When Ebay Goes Wrong

[Lons]

I didn't think my reply would be popular, but it was truthful, probably a lot more truthful that some others

Ebay should be treated like a car boot, that's basically what it is and just like a car boot, sometimes you get a bargain, sometimes you don't.

At a car boot sale you are face to face and accept or reject an offer, on an auction the seller has the facility to reject bids so by leaving them on he is accepting just as the buying accepts it's binding. There are always people prepared to flout these conditions on both sides but it's still cheating.

I guess you are being honest but only in that you are prepared to act dishonourably.. Not clever imo and certainly not something I would or have done.

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

I am afraid I will have to side with the seller. Ebay makes adding a reserve price costly but it's free to list without. Sometimes you don't know the value of an item until you try and sell it.

I myself have put things up for sale thinking they might make £20 or £30 and then the auction ends at £1.50 and it was a free postage auction as well.
What to do in that situation? I would lose money if I posted it, and sometimes if that's all the item is worth I might as well keep it. So I have cancelled auctions before. It stinks for the buyer, but it stinks for the seller too.
.

I had a clear out of tools a few years ago, one thing I listed was a large 3 phase twin compressor pump that had been a back up at a factory and was essentially unused, I had swapped it for a smaller compressor, it was easy worth a grand (much more new), sold for £14. The guy came to pick it up and handed me a twenty, I tried to give him change but he wouldn't take it. As far as I am concerned if you enter a sale on ebay you honour it, simple as that, my integrity is more important to me than money. In the same clear out I listed a diesel honda welder generator that I had bought 2 years earlier for £1300 and used daily, it went for £1850, you win some you lose some.

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

.
You can argue all you like about what "should" happen in the world, or you can accept the reality of what does happen.

Down the road from my sister's house someone threw acid in a pizza delivery driver's face just so he could steal his moped, however if I wanted a moped I would work to save money and buy one, am I naive? A pot of acid would cost me less than a moped. Obviously throwing acid in someone's face is on a different level of wrongness than dishonouring an ebay sale, but the attitude that it is ok to do something because "it happens" is a road to a messed up world. Just because things "do happen" does not mean you should emulate them.

 

[Rorschach]

I said my response wouldn't be popular, anyone would think it was a sharpening thread. :lol:

 

[Rorschach]

Oh and before you all completely write me off as the devil incarnate, when I do have tools and things that I know will not sell for very much, I give them away, and I have given away a lot of stuff over the years, tools, materials, consumables and many hours of my time doing things for other people. However I do that for people I know will appreciate it such as forum members with similar interests.

I am not however prepared to give away or lose money sending something to a stranger because of a genuine mistake when they might turn around and profit from it as they only bought it because it was a bargain.

 

[D_W]

I said my response wouldn't be popular, anyone would think it was a sharpening thread. :lol:

Oh, come on now...it's not *that* bad

 

[Tasky]

You can argue all you like about what "should" happen in the world, or you can accept the reality of what does happen.

I think what's more important is why it happens and why so often...

I don't sell much on eBay, but last I checked any use of the Reserve features meant you still got charged a percentage even if the item didn't sell. I assume this was to encourage more 99p auctions and free postages.
Also, putting a relavtively high postage price was also stomped on, as eBay set the postage fees themselves, based on approximate item weight... which might have changed recently.
Generally eBay seems to have many rules that favour the buyers and either stuff the sellers, or greatly disadvantage them... which I understand contributed to their split from PayPal.

Technically though, contracts be damned - A seller can (for various reasons) pull an item from sale right up to the point where you pay for it, upon which it's then yours... unless they issue a refund. And I'm not just talking about eBay now, either.

 

[D_W]

Perhaps there's something different in the UK vs. here. If you start an auction at a higher price, and the item doesn't sell, you don't pay anything.

I have no idea why anyone would use reserve auctions anymore - when I see an item for a price with "reserve not met" next to it, I don't bid. Nobody does (that's an exaggeration, but you segment the pool of buyers to a smaller group), it's not worth the trouble. I figure "the person who listed the item really isn't interested in selling it, so why bother?".

With a fixed price listing, it's pretty easy to tell. or an auction that starts at its reserve, same.

