[eBay] Question, not an auction

[IntegralENT]

I recently won an auction on eBay. For, I'm sure, far less than the seller wanted but that's the nature of eBay after all.
The seller kept trying to cancel bids, saying he made a deal off eBay for the item. However, due to the power of eBay, it's a win listed in my auctions, and I'm marked all over the place as the auction's winner.

Now, besides negative feedback, filing a Dispute Report, and if the guy runs an actual brick and stone business and reporting him to the BBB, is there anything else I can do to try to get my item? Any advice on what to do next if the seller's unwilling to fulfill his part of our contract and put my item on my doorstep?

[Praetorian]

I don't know of anything. Your best chance is to file a dispute report if the seller does not live up to his end. Since money has not exchanged hands yet- you may want to make sure to pay with a credit card. Credit cards normally have more forgiving and flexible dispute/non-payer resolution mechancis as opposed to PayPal (which, if the transaction is over a month old, does not offer protecton).

If the seller ends up taking your money and you are really keen on getting the item- you might be able to file a theft case... but that is just me brainstorming.

[zomben]

An ebay transaction is a legally-binding contract. It is a contract that _you_ will buy the seller's goods for the amount stated, and that the _seller_ agrees to sell it to you for that amount.

If the guy is now renegging on that transaction, you could definitely report him to Ebay, as well as the BBB if you wanted to.

FWIW, if the guy made a deal "off Ebay" to sell the items, then he should have cancelled the entire auction, not just individual bids. All he'd have had to do was cancel the auction with the reason "Item no longer for sale" and then it's done. The fact that he let the auction run all the way to completion, and is now (apparently) pissed off because he did not get what he wanted for it is not your fault. He should have used a 'reserve price' to set the minimum payment or something.

His fault, not yours.

[Allen]

Well it sounds like he was expecting to get a lot more than what he did and does not wish to part with it. Just try reporting him to E-Bay and of course leave negative feedback.

[DougSun]

Zomben is correct. From what you're telling us, it sounds like the seller is violating the terms of service, and should be reported to eBay. If the item is truly no longer available for sale, he should have ended the auction immediately, not just canceled individual bids.

I would also suggest opening a Square Trade dispute. Not that it will accomplish much materially, but it will hassle the seller with some more eBay emails related to the case.

[Tarc70]

If they are a member of square trade they could be removed from that honor. I had one where the guy gave me half a PC game. I went through square trade and said I would take either take the other game disk or my money back. I got my money back. I could play one of the games so I came out ahead.

As a side note the guy filed me a none paying bidder then. I got it cleared off my name and ebay paid him the money. I sent an email to ebay saying the guy is scamming them and the back up to it. They said I could fill out this form and a write a formal request. I am like look just trying to warn you (EBAY) of getting scammed. I am not going through some long process to help you guys get $20 back.

[Jafo]

What is this 'Square Trade' thing you speak of? Is that something I missed on ebay entirely or something?

Just wondering.

[DougSun]

What is this 'Square Trade' thing you speak of? Is that something I missed on ebay entirely or something?

Square Trade is a dispute mediation service that, I believe, is affiliated with eBay but not fully controlled by them (please correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm sure someone will ;) ). They offer arbitration in case of disputes between buyers and sellers.

[IntegralENT]

Square Trade is a dispute mediation service that, I believe, is affiliated with eBay but not fully controlled by them (please correct me if I'm wrong, and I'm sure someone will ;) ). They offer arbitration in case of disputes between buyers and sellers.

Pretty much spot on there. They work 'very close' to eBay. Kind of like PayPal, before eBay bought PP. They offer free mediation in most cases and try to make things safer and nicer for most users. Including ridding spite negatives, and other things that generally help out all parties.

Usually. ;)

[Tarc70]

And you should see it in the sellers auction if they are a square trade member. Most power sellers are.

[Phajex]

BBB? Lord the Better Business Buerau is a totally useless organization.... At least this has been my experience and numerous other peoples I know of.... So please do not rely on them riding a white horse (or mauve horse) to save the day.... :D

[DougSun]

Pretty much spot on there. They work 'very close' to eBay. Kind of like PayPal, before eBay bought PP. They offer free mediation in most cases and try to make things safer and nicer for most users. Including ridding spite negatives, and other things that generally help out all parties.

