posted on November 14, 2000 03:50:22 AM new
Okay it goes like this. Serfing for misc. on Ebay find an auction with a 1.00 starting bid. Am happy to bid 5.00. Bid and won auction. Seller sends an email at the end of auction stating that the item has a minimum purchase price of 34.99. (So stated in item description.) If I am interested in the item I wil have to pay 34.99 for it. What is this? The guy obviously wanted to avoid the fees from listing for the desired 34.99 and in doing so started his auction (with no reserve) at 1.00. Never intending to sell the item at that price. Now In the description it does say in somewhat broken english starting bid is 34.99. Why then is minimum bid 1.00?
Now what? Report to Ebay?
posted on November 14, 2000 04:37:37 AM new
Sorry That Happened To You! Well I Think You Can Repot The Seller For FEE AVOIDANCE (Part Of Our User Agreement Or Listing Policies). Also If He Did Not Bump Your Bid Or Cancel His Auction & There was No Reserve, He Is Obligated To Sell To You For YOUR HIGH BID Plus Shipping. Your Seller Is Probably Cheap (Didn't Want To Chance Spending $1 On A Reserve & AVOIDED FEES) & A Sore Looser (AND there Is Probably A Rule About Being Obligated To Complete The Sale Somewhere- If EVERY Seller Did Not Sell Unless The Bidding Was High Enough It Would Destroy Our Whole System Of Trust, & It Wouldn't Be Worth Bidders Time To Bid If It Wasn't Going To End With a Winner.)
That He Mentioned A Price In The Auction Is Not Important- There Was No Reserve.
But His Actions May Not Be Deliberate & Maybe You Can Work Things Out With Him. Is The seller New? That He Used Broken English May Mean He Did Not Or Was Unable To Read The User Aggreement & If He's New maybe No one Has Told Him Yet. As A Seller I Have Had Customers That Clearly Had A Hard Time With English +/or Reading... Not All These Transactions Ended Badly- A Few Have Ended Very Well. Make Sure He Understands Your Mail (Use The Easiest Words Possible- Judge His Level By His Auction & E-mail) & Try Explaining The Rules (Refer To Ebay's User Agreement & Seller Rules). It May Just Get Him To Sell at Your High Bid! Maybe He Did Not Realize That What He Did Is Not A Reserve. Also With Communication Problems A Phone Call May Work, If It's Not To Expensive.. Use Your Judgement & Try To Give The Benefit Of The Doubt First (Unless He Clearly Has A Long History Of This!). Give Him A chance Before Posting Negative. A Few Times I Have Been Very Wrong About People On Ebay & I Was Glad That I Was Not Too Quick To Action To Understand Their Side.
posted on November 14, 2000 04:39:04 AM new
This is not a new seller although he recently changed his id. There were many auctions listed at the same time three at the 1.00 minimum bid others beginning more reasonably.I have reported to safe harbor and am awaiting reply. Just kind of sneaky, and blatant at that...
[ edited by rchnkch on Nov 14, 2000 04:40 AM ]
[ edited by rchnkch on Nov 14, 2000 04:46 AM ]
