posted on November 27, 2000 07:01:40 PM new
A frequent customer of mine ended an auction early by using Buy It Now. This was on 11/25. On 11/26, another frequent customer was able to *also* use Buy It Now on the exact same auction and furthermore, pay using Billpoint.
I find this very frightening. And I have double and triplechecked...this is indeed exactly what happened. I forwarded this info to eBay but we'll be making snow cones in the hot country long before I ever get a real answer.
Fortunately, I had two of this item and so both customers will be happy...but next time I might not be so lucky.
posted on November 27, 2000 07:11:06 PM new
Hmm that IS weird. However, if there is a glitch (which there is) you would be best to use the "first" bid wins statement in your auction. That would cover it til ebay sends in the troops (they should hit the beach as you say by the hot weather)
They have admitted on announcements that BIN is flawed- what else is new?
G'luck
posted on November 27, 2000 07:36:42 PM new
Flawed? Did you say flawed? BIN had a well documented glitch when it was first released involving cases where the BIN price was the same as the opening bid, and the prices were listed in whole dollars.
To have such a very basic bug can only mean one thing: it was beta-tested by a team comprised of Krusty the Clown, Meg and Elian Gonzolez. There could be no other excuse, and even this excuse stinks.
posted on November 27, 2000 07:41:02 PM new
bettylou:
This may have just been operator trouble with your buyers. The closed BIN auctions still come up in search- so some potential buyers may not notice that the auction is closed, and attempt to buy the item anyway. And folks can pay with BillPoint outside auctions.
When you look at the auction, I'm guessing it only shows one bidder- that being your first bidder, right? And there's still a link on the closed auction to find out more about "Buy it now," right? That's probably what your second "buyer" clicked on.
posted on November 27, 2000 07:54:38 PM new
[i]it was beta-tested by a team comprised of Krusty the Clown, Meg and Elian Gonzolez[i/]
ROFLMAO
bettylou I'm sorry to hear about the problem, luckily you had another item to sell.
Tonite I had my first experience with BIN. I listed a set of old books on a ten day auction. This was a relist as the previous auction did not hit the reserve, so I thought I would add the BIN feature.
2nd day, got home checked the mail.....BAM..
"Auction Ended" with BIN... I got a pretty good price, so I hope everything goes ok.
And there's still a link on the closed auction to find out more about "Buy it now," right? That's probably what your second "buyer" clicked on.
I saw this on my page also. I didn't click on the link, but that sounds like a plausible explination. I hope that doesn't happen to me. That was the only set of these I had.
Tim
honaker5 on ebay
edited caus i cnat tyipe worht a #@%*
[ edited by honaker5 on Nov 27, 2000 07:55 PM ]
posted on November 27, 2000 09:45:24 PM new
magazine_guy, that's plausible except that the second buyer is pretty eBay-literate, and when he says he was able to complete the BIN sequence, I believe him. Especially since he did a second BIN transaction with me at the same time (for a different auction of course).
Does it seem reasonable that a buyer should be able to complete a Billpoint payment for an auction they were not high bidder on? I don't follow these boards all that closely, so this may have been mentioned previously. (And I rarely offer Billpoint.)
posted on November 28, 2000 06:35:50 AM new
Since BIN was introduced, I have used it consistently. For the 1st couple of weeks I had your problem happen once - from that point on I watched my auctions VERY closely and when there was a bid and the auction didn't automatically close I went in and closed it. I had to manually close about 7 auctions - recently, for us, the system has been functioning fairly well.
But like you I did have one with 2 bidders, and as you, fortunately I had 2 of the item.
posted on November 28, 2000 06:55:57 AM new
jwpc: I am also interested in closing my auctions that end with BIN. But I went over the ebay info and I am not sure how to do it. They say if you want to end an auction early you have to cancel the bids. Surely that's not the case here?
If anyone can walk me through it, I'd appreciate the help! thanks!
posted on November 28, 2000 09:58:25 AM new
No, you do not HAVE to cancel bids to end your auction early. If you end your auction early without cancelling bids, you must sell to the high bidder. If you decided not to sell for whatever reason, THEN cancel bids before ending the auction, so you don't have a high bidder.
posted on November 28, 2000 12:16:46 PM new
All: Well, I heard back from eBay Support. (Will wonders never cease?) Yes, they confirmed that it is in fact possible to use Billpoint to pay for someone else's auction win. There is no error-checking. Stupid.
