Ebay sellers who cancel auctions after they have ended

[Cj]

Just curious as to what everyone's take is on sellers who cancel auctions after the auction ended. I had a recent auction I won, I went to go pay and I had a message in my message box from the seller saying not to send a payment. His reason was that he decided to gift the item to someone other then sell it. I was the winning bidder, the auction went it's full length. Is it right for a seller to do?

Cj

[Dr Hackenbush]

That's just wrong.  If the item sells for less than what he'd hoped, too bad.  He should've put a reserve or started it at a price he was comfortable with.  If it shows up for auction again, then it's really a bullshit move on his part

[guest8]

Yeah I agree it wrong .. But as a buyer nothing can be done except negative feedback

[Dr Hackenbush]

Can you leave negative feedback if an auction is cancelled?  Never been in this type of situation so I'm not sure. 

[guest8]

I dont think it was officially canceled .. Just him emailing saying that he gave the item away .. Once an auction ends its done they cant do anything .. Unless its a VeRO issue then all auctions are void.

[Cj]

Thanks for everyones's input.

The auction ended over $100.00 more than the average price. I think the result of the auction was more then fair on the sellers behalf.

My honest opinion is that someone back doored me and offered him more money for it after it ended.

Cj

[Carson]

Speaking of back doored check out Harry Caul's Deliverance poster in the unicorns thread. 

Yes, if it went at an above average price you could have been out bid offline.

Happened to me on Avatar lenticulars more than a couple times. Add it to my watch list and three days later "auction canceled early". But I never won one, then, had the seller cancel.

[Harry Caul]

Speaking of back doored check out Harry Caul's Deliverance poster in the unicorns thread.

  Well played.

[Dr Hackenbush]

Thanks for everyones's input.

The auction ended over $100.00 more than the average price. I think the result of the auction was more then fair on the sellers behalf.

My honest opinion is that someone back doored me and offered him more money for it after it ended.

Cj

Here's what I don't understand, if you're going to offer the seller more than the ending price, why not place a bid/snipe in that amount?  If that's what truly happened, then that blows

[CSM]

Just curious as to what everyone's take is on sellers who cancel auctions after the auction ended. I had a recent auction I won, I went to go pay and I had a message in my message box from the seller saying not to send a payment. His reason was that he decided to gift the item to someone other then sell it. I was the winning bidder, the auction went it's full length. Is it right for a seller to do?

Cj

Just brutal...

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

A seller cannot "cancel" an auction after it is over.  The instant the auction ends the highest bidder and the seller have a binding contract. However, Ebay will not enforce the contract.  You have to go to court to do that. 

Here's how it works. Normally you have an obligation to "cover" i.e. buy the item somewhere else.  If you have to pay more to get it from someone else, you can sue the first seller for the excess amount you had to pay.

However, if it's an extraordinarily rare item and otherwise unobtainable - like a Black Cat Style B - you could can get an injunction from the applicable court to stop the seller from transferring or selling the item.

As a practical matter, most items on Ebay are not worth the legal hassle, so your best remedy is negative feedback.  You could also get a lawyer to write a "demand" letter demanding that the seller sell the item.   A lot of times that letter will motivate the seller to do the right thing.

[mahmudf]

my other passion other than posters is classic cars and i once read that a seller was forced to sell a rare Porsche Carrera RS on ebay. The auction ended on a low price and the buyer started proceedings and eventually got the car. Its not as easy to 'lose' a car .

[guest8]

Mel, draft up a letter for him !

[mahmudf]

for anyone who is interested here is the post

Hello from an RS newbie!

Some of you may well be aware from other threads that I was chasing a black 964RS that was up for sale at ninemeister for £32k.

The guy who owned it put it on ebay with a low reserve and I managed to win the car for £21,100 - no you are not reading that wrongly, £21,100!!!

Unsuprisingly he tried to back out claiming the car was sold elsewhere already and he had the right to pull out.

Unfortunately I, like many other RS enthusiasts who post on here, knew this was not true and the car was still with Colin at ninemeister at warrington.

Various emails were passed back and forth and in the end I thought 'sod it he's not getting away with it' - if any of you ever use ebay then you will know its great when dealing with genuine sellers and some of the porsche parts specialists etc who sell on there but you will also know non selling sellers are becoming more frequent and items being withdrawn with minutes to go etc etc etc can drive you mad.

Anyway, my dad is a very senior litigation lawyer dealing in contract law etc so I decided to put his services into practice! A few emails/letters/injunctions and the transfer of £21,100 means I now own J66 POR - one black 964RS!

Now I'm not overly proud I had to take this course of action but if you play the game then you have to deal with the consequences! (Don't mess with irate Geordies!)

