annoying ebay sellers who cancel large comic auctions

[dekeuk]

 

There seems to be a growing trend on ebay. Put a large amount of good silver age comics up for auction, take direct offers, then end the auction and sell directly. I guess they figure they save the 10% they have to pay ebay and paypal.

 

Here is one Thor auction I was going to bid on.

 

Here is another one he had 600 silver comics including FF 48. I was emailing him about the comics, even talked to his brother on the phone about the comics. They decided to end the auction because the claim they had a $3000 offer to sell directly to someone.

 

I guess they're going to do what they want, but technically they are violating ebay rules, and its annoying because you spend time figuring out what you want to bid, then they go pull the auction.

 

It seems to be happening all too frequently.

 

 

 

[Anfield Fox]

Yes i know. It can be really annoying on bidders and watchers so i never do it myself but i don't think it's against the rules.

[dekeuk]

Yes i know. It can be really annoying on bidders and watchers so i never do it myself but i don't think it's against the rules.

 

It is VERY against the rules. Ebay calls it FEE AVOIDANCE. Anything you do on ebay that is FEE AVOIDANCE is against the rules. Fee-Bay likes to get paid.

 

 

 

 

[ant]

i did a single diamond withdraw. it was just a lil diamond and neigbor baught it.but when i took the item off it didnt change the amount owed to ebay for selling fees. the selling fees are gone the minute you list but the final value fee is not gotin by them.

 

 

[szelim]

i did a single diamond withdraw. it was just a lil diamond and neigbor baught it.but when i took the item off it didnt change the amount owed to ebay for selling fees. the selling fees are gone the minute you list but the final value fee is not gotin by them.

 

ebay collects fees based on the final sell price, as follows:

 

Item not sold: No Fee

 

Final value $0.01 - $25.00: 5.25% of the closing value

 

Final value $25.01 - $1,000.00: 5.25% of the initial $25.00 ($1.31), plus 3.25% of the remaining closing value balance ($25.01 to $1,000.00)

 

Final vvalue Equal to or Over $1000.01: 5.25% of the initial $25.00 ($1.31), plus 3.25% of the initial $25.01 - $1,000.00 ($31.69), plus 1.50% of the remaining closing value balance ($1000.01 - closing value)

 

To cancel an item in order to sell offline or because it likely will not achieve some unstated reserve value is fee avoidance, and ebay does not permit that. It is difficult to for ebay to determine that to be the case, but they do track sellers who frequently cancel listings as long as they are aware of them. It may be worth people's while to forward to ebay the cancelled listing and inform them of your suspicions regarding the reason for cancellation.

 

[armydoc]

Playing devil's advocate: No one here has ever contacted a seller and made an offer on something they really wanted? Would you be as upset if this were going in your favor? I'm not trying to be a smart @$$, I'm just being realistic. You gotta love capitalism.

 

I have contacted sellers and told them I expect to bid a large amount at the end of the auction in order to try and prevent this.

[BrianR]

If there is any Item I really want I will contact the seller, and Say if you get an outside offer let me have a chance to offer more as I plan on bidding on the item with hopes of winning. That is how I got my last copy of TEC 395.

 

[hockey&comicsguy]

Playing devil's advocate: No one here has ever contacted a seller and made an offer on something they really wanted? Would you be as upset if this were going in your favor? I'm not trying to be a smart @$$, I'm just being realistic. You gotta love capitalism.

 

I have contacted sellers and told them I expect to bid a large amount at the end of the auction in order to try and prevent this.

 

I've probably sold close to 500-600 times on ebay and one thing I haven't done but have seen used quite often is the seller stating that they "reserve the right to cancel the auction at any time for any reason". I've seen that type of blanket statement on thousands of items. I always wondered if that was against the rules or not. It would seem that you don't have the right to pull the auction for whatever reason you want but people say they can and they certainly do. Ebay's policies would make me believe you can't even put language like that into your auction listing.

 

From my perspective, with over 1000 transactions I've seen ebay fees continue to climb year after year and if somebody gets an offer they can't refuse and pulls the item, I don't blame them. I've had people make me offers before but unfortunately none of them were ever enough to make me pull the listing.

[armydoc]

It's human nature to want to circumvent extra costs. Eventually eBay will probably make it so an auction can't be pulled once it is listed. I have talked to a lot of fellow collectors who buy only by making offers and closing outside of eBay. Ebay then just becomes a place to give your item public visibility. This type of thing probably happens thousands of times a day and costs eBay tens of thousands of unrealized seller’s fees. Eventually fee-bay will find a way to stop it. But who does that really benefit?