Usually. ;)

Yes, usually. :rolleyes:

FWIW, IntegralENT, my opinion on your situation is that as long as you didn't pay this chump any money, at least you're no worse off than you were before the auction. It's disappointing, but at least yout didn't shell out good money for nothing. The seller may not have broken any laws, but it seems that he did violate eBay's TOS. And for that, you should use Square Trade and eBay's complaint mechanisms to hassle him, to register your displeasure, if nothing else. And if that isn't satisfying, know at least that whereas you can make a clean break from the experience, he will have to pay his listing and final value fees no matter what. :D

[IntegralENT]

Yes, usually. :rolleyes:

FWIW, IntegralENT, my opinion on your situation is that as long as you didn't pay this chump any money, at least you're no worse off than you were before the auction. It's disappointing, but at least yout didn't shell out good money for nothing. The seller may not have broken any laws, but it seems that he did violate eBay's TOS. And for that, you should use Square Trade and eBay's complaint mechanisms to hassle him, to register your displeasure, if nothing else. And if that isn't satisfying, know at least that whereas you can make a clean break from the experience, he will have to pay his listing and final value fees no matter what. :D

That's true. I won the auction at 2.25. That's it. For something he placed on $40 BIN. $1 start. I figure with eBay's listing fees, and the fact it registers as a win so he can't get out of it, he lost more money than I would have paid, except maybe for S&H, so it's not like he's better off for it.

so, seeing as I never gave him money yet or anything I'm not losing anything. Besides, of course, apparently the item I wanted in the first place. But I figure he'll get his karmic retribution later for screwing around. And I'll help him get that punishment. ;)

[Thornhammer]

I recently won an auction on eBay. For, I'm sure, far less than the seller wanted but that's the nature of eBay after all.
The seller kept trying to cancel bids, saying he made a deal off eBay for the item. However, due to the power of eBay, it's a win listed in my auctions, and I'm marked all over the place as the auction's winner.

Now, besides negative feedback, filing a Dispute Report, and if the guy runs an actual brick and stone business and reporting him to the BBB, is there anything else I can do to try to get my item? Any advice on what to do next if the seller's unwilling to fulfill his part of our contract and put my item on my doorstep?

I had the same thing happen over a HeroQuest game. The lady said she had the auction cancelled by Ebay after I 'bought it now', but I didn't get any sort of notification from Ebay regarding this and she flat-out refused to sell it to me. Said she'd throw it away first. Only thing I did was leave her negative feedback. I told her I was going to do it and that as far as I was concerned it was the end of the matter. Wasn't really worth getting drawn into a protracted battle - if she *did* bother to send it to me, I'm sure it would have been damaged severely.

-Thornhammer

[IntegralENT]

I had the same thing happen over a HeroQuest game. The lady said she had the auction cancelled by Ebay after I 'bought it now', but I didn't get any sort of notification from Ebay regarding this and she flat-out refused to sell it to me. Said she'd throw it away first. Only thing I did was leave her negative feedback. I told her I was going to do it and that as far as I was concerned it was the end of the matter. Wasn't really worth getting drawn into a protracted battle - if she *did* bother to send it to me, I'm sure it would have been damaged severely.

-Thornhammer

And dirty after it came back out of the trash. ;)

Seriously, some eBay sellers should be thrown into the sea, bunch of jerks. I really really hate eBay and how its implemented, but damnit they got some good prices on some real treasures under all the crap.

[DougSun]

Seriously, some eBay sellers should be thrown into the sea, bunch of jerks. I really really hate eBay and how its implemented, but damnit they got some good prices on some real treasures under all the crap.

The problem with eBay is that it is so large and open that, inevitably, its member base reflects the general run of humanity: some buyers and sellers care a lot about how they conduct themselves and act accordingly; most do just enough to get by; some are jerks and deserve to be smacked around on general principle. Go to the Trust and Safety forum on eBay and you'll get your fill of stories worse than IntegralENT's and Thornhammer's. :(

Another way to look at it is that eBay is so vast that Sturgeon's Law kicked in a long time ago (90% of everything is, in some way or another, crap). So when you find someone or something that's in that top 10%, you gots to appreciate it. Just like life. ;)

[Mr. Analytical]

There are a lot of really stupid people on eBay. I've had people string me along for weeks promising to pay and saying that they can't work paypal, I've had people not bother to read my payment instructions and moan when I say that I don't take cheques, I've had people bid on something from abroad and then be amazed that the postage was higher than the local postage costs I put up (this last group are composed entirely of gamers). I once had someone say that they didn't trust the post and demanded I send it courrier at no extra cost.

The new development I've seen is people waiting till you give feedback before giving you feedback especially when you're the one buying something. Just so that they can give you spite feedback if yoiu're unhappy with their service (can one report people for this BTW?).

The world would be a much better place if people actually read the listings before bidding.

If this bloke didn't want to sell for less than 40 dollars, then why didn't he put a reserve on it?