eBay story

You ever see an auction price go down? (Long story short) My buddy Charlie put his 1932 Harley on eBay. His reserve was $22,000. Someone bid that or more and were shown as high bidder. Later that day that same person increased his bid. We do not know why. The next day someone bid and the original bidder was still high bid, at $25,000. It sat there for almost four days. During that 4 days the original bidder twice apparently increased his bid. It stayed with him as high bid of $25,000, but he bid again, twice. Then, with 12 1/2 hours left in the auction, the person that had bid $24,900 (and pushed the auction to $25,000), he bid $28,000, then, 20 minutes later, he canceled his bid claiming a typographical error, and because there was more than 12 hours left, ALL his bids were cancelled, including the one that was 4 days old! So, the high bid dropped back to $22,000, and that's how the auction ended. It smelled funny. Several other people had expressed interest, but it seems they did not bid because of this odd (and illegal) behavior. According to eBay rules the person that cancelled his bid was required to bid again, but he did not. Because of this eBay told Charlie he could call the auction is null and void and if he did they would give him his money back and he could have a future auction. The guy that "won" the auction is crying "I deserve it for $22,000". But because of inconsistencies in some of his emails to Charlie, we think he orchestrated the whole deal. HE claimed maybe Charlie might have orchestrated it. Charlie said "If I had done it, don't you think I'd have been smart enough to make sure I did not lose $3,000???" It's a mess, and it's all because of eBay policy to cancel ALL bids if you retract one. Now that Charlie has decided to call the auction null and void, eBay says they will only return his $120 fee if he can get the winner to sign off. Charlie told eBay "Why should I do your dirty work?" Charlie spent an hour on the phone with eBay today & the lady assured Charlie they would drop the charges. An hour later Charlie got an email from eBay: Basically it said "We are having a problem with you because you made an illegal bid". Huh? WHAT??

I'll tell you, Charlie is DONE with eBay. Never again.

Call me old fashion but I've never used Ebay because I've heard so many similar stories.


Rick

I heard of that in the PAST, 2 work together on the bid, and the 1 backs out to lower the bid. As far as your friend goes, does he have any barn fresh, complete harley flatheads ? I would love a WW2 bike, they are enough $$$, or a knuckle head, but they are out of my $$$$$$$$$$$ range

Yes, ebay and paypal are getting ridiculous with all the crap that goes on. If someone disputes the payment, Paypal will automatically rip it out of your account!! until the dispute is over.

I don't sell large items on ebay, my buddy sells cars once in a while and usually has a few idiots/scammers trying some crap with it.

AA130FIREMAN wrote:does he have any barn fresh, complete harley flatheads ? I

He does have a '42. When he got it it was barn fresh. Now it's been civilianized and is close to showroom condition....other than there was never a 42 that was chrome and baby blue. He's not ready to sell that one. At this point I don't think he's ready to sell the '32! Both oh his bikes were rusty, crusty, left in a pile of hay when he got them. The 42 is easy to get parts for, but the 32 can be a real struggle. \

In the last couple of days we are hearing more and more stories of bad Bay experiences. I know I use eBay less than I used to. They simply got too greedy for me.

I have sold about 40 items on ebay over the last 10 years with no problems. Luck of the draw? I just sold our Lincoln our ebay as well, but I opted for the "Buy it Now" or make an offer style. I being able to review someone's offer, hear what they have to say, read their feedback, etc. Despite the kind of thing Charlie went through, ebay is still a cost effective way to reach a lot of buyers. I advertised our Lincoln locally for a few weeks without a single call...it sold on ebay in 3 days.

I bought a dump body from a guy out towards Elmira N.Y. Paid it thru paypal because the guy was getting antsy. We talked on the phone several times prior to me sending in payment. It was two winters ago and there was alot of snow on the groung so picking it up was sort of difficult. The seller agreed that I could take all the time necessary to arrange pickup. When I tried to get ahold of him, he said that I took to long to pick it up and he gave it to someone else. After it was paid in full. Paypall won't even consider giving me the guys info

I have used eBay quite a bit and it can be problematic, if you read through their discussion forums you can get some info on how to avoid most of the scams.

