Bagged a bargain, but the seller won't sell.

[RochaCullen]

Bid on an item recently and won it for a really good price. Problem is, a month down the line it looks like the seller doesn't want to talk to me.

What do you do?

[Gordon Steadman]

If it was eBay, raise a dispute. At least you get your money back. Bit late after a month if you haven't though.

[Audio Al]

Ebay wont do anything , All they want is the listing fee and the final valuation fee , you are on you own with this

It happened to me and I got nowhere :(

All you can hope for is your money refunded if you have already paid via paypal

[walpurgis]

Threaten court action. I've had a couple of sellers and buyers who've been reluctant to do business properly. A threat of Small Claims Court action has always worked. If you won the bidding on an eBay item, it is technically your property, even if you have yet to pay for it. You are under no obligation to let eBay deal with it.

[jandl100]

Ah well - I sympathise to an extent with the seller.
A bargain for you may be a disaster for him.
And yes, I am aware of all the issues! ;)

I've had that happen a few times - "oops, I accidently dropped it" or on one occasion a msg saying blatantly "no way am I selling at that price". On another occasion a dealer put up a nice amp at about 1/4 of its real used worth as a BIN - It was obviously a listing error - I bought and paid for it, an hour later my money was refunded, the dealer didn't even bother to communicate with me! :lol:

Just smile, shrug your shoulders and get your money back.

[walpurgis]

There can very occasionally be a situation that is not the seller's fault. But most of the time it's just a take on. Over small values, it's probably not worth the bother, but on a higher value item that you really want or got a serious bargain on, why not stand up for your rights? By the way, eBay have to provide the seller's details for a court claim.

[RobbieGong]

This is an example of why some people hate and will not go near eBay because when something goes wrong people often express that eBay do nothing really. It stinks because all said and done they should be sending out a message that it's a place where any silly stuf wont be tolerated so we can all buy and sell with some confidence. Personally I like eBay a lot and have taken the few bad experiences I've had on the chin, simply because I've had so many good ones. I've seen eBay referred to as EvilBay on quite a few occasions :eyebrows:

[Audio Al]

ebay = money



that's all they want , Listing fees and final valuation fees


If 100.000 sellers have the auctions messed up by zero feedback buyers , ebay get your listing fee money and immediately invoice you for final valuation fees

Then you have to fight to get these fees back

Nice little earner for Mr ebay and friends

[Elephantears]

I once won an amp at a very good price during the August ebay bargain season (at least it used to be) and the seller found a reason not to sell it to me. I went through a long process of complaints to ebay and they were pretty useless. I quite understand how annoyed you will be feeling. Ultimately though, a stoic attitude will probably save wasted time and energy.

[PhilofCas]

Maybe turn it round the other way, if you were to sell at the price you won it for, would you consider it to be an unreasonable bargain?

[The Grand Wazoo]

That's not the point.
If you put something up for auction and you don't want to let it go for less than a certain figure, then there are several ways of ensuring it doesn't happen. If you fail to take those measures and are subsequently disappointed that it sold for a low price, then it's your own bloody stupid fault, not the buyers. The buyer may well have submitted a maximum bid of ten times your notional 'target sale price' and it's not their fault that no-one else was around to ratchet the price up. The rules and the law say that the sale price is legitimate.
If you can't ride with the big boys, then don't saddle up!

[walpurgis]

Maybe turn it round the other way, if you were to sell at the price you won it for, would you consider it to be an unreasonable bargain?

Probably not, but I'm not sure why you asked. Surely the whole point of using eBay is to bag a bargain.

[PhilofCas]

I was more thinking about being a nice/honest/fair individual for a moment (i.e. forget Ebay 'laws' for a minute).

[walpurgis]

That's not the point.
If you put something up for auction and you don't want to let it go for less than a certain figure, then there are several ways of ensuring it doesn't happen. If you fail to take those measures and are subsequently disappointed that it sold for a low price, then it's your own bloody stupid fault, not the buyers. The buyer may well have submitted a maximum bid of ten times your notional 'target sale price' and it's not their fault that no-one else was around to ratchet the price up. The rules and the law say that the sale price is legitimate.
If you can't ride with the big boys, then don't saddle up!

Absolutely!

Learn what it's about before getting involved. Same as anything else in life.

[PaulStewart]

I don't understand some people on here at at all the guy sold it at auction, that is a legal contract, if you have a minimum you want for an item youi set a starting price or a reserve, like any other auction. I have had refunds in similar circumstances from eBay and on other occasions from paypal. On one occasion, over a set of studio lights, I used MoneyClaim online and issued a small claims court summons for the price, the difference between what I paid and what a new set would cost me (lost profit) and 1 and 1/2 times my normal day rate plus £50 for aggravation. All was listed on t˙e application for the summons. His defence was "it sold too cheap" The judge awarded me all I asked for except he cut the £50 aggro fee to 30.

He asked if he could give me the lights plus half of the awarded amount, which I accepted. you also get the fee to issue the summons awarded so it's worth doing.

[Marco]

That's not the point.
If you put something up for auction and you don't want to let it go for less than a certain figure, then there are several ways of ensuring it doesn't happen. If you fail to take those measures and are subsequently disappointed that it sold for a low price, then it's your own bloody stupid fault, not the buyers. The buyer may well have submitted a maximum bid of ten times your notional 'target sale price' and it's not their fault that no-one else was around to ratchet the price up. The rules and the law say that the sale price is legitimate.
If you can't ride with the big boys, then don't saddle up!

Spot on. There is no arguing there, folks, as that is the reality.

Marco.

