eBay rant

Ok, so was bidding on a boat for sale with NO Reserve. (Its a project boat) Seller ran the auction for a week and bids got to about $450 and I dropped a $500 bid on it and it seemed to be holding.

About 20 minutes before the auction ended I got an email saying my bid was canceled. I checked into it a bit on the eBay site and all the bids were canceled.

I sent an email to the seller asking for a number so I could talk to him, he returned the eamil with his phone number so I called. I asked why the bids were suddenly canceled and he said "Well the auction was almost over, it was a no reserve auction and I wasn't getting the price I wanted so I canceled the auction". I talked with eBay about it and they said anyone can cancel a sale as long as its before the auction ends.

Seems pretty under handed to me. If you have a minimum acceptable price then set a reserve! Sheesh...

Re: eBay rant

Bubba1235 said:

Ok, so was bidding on a boat for sale with NO Reserve. (Its a project boat) Seller ran the auction of a week and bids got to about $450 and I dropped a $500 bid on it and it seemed to be holding.

About 20 minutes before the auction ended I got an email saying my bid was canceled. I checked into it a bit on the eBay site and all the bids were canceled.

I sent an email to the seller asking for a number so I could talk to him, he returned the eamil with his phone number so I called. I asked why the bids were suddenly canceled and he said "Well the auction was almost over, it was a no reserve auction and I wasn't getting the price I wanted so I canceled the auction". I talked with eBay about it and they said anyone can cancel a sale as long as its before the auction ends.

Seems pretty under handed to me. If you have a minimum acceptable price then set a reserve! Sheesh...

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Bubba

That DOES suck..... however I think ebay could resolve it quickly by allowing the highest bidder to provide feedback.

Like you said, no reserve, means NO reserve.... It is the rules, but still somewhat unfair if you can cancel if you're not happy.

Re: eBay rant

That does not sound right (but I'm not an ebay expert, never bought anything).
I find ebay's policy statement very involved, much fine print and legalese. (Same goes for PayPal. I can't stand it when a seller will not sell without PayPal.)

Re: eBay rant

He can cancel the listing any time he likes, sorry.
it's a crap thing to do but what can you do about it?

Re: eBay rant

eBay could put an end to this by dropping their additional fee to the seller for having a "reserve" price...this added charge has always rankled me!

Like eBay said...they cannot force anyone to sell their item. But you are right in wondering why the high bidder that gets left out also loses the opportunity to let everyone else know what took place. I do know that if a seller has a habit of doing this, they will be 'dropped'.

Happy boating!

Re: eBay rant

DavidW2009 said:

That does not sound right (but I'm not an ebay expert, never bought anything).
I find ebay's policy statement very involved, much fine print and legalese. (Same goes for PayPal. I can't stand it when a seller will not sell without PayPal.)

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I wouldn't by anything without using paypal. It's much safer than dealing directly with the seller. Especially using debit or credit cards.

Re: eBay rant

I use paypal when I buy on ebay. But I keep no balance in paypal, and always use the credit card option to pay. That way if I get stiffed, I call mastercard, they do a charge back to paypal, returning my funds. Nothing paypal can do but go after the seller. And if the seller has no money in the account, they paypal gets stuck with the bill.

Never pay from a paypal account that has a balance.

Re: eBay rant

Sorry about your luck on that boat. That sucks. I'm in no way an ebay specialist but I thought I read somewhere that a person can cancel up to two or three listngs before there account is canceled. I could be wrong though, maybe its if they receive two or three negative reviews their account will be canceled.

Re: eBay rant

t used to be that you could cancel up til 12 hours before the scheduled end time.

Has something changed?

Re: eBay rant

Your ability to end a listing early depends on the amount of time remaining in the listing and whether the listing has received any bids.

If there are 12 hours or more before the end of the listing, you can end the listing early without restrictions. If there are any bids on your item when you end the listing, you?ll be asked whether you want to cancel the bids or sell the item to the high bidder.

If there are 12 hours or less before the end of the listing, your ability to end the listing early depends on whether there are any bids on the item and whether the item has a reserve price.

Number of bids on the item

Can the listing be ended early?

No bids, including no canceled bids

Yes, as long as there aren't any cancelled bids.

One or more bids

Yes, but you must sell the item to the high bidder.

One or more bids, but the item?s reserve price wasn?t met

No

How to end a listing

To end a listing early:
Type the item number into the End My Listing Early form. The item number is shown on your listing, confirmation email, and My eBay page.
If there are bids on your item, choose how you want to end your listing.
If there are 12 hours or more before the end of the listing, choose ?Cancel bids and end listing early? or ?Sell item to high bidder.?
If there are 12 hours or less before the end of the listing, your only option is to ?Sell item to high bidder.?
Select the reason you're ending your listing early.
Your listing will end and will no longer be active on eBay. If you're canceling an auction-style listing with bids, bidders who didn?t win will receive an email explaining that their bid was canceled and that the listing ended early.
If you can?t end the listing

If you don?t meet the requirements for ending your auction-style listing early, your best option is to communicate with the bidders.
Before the listing ends: Contact the bidders, explain the situation, and encourage them to retract their bids. Alternatively, you can cancel their bids.
If the listing ends and there is a winning bidder: Contact the bidder and explain the situation. If you and the bidder agree to not complete the sale, you can file an unpaid item and indicate that you and the buyer have agreed not to complete the transaction. The bidder will be notified and can confirm the agreement.
The fine print

You'll still be charged listing fees (such as the insertion fee) if you end your listing early. If you want to change or improve your listing, consider revising your listing instead.
Sellers are not permitted to cancel bids and end listings early in order to avoid selling an item that did not meet the desired sale price. This is considered to be a reserve price violation. Although there are legitimate reasons for ending a listing early, abuse of this option will be investigated.

Re: eBay rant

A reserve price should be a requirement in my opinion. No added fee for putting one on. That way you are not wasting your time bidding only to be disappointed at the end.
Just my thoughts though.

Re: eBay rant

tallcanadian said:

I wouldn't by anything without using paypal. It's much safer than dealing directly with the seller. Especially using debit or credit cards.

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I agree. Paypal seems to be the safest way to go. I won't order anything online that doesn't offer the option. I can't remember the last time I bought anything that didn't offer paypal as a payment option.



Edit: Sorry, getting off topic.

Re: eBay rant

kenmyfam said:

A reserve price should be a requirement in my opinion. No added fee for putting one on. That way you are not wasting your time bidding only to be disappointed at the end.
Just my thoughts though.

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EXACTLY! I agree 100%..... Make it so people aren't wasting their time.

I equate it to reading an ad for an electronic store to go in and buy something at a great price. When you get there, the store decides that they don't want to sell it any more at that price so you've wasted your time.

Wouldn't you be a little PO'd?

Re: eBay rant

Bucks45 said:

I agree. Paypal seems to be the safest way to go. I won't order anything online that doesn't offer the option. I can't remember the last time I bought anything that didn't offer paypal as a payment option.



Edit: Sorry, getting off topic.

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Continuing off topic...make sure you use a credit card to fund your Paypal because getting Paypal to come through when you get hosed is a complete waste of time and you need to rely on a credit card to get your money back.

Re: eBay rant

Why don't you pick the phone back up and see what it takes to buy what you want?

Re: eBay rant

Craigslist, no ebay or playpal.