My EBAY Nightmare

[cheetah]

Jeezus, John. Did they bother to look at your account and see how much you pass through them in the average month? That's just ridiculous business sense on their part.

 

Or maybe you just got someone who once shipped you a slab in an unpadded envelope.

[skypinkblu]

The guy thought he won at a good price, and you didn't honor that auction win? Did I miss somewhere how this was his fault?

 

Edit: Don't get me wrong, it sounds like ebay messed up for you but I think the guy deserves his comic.

+1

 

I might have sworn, too...it really wasn't his fault...

 

(almost sounds like he got Roy'd;)

[Foolkiller]

John, you're a stand up guy and a first rate seller. Despite ebay's issues, it isn't as if the book sold for $5.

 

The buyer had a legitimate gripe. You had a legitimate gripe. Unfortunately, I think the buyer -- who should never have let it devolve into complete incivility --- has some legitimate claim here and the transaction should have been completed. I know it seems tough to swallow but... the auction is the auction.

 

Now what I wonder is if ebay has exposed themselves to liability here... let's say John had completed the sale, and as a result of some ebay mistake or glitch, thousands of dollars were lost. I'm not saying it's an easy case, but it certainly makes me wonder.

[THE_BEYONDER]

When I cared, I was hoping that ebay/paypal would make it up to me and I could go through with the auction. As far as I concerned, it was ebay/paypal's fault. If he had worked with me, perhaps we could have pressured ebay/paypal into making it right.

 

 

What option did you present to the buyer before canceling the transaction & refunding his money?

[PokerKid]

So what is your son going to do with the 10%?

[skypinkblu]

John, you're a stand up guy and a first rate seller. Despite ebay's issues, it isn't as if the book sold for $5.

 

The buyer had a legitimate gripe. You had a legitimate gripe. Unfortunately, I think the buyer -- who should never have let it devolve into complete incivility --- has some legitimate claim here and the transaction should have been completed. I know it seems tough to swallow but... the auction is the auction.

 

Now what I wonder is if ebay has exposed themselves to liability here... let's say John had completed the sale, and as a result of some ebay mistake or glitch, thousands of dollars were lost. I'm not saying it's an easy case, but it certainly makes me wonder.

 

There were many times, years ago when eBay would go down during Sunday night auctions..too much activity, and the system would blow up...They wouldn't extend the time....I was only selling small items, but it hurt. I just sent the items.

 

I can't imagine how upset I'd have been on a large $$ items like these.

[Designer Toast]

E-bay's TOS covers them for this sort of crud. What's the point of being verified if it doesn't work?

 

Pretty -o-riffic situation all around:

 

- The seller gets screwed

- The winner bidder gets screwed

- The bidders who were verified to bid but could not bid get screwed

- The seller gets hit with a neg, thus getting screwed more

- The winning bidder is pissed

- The seller's PayPal account is forzen, thus screwing the seller.

 

Total screw-fest all around. Brilliant job by e-Bay - just ace!!

 

 

[Marvelfangirl]

Dude,that sucks big time

[cheetah]

I'm finding it hard to believe anyone really thinks John should have gone ahead with the deal. Ebay obviously screwed the pooch on this one and it's not John's responsibility to eat the loss. It's Ebay's responsibility to fix it. The buyer just has to deal with the loss.

[THE_BEYONDER]

I'm finding it hard to believe anyone really thinks John should have gone ahead with the deal. Ebay obviously screwed the pooch on this one and it's not John's responsibility to eat the loss. It's Ebay's responsibility to fix it. The buyer just has to deal with the loss.

 

I suppose a possible compromise would have been to just run the auction again...allowing the previous winner to bid on it again.

[TempusFugitivus]

One thing I was wandering you said people e-mailed you and said they were trying to bid on the book but it wouldn't let them. Did e-bay show anything to prove this in there system.

 

Ebay did confirm that one bidder (who would have actually been the high bidder) did get his bid in on time but it would not register. They also confirmed that other bidders were timed out by requests for information. They also confirmed that these bidders, by their own policies, should not have been required to verify anything. The requirement was for bidders without checking accounts, credit cards, addresses (etc.) on file.

 

Their basic response was: "Well, that's just too bad for you."

[TempusFugitivus]

Jeezus, John. Did they bother to look at your account and see how much you pass through them in the average month? That's just ridiculous business sense on their part.

 

Or maybe you just got someone who once shipped you a slab in an unpadded envelope.

 

 

I got one woman who, it was pretty much obvious, just couldn't believe I was making this much fuss over a comic book.

 

She spoke to me like I was 10 years old. I hung up on her and simply called back.

 

By the way Jeff, your book wasn't caught in the undertow and is shipped.

