When is an auction not an auction - Ebay is a joke

[freddielong]

I just thought you guys may need to hear this

About one week ago I put a cheeky bid in on some Nike blades with DGX100 shafts (not the new ones but the ones Tiger still uses) not because I really wanted them, but because the description of the clubs was not very well worded and you could see they were in perfect condition from the pics, so I could smell a bargain.

Anyhow to cut a longish story short I was leading and only bidder with 2 hours to go (with a bid of £8.99 plus P&P) when the seller cancelled my bid and the auction.

As you can imagine this didn't impress me, so I have sent a few strongly worded emails to Ebay whos response is "the seller can choose who they sell to", I have pointed out that I have 100% feedback on over 300 transactions, and the cancellation is because they were unhappy with the price acheived, and IMO this is unethical and not in the spirit of an auction, but so far they are not budgeing.

So I thought I would point out to you guys that when you confirm your bid and it states that you are entering into a contract with the seller, this does not tie the seller in, he can change his mind at any point so that bargain can disapear before your eyes at any point without any comeback on the seller.

Sorry about the rant but I am very unhappy about this and will update you all again when I get a further response from ebay

p.s. I couldn't decide if this was golf related so feel free to move it

 

[birdieman]

I agree the seller should've set a reserve or a higher starting bid - they don't do that so as to avoid higher Ebay fees I believe.

I have pulled the odd item I'm selling when I've discovered something amiss with it but not because the price was too low. That goes against the spirit of an auction.

Don't agree Ebay is a joke, I've used it regularly for 6 years and attained innumerable bargains
My current driver was had for <£50 in 'as new' nick with an upgraded grafalloy blue shaft.

 

[pokerjoke]

ebay is a great place 2 get a bargain,however there is always the odd dodgy person im afraid thats life but very frustrating,ive personly had it done to me and at the time it p-----d me off.but in the end you start to realise who the dodgys are and you stay well away.

 

[Redwood]

Freedie,

I'm assuuming you cannot leave any feedback for the seller to make other possible buyers that this is something that this seller does.

Slightly biased in favour of the seller, as if you retract a bid it is marked against your account.

 

[USER1999]

Ok, so he has tried to scam ebay out of the correct sellers fee by putting a low starting price and no reserve, but was he ever going to sell a mint set of irons for a tenner, no. Neither would I. Not sure why you think what he has done is that dodgy. He obviously hoped they would go for a decent sum, and when they haven't, has withdrawn them from sale. Why not.

 

[freddielong]

Ok, so he has tried to scam ebay out of the correct sellers fee by putting a low starting price and no reserve, but was he ever going to sell a mint set of irons for a tenner, no. Neither would I. Not sure why you think what he has done is that dodgy. He obviously hoped they would go for a decent sum, and when they haven't, has withdrawn them from sale. Why not.

I might have known you wouldn't agree with me Murph but can you not see the problem, if I put something up for auction in the real world I have to accept the price it attains unless I put in a reserve. If you don't want to risk it don't auction it.

This means that no seller has to sell anything unless they are happy with the price with no come back to the seller.
Surely even you with your disagree with freddie head must see that is not right.

 

[Barney]

Ok, so he has tried to scam ebay out of the correct sellers fee by putting a low starting price and no reserve, but was he ever going to sell a mint set of irons for a tenner, no. Neither would I. Not sure why you think what he has done is that dodgy. He obviously hoped they would go for a decent sum, and when they haven't, has withdrawn them from sale. Why not.

Why not

Ill tell you why not because on Ebay there are a number of ways sellers can sell their goods including a buy it now price or an auction with no reserve.
If he decided to sell it using the auction style with no reserve he should be prepared to accept whatever figure it ends at.
I think its a disgrace when sellers do this but to be honest I have had so many problems buying and selling on the website I have knocked it on the head.
Half the golf equipment is either 'knock off' out of some poor sods garage or fake.
A friend of mine found his white ping bag and g10 irons on Ebay after they had been nicked a few weeks earlier. The goods were being sold in his home town,The bag had his initials in small writing on the top of the bag and he had the seriel numbers of the clubs.
He told Ebay and the local police but neither did a thing about it. The website does not care what is going on or what is being sold as long as they are getting paid and the police, well.....

