capolady
|
posted on July 6, 2004 03:42:48 AM new
My daughter was bidding on a designer handbag and in the last 2 hours of the auction the seller cancelled her bid and ended the auction. No reason was stated. My daughter emailed the seller and asked why the auction was ended. Seller replied that another ebay bidder had offered her a much higher price if she would cancel current bids and end auction, which she promptly did.
Can seller do this by ebay rules?
I suggested that my daughter file fraud or fee avoidance complaint and attach the sellers email to her complaint.
Did I give her the right advice?
Can we as sellers, cancel bids, end auctions early and then admit it was because another bidder offered a higher price but doesn't wish to bid?
I know this is legit because my daughter sent me the sellers email which says exactly what she said it did.
Is this legit? Can a seller pull this nonsense?
|
tomwiii
|
posted on July 6, 2004 03:48:50 AM new
It may be STUPID, but since sellers OWN their items, the rule is that they can do just about anything they wish before EOA!
This seller appears to be BRAIN-DEAD for relating THAT reason for ending the auction -- diplomacy wins over buttWiggleWiggle anyday 
833
|
davebraun
|
posted on July 6, 2004 05:01:04 AM new
They can. Obviously they did. Bad business in my book. I've eaten it occassionally in an auction that didn't draw bids but thats me and that's life.
Best to move on...something else will come along.
834
|
neroter12
|
posted on July 6, 2004 08:10:17 AM new
I dont think your supposed to this. You can legitimately sell to highest bidder and end auction though.
Your daughter might report seller. I dont know what if anything ebay would do. Issue a warning for 1st time offense??? Suspend for 30 days? Everybody knows Ebay doesnt want to lose their money either. But if they lose a fee here and there verses a seller who lists alot each month........
I've read some of their policies, but its never clear - esp from reading these threads, what their course of action turns out to be. -heh!
|
dejapooh
|
posted on July 6, 2004 09:59:16 AM new
According to Ebay, to end the auction and sell off of ebay is in fact Fee Avoidance.
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. B. Franklin
|
photosensitive
|
posted on July 6, 2004 10:19:05 AM new
As has been mentioned the seller could have made up any story, the dog ate it, it was stolen out of her car... To send an answer that is a clear violation of eBay rules, not ending the auction but selling it off eBay, seems strange if honest.
I have been planning to ask a question about a recent experience that I think is related but with a difference. I found a widget for which I have searched a long time. I put in on my watch list but did not bid. For those who say I should bid early and often that is not my pattern since I know for a fact that there is a bidder who used me as an easy search option when I did bid early. I went back toward the end of the auction to place my bid and found that the item I was watching was a different version of the widget that is common as dirt. The seller had replaced the picture and description with no explanation except the eBay note that it had been updated. I wrote and asked if it had been sold off eBay and was told that the rare widget had been accidentally broken into a thousand pieces. Yea right! I know there is no recourse for this switch-a-roo but I wonder if I had put in a very high snipe (which I would have done) and won the changed widget would I have been responsible? Would there be any way to prove that it was switched? Could this be a way for a sneaky seller to defeat snipers? Put up a rare item and switch it late in the auction with a common one or is it just another off eBay sale?
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
|
neglus
|
posted on July 6, 2004 10:35:01 AM new
You don't know for certain that the seller is selling outside of ebay. I have done something similar (though not in the final hours) - cancelled auctions and accepted a high offer. I don't think that I have to cancel any bids because the offers were made early in the auction. I set up a special auction with the agreed upon "Buy It Now" price and emailed the buyer with the auction id #. Ebay got their cut and buyer gets the item and I got a price that I thought was more than fair. The seller could have done something like that so that the sale would not be "outside of eBay" and therefore kosher.
**********************************
Sig files are too much trouble!
http://stores.ebay.com/Moody-Mommys-Marvelous-Postcards
|
sthoemke
|
posted on July 6, 2004 06:29:13 PM new
According to eBay rules, a seller can end an item early, even if it has bids, for several reasons:
- The item is no longer available for sale.
- There was an error in the starting price or reserve amount.
- There was an error in the listing.
- The item was lost or broken.
|
agitprop
|
posted on July 6, 2004 07:44:35 PM new
You see expect to see more of this happening on eBay Australia with the abolition of reserve auctions for general items. When sellers price expectations aren't meet they'll simply cancel and relist if the don't get a better offer in the meantime.
[ edited by agitprop on Jul 6, 2004 07:45 PM ]
|
