Deprived of My Ebay Bargain

[Renato1]

I thought I'd post about my current bemusement. which I really can't fathom what's going on.

In short, last Friday I won a bargain camera and lenses at an Ebay auction. I paid for it, and 19 minutes after the end of the auction, the seller refunded my money. claiming the item was damaged. Whoosh - my bargain had disappeared into the ether. I complained to Ebay, and got nowhere as far as I was concerned.

So I posted about it on the Ebay forums at this link..
Seller Cancels Auction Sale After Item is Paid for... - The eBay Community

My bemusement comes from the fact that, apart from a few exceptions, most responders seem to think I'm the bad guy.

Just curious, what do you guys and gals think?

Am I the bad guy or the good guy?
Cheers,
Renato

 

[Pushka]

eBay sucks like that. I had similar a few years ago. As a seller it’s annoying when prices don’t meet the value of the product and from what I can see there is no minimum price anymore other than where you start the auction.

Ok, Just read the thread. I think you just need to move on. Ebay is just Ebay, as I said and the price was too low and not worth it to sell it to you. It’s ebays fault the way it tells people to list their product. Start at .99 cents they always say and couch that in marketing mumbo jumbo. I sold an iPad a couple of weeks ago. It was a Pro, they said I should start at 99 cents. Hell no. I started at the very bare minimum I dared to. Ebay just want a sale at any price. Bit like a RE auction. They don’t care if that price sucks for you they just want their fees. Don’t blame the seller to be honest but it is an annoying Ebay quirk.

The only bad guy is Ebay.

 

[Deleted member]

I am not a fan of Ebay. I tried to find out from a seller some specifics (4 emails to his Ebay account, and two to his business email) with zero response. Needless to say, I didn’t purchase said items. Maybe it was just this seller? But the items weren’t cheap, so my questions were valid imo

 

[serfty]

I suspect the seller reneger will rebirth under a different handle, leaving the black mark behind ... and there will be an "undamaged" Nikon 1 J3 mirrorless camera with two lenses for sale.

 

[Pushka]

I suspect the seller reneger will rebirth under a different handle, leaving the black mark behind ... and there will be an "undamaged" Nikon 1 J3 mirrorless camera with two lenses for sale.

I think they will just relist with a higher starting price. As an infrequent seller I don’t think there is anything particularly sinister.

 

[Renato1]

eBay sucks like that. I had similar a few years ago. As a seller it’s annoying when prices don’t meet the value of the product and from what I can see there is no minimum price anymore other than where you start the auction.

Ok, Just read the thread. I think you just need to move on. Ebay is just Ebay, as I said and the price was too low and not worth it to sell it to you. It’s ebays fault the way it tells people to list their product. Start at .99 cents they always say and couch that in marketing mumbo jumbo. I sold an iPad a couple of weeks ago. It was a Pro, they said I should start at 99 cents. Hell no. I started at the very bare minimum I dared to. Ebay just want a sale at any price. Bit like a RE auction. They don’t care if that price sucks for you they just want their fees. Don’t blame the seller to be honest but it is an annoying Ebay quirk.

The only bad guy is Ebay.

The 99 cent starting strategy is a gamble - sometimes it sucks in more people into the bidding and you get a higher price. But sometimes it doesn't - especially when one has the auction ending at around dinner time or on a public holiday long weekend (people forget to bid).

When I've listed stuff - I've listed it at around 20% less than what I think it's worth (rounded down to a round number).

To my mind, having then committed to a strategy, one has to honour the outcome.
Regards,
Renato

I am not a fan of Ebay. I tried to find out from a seller some specifics (4 emails to his Ebay account, and two to his business email) with zero response. Needless to say, I didn’t purchase said items. Maybe it was just this seller? But the items weren’t cheap, so my questions were valid imo

Odd - most sellers have responded to me on the few times I've asked questions. In your position, I certainly wouldn't have taken the risk.
Regards,
Renato

I suspect the seller reneger will rebirth under a different handle, leaving the black mark behind ... and there will be an "undamaged" Nikon 1 J3 mirrorless camera with two lenses for sale.

You heinous person, you have the temerity to think (just like me) that the seller's actions appear suspicious and may not have been totally genuine!

Your thoughts wouldn't go down well with that crowd at Ebay.

My friend who has an Ebay business read that thread with equal bemusement to mine, and put it down to sellers - who are regularly hammered by Ebay - just jumping in to the defence of any seller, no matter what the circumstances.
Cheers,
Renato

 

[Pushka]

Well like I said, Ebay sucks for sellers. Im done with it.

 

[Denali]

I love my ebay and didnt know the forum existed.

I think theres a lot of seller responses who are invested in defending their own turf - best to stay away as you wont sway their minds. They are like Trumpsters who have no interest in seeing the others disappointment or admit to their own gray area dealings/transactions to secure their own profits.

eBay is fun for me, I dont invest too much $ into single purchase items. If I was going to buy something expensive, like nikon product, I prefer to go the more traditional store routes because of warranty ect.

