So I was watching a group lot of coins on Ebay. There were five in total but I only needed one of them. The price per coin was very reasonable, but again, I only needed one. It was an auction with a "make an offer" option. A bit unusual, but whatever. I watched this auction for several weeks. No one bid on it week after week. Opening bid was $125 - $25 per coin. I would probably have paid $50 for the one I wanted, but this was a full set of items and I didn't want to insult the seller by asking him to break up the set. So I tendered an offer - $90. It was immediately rejected - one of those auto rejects. Sheesh. So I let another week or so go by. Still available, no opening bids. This time I offered $95. Again it was immediately rejected - auto reject. I was determined to get the piece that I needed. I've seen it before, something languishes for weeks with no opening bids. I place one bid, then all of the "watchers" come out of the woodwork and drive the price beyond what I will absorb for the ONE piece that I wanted. So I sleep on it. The next morning I make a full opening bid offer - $125. I wait. Nothing, no auto accept. I gave up. Later that day I received notice of a counter offer from the seller. Of course, he knew that I was interested, I figured he wanted to bump me up a little from opening bid. Heck, if I sniped the listing a few seconds before it closed, at least I could get it for opening bid. I wasn't hopeful. I waited a few hours before checking the counter offer . . . . What? I offered $125, the counter offer was for $100 . . . . !! Hail, immediate accept and pay . . . . The group lot is on its way to me . . There's a first time for EVERYTHING . . . . Z
It isn't over until it is over, though. The seller options are still: It is in the mail/that was a typo/no, I accepted the $125 offer.
I've had the same thing happen. Seller responds late to the offer with a lower then minimum bid price. If I recall the auction plaid out and I couldn't compete the lower offer sale. Good luck. Might I add that it doesn't cost anything to ask probably should have asked the seller if he would sell the coin you wanted separate.
Check your financial transaction to see if it was for $100 or the overlooked $125. If it's a long time seller, most likely they'll charge you the $100. There are actually plenty of honest and fair sellers on EBAY, despite the constant negativity.
Good possibility, but that first offer was auto rejected. No followup or counter offer. I let another week go by before offering $95. It was a full set. The one I needed is the one EVERYONE needs (that collects this stuff). I can use the duplicates / spares for "trade fodder", or just keep them as duplicates in the set while "patiently" searching for a second thereby completing two sets. It really wouldn't have been "good form" to cherrypick the set leaving him with the more common pieces. I got lucky at that point, because no one had placed the opening bid before I accepted. Once I accepted, the "auction" was over. I've already got the tracking number and the Post Office is in posession. Charge to my CC was for the correct amount, verified through PP and Ebay purchases. I should note that this was a seller I have purchased from a few times in the past. Transactions have always been good. This was kind of unexpected . . . . . Z
Perhaps he took his family to the beach...then, checking the "reject" folder when he got back, saw your bids, and countered your highest reject.
That is interesting. I have bid on a coin with sill bidding trying to bump up my bid. Once I stopped bidding higher and higher they ended the auction saying it was already sold. No...they did not get the money amount they wanted. They then restarted the auction all over again. Needless to say I sent them a very mad e-mail and that I reported them to Ebay for shill bidding on their own auction. Man I hate that.
I won an auction for an Unc roll of 1943-S a while back ($189 winning bid). The seller, from whom I had previously done business with no problem, said he had a party and someone stole my roll. He asked if I would be kind enough to cancel the sale...which I did. A week or so later, the guy has another Unc roll of 1943-S cents up for auction. I wrote him asking about it. The guys says, "Oh, that's another roll. Your roll was stolen". I'm like "WTF?! I don't care which roll was stolen. I won your auction and you had a roll to satisfy the deal!". He just said..."Oh, well...". Coincidently, his seller name was/is "Live & Learn".
I do not believe it was stolen. He wanted more money for that roll. I hate sellers like that. I would never buy from that seller ever again and I would tell the world of his lousy service.
I have won several auctions over the years with super low bids only to receive an email from the seller with some lame excuse like he lost the coin. I am an eBay seller and once had a coin up for auction that went for a little more than half of what I had into it and you know what I did? I shipped it. Was I happy, no but I've always believed a person is only as good as their word.
That seller lost so much more than the cost of the roll. I would bid up all his other auctions even if I didn't win. I never bid on his auctions again after he screwed me.
Twice in one week! The fat lady is singing as part of a duet! Same result, different scenario, different seller . . . . Several weeks ago, a seller had a piece listed for $150 Buy it Now, but had the "make an offer" open. So I offered $120, which he declined - no counter offer. A few weeks later (last week) the same seller listed the same item up for auction. Opening bid was $49. I set up my snipe, knowing there would be last hour competition. I won the auction at $92 . . . . He should have accepted my offer. He wrote me saying I got a steal of a deal. Tracking says it should be here by Friday. Z