[kininigin]

A few years ago i was selling an Arcam Delta 290 i used as a power amp.Put up the listing and kinda forgot about it.The listing ended in the early afternoon before i finished work(and everyone else!) and it sold for £11 i think it was! Fair enough i thought,i should have been a bit more on it! Guy came round on a hot day and was looking a bit parched,so i offered him a cold drink.He gave me £20 in the end! I wouldn't dream of coming up with some lame excuse not to sell.

[walpurgis]

A few years ago i was selling an Arcam Delta 290 i used as a power amp.Put up the listing and kinda forgot about it.The listing ended in the early afternoon before i finished work(and everyone else!) and it sold for £11 i think it was! Fair enough i thought,i should have been a bit more on it! Guy came round on a hot day and was looking a bit parched,so i offered him a cold drink.He gave me £20 in the end! I wouldn't dream of coming up with some lame excuse not to sell.

That's how eBay is. It's swings and roundabouts, sometimes you take a hit and other times you come out ahead. It's normally all down to your own judgment how it works out. Unless of course you have to deal with the occasional idiot or chancer.

[kininigin]

Well i've had what i think are bargains,so where is the harm in spreading the love! What goes around,comes around in my experience!

[loo]

I don't understand some people on here at at all the guy sold it at auction, that is a legal contract, if you have a minimum you want for an item youi set a starting price or a reserve, like any other auction. .

Ebay is not an auction , that's why they never do anything other than paypal refunds

[awkwardbydesign]

Ebay is not an auction , that's why they never do anything other than paypal refunds
Eh?

[walpurgis]

Yes, I believe that is true. I forget the difference, but as far as I'm aware eBay sales by bid are not a true auction.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Well, whether it's is a legally defined auction or not is an irrelevance as a contract has been entered into. As long as the things which define a contract are present, then it is legally binding. The pieces of information exchanged in an Ebay transaction are sufficient to constitute those things that are required. If the seller subsequently decides not to fulfill that contract then you are entitled to seek recompense. ~ Really....it's not rocket science you know!

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Hi
Implicit with any transaction in fact what describes a contract, as anything else is pro forma invoicing outlawed in most countries, is that you receive a invoice. If you do not then sadly there really is no contract to speak of. there was speculation of a sale, but without an invoice technically a request for payment describing the item and all postal charges you are in limbo.

However if you received an invoice and subsequently paid that amount, then a refund can be easily achieved via Paypal up to 42 days from date of sale.

I recently had a situation where I entered into buying necessary parts for our preamp, and the seller failed to provide an invoice with 3 requests for that document from me, he was able to file an unpaid item case.. er based on how much with no postage cost provided, so based on nothing more than thin air, I am yet to receive a suitable explanation from eBay detailed here:.
http://community.ebay.com.au/t5/Buying/it-is-possible-as-of-this-date-to-receive-a-unpaid-item-case/td-p/1225277/page/2

The seller very quickly dispatched my item and positive feedback was left by myself to the seller and the seller to me

Which is why I have commenced our .com site and already getting sales there, so eBay have a bit of growing up and maturing to recognize that an invoice is the contract pivot point with auctions, ..

[Reffc]

There is no grey areas here at all. Sales law of the United Kingdom is based upon offer and acceptance becoming binding. If an offer to treat is given via an auction for goods, and that auction is entered into, and subsequently won, then the offer has been made and acceptance via a winning bid to pay for the goods by the buyer made. However, this acceptance does not place a binding obligation on the seller until an invoice has been dispatched, that accepted and paid by the buyer. Once that happens, the offer and acceptance become binding in law and a contract has been made. If the seller has issued an invoice (or rather Ebay has) and it is paid, then implicitly, the seller has entered into a legally binding contract and the goods are technically yours. Good luck with that one as under Ebay rules, the best you can hope for is a return of payment via the paypal resolution centre if they are sent out to you. Failure to supply the goods could be viewed as Civil Tort (breach of contract), unless fraudulent action can be proven, where I guess it might be viewed differently. Again, good luck with that one.

[PhilofCas]

I'm taking it that the seller in this instance has chosen not to send an invoice (or anything else for that matter), sounds to me that the seller made a mistake in how he set the auction/sale up in the first place.

[The Barbarian]

I have had a total of three sellers in a line that would not sell me the item unless i paid the postage off auction i ofc refused on all occasions..

[Beobloke]

Bid on an item recently and won it for a really good price. Problem is, a month down the line it looks like the seller doesn't want to talk to me.

What do you do?

Have you actually paid for the item or are you waiting for an invoice/confirmation of total?

If you've paid then get cracking on eBay's official "Where is my item?" process. If you're awaiting the total then it may be time to move on, leaving him a nice negative feedback. Heck, I'd report him to eBay for good measure!

[Barry]

I once 'won' an item on eBay by making the highest bid. The seller had not stated the cost of dispatch at the time of auction, and when asked for this the seller "disappeared". Clearly he had been disappointed with the relatively low value of my 'winning' bid. Despite eBay giving me his contact details, I obtained no reply. All this was reported to eBay who subsequently banned the seller.

[Light Dependant Resistor]

Hi
Ebay appear to be reconsidering very much for the better :), the moment of sale allowing time between seller and buyer where postage costs and invoicing has not been finalized, they replied to me as follows;


Hi Chris,

Thank you for the quick reply. I apologize for the late reply.

Thank you for your suggestion. This has been forwarded to our site development team for a review. These changes may not take effect instantly as studies will have to be done to gauge it's impact on other members as well.

When an unpaid item case is opened , this will stay open for a minimum time of 4 days . This will serve as a payment reminder to our buyers that they need to either pay the item or contact the seller to ask a question or request a completed invoice .

Communication between trading partners is crucial on resolving transaction related issues.

Glad to help.

Howell H.[/I]