Stay clear is my advice !

 

[EaseNgrace]

In my experience with ebay, and I have a fair bit, the seller is stupid to wimp out with a few minutes to go. Although they were going cheap at that point they could have still reached their true value in the last few seconds. Nobody ever bids till the very last minute, Do they?

 

[JustOne]

I hate eBay now. It's not an auction site anymore it's a plain old shop, if you're lucky you might get something 10-20% cheaper. If you're unlucky you'll end up with something fake or stolen, which wouldn't happen in your local highstreet shop. I bought a club off there recently not because I wanted to but because the seller insisted on using it to get a secure payment via Paypal (EBay owned).

 

[Imurg]

Too many ways to back out.
I've sold stuff before and not reached what I hoped for - too bad. If you don't want to risk not getting enough just put in a reserve or make it Buy-it-Now only.

 

[n8dog]

I have sold a number of clubs on ebay now. If i am not prepared to take a low bid i will always be sure to add a reserve price, ending an auction early (especially from a seller with 100% positive feedback) is disgraceful. Many people are scared of dodgy buyers i.e. people that do not pay for items, but this case make you realize that it is also the sellers that are dodgy even if they are allegedly 100% positive!

............................................................

play off 11.7

Callaway FTI 9.5 x-stiff Grafalloy Prolaunch Red
titleist 906f4 18.5 stiff aldila vs proto 85s
ping s59 tours 3-pw s400
Ping Tour W 50* s400
cleveland cg10 54* s400
scotty cameron studio design 1.5

 

[RGDave]

I hate eBay now. It's not an auction site anymore it's a plain old shop, if you're lucky you might get something 10-20% cheaper. If you're unlucky you'll end up with something fake or stolen, which wouldn't happen in your local highstreet shop.

Couldn't agree more. It has become a victim of it's own success. I used to watch items come and go. You'd follow a club "available any day of the week" through golfbidder or local range (if it does trade-ins) and the final price would be just as much, sometimes more.

It's only any good for really old stuff now..........

 

[Largsgolf1974]

I think a lot of it is down to the shocking charges both e-bay and paypal charge. Its ridiculous.

I also believe most people bid on their own Items, its so simple its unreal. They need to do something about it.

 

[thecraw]

I now dont sell on ebay due to their costs. Joke.

 

[viscount17]

I have a problem with the demand for feedback.
To my way of thinking if you advertise a service and perform as advertised you are Satisfactory, 3*, Average - you are doing nothing more than you said you would. You want 4* then better the advertised performance. Of course this would then lead to advertised postage times of 7-days when you know it will take two.
There is also a 'blackmail' element. You don't give the seller Positive feedback, he'll trash your rep. It makes a mockery of any 'confidence factor'.

(Funny how I'm still waiting for feedback from the last buy - I finalised PayPal within an hour of the auction ending.)

 

[Split_Fairway]

I think a lot of it is down to the shocking charges both e-bay and paypal charge. Its ridiculous.

I also believe most people bid on their own Items, its so simple its unreal. They need to do something about it.

of course they wont, the whole point of a business is to make money, so why would they do something to make less?

 

[RGDave]

I now dont sell on ebay due to their costs. Joke.

Yes. What with the inevitable £10 P&P and the commission to ebay, I feel the local rag is a better bet.

 

[Dodger]

I hate eBay now. It's not an auction site anymore it's a plain old shop, if you're lucky you might get something 10-20% cheaper. If you're unlucky you'll end up with something fake or stolen, which wouldn't happen in your local highstreet shop. I bought a club off there recently not because I wanted to but because the seller insisted on using it to get a secure payment via Paypal (EBay owned).

I have read this several times and still cannot understand what you are trying to say....help me out here..you bought a club that you didn't want to??