Anyway those feelings pale into insignificance when I know what I now have - A CHILDHOOD DREAM FULFILLED!

A 964RS.

I pick it up from Colin on Monday and I CAN'T WAIT - I'm shaking with excitement just typing this.

[guest8]

LOL .. Thats awesome .. its 'bout time a buyer finally stopped getting jerked around by the bad sellers out there !!

I bet that guy never sells on ebay again either

[CSM]

Well certainly in the case of the Porsche, likely the ONLY reason it was worth his while is because the buyer was able to use his own father as counsel and thus utilize free or at least reduced legal advice/fees.  Depending on the difference of the actual value of the item in question - in most cases it would not be in the buyers best interest to retain counsel as they would end up spending more in legal fees than the item is worth.

[mahmudf]

that could be the case but in the UK it is possible to make a claim in the small claims court for upto £5000 for a small fee. I dont know if this is possible elsewhere.

[theartofmovieposters]

If he wrote to say he honestly just couldn't part with it I could understand that and leave a neutral.

I don't get this...why?  If he/she wanted more, they should have started it at a price they were happy to get.
If they never really wanted to sell in the first place, why is it up there?

[wonka]

I don't get this...why?  If he/she wanted more, they should have started it at a price they were happy to get.
If they never really wanted to sell in the first place, why is it up there?

Very true, although we don't know (or will ever know) the exact reason the sale was not finalized.

Could be they are telling Cj the truth in terms of a gift, as annoying as that is for Cj, but who knows.

[Carson]

I don't get this...why?  If he/she wanted more, they should have started it at a price they were happy to get.
If they never really wanted to sell in the first place, why is it up there?

Why a neutral? Because I'm a sweetheart when it comes down to it and you're a calloused daybill overlord.

No. Why a nuetral? Because 8 times in 10 times seller's "explanations" of events are lies when dealing with eBay sellers. If an eBay seller astounded me by telling me the truth in admitting they had sellers remorse instead of inventing a story/lie I'd joyously thank them for their time, leave them a neutral or positive and move on. Their honesty would mean more to me than any needless item I was buying whether a car or a poster.

"I got a great deal on a Porsche he's not honoring so I'll sue his ass" is a most common and unfortunate mentality which leaves me even less inspired than the backpedaling seller breaking his contract. When it's an eBay item, of all things, better to simply move on in my view.

[mahmudf]

Why a neutral? Because I'm a sweetheart when it comes down to it and you're a calloused daybill overlord.

No. Why a nuetral? Because 8 times in 10 times seller's "explanations" of events are lies when dealing with eBay sellers. If an eBay seller astounded me by telling me the truth in admitting they had sellers remorse instead of inventing a story/lie I'd joyously thank them for their time, leave them a neutral or positive and move on. Their honesty would mean more to me than any needless item I was buying whether a car or a poster.

"I got a great deal on a Porsche he's not honoring so I'll sue his ass" is a most common and unfortunate mentality which leaves me even less inspired than the backpedaling seller breaking his contract. When it's an eBay item, of all things, better to simply move on in my view.

that's not exactly the way it happened, when the buyer contacted the seller of the car he was told that the car was sold to someone else which was a lie and it was his tough luck. I think this attitude just annoyed the guy enough to take things further.

[Carson]

The seller lied about the whereabouts of the car, hence, more motivation to persue it. I understand that.

My view/point is that it's a needless pursuit, like countless other stupidities clogging courts, motivated by "I want my Porsche!". It's fine to pursue the car, I just find making it such a priority is a result of our lesser nature. Better to simply move on.

P.S. Forget Porsche. Give me a Tesla Model S.

[CSM]

Ves is "a calloused daybill overlord"?!

Now I've heard everything 

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

that could be the case but in the UK it is possible to make a claim in the small claims court for upto £5000 for a small fee. I dont know if this is possible elsewhere.

Also in UK the loser must pay the winner's attorneys fees, so you get fewer and more meritorious lawsuits.

Carson, a deal's a deal and you can't just walk away and let the other party screw you over.  Society needs an enforcement mechanism and lawsuits are the "worst possible solution - except for all the rest."  We could reinstate the monarchy and petition the king for redress and live with his/her arbitrary decisions, as in olden days.  Maybe in 20 years they'll perfect lie detectors. Until then, we're stuck with the current system.  By the way, about 2% of our GDP goes to legal transaction costs (court costs, judges & lawyers incomes, etc.), which is too much, but pretty small in the grand scheme of things - health costs take up 15% (and rapidly rising), half of which is due to preventable health problems stemming from smoking and obesity, and military expenditures eat up 5%.

[wonka]

Sue, 'em Cj!  Take him for everything he's got!

You should get your poster and put him out on the street while you are at it.

Better yet, I think some wisdom from Leon applies here as well: