No more selling on eBay for me.

[Imurg]

That's me done with selling on fleabay, been well and truly screwed.
I'd bought a Titleist 909H 19 degree a while back and although its a great club we just couldn't see eye to eye - not enough loft or something.
Anyway, part of the reason I tried the 909 was that if I didn't like it I would be able to re-coup all or at worst most of my cash through eBay. It cost me £90.
The auction was going well and had reached £87 - result! 3 months use and almost no loss.
Then the sonafabitch who has the highest bid retracts said bid with 30 seconds left on the auction. As per eBay rules, bidding rollsback to basically exclude that bidder entirely. The £87 became £47. There was no time left for anyone to re-bid so the auction ends and I have to almost give the club away.
Ebay have agreed that the retraction was against the rules and have hit the bidder with some form of action but it doesn't help me. His reason was trouble with his Paypal account so he couldn't pay. If he'd waited till the end of the auction and told me I could have offered the club to the second highest bidder at £85 - would still have been happy with that. But no. He has to retract and screw me. Yes, I could/should have put a reserve on but it adds to the cost and sometimes frightens buyers off. And quality stuff like a 909 always goes for a decent price - unless you get screwed!

Well thanks for nothing eBay. They're always banging on about "Buyer Protection". Its about time sellers had a bit as well.

 

[Redwood]

Bad luck, Imurg.

Must agree, they definitely need to take a look at themselves and introduce some sort of protective measures for buyers and sellers to stop these types of things from happening. Probably more of tweaking and tightening than a total overhaul.

 

[john0]

Youve just given me a great idea on how to get a great deal on ebay!

Im off to create a 2nd ebay account now

 

[johng]

Youve just given me a great idea on how to get a great deal on ebay!

Im off to create a 2nd ebay account now

I've got a 'friend' who has 2 ebay accounts. Basically 'he' puts in a bid via the 2nd account equal to the minimum ammount he wants and just lets it sit there. Cheaper and easier than adding a reserve and doesn't scare people away.

 

[birdieman]

Come on Imurg, this is Ebay, you win most of the time but sometines you lose.
If your club was really in demand there would have been numerous bidders pushing the price up, there wasn't so you lost out. You'll likely recoup that loss in one go if you buy another club there compared to a regular retail outlet.
Bid retraction is annoying, I've retracted bids occassionally myself after seeing sense but not with 30 seconds left!
You could just cancel the sale, say the club got broken when you were packaging it, make something up, you can keep the club and sell it privately if you really want.

 

[Dodger]

Tough luck but what a cunning plan...

 

[brendy]

Thats a hell of a loophole for folks to exploit.

 

[freddielong]

Just say you are not selling it now, it has happened to me twice where the seller just said the price is to low, Ebay do nothing its a joke

 

[JustOne]

There IS seller protection so I don't know what you're complaining about. If you don't want to put a reserve on your items then why whinge? Why not just set it as a 'buy now' or even 'buy now - best offer'.

If you want to jump into the snake pit of auctions with no reserve how can you possibly complain if your parachute doesn't open?

You are right that sometimes people get scared off when there is a reserve, but they are generally the ones looking for something for nothing, or a 99p golf club.

 

[caslad81]

All you have to do is tell them it has got lost in the post and refund them the money! Simples!

 

[Alex1975]

Bad luck Ian.

He is having a moan cos this is a forum and we are his frends, no harm no foul.

I have to say, I would find the best way to get out of this, even if it means having a chat with the buyer and telling him what happend and offering him it at the £85 mark, or doing him a deal at £80 or something. I dont think I would sell it at sub £50. Hell I know I would not.

 

[thecraw]

Ebay is brilliant.

Bought and sold for years, got some amazing bargains on some items, lost a lot of money on other things. S h i t happens, some you win some you lose!

I would suggest that its more than 90% your own fault. If you didn't want to lose the club for peanuts then why didn;t you set a reserve price of £70 or whatever you were prepared to accept?????

Its only a Titleist after all!

 

[SharkAttack]

I would find the best way to get out of this, even if it means having a chat with the buyer and telling him what happend and offering him it at the £85 mark, or doing him a deal at £80 or something.

You may find the buyer is the guy who withdrew the other offer, so he ain't going to shift on price. As has been said above what a great scam.

 

[Oddsocks]

No reserve items run this risk , just start the auction at roughly what you want to well it at then you done get the reserve charges.

Oh by the way eBay do run proxy checks on second accounts and holding second accounts for the use of fake bidding is totally against both eBay rules and believe it or big the law. There was a huh in the news recently who was found guilty on this abc was sent to the slammer for s couple of years

 

[PhilTheFragger]

No reserve items run this risk , just start the auction at roughly what you want to well it at then you done get the reserve charges.

Oh by the way eBay do run proxy checks on second accounts and holding second accounts for the use of fake bidding is totally against both eBay rules and believe it or big the law. There was a huh in the news recently who was found guilty on this abc was sent to the slammer for s couple of years

Oddsocks is there something wrong with your keyboard ?
or maybe you should proofread your posts,

coz ive read it 4 times and still dont understand all of it

maybe in getting old n grumpy

Fragger

 

[Imurg]

If you didn't want to lose the club for peanuts then why didn;t you set a reserve price of £70 or whatever you were prepared to accept?????

I 100% hear what you're saying, and everyone else as well, but the item had 15 bids up to 87 quid. No reason to think that it was not going to sell for that money. And if Dickspoing hadn't retracted his bid illegally I'd have got a fair price for it.
Just say you put an oldish club up for sale expecting £20 to be the price. On top of the eBay costs you want to put a reserve as well? Course not. So bidding goes to £19.47 with 30 seconds to go. Idiotbloke then retracts all his bids. Price drops to £1.99. YOu're not going to be happy with that.

Yes I lost a bit of cash but its only £40. My rant is about the fact that eBay allows this loophole at all. And although it does checks, it seems there's a few people who have 2 accounts and "play" the system.
It just shouldn't be allowed to happen. There should be no case for retracting bids in the last hour of an auction. Even if you've bid incorrectly it should be left until the auction is over to sort out.
That's the sort of Seller protection I'm on about. What if your reserve was £70 but the bidding by some chance had got to £150. The scenario above happens and you've "lost" £80. Ok, you still got your reserve but are you going to be happy with that?

 

[Parmo]

Shill bidding is illegal and is one of the reasons why eBay cover the buyer more.

Retracting bids is legal but I thought you had to have the consent of the seller to cancel a bid within the last hour?

 

[Imurg]

Well I didn't agree to it.
It has to be a "valid" reason. Having a problem with your Paypal account is not, according to eBay, a valid reason. But he was still allowed to do it.....

 

[HomerJSimpson]

All this is exactly why I don't bother with e-bay. Sounds way too much hassle. OK I might pay a bit more online elsewhere or in the pro shop or store but I a) will have tried the product first b) have a proof of purchase and can easily go back if there is an issue and c) usually trade in something against the ticket price or haggle a deal anyway.

 

[Adrena1in]

That's a b*tch! I must admit, I've never really had any problems with selling. Though recently "sold" something for only about £6, and the buyer, rather than retracting his bid at the last minute, asked me to retract it for him. I was too late and he ended up winning, so I had to relist it. Went for more next time, but buyer returned it saying it wasn't working, so had to give him a refund.

This does sound like a possible scam...one person with two accounts, tries to get the two highest bids, retracts the highest and then only has to pay the lower bid. Some people are gits!

Stick with Buy It Now/Best Offer auctions perhaps?