up! and if she doesn't she can't leave you feedback, she'll earn herself a strike.

Also if she was to leave you feedback, there may be the possibility of having it removed by ebay if she directly relates it to the unpaid item case. (hang on to the delightful email from her - in case you need to refer to it later on).

But, I have to agree with the other guys here, I'd consider opening up a dispute. Her email to you clearly shows that she refuses to admit any fault in the matter and why should she be able to get away with it and treat you so badly.

Good luck which ever way you decide to go!

[annies_fancy_dress]

Why do they let the child Log On?

E-bay can be searched quite happily without logging on.

[peternt2001]

I am not a seller, but from a buyers perspective, if a seller told me they werent going to go through with a transaction because their child had accidentally listed the item for a low price. I would be very pissed off.

I do believe that a decent parent would take responsibility for their children, take responsibility for them using the computer, and take responsibility for them bidding on something ( well unless it is something that is so expensive that they could never afford it ) and if it was something they could never afford, if it was me, i would be ever so humble and ask for forgiveness and throw myself at the mercy of the seller.

Just as i hate bad sellers, i hate bad and unscrupulous buyers, as they give me and other buyers who try hard to be well respected and appreciated buyers a bad name.

[all-my-worldly-possessions]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I will be contacting ebay for further clarification on the matter and make a decision from there. 🙂

[*bad*angel*]

eBay wont take part in this at all. Their policy says that the owner of the account is responsible for all action on that account. Whether you open a dispute or go for a mutual cancellation is up to you, but frankly as they took this stance I'd go for the dispute. If they dont pay any feedback they leave will be removed by eBay anyway.

[phorum_junkie*]

I'm sure there are real cases of genius 5-year-olds who make successful bids on eBay

I hope you are joking! My eldest grandchild is not a genius, in fact her Mum is having to get her private tutoring just so she can catch up but she has had her own laptop since for years, she is 10 now, and could certainly have purchased things on ebay if she had known her Mum's id and password at age 5. Miss 4 year old is not particularly interested in computing but I am absolutely sure she could buy things if she had the chance.

I too would go through the full unpaid item dispute process, if she was genuine then she would either have paid for the thing or she would have least offered to cover your fees. Perhaps she doesn't realise that if you do go through the dispute process and she gets a strike she won't be able to leave you a neg, remember that if you offer mutual cancellation she can not only neg you she can refuse and you are stuck paying the FVF.

Do other sellers a favour and make sure she gets a strike, looks like she will get more than one so then she will not be able to bother sensible sellers any more.

[boomct]

Oh so frustrating.  This has happened to me before, and whilst I understand how easy it can be, there should be an apology - it almost sounds like the parent is angry with you for sending the invoice!!!  

Definitely make sure she gets a strike, I avoided this for a long time until I finally got fed up with buyers being completely irresponsible (this time it was a girl who's boyfriend 'accidentally' bid on an iphone we were selling.  We had to wait a while to relist because of the claim and then when we did sell it we lost money on it.  She got her unpaid item strike but also changed her ID shortly after. 

I agree, if the parent had been nice about it you could have stated your disappointment nicely but firmly then cancelled.  But there's no need for her rudeness!

Let us know what happens.

[all-my-worldly-possessions]

To update everyone who has taken an interest in the outcome,I have opened and subsequently closed the unpaid item case.The buyer should now have an unpaid strike against their name.I would have probably cancelled the transaction if the buyer had apologised, explained the situation and not taken that attitude with me in the first place before I opened the case.

During all this, I was treated to a very interesting case which included the buyer saying they couldn't pay the  "$650" for the item that they had won the bid for.(BTW, the item totalled just over $20 inc postage).When I replied that they had made up that ridiculous sum, they called me unfair and "ridiculous".

So, all in all, it has been a valuable ebay learning experience for me.( yes, the dark side of ebay)

As a final word here, the excuse that buyers children (accidentally or not) bid on ebay just does not hold with me. Ebay accounts have passwords.Use these passwords for precisely the purpose they are there for.If you "save" your password on a shared computer/phone etc you are asking for trouble.