First time this has happened/Ebay problem

I just got the all bids cancelled seller ended auction, I was bidding on a P&D souveneir mint set and there was only 2 of us bidding. At the last minute the seller pulled the auction and cancelled our bids. that stinks!!!

 

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Something needs to be done about this!!! How many times does this happen???? Probably all the time and ebay just turns a blind eye. There is no victory for the little guy. :vanish:

 

It is nice to see that there are classy sellers on there still. In fact I believe the great majority of sellers on there are pretty good. It is that lunatic fringe of 1% that foul up the whole venue and get all the press.

I have sold stuff at bargain prices, and all I can figure is that the buyer lucked out big time, I figure with fleaBay it is a 50/50 shoot, sometimes I have sold items at many many times what I had into them and it all evens out in the end. Similarly I have bought stuff at ridiculous prices, usually paper money, like last year I bought a grouping of Northern Ireland specimen notes for something like $40 that retail for about $300. Reputable seller though, sent them right away, securely etc. Got a glowing feedback, but more than that, got more business on his off eBay website - he stocks a lot of Canadian stuff.

 

There is nothing hat can be done because it is perfectly legal under eBay rules. The seller can cancel the bids at any time. Ebay did do one thing though that can cause it to come back an bite a seller who does that. It used to be the seller could cancel the bids and end the auction at any time. He can still cancel the bids, but he can no longer end the auction during the last 12 hours. Many sellers have tried canceling bids in auctions where they weren't happy with how they are going only to have one of th bidders pop back in with another last minute bid and win the coin for far less than their original canceled bid.

 

But thats the thing....I believe he canceled the auction a few hours before it was supposed to have eneded. Could be wrong on this, but I am pretty sure it was just a few hours before.

 

If you truly have a negative experience, leave negative feedback. It may not sound like much at the time but people will not (er.... should not?) pay top dollar for items from someone who has negative feedback. The law of averages says It takes 11 positives to outdo 1 negative, and they should quickly realize the long term effects with their sales. They save $150 on one transaction but the ensuing bids will make up the difference. Sure it doesn't help your situation, but if you believe in karma they'll get theirs! LOL

 

Normally when a seller ends an auction early he has to state a reason (No longer available, error in the listing etc.) and it appears at the top of the auction. I don't see anything on this one that says the seller ended it early.

 

Its a conspiracy dude!!!!

After seeing your post, I thought to myself that you didn't see the right thing so I decided to go back and look for myself and sure enough, there it was..... 0 bids....auction ended early.

But thats a lie!!!!!! I bid on this coin. Ahhh whatever....I should just stick to what I know and stop messing around with this foreign crap. :computer:

 

Since this keeps getting bumped up to the top, I will post something that popped into my head when I first read this:

On the holiday weekend one of our members pulled some of his auctions because he knew that he would not get the value that he wanted from them, canceling the bids and ending the auction. He posted on here asking if people believed it was ethical or not to do this. While Jaceravone, I would assume, would claim it is unethical, many in the thread supported this action saying that it was just smart business. This post even included some of the bidders on the items saying they were fine with it. This is the thread: http://www.cointalk.com/t68598/

I just wonder what you guys here think about this since you seem fairly upset that other people do this. Is it ok because we know him, and want him to get a fair price? Or would you still be upset if you had bid on one of his auctions and recomend neg rep or opening a case with eBay? One poster on the thread even went as far as saying if this even happens once, he would never bid on that persons auctions. Would you not bid on AJ's auctions, even though you know him on the forum as a stand up guy?

These are just some thoughts that I have been mulling over in my head, and I haven't come up with a decent answer about them so do not take this as a judgement on anyone. I just wanted to see what you thought about this ethical deliema.

 

I think the seller, if he posts more than 5 items a month, gets charged an insertion fee, and should realize that they are losing money ending items early. it's much easier to set a higher starting bid, or a reserve. The seller can say the item is no longer available, and doesn't have to give a reason. It's slightly unethical, and slightly not too smart.

 

Wiggam brings up a very good arguement.

I guess I should state that I am not terribly upset by them pulling the auction as I make it out to be. I guess I am feeding into the hysteria of being ripped off again on ebay and fulling the OP's thread.

I can't say that this is the first time this has happened to me nor will it be the last. I know why the seller pulled the auction..... because I was about to get a fairly expensive coin for 99 cents. Do I fault him for pulling the auction...NO (he probably paid a lot more than 99 cents to aquire this coin), but is this ethical??? That is the question that Wiggam poses.

This is why ebay and other auction sites set up reserve prices so that stuff like this doesn't happen. Also, if the seller needed a minumum price for this item, then they should just start the bidding out at that price.

Part of the psychology for starting an item out with no reserve and a low starting price allows buyers to feed into the bidding frenzy. I have this problem at our local coin club meetings where the auction person will start the bidding out at an items true value. But who wants to buy something for its really value, when you can get deals elsewhere for less? So what happens is that the auctioneer continues to lower the price on the item until someone finally bids on it. The crazy thing is that many times the item gets back to the original starting price or exceedes the original starting price of the item. This gets the auctioneer upset, but he just doesn't get the bidding nature of people. People want to fight and claw their way to victory. Whats the thrill in a kill, if it can be done in one blow?

Anyway, enough rambling for me. The point I wanted to make was that I understand why the seller ended the auction and can appreciate that, but there are safety nets that allow sellers not to lose out on their investment. If you don't use those tools, then you should take the risk of loosing the item for less than you paid.

 

You nailed it...eBay should have some limit to the number of auctions a seller can end early. That may reduce some of this nonsense.

 

Yup, sometimes all you can do is leave the neg as a warning for others. Oh and file the complaint, it may not go anywhere but he deserves that kick into reality. What a jerk!!

 

You can't leave a neg if you don't win an auction. You can make a complaint, but I seriously doubt ebay will do anything. They make the listing fees in any case.

Bruce

 

Correct... the transaction must be completed to leave feedback. There is no way to warn future buyers (via feedback) about this type of practice.

 

Be sure to keep a close eye on the seller going forward. Watch him/her for at least 2 months. These folks will often relist the item after a while thinking no one will notice. If that happens you have another case for Ebay to pursue. I would also keep an eye on Teletrade. Since they bought it there originally they may try and sell it through them in an attempt to at least recover what they paid.

 

But if they set a reserve they have to pay eBay an additional fee. Plus a reserve auction tends to chase off some potential bidders. So the seller is paying extra to chase away bidders.