posted on May 7, 2001 08:10:20 PM new
My freind won an auction. The seller took
7 days, and wrote her this email, of which I am taking out auction numbers, names etc.
Hi XXXXX-
We have a problem in completing this transaction.
There was an error in the listing of this bear in regards to the reserve price.
This bear was originally listed on ebay #XXXXXXXXXX on 4/16/01 with a reserve price of $1800, it did not meet the reserve but had 15 bids with an end of auction total of $716.00. We did not have it identified as a Steiff bear. We were then told that it was such.
It was then re-listed on ebay #XXXXXXXXXX on 4/17/01 with the same reserve price of $1800. This auction was ended within 48 hours because there was an error in the listing (power seller logo used mistakenly).
Immediately after ending the auction, the bear was re-listed on ebay #XXXXXXXXXX, and the reserve price was mistakenly not put on.
We are not able to complete this transaction at the final auction price of $482.77. The person who owns the bear will not accept that price, and it was an honest mistake. As you know, this bear is much more valuable than the $1800 reserve that we had put on it. A similar one sold on ebay last month for over $2500.
I am truely sorry about this situation, and hope that we can come to an understanding.
As an fyi- I have spoken with XXXX XXXXX, my ebay account manager representative, tonight regarding this situation. If you would like to contact me, my home phone number is XXX-XXX-XXXX.
Sincerely, XXXX XXXXXX
My freind does collect this type item, and it did NOT have a reserve price.
She waited seven days to receive this email from seller.
Is there any recourse for the buyer in this situation.
On a side note, the seller has 30 odd feedback, and is fairly new. My freind is not new, but new to this PROBLEM.
And another thing, how does or what is an 'ebay account manager representative' that she says she has, isn't that a powerseller thing, and she is NOT a powerseller. (she tried using the logo, and was shut down before,something my freind was not aware of at all)
Any suggestions, besides the negative feedback IMO this seller deserves?
posted on May 7, 2001 08:19:20 PM new
Neg the seller for not following through. Probably the only recourse you have. I don't think you can force them to sell, but they deserve the neg.
Everyone makes the occasional goof, but that is total incompetence.
[ edited by loosecannon on May 7, 2001 08:22 PM ]
posted on May 7, 2001 08:22:07 PM new
That is awful - I have no idea about recourse, but if I were your friend I'd surely leave some clear negative feedback as to what this person has done.
posted on May 7, 2001 08:24:35 PM new
Thanks for the comments. My freind just showed me the 'draft' of which she is writing her, and she is very knowledgeable in Steiff. It was NOT a Steiff bear and not worth what seller said. It was an American bear, (I believe IDEAL) but old.
My freind gave her the links to this (which I didn't know about)
Non-Selling Seller - Refusing payment and failing to deliver an item at the
end of a successful listing.
and it gives stuff about suspensions, investigations etc.
Anyone hear about anything sucessful coming out of this kind of situation?
posted on May 7, 2001 08:28:35 PM new
When you re-list an auction, ebay strips the reserve if it had one on it, and you need to manually replace it. If this is a fairly new seller they may not of known this, and thought that when they hit the relist button that ebay provides, they where getting an exact clone of the closed auction.
If this seller is listing stuff that belongs to someone else, I can see where where he is between the perverbial rock and a hard place.
I don't see anyone "winning" this situation, and have a feeling that maybe it was an error on the part of the seller because he didn't know the QUIRK in relisting reserve auctions.
If what I think happened, I feel sorry for the newby seller. Ebay needs to FIX this.
posted on May 7, 2001 08:34:59 PM new
This auction was relisted THREE times.
The second with someone telling seller it was a Steiff, AND was shut down, because she used the Powerseller logo.
I don't know how she could have made the mistake of not putting the reserve in a third time...... the letter was written long after auction end, telling her 'how much it was worth' etc... and it should have had the reserve....
I told the buyer about this place, and giving her links here.
posted on May 7, 2001 08:41:16 PM new
I have a comment, but I don't want it construed as weighing in on THIS PARTICULAR situation.
I only know that when you relist an auction -- and I've been bitten myself -- the reserve price doesn't get carried along with the rest of the auction (but just try to LOWER the reserve you originally used!!!).
I once relisted one of my nicer pieces and didn't even realize until the auction had already ended that the reserve price (which I don't use all that often) wasn't on it! I didn't sell it at the abysmally low price it ended at -- which was even less than I had paid for it. No way I was going to give it away -- it's not like I'm getting rich on ebay (or even covering all my expenses) and can afford it! At the time I thought it was ebay's fault, but ebay said the reserve price isn't picked up in the relist. (But again, just try to use a lower reserve price than the original listing and see what happens.)
My buyer was none too happy, but what could he do? I felt bad about it -- or at least did, until he was so ungracious about the whole thing.
I'm not sorry. I'll be MUCH more careful hereafter, but I'd do it again. In a heartbeat. And yes, take the neg if it came to that.
I've been bitten a couple of times. At least when it happened to me, once it went higher than the reserve should have been, and the other time it was within 10% so it wasn't a killer to make the sale and keep the buyer happy.
Ebay really does need to fix this.
Edited to add:
Like CleverGirl, I don't know if the Quirk I spoke about has anything to do with this situation, it was just pointed out for information.
posted on May 7, 2001 09:04:12 PM new
I would do as loosecannon suggested, neg and move on... forcing the seller, by coercion, could have worse results. Like ending up with something you didn't want in the first place and the seller could fall back to the email they first sent, saying they couldn't complete the transaction but was forced to send the "item" anyway.
Ain't Life Grand...
posted on May 7, 2001 10:05:28 PM new
This seller deserves a neg.
If it was an honest mistake, what prevented him/her from canceling the auction before it ended and relist it again with a proper reserve. He/she took a chance and lost. It's not like this seller has 400 auctions running at once and never noticed there was no reserve. His feedback is only in the odd thirties.
posted on May 8, 2001 04:47:45 AM new
After sleeping on this, (what you should always do before leaving negative feedback), I have to agree the seller probably deserves a neg. The relist quirk should be fixed, as it would prevent this kind of situation. This auction was a negative experience for the high bidder, and the feedback should reflect this. The bidder isn't accountable for the mistakes of the seller, nor are they accountable for the quirks in ebay. A neg would (hopefully) make this newby seller much more careful in the future.
I'm just glad that the 2 times I did this (I now know how relisting reserve auctions work, and make sure the auction is like I want it before I confirm it) that the final price was high enough that I wasn't faced with eating several hundred $$$ or not completing the sale.
As far as HOW a (particularly a Newby) seller can make a mistake like this, I know how it can happen. Been there, Done that.
posted on May 8, 2001 08:57:39 AM new
Hi Microbes
I appreciate your comments.
I think it was a case of 'someone told her it was worth a lot more' and sellers remorse, or the third party she was selling for.
My friend wrote her a non emotional, factual letter. And I did advise her (Hi K! )
to leave NON emotional, factual neg feedback, when she does do it, which I'm sure she will.
I'd like to know if ebay cares at all if a seller (with 30 something fb) uses that Powerseller logo? Yes I checked all the numbers on this item, and in one she was using it. Someone must have caught it, because I was sure I read somewhere that you had to have at least 100 fb (plus all the other requirements) or is it 50 now?
IMO, I think using the logo is totally wrong, if your not a Powerseller.
