posted on September 21, 2000 08:08:30 PM
I have NO idea how this happened. I start an auction at $50 with NR. About a couple of days ago I noticed it was up to $70. I looked at bid history and it showed only 1 bidder. I emailed Yahoo to see how this was possible BUT have NOT received ANY response.
Well, the auction closed tonight and I have already received the EOA notice from Yahoo. It shows started at $50 closed at $70. The bidder is from Japan. I went back into the closed auction and it shows 1 bidder only but a bid of $70. How is this possible? I could understand if I had entered a reserve, but I didn't. Unless I screwed up big time! This WAS a resubmit and I did change my start, maybe I put in a reserve and didn't realize it? Unfortunately, my title declares NO RESERVE!
I recently bid on an item that HAD a reserve. I did not reach the reserve with my proxy BUT my proxy bid became the current price showing on the auction. I didn't realize this would happen IF someone else did not come along and place a bid. It doesn't on eBay. I really didn't let it bother me. I figured at least this way the seller would KNOW what I was willing to pay in case nobody else bid. They might decide to take my max. NOW I am wondering if there is maybe something wrong with the system???
I want to get in touch with this buyer ASAP BUT I want to be sure HE/SHE owes me $70 and NOT $50! Any suggestions??????
[ edited by sulyn1950 on Sep 21, 2000 08:16 PM ]
posted on September 21, 2000 08:23:35 PM
Did you click on th "advanced bid history"? This will show all of the bids as they came in. If this person made multiple bids, that is confusing? Also if the person made only one bid, then they errored in the amount, I would think. If so, it is up to you. But, personally, I would give it to them for the $50. to protect my reputation. If that was what you were willing to take anyway.
Another possibility, some one below this person withdrew their bid(s).
[ edited by mint4you on Sep 21, 2000 08:25 PM ]
Third possibility, could have been shill bidding that went wrong. The "advanced Bid History" will tell you a lot about it.
[ edited by mint4you on Sep 21, 2000 08:29 PM ]
posted on September 21, 2000 09:01:59 PM
That's what really bugs me about this, on the closed page, it does not even allow me to check out advanced bid history. There isn't a link or those words anywhere on the whole page!!!!Just says bid history. When you click on it you get the closed auction page and that 1 person shown as the winner with their email addy.
posted on September 21, 2000 09:02:42 PM
On E-bay, every time you place a bid, the proxy automatically kicks in to keep your actual bid as low as possible. On Yahoo when you bid, you have a choice...you can either use the proxy, or you can choose to "bid this exact amount". I have had similar situations before, and I assume that they chose the bid this exact amount option so that is what I send them an invoice for. Haven't had a problem or complaint about it yet. That is most likely what happened here.
posted on September 21, 2000 09:12:15 PM
It sounds like a simple case of the bidder mistakenly choosing exact rather than proxy bid. It happens more often than anyone might think.
Yahoo is the only site I know of that offers an option at the time of bid placement. If your bidder is a newbie he likely just clicked the wrong one and meant to proxy up to $70 in case of a competing bidder.
The winner emails to both the buyer and seller show the win amount as $70 and it is your option to accept $50 and explain his error. You could charge $70 but if/when he realized his mistake he would likely come back and neg you. (Even though it's his fault he'd probably accuse you of ripping him off.)
In case you're wondering Yahoo offers exact amount bidding for 2 reasons
1) If you need to meet reserve and no one is bidding against you
2) If there's a higher buy price than opening someone can bid more to close & win early
If neither situation is applicable bidders must choose proxy bid rather than exact amount bid.
posted on September 21, 2000 09:14:03 PM
auctionee-I was just coming back to ask if maybe that is what happened. I DID find the advanced bid history! It shows:
9/18 places bid for XXXXX1@70
9/11 auction created 1@50
I also tried to search through some auctions to see what wording appears WHEN a reserve is met. I could NOT find a single auction that made any denotation that a reserve had been met. On eBay that appears in () behind the current high bid.
I found lots of auctions where there was a note that there was a reserve.
I found lots that said reserve NOT met.
None that said "reserve met".
Does Yahoo just automatically DROP the notation at the bottom that says the thingy about it having a reserve WHEN reserve IS met???
posted on September 21, 2000 09:26:15 PM
Kasmoon-I believe that is WHAT happened. This buyer is from Japan they only have a rating of 1. I sure would like the $70 cause I took a gambel at starting low without a reserve and LOST. However, I really don't want to take advantage of anyone. I am about to send out my EOA so I guess I'll just explain how the two types of bidding work on Yahoo and go from there.
posted on September 21, 2000 10:31:00 PM
I've had bidders use the "bid this exact amount" option rather than "bid UP TO this amount", when they were the only bidder, and I charged them the full amount. No one has ever complained.
You really don't know if they did this by mistake or not (some bidders could use it to discourage anyone else from bidding), but I'd charge him the full bid amount, since SOMEONE ELSE might have bid MORE than the opening $50.00 had the $70.00 bid not been there.
And $70.00 doesn't seem like as much money to a Japanese bidder as it does to an American---they're used to high prices.
