I love ebay

[1sinister1]

So I was bidding on a pair of Crockett and Jones, what I believe to Belgrave shoes when (no name was given on the auction), and low and behold the auction was cancelled due to an error on the listing. At the time of the cancellation the highest bid was mine $98 and the auction had little more than a day left until complete. I emailed the seller as to what the error may have been but of course I have not recieved an answer. Most auctions I have seen typical run for 6 days which makes me leary as to it would take 5 days to discover the error. Also, why wouldnt the seller just alert the highest bidder as to what the error is instead of cancellation the auction. Being a cynic of course I believe the worst of this situation. I also dont believe there is not any type of recourse for when this happens. Correct me if im wrong. Sorry, I had to vent.

 

[Jumbie]

That may indeed suck but, assuming you don't have a ton of experience with eBay, a low bid early on doesn't mean a whole lot. With a whole day left, there is lots of time for the bids to rise substantially. This often occurs in the last 5 minutes.

I personally don't bid on items until this time; and usually only in the last minute. I don't like to get into price wars early cause this often drives the price up much higher and I also prefer to have the item appear like there isn't any interest in it (again to prevent bid wars early on).

 

[1sinister1]

Well I had set my max bid much higher than the $98 that they were currently going for. I agree with you; I hate bidding wars.

 

[Trojanman74]

im on the other end of the spectrum and like to go all in in the first or second day with a bid extremely above the asking price so that way i can drive off people who try to bid 5 to 10 dollars only to see their bid outbid right away.

and i didnt get to vent a couple days ago when the seller lost my AE shoes that i got for a steal, and simply said sorry and refunded me the price. i knew it was just to good to be true

 

[Jumbie]

Originally Posted by Trojanman74

im on the other end of the spectrum and like to go all in in the first or second day with a bid extremely above the asking price so that way i can drive off people who try to bid 5 to 10 dollars only to see their bid outbid right away.
Which I think drives up the price.

Bid starts at $0.99

You decide your max bid is $90

A comes along and bids $1 and is outbid so he tries again and again in small increments until the price is $35 and he's met his limit so he gives up. No one else wants the item so they don't bid on it and you win.

You're still way under your maximum but if you'd waited, you could have gotten the item for 99 cents instead of 35 bucks.

This is simplistic but illustrates my point of what I feel is "unnecessary inflation". However, if your tactics work, and have been working, for you then carry on as usual.

 

[1sinister1]

What ever method you decide to use when bidding the fact remainds that it is endless frustrating when a seller back outs or just takes an item of the market. There should be something you as a buyer could do when something happens.

 

[1sinister1]

So here is the reply that I recieved.

"The shoes had a darker area on the toe that only showed up with the flash of the camera, I had not noticed until a bidder asked me about it. I took them to a shoe shop to be buffed out, he can't have them ready before Saturday so I had to end the auction until I see if he was able to do it. If so, they will be relisted. If not, he is going to refinish the shoes and dye them black, he promissed they will look new either way. "

Do people actually have shoes dyed another color? It just seems like a waste since I love the current color of the shoe and would have no interest if they were black.

 

[zarathustra]

move on. It won't be the first time the cruel mistrss breaks your heart.

 

[1sinister1]

Ha, thank you for the wise advise sir. I most certainly should but I just cant believe she is going to have them dyed. Blows my mind. On that note I have already emailed her telling her that I would take them "as is" and determine their fate at a later date.

 

[qtdude]

One day is an eternity in the eBay universe.

Whatever its faults, eBay is pretty close to a true marketplace and if there's value, the auction will find its true price.

 

[VMan]

Was that the British tan pair, 10.5E UK? I had a snipe on those, probably way higher than what he sold them to the other guy for

 

[greekgeek]

OP I feel your pain. About a year ago I had a bid on a pair of mint vintage Florsheims- very sleek lines with a very unusual style- sort of a saddle shoe meets captoe/wingtip affair with contrast grain leather.

They were at $17.99 all week and then the last day, the auction was cancelled. I wrote the seller and they said that they looked everywhere and could not find them. They disappeared!

I was ready to drop a huge bid in the last seconds as these were to be mine. My only consolation was the fact that the greedy seller probly lost 3-7x whatever they sold for.

 

[1sinister1]

I believe they might have been. Not sure if the link will work but worth a try.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=280210612702

Well she said she may relist them. She also said she may have them dyed black. Good call...not.

 

[upnorth]

I had a look at the Tan C&J shoes. Apparently, someone alerted the seller that there was a patch of dark spot on one of the toe box.

Anyhow, someone got lucky in his other auction and scored a pretty new looking C&J Barnsley for under $80.

 

[1sinister1]

Yeah I saw that but the message came a few days ago. Honestly I told her that I would take the shoes as is. She stated that he had already dropped the shoes off to be repaired and that she would know Saturday whether or not she would relist them.

So a couple of things could happen at this point.

1) She relists them with was ever work the shoe repiar guy has done. This should be fun....I hate bidding and if I would still want them I would have to sit through 6 more days of it.

2) She re-lists them and they are now black because no repair could be made to the orignally color. No Thanks

3) She does not relist them and how knows where they end up. Probably on this board on the thread where people brag about what they picked up at thrift stores.