If you don't like the rules, don't list. If you're willing to just lie to people by not keeping your word, then, well, I guess that makes you a liar. If you make an outright listing mistake (listing a 1000 pound item for 10 due to a decimal point issue, etc), that's entirely different. Claiming a listing mistake when you don't get what you want is just lying, for your gain and someone else's loss.

 

[Tasky]

If you make an outright listing mistake (listing a 1000 pound item for 10 due to a decimal point issue, etc), that's entirely different.

Sellers will still slam you for it, though.
Same as if you state quite clearly that you have it advertised for sale elsewhere (like on Autotrader, as people often do).
But still, eBay has so many mechanisms that side with or favour the buyer, which is why Gumtree and all these other alternative sites are popping up.

Plus it's such a bloody mission getting things all done up and listed, it's a wonder anyone bothers selling on eBay any more. Must be a full-time job for actual shops that sell there!

 

[RogerP]

"But still, eBay has so many mechanisms that side with or favour the buyer, which is why Gumtree and all these other alternative sites are popping up."
eBay owns Gumtree.

 

[Tasky]

eBay owns Gumtree.

And another reason why people are using CraigsList and other alternatives.... :lol:

Edit: No, wait, eBay owns 25% of that, too..... !!!
Preloved? eBid? Shpock? It can't own them all??

 

[Rorschach]

If you list with a reserve, you pay a fee whether it sells or not. If you have no idea of the value of something you cannot set a reserve anyway. You have no choice but to list at 99p. If you charge postage, you get hit with a fee for the postage so it's best to list with free postage. So what then do you do when the item sells for £1.50? You have to use recorded delivery which is a minimum of £3.90 postage, and you will be charge 15p ebay fees and 8p paypal fee. Am I just meant to post it and suck it up? You may be happy to do so, I am not.

As I said I have been in the position of both buyer and seller. I have won things that are worth many times what I paid, sometimes they post it, sometimes they cancel, I live with it.

 

[powertools]

Personally I think eBay is amazing.
I have been able to buy things I want that haven't been made for many years, and have sold items that I no longer want that to me are rubbish but have felt that someone may want them.
The list would include tools and parts for old cars, sometimes it goes wrong but without eBay you would not have had the chance to try to buy or sell these sort of things.

 

[D_W]

If you list with a reserve, you pay a fee whether it sells or not. If you have no idea of the value of something you cannot set a reserve anyway. You have no choice but to list at 99p. If you charge postage, you get hit with a fee for the postage so it's best to list with free postage. So what then do you do when the item sells for £1.50? You have to use recorded delivery which is a minimum of £3.90 postage, and you will be charge 15p ebay fees and 8p paypal fee. Am I just meant to post it and suck it up? You may be happy to do so, I am not.

As I said I have been in the position of both buyer and seller. I have won things that are worth many times what I paid, sometimes they post it, sometimes they cancel, I live with it.

the fact that you pay 13% commission on the postage makes it completely irrational to conclude that you should give the other 87% away. You list ebay with postage, you let them calculate standard rates, and you either pay 13%, or what's more likely here, the commercial postage rate that you pay is more than 13% less than what the buyer paid in the first place.

Then, if your item sells for 1 quid, you're out nothing but time and the item. You entered the contract, you do what you said you would do or you're just a liar. If you're OK with that, then no problem other than dealing with the buyer and ebay for not doing what you said you would.

I have listed scads of items on ebay for BIN price and never paid a premium for doing that. There is no upside if you do that, but if you put up a price you're comfortable with, who cares? If the item doesn't sell, it costs you nothing unless you're a business seller selling hundreds of items per month.

In 15 years, I have sold about 400 items on ebay. there hasn't been a single time that I sold something and was out net negative. It's not necessary to do that, and if you're having an issue with it, just charge the applicable postage rate, and if you can't stand 13% that ebay takes, add that as a handling fee.

 

[D_W]

Not that it's surprising, but the seller ultimately decided not to send these chisels. Again claiming there was a listing mistake after admitting that there wasn't and that she was afraid of being out of money after paying shipping.

The terms of the sale paid her the close, and she only had to ship to the GSP center that Ebay runs in the UK (or one of them).

Not a fan of liars! First lying about why she took the listing down, and then lying again after seemingly telling the truth temporarily.