 

[Renato1]

I love my ebay and didnt know the forum existed.

I think theres a lot of seller responses who are invested in defending their own turf - best to stay away as you wont sway their minds. They are like Trumpsters who have no interest in seeing the others disappointment or admit to their own gray area dealings/transactions to secure their own profits.

eBay is fun for me, I dont invest too much $ into single purchase items. If I was going to buy something expensive, like nikon product, I prefer to go the more traditional store routes because of warranty ect.

I only found that forum by accident some time ago.

Yes, most of the responders certainly seem to have a very defensive mind set.

I've bought around six Nikon cameras and eight or nine Sony DSLRs over the years off Ebay without any problem. They are just so reliable.
One takes advantage of the fact that some people have the peculiar idea that they should only have one camera (or one pocket, one bridge, one mirrorless and one DSLR) and that it should be the best. So they keep dumping older cameras on Ebay in order to upgrade.
Regards,
Renato

 

[JohnK]

I've bought once from eBay. It was a lemon with 2 year warranty and spent most of those 2 years getting repaired. At one point I involved the police to try and recover the lemon.

I said never again and pretty much have kept that promise. I've gone back to eBay a few more times but have negotiated sale outside of eBay.

 

[Renato1]

I've bought once from eBay. It was a lemon with 2 year warranty and spent most of those 2 years getting repaired. At one point I involved the police to try and recover the lemon.

I said never again and pretty much have kept that promise. I've gone back to eBay a few more times but have negotiated sale outside of eBay.

Hi John,
For me the vast majority of experiences on Ebay have been good, be it buying a 100 watch batteries for the price of two here, or buying six alum blocks from Turkey for the price of one here, or cheap electronics, or finding hard to get books for my wife, or hard to get perfumes or buying second hand cameras and lenses - and I get a Qantas point per dollar spent. The only niggly thing was when I noticed my NAB platinum card was charging me overseas transaction fees for paying with Paypal Australia on locally purchased items.

You should give it a go again - if a seller sends you something flawed or incorrect, it is much easier to get a refund now than it was 12 or so years ago.
Regards,
Renato

 

[juddles]

I've bought once from eBay. It was a lemon with 2 year warranty and spent most of those 2 years getting repaired. At one point I involved the police to try and recover the lemon.

I said never again and pretty much have kept that promise. I've gone back to eBay a few more times but have negotiated sale outside of eBay.

Why on earth would you call the police for an ebay repair issue???

 

[serfty]

Why on earth would you call the police for an ebay repair issue???

Possible Fraud - Knowingly selling a defective item without advising purchaser of defect beforehand.

 

[juddles]

Possible Fraud - Knowingly selling a defective item without advising purchaser of defect beforehand.

I agree it is wrong but IMHO opinion not a snowball's chance of proving criminal fraud in that case.

 

[JohnK]

Why on earth would you call the police for an ebay repair issue???

Because they wouldn't return the golf buggy that I bought for $700+ and only got ~6 months use. The motor, wheels, chassis, battery, remote all needed repair/replace at some point.

In the end they did return the golf buggy and it's been sitting in the garage unused as a reminder not to trust people.

 

[juddles]

Because they wouldn't return the golf buggy that I bought for $700+ and only got ~6 months use. The motor, wheels, chassis, battery, remote all needed repair/replace at some point.

In the end they did return the golf buggy and it's been sitting in the garage unused as a reminder not to trust people.

I understand the feeling of loss, or lesser expectations, but if police were responsible for all commercial transactions, you wouldn't have them available when you really needed them

 

[JohnK]

I understand the feeling of loss, or lesser expectations, but if police were responsible for all commercial transactions, you wouldn't have them available when you really needed them

I went to the police for advice.

These people imported the golf buggy along with a whole lot of other junk, was sold by a professor of something or other at Wollongong university and they were responsible for the repair/maintenance.

Should have seen the warning signs but I was desperate for an electric golf buggy as I was struggling to finish the round of golf in those days.

 

[AisleSeat]

I've given up selling anything on eBay, but for buying anything it's the place I look first. I think my best deal was when I was looking for pine sleepers and discovered that a timber yard a stone's throw from my house had an eBay store. Saved a bunch of $ and picked up some QF points.

 

[Spongbob]

I am pretty sure "ebay.au" is subject to the Australian Consumer Code (ACC Act). However, eBay has, or will, changed the place of contract for all non-USA members to Switzerland.

If potential buyers can retract a bid (typo error etc), than why not allow sellers to retract a sale if they made an error in the listing?

 

[Renato1]

If potential buyers can retract a bid (typo error etc), than why not allow sellers to retract a sale if they made an error in the listing?

You equate a buyer being able to retract their bid (for when they leave out the decimal point and the $20.12 bid becomes $2012) with sellers retracting the sale when they made the "error" of not getting the price they wanted on an auction with lots of bids?

I don't see that the sellers supposed "error" is an error in any sense like the bidder's error is an error, or an error at all for that matter.
Regards,
Renato