eBay auction query - winning bidder has bought another car
Discussion
I sold my car through a no reserve eBay auction which ended Saturday evening. The winning bidder made contact with me after auction end explaining that they were outbid so wasn’t expecting to win my auction and in the meantime had bid on another car which they wanted instead.
The bid they mentioned was made by someone who had recently joined eBay and had 0 feedback, this was made with circa 6 hours until auction end and not wanting to be messed around I removed their bid. This was done within 10 minutes of them placing the bid.
I phoned up my winning bidder to speak to them directly rather than messaging through eBay. When they had previously mentioned they had bid on another car I assumed they had won that car, but that auction was still live and wasn’t ending until the next evening, hence they hadn’t actually bought another car yet.
I asked whether it was possible to remove their bid from that auction or to speak to the person selling that car explaining the situation to them but they didn’t want to do this. It was obvious they had changed their mind about my car and wanted that one instead. I said I would phone when that auction had completed to find out whether they were the winning bidder or not and go from there.
I phoned later and instead of the lady I had spoken to previously her husband answered the phone. They had won the other auction and he told me they were buying that instead. I explained my wasted time and money (eBay fees) I would incur relisting the car and I wanted them to pay that but he wasn’t having any of it and hung up, just before telling me to stop harassing them.
What position am I in here? It’s more their attitude and lack of help towards the situation that has annoyed me about this.
The bid they mentioned was made by someone who had recently joined eBay and had 0 feedback, this was made with circa 6 hours until auction end and not wanting to be messed around I removed their bid. This was done within 10 minutes of them placing the bid.
I phoned up my winning bidder to speak to them directly rather than messaging through eBay. When they had previously mentioned they had bid on another car I assumed they had won that car, but that auction was still live and wasn’t ending until the next evening, hence they hadn’t actually bought another car yet.
I asked whether it was possible to remove their bid from that auction or to speak to the person selling that car explaining the situation to them but they didn’t want to do this. It was obvious they had changed their mind about my car and wanted that one instead. I said I would phone when that auction had completed to find out whether they were the winning bidder or not and go from there.
I phoned later and instead of the lady I had spoken to previously her husband answered the phone. They had won the other auction and he told me they were buying that instead. I explained my wasted time and money (eBay fees) I would incur relisting the car and I wanted them to pay that but he wasn’t having any of it and hung up, just before telling me to stop harassing them.
What position am I in here? It’s more their attitude and lack of help towards the situation that has annoyed me about this.
ked up.I don't think the buyer has done anything unreasonable. Once he was outbid it would be perfectly normal to look at options and see what else there is to bid on. You can't expect him to foresee you deleting the other bidder can you. And once that does happen you can't expect him to buy 2 cars.
KFC said:
I don't think the buyer has done anything unreasonable. Once he was outbid it would be perfectly normal to look at options and see what else there is to bid on. You can't expect him to foresee you deleting the other bidder can you. And once that does happen you can't expect him to buy 2 cars.
As I mentioned the bid was deleted within 10 minutes of being placed, they must of been rather quick to bid on another car! What's more this was with 6 hours until auction end, my contact number was on the auction, they could of called and explained the issue and I would of removed their bid too.Also at the end of my auction they still had nearly 24 hours until the other car ended, could they not have removed their bid or contacted that buyer explaining the issue?
I don't think I'm being unreasonable as this is what I would of done in the circumstances.
Bradley1500 said:
What position am I in here? It’s more their attitude and lack of help towards the situation that has annoyed me about this.
Shill bidding is strictly forbidden and enforced by Ebay, report it to them explaining what happened and they will at least be banned (I doubt they had the sense to use a different computer).What’s stupid is they could have just withdrawn their bid...
Bradley1500 said:
Is there no better option than claiming my fees back from eBay? (which you can't claim everything back)
It annoys me that they're getting away with messing me around.
Think about it from their point of view, Ebay will probably have sent them an email saying 'you have been outbid', at that point they've quite likely thought, that's our limit for that vehicle and ceased to have any interest in it. They've gone and found something else they prefer. They're hardly messing you around.It annoys me that they're getting away with messing me around.
In fact the cynically minded might think you've got a mate to put in a shill bid and then cancelled it.
Bradley1500 said:
The main reason I put the car on a no reserve auction was to get rid of it quickly as I haven't got the space to keep it.
So get that second chance offer in asap to the person who lost out.Put yourself in the other guy's shoes - if you'd got to the top of what you were happy to pay, and been outbid, would YOU wait around to find out if there was the slim chance of the outbidder's bid being removed? It doesn't exactly happen often.
Magog said:
In fact the cynically minded might think you've got a mate to put in a shill bid and then cancelled it.
The car was already at a price I was happy to accept, no need to bid it up and even if it wasn't that's life, I took my chances with a no reserve auction.The winning bidder has been reported to eBay and a second chance offer offered to the next highest bidder. I can't claim my fees back yet as I haven't had enough time from the end of the auction.
What is the real world position on this without ebay complications - like in a personal auction? You bid on an article, auctioneer solicits and gets a higher bid, auctioneer then solicits an even higher bid but fails, then refuses the current high bid, strikes the hammer down and tries to enforce the under-bidder to perform. Doesn't sound right that they can.
Bradley1500 said:
Magog said:
In fact the cynically minded might think you've got a mate to put in a shill bid and then cancelled it.
The car was already at a price I was happy to accept, no need to bid it up and even if it wasn't that's life, I took my chances with a no reserve auction.The winning bidder has been reported to eBay and a second chance offer offered to the next highest bidder. I can't claim my fees back yet as I haven't had enough time from the end of the auction.
Magog said:
Bradley1500 said:
Magog said:
In fact the cynically minded might think you've got a mate to put in a shill bid and then cancelled it.
The car was already at a price I was happy to accept, no need to bid it up and even if it wasn't that's life, I took my chances with a no reserve auction.The winning bidder has been reported to eBay and a second chance offer offered to the next highest bidder. I can't claim my fees back yet as I haven't had enough time from the end of the auction.
Bradley1500 said:
As I mentioned the bid was deleted within 10 minutes of being placed, they must of been rather quick to bid on another car! What's more this was with 6 hours until auction end, my contact number was on the auction, they could of called and explained the issue and I would of removed their bid too.
Also at the end of my auction they still had nearly 24 hours until the other car ended, could they not have removed their bid or contacted that buyer explaining the issue?
I don't think I'm being unreasonable as this is what I would of done in the circumstances.
He could have, but clearly prefers the other car to yours. Either way you're asking him to get involved in a bunch of hassle and wasted time. It shouldn't be any surprise that he just chooses to go with the option that suits him best. I'm sure most other people would do the same.Also at the end of my auction they still had nearly 24 hours until the other car ended, could they not have removed their bid or contacted that buyer explaining the issue?
I don't think I'm being unreasonable as this is what I would of done in the circumstances.
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