posted on January 29, 2001 11:24:10 AM new
This is my first time posting to the forum, so please bear with me....
This morning, I was high bidder on an item. The auction was a 10 day listing, with no reserve; as a matter of fact it was a re-listing of a reserve auction where the reserve was not met. (I was also high bid on that one, not that it has any bearing on this situation...)
After the auction closed today, I received the following e-mail from the seller:
Hello,
I truly aplogize for this but eBay neglected to maintain my reserve on this auction when it was relisted. I cannot sell this itme at high bid. If you feel it necessary to post
negative feedback I do understand.
Again, my aplogies but I cannot let this go at this price.
Regards,
xxxxxx
I am seriously considering leaving my first ever negative feedback for this seller; he did have 10 days to notice the absence of a reserve, after all. Beyond leaving feedback though, is there anything I should be doing insofar as reporting this violation of the sale contract to eBay?
posted on January 29, 2001 11:34:16 AM new
If you really want the item--you should a witch in this and write to them exactly what you wrote here.
"You had 10 days to cancel this auction but you choose not to---we are are now in a legally binding contract as buyer and seller and I am expecting that you will honour your portion of the contract and complete this transaction.
I am sorry that you did not reach the price you wished for this item and that you did not check the auction to see if the reserve was in place but I legally won the auction and expect to be able to purchase it as outlined by EBAY Rules and Terms of Service."
posted on January 29, 2001 11:34:28 AM new
When you relist, you MUST reset the reserve price. It is not automatically carried over to the relisted auction. I learned this the hard way myself on a sale last year. I did follow through, and sold the items for a measly $4, my reserve should have been $12. It was a small loss for me, but I learned my lesson.
This seller is obligated by the guidelines of eBay to sell the item to you. Of course, there is no way to force them to. You might want to nicely point out that the mistake was theirs, not eBays.
Let the seller know that you will be contacting SafeHarbor if they refuse to follow through on the sale. Don't hesitate to leave a neg if it comes to that.
You could offer to split the difference, if you realized the error, but you wouldn't have to feel obligated to do so.
posted on January 29, 2001 11:38:29 AM new
You could also ask him what his reserve was and if you wanted it --offer to pay him an amount that is closer to that.
posted on January 29, 2001 11:45:53 AM new
Hello, I think that since you did bid on the previous auction and were aware that there was a reserve you might opt to help this individual out if you really want the item. Just out of curiosity is this high bid higher or lower than that of your previous high bid? As a seller I also had this happen and the buyer was kind enough to help me cover my cost....I did discount below what my reserve should have been on the relist but she paid more than her high bid. We were both happy with the end result. That might be the way to go.
Regards Zilvy...
Unrelated but here's a funny I rec'd this AM.
Warning: Objects in mirror are dumber than they appear.
[ edited by Zilvy on Jan 29, 2001 11:47 AM ]
posted on January 29, 2001 11:50:55 AM new
You can not force the seller to sell to you even though it was their mistake. You can, however, leave negative feedback. And it looks as though this is what the seller expects.
As others already suggested, your best bet is to communicate with the seller and see if you can work out a compromise.
