ebay annoyance; advice sought

[mack11211]

Dear Folks:

This concerns an experience I am having as a buyer, not as a seller.

Yesterday I won an auction for a scarf. The opening price was low. There were only two bids and the first one was low as well, so it sold for a small sum. I paid promptly.

Today I got an email from the seller pleading ignorance and asking forgiveness and saying that he had really wanted it to sell for about $35, which is nearly $30 more than my bid, because this represents what he paid for it. He also said he was refunding my money, which he promptly did.

He has been on ebay nearly 3 years but he hasn't used it much, so his feedback number is low....less than 5, with one neg already.

I sent an email noting that we had a contract that he was obligated to honor, and he should use this experience to, in the future, set up his auctions in a manner more satisfying to him, with a higher opening bid or a reserve, for example.

I also noted that failing to honor my bid and accept my payment would leave him at risk of neg feedback.

If he refuses to sell me the scarf, what is my recourse, beyond the neg feedback option?

 

[VMan]

It was his ignorance (or 'ignorance') and therefore his problem, not yours. He should have started it higher. I'm sure you've lost money as a seller - that's a risk you take with a low opening bid. Just because you want something to sell for more doesn't make it right to try and do so after the fact.

 

[Baron]

Dude's cruisin for a bruisin. Time for the Styleforum posse to roll up on him and start handing out beatdowns.

Other than that, I think that negative feedback is all you got. But seriously, how annoying. I've pretty much stopped doing any business with anyone that has questionable or light feedback.

 

[pkincy]

As poor as Ebay is at handling disputes their problems seem to revolve around their inability to resolve "he says, she says" disputes. I.e., who cheated who and who has whose money, etc.

This seems pretty straightforward. He agrees he sold, you bought. Keep the email he sent you, but I would expect that another email detailing his obligations to deliver the scarf might help. OTOH, it might simply not be worth arguing about. You do have the money. He has the scarf and still had to pay the listing fees.

Last week was Hell on Ebay. Nothing sold. I had (for the 1st time) 13 items up. Many Canalis, a Brioni, etc. Only 6 items sold (the Brioni at an OK price, the Canali and a Pat Zileri at a give away price.) The corresponding good news is I picked up a modern Brioni at 1/3 of my max bid price and bought a nearly new Belvest (not in my size) for $50 and only bought it since someone had put Brioni B enamel buttons on it that I wanted for a Brioni sportcoat I have that has the B gold buttons. I will resell the Belvest since it seems to be a 44S or 44R and I wear a 44L.

So some weeks nothing works. You should be able to force him to sell you the scarf but I guess you will need to decide how badly you want it.

Good luck whatever you decide. Ebay can be wonderful and it can be maddening....often both at the same time.

Perry

 

[DocHolliday]

Part of me thinks you should pursue this just to keep it from happening again. Any one of us could be next.

The whole point of eBay is to try to get a good bargain. It's the seller's loss if the "start low" strategy doesn't work out. Last week I had one item sell at a shocking low price, another far more than I expected. So it goes...

 

[AlanC]

I would initiate the formal resolution process on ebay. Receiving the official notification that you have begun the proceeding might scare him into doing the right thing. If you simply tag him with a neg it might make you feel better but it likely won't get you any closer to the scarf.

Of course you are in the right. I sell things for less than I want to on ebay all along, but I set the minimum bid and I live with it. That's life.

 

[Baron]

What can ebay do to make the guy sell the scarf? I'm not sure what you can get by pursuing this - a court mandated sale? It couldn't be more clear that the guy is wrong, but I'm not sure how you can force the transaction through.

 

[DocHolliday]

Originally Posted by Baron

What can ebay do to make the guy sell the scarf? I'm not sure what you can get by pursuing this - a court mandated sale? It couldn't be more clear that the guy is wrong, but I'm not sure how you can force the transaction through.

In terms of grounds for banning a seller, refusing to sell should be pretty near the top of the list.

 

[seanandnik]

What I don't like about the Ebay feedback process is that if you leave negative feedback for this guy, and he deserves negative feedback, then he goes and leaves negative feedback for you, wfo did nothing wrong. This seller needs to man up and take it on the chin, he sold with a low starting bid and got burnt, too bad, if he wanted a minimum price, thats what minimum bids are for!

 

[Vintage Gent]

I'm not an eBay buyer/seller, so my thoughts come with that caveat. But I fail to see a huge problem here. Did he take your money without delivering the product? Did he sell something that was inaccurately represented?

My advice: leave negative feedback and be done with it.

 

[chorse123]

Ha! Mack, you beat ME out on winning this scarf. Bad karma, man. I have to say, I feel a little better about losing the auction, now.

I found the listing and noticed there were no bids with about two days left. The scarf (I have a nearly identical one) is very nice, so I threw in a what the hell bid for $5 (shipping is a high $8 for a scarf that weighs all of 10oz.). Lo and behold, within a few hours a bid was entered by a bidder with zero feedback, which bid me right up to my limit. Really ******* annoying. If I were you I would follow through here. The guy is not on the level. Also, it's not like he sold you a NWT Brioni suit for $5.50. He lost a few dollars, next time he'll be smarter.

 

[rssmsvc]

pkincy, (offtopic)

I don't mean this rudely , but how well do you know Belvest ?
The reason I ask is that I buy their items religously and the "B" may not be a Brioni Button, Belvest uses 3 types of buttons with the "B" in it. I actually avoid those items with the B but i do know their custom made and some higher end sportcoats all have those buttons.

 

[pkincy]

Originally Posted by rssmsvc

pkincy, (offtopic)

I don't mean this rudely , but how well do you know Belvest ?
The reason I ask is that I buy their items religously and the "B" may not be a Brioni Button, Belvest uses 3 types of buttons with the "B" in it. I actually avoid those items with the B but i do know their custom made and some higher end sportcoats all have those buttons.

You have a pm.

thanks,

Perry

 

[mack11211]

I am pursuing formal dispute resolution on ebay. Started it yesterday. Hope for response from ebay in a day or so.

 

[Baron]

Originally Posted by lawyerdad

He may not be able to "force" the transaction, but by pursuing ebay's "formal" dispute resolution procedure he puts the seller at risk from being suspended or banned or whatever ebay's terminology is. More than once, I've seen ebay take such action against sellers for unspecified violations of ebay's policies. So one approach might be to point out to the seller that that if you don't get an acceptable resolution the downside for him is not just negative feedback but whatever "discipline" ebay may impose.


Thanks - that's what I was trying to figure out. I didn't know ebay would suspend a user for that kind of violation.