[cheetah]

 

By the way Jeff, your book wasn't caught in the undertow and is shipped.

 

I actually went back and checked my account when I first read your post!

[TempusFugitivus]

So what is your son going to do with the 10%?

 

According to him, he's going to either:

 

1) Buy a ring for the first girl he's ever been serious about or

2) Rig his room with a multiple computer system that would make NASA blush.

 

I'm betting on 2.

 

[Foolkiller]

I'm finding it hard to believe anyone really thinks John should have gone ahead with the deal. Ebay obviously screwed the pooch on this one and it's not John's responsibility to eat the loss. It's Ebay's responsibility to fix it. The buyer just has to deal with the loss.

 

Why is it the buyer who just has to eat it?

 

I agree Ebay has the responsibility to fix it, but if a bid is a legally binding agreement, then it's binding on both parties. While ebay's system didn't work properly with some screening function, the legitimate bidder still bid and won following all of the rules and terms. This is an imperfect solution, but my opinion is that (and this is all technical) the transaction should have completed, information collected regarding ebay's failures, the evidence indicating the item would have sold but for ebay's failure, ebay owes a duty to the seller to insure each listing would have complete functionality, or they owe restitution to the seller for the difference in the amount of the highest maximum bid that was attempted to be placed.

 

 

[skypinkblu]

I spent a few minutes looking all over to see if there was some new policy I needed to learn (because if you need to verify first, we ALL need to know) ...Couldn't find it so I just called them. I was told that they don't have a policy like this, but there has been spyware targeting the site asking for this information. He said it has been a recent problem. The spyware/malware mimics the bidding page and asks for personal information including credit card numbers and passswords...Not a good thing and it's not just the old link in a phishing email.

 

He said if anyone gets that request when trying to bid, it is NOT from eBay and you should not respond...but the programs can block bids.

 

That kind of makes a little bit of sense...Did anyone mention this to you?

 

In any case, I'm sorry you had to go through this.

[Timmay]

I'm finding it hard to believe anyone really thinks John should have gone ahead with the deal. Ebay obviously screwed the pooch on this one and it's not John's responsibility to eat the loss. It's Ebay's responsibility to fix it. The buyer just has to deal with the loss.

 

Why is it the buyer who just has to eat it?

 

I agree Ebay has the responsibility to fix it, but if a bid is a legally binding agreement, then it's binding on both parties. While ebay's system didn't work properly with some screening function, the legitimate bidder still bid and won following all of the rules and terms. This is an imperfect solution, but my opinion is that (and this is all technical) the transaction should have completed, information collected regarding ebay's failures, the evidence indicating the item would have sold but for ebay's failure, ebay owes a duty to the seller to insure each listing would have complete functionality, or they owe restitution to the seller for the difference in the amount of the highest maximum bid that was attempted to be placed.

 

 

ebay eats it too

 

how much in fees do they collect on a cancelled sale?

[JWKyle]

One thing I was wandering you said people e-mailed you and said they were trying to bid on the book but it wouldn't let them. Did e-bay show anything to prove this in there system.

 

Ebay did confirm that one bidder (who would have actually been the high bidder) did get his bid in on time but it would not register. They also confirmed that other bidders were timed out by requests for information. They also confirmed that these bidders, by their own policies, should not have been required to verify anything. The requirement was for bidders without checking accounts, credit cards, addresses (etc.) on file.

 

Their basic response was: "Well, that's just too bad for you."

 

I don't deal in big ticket books like this but with what you said I would have had a hard time letting it go for less then what was actually bid on it because there system wouldn't let bids go through. With the trend on GPA though it looks like 14,500 would have been about right.

[Bosco685]

There were many times, years ago when eBay would go down during Sunday night auctions..too much activity, and the system would blow up...They wouldn't extend the time....I was only selling small items, but it hurt. I just sent the items.

What about last year's system failure when the search function (and watch list) stopped working?

 

One seller on here had many of his auctions ending that night, and the books went for super-cheap. Ebay informed him he had to honor the sales as it wasn't "that major an issue."

 

[Tsimanga]

I spent a few minutes looking all over to see if there was some new policy I needed to learn (because if you need to verify first, we ALL need to know) ...Couldn't find it so I just called them. I was told that they don't have a policy like this, but there has been spyware targeting the site asking for this information. He said it has been a recent problem. The spyware/malware mimics the bidding page and asks for personal information including credit card numbers and passswords...Not a good thing and it's not just the old link in a phishing email.

 

He said if anyone gets that request when trying to bid, it is NOT from eBay and you should not respond...but the programs can block bids.

 

That kind of makes a little bit of sense...Did anyone mention this to you?

 

In any case, I'm sorry you had to go through this.

 

 

 

Now that throws a twist into this tale... hmmm...