[sterlingcomics]

I have talked to a lot of fellow collectors who buy only by making offers and closing outside of eBay.

 

What's so funny is that the same folks on here saying that sellers stopping auctions are bad are the same ones trying to get a "good deal" by working the seller to an off line deal. IMHO, in the majority of cases, the fee avoidance of a few dollars minuscules the unrealized dollars the seller MIGHT HAVE gotten if he let the auctions ride. In the majority cases it is the buyer who initiates this process, using the "saving fees" argument to the seller as if they are doing him a favor...while knowing they are securing books they know are worth more and/or know that they cannot win said auction in a legit way.

 

This thread could have easily said "Annoying buyers who work off line deals" and I would have the said the same thing.

 

Bad form for both buyer and seller. Shame on you all.

[armydoc]

I have talked to a lot of fellow collectors who buy only by making offers and closing outside of eBay.

 

What's so funny is that the same folks on here saying that sellers stopping auctions are bad are the same ones trying to get a "good deal" by working the seller to an off line deal. IMHO, in the majority of cases, the fee avoidance of a few dollars minuscules the unrealized dollars the seller MIGHT HAVE gotten if he let the auctions ride. In the majority cases its the buyers who initiate this process, using the "saving fees" argument to the seller as if they are doing him a favor...while knowing they are securing books they know are worth more and/or know that they cannot win said auction in a legit way.

 

Bad form for both buyer and seller. Shame on you all.

 

Agreed. But sometimes......

[sterlingcomics]

This type of thing probably happens thousands of times a day and costs eBay tens of thousands of unrealized seller’s fees. Eventually fee-bay will find a way to stop it. But who does that really benefit?

 

I actually believe eBay will eventually implement a "cancellation fee" system.

[MK Ultra]

Well if people put in a bid once the auction is listed, is not the seller less inclined to pull it and make a deal outside of feebarf? I've listed some things to sell and sometimes there are people watching, but the auction ends with no bids so I don't think that's a good indicator. I've also had people send me emails and never follow through on them so I don't know if that's a good indicator either.

[sterlingcomics]

eBay is a random shoot....it all depends on when you list, who happens to want a copy of that book, and if more than one person is willing to battle for it. I've seen a book get no bids for weeks and then get a load of bids. I wouldn't worry about getting no action (your auctions, not personal life ), unless your pricing and seller policy is too stringent.

 

I would hardly say that eBay should be how we determine market value...sometimes you need to be patient as a seller or be willing to sell at enough discount to move product. I used to think eBay was great for high grade material, but I've seen a significant amount of that shift to consignment shops. Sometimes you just need to research where a particular collectible will do well...eBay is not end all be all anymore.

[AbsoluteCarnage]

I'd be happy the guy ended the auction rather than letting you win it for cheap and then just not send the books as some people do. I'm not sure who but some people do.

 

 

 

[Robert Beerbohm]

what if the book(s) become damaged due to an accident. What if you have a store and it sells to a walk in person?

 

result: end the auction

 

no problem there?

[Aces]

The Thor lot looked pretty good until I saw this:

and many have holes where they were once held in a binder.

Maybe it's a good thing you didn't win it.

[sterlingcomics]

what if the book(s) become damaged due to an accident. What if you have a store and it sells to a walk in person?

 

result: end the auction

 

no problem there?

 

No problems there. I think this would be more important for eBay store items, because I know eBay sellers take these same books generally lying around in an eBay virtual store to comic conventions. If, however, you run an auction, I think there is some assumption on part of the buyer that it isn't being made available anywhere else. I personally wouldn't put an auction up knowing that it was available somewhere else; that's just too much for my feeble little mind to keep track of, which would result in pissed off customers.

 

This is why some of the consignment sites have rules that prevent availability across multiple venues.

 

Sterling's Best Practice: If you place the book on consignment, keep it on one place at a time. If you place an item for an auction, my assumption is that it is not being made available somewhere else.

 

Makes it easier to manage.

[Ringfinger]

Se,lling off e-bay is one way to make a few more bucks. Advertise cheap then avoid fees. Done every day.

[dekeuk]

Se,lling off e-bay is one way to make a few more bucks. Advertise cheap then avoid fees. Done every day.

 

Yes for sellers who know what they are doing.

 

This seller knew nothing about comics, he got them at an estate sale. You think the buyer, an experienced comic person, paid him more than they were worth? No way.

 

He conned the guy into selling directly for less than they were probably worth. And the dumb seller believed the story about "saving on ebay fees"

 

If he would have let the auction run it's course, there's a 95% chance he probably gets more than he ultimately got.