There are a few categories that attract the scammers and thanks to other off-eBay discussion boards the way to scam sellers is shared. Some popular ones are partial refunds rather than returning an item, claims of item not as described, item never received, bid retraction, malicious bidding, etc.

Your friends experience does sound like a scam. If he had posted on the discussion boards asking a few questions about what was happening, the other posters there would have probably been able to offer some advice. eBay customer support is anything but "customer support" . It is mostly a free for all slanted in the direction of the buyer. You almost need the attitude that if you can't afford to have it stolen from you, you shouldn't sell it on eBay.

Unfortunately, its not a "Buyer Beware" environment. They adopted a "Seller Beware" attitude.

I like to call it "Flea-Bay". It is just an electronic flea market. You get all types - both sellers and buyers. I would never sell a high quality speciality item on it. Scammers and con artists exist everywhere including e-bay. I bought and sold a fair amount on it. Mainly surplus materials. Most transactions went smooth. I have had to file a couple of claims for items paid for and not shipped. I have had made mistakes where I have had to refund money. Get outside the plain simple transaction and it can be a nightmare. Paying with Paypal outside of ebay is like paying with cash. - little to no protection.

I've done many many eBay transactions, both buying & selling over the past 7 years - never had a problem ......... except for the Jimmy, but that was a 33/33/33 split of fault between myself, the seller, & eBay. Had the vehicle history report (eBay didn't have one at the time - this one was posted by the seller) been up, I never would have bought it - and had the seller been HONEST, there wouldn't have been a problem either. But I did manage to wrangle $300 & a new pair of tires out of the seller, which is better than I expected. After all that he left me a Negative, back when sellers could do that.

When I sell, I use strict guidelines, all available when you list an item: Paypal account only -all others cannot bid/buy, negative feedback forbidden to bid/buy, countries I don't ship to forbidden as well, unpaid item strikes forbidden to bid/buy.

For big/expensive items, I usually just use Craigslist. If someone wants what you have, they will find it no matter how far out of the area they are. There are a few searches that allow you to search Craigslist from coast to coast for a specific item.

You'll have to deal with endless phone calls from absolute morons at all hours of the night, but it's free. I don't get pissed anymore - that just fuels the fire. I just listen & laugh afterward & share with my buddies. I never leave to meet anyone - if they don't want to come here to buy, then they don't buy! If they try anything tricky .... well, lets just say this is the wrong neighborhood for that sort of thing.

But like was mentioned, you have a much bigger audience on eBay - so chances of selling are upped quite a bit. If I do decide to list a car or bike on there, my bidding/buying requirements usually weed out the riffraff. There was one time I listed a truck, and forgot to add my "Paypal account only" requirement ..... and the truck was promptly "sold" to someone in Germany who needed my social & bank info.

It is like a fleamarket, which is great for me. Stuff I would have either thrown away or been left piling up here in the house & barn, I sell and make a couple hunge a month on. 99% of my stuff is a Buy it Now - auctions rip me off most of the time. Except a couple times I've been shocked at how high a price got bid up. Too much of a gamble for me.

All good info. One thing I learned some time back is if I sell on eBay I make sure to add "I reserve the right to sell or not sell to any bidder for any reason." It gives you some protection from eBay if something smells bad and you decide to not sell to the high bidder. Without that written in the description eBay requires you to sell to the high bidder or they can slap your hand & give you grief.

By putting in a very high bid early scammers scare off potential bidders. Then near the end they retract their bid and the item goes for much less than it ordinarily would and of course they are the under bidder.

Check the Seller Central discussion forum over there for more good info, there are a lot of well informed sellers that can steer you clear of common mistakes and issues.

Freddy, I am not too sure that your terms will take precedence over eBay terms when it comes to accepting a bid. That is the kind of question that someone on the forum over there could quote you chapter and verse along with a link to the reference.

titleist1 wrote:Freddy, I am not too sure that your terms will take precedence over eBay terms

I'll go check out the Seller Central. The reason I started adding that "refuse to sell to anyone" phrase was on eBay's advice....well...back door advice. I had a buyer go sour once and wanted to not sell it to them because of their awful history and lack of payment. I phoned eBay & they told me "You MUST allow them 10 days because you did not say "I reserve the right to not sell.....". I took it to mean I should add it in the future and I have.