posted on March 7, 2001 06:02:24 AM
Whats going on? I'm getting emails everyday someone telling me they forgot to bid, or web tv was down or something. Will you sell to me? I used to get an email occasionally but lately its daily. Is this happening with anyone else?
posted on March 7, 2001 06:13:09 AM
I sometimes sell to a customer that I know, but to a new name out of the blue, makes me nervous. Could be ebay calling........... Know what I mean.
posted on March 7, 2001 06:37:59 AM
If someone really wants to bid on your auction, they WILL find a way to bid before the auction is over! (At least I would).
posted on March 7, 2001 06:58:14 AM
This happened to me also last week. They forgot to bid on an item I had so i offered to put it up again with a BIN and let them know when it is on. I checked the bidders feedback which is good, but he signed up in 99, has a bunch of feedback from that year, but only 1 in 2000 and 1 in 2001. Something just didn't feel right. Better safe then sorry!
posted on March 7, 2001 07:01:56 AM
Odd, I had one the other day, too. Don't normally have any. Asked if I had any more X to sell, told him no, but would be glad to hook him up with the winner. He said sure, so I forwarded the email over. Doesn't matter to me WHO I ship to.
Some people wait till the last few minutes to bid, thinking they will get a deal...But, without the snipewear, they just don't have a chance, thus don't win.
posted on March 7, 2001 07:23:39 AM
Folks tend to forget about an auction if they originally chose the "watch this auction" feature. *sigh*
The Ask Seller A Question has made it easier for buyers to contact sellers that tend to sell the same things (or similar items) on a regular basis.
As far as eBay police... as far as I know, eBay doesn't have anyone "knocking on the doors" of sellers in an attempt to catch them selling outside of the format. It wouldn't be cost effective... besides, the infraction wouldn't be that the seller accepst such an offer... the infraction would actually be in the BUYER contacting the seller with an offer to purchase.
Since most sellers are on line to SELL... I don't think such approaches by potential buyers would be considered as "SPAM" by sellers serious about SELLING.
I think the ebay "Cyber-Cops" are self appointed non-ebay employee's who feel they are doing the right thing by hunting down all of the "bad" sellers and turning them in to ebay.
After Ebay announced the new policy, I had one of my bidders send me an email that said, "Hi, received the wicket. Can I buy another one "off of" ebay from you?" I checked my feedback and none had been left for this transaction from this bidder. I sent an email saying that I had started another auction if they would like to bid on one. (Same price) No bid was ever placed, no answer from my email, and no positive feedback ever posted. Could this have been a bidder who was unhappy with the transaction and was trying to get me into "trouble" with ebay?
I have now received email after email asking me if I could could sell something off of ebay. I get all of the reasons: "I forgot to bid, I was out bid, I can't bid my computer is down." I had someone who said, "Please hurry with your answer! If your item doesn't sell the first time around, will you sell it to me off of ebay? They sent 2 emails 3 hours before the auction ended. I wanted to ask them if they thought I was an idiot. The email came after the auction closed or I would have said no, but if you bid on it and win, then it is yours.
Other favorites: "I was outbid. Can I buy another one off of ebay for the same price as the winner? They were outbid 2 days before the auction ended! Another said "I was outbid by a few dollars. Can I buy another one for what the winning bidder paid?" I want to ask them why they didn't just bid higher.
Ahh well, thanks for letting me rant!
Some of the people may not be cyber-cops, and some of the excuses might be valid. I find it's better to adopt a policy of "Sorry, I can't sell it off of ebay." for all cases than worry about if one is a cyber-cop.
posted on March 7, 2001 09:09:46 PM
Listing one item for sale through eBay does not give them an exclusive right of distribution for items I choose not to list through them. If I receive a request to purchase any of my items that I do not have listed for sale on eBay, my response is:
posted on March 7, 2001 09:44:42 PM
I would like 24.
I would like to pay with jelly donuts and cheez whiz. We can send payment out right away although we cannot be held responsible for damage during shipment unless insurance is purchased
