Ending auctions early

[JohnBull]

 

Can anyone tell me what ebay's rules are here?

 

I was just about to bid on something (non-comics, some pottery for my wife) and the [not very nice person] ended the auction with seconds to go. At the time, the auction was at £16-99.

 

I knew what was up and contacted the guy, who told me that he was selling for a friend who wanted offers over £40 and that he should have put a reserve on the item.

 

Do ebay view this dimly or don't they care? It seems a good way to get round listing fees for reserves (albeit at the risk of losing last second snipes), but does the guy have to pay a FVF on the £16-99? Does the high bidder at auction end have any redress or is he just left out to dry?

 

I think this sucks big time and is an abuse of what the auction system is about. The only good thing is that I'm £20+ better off than I would have been if I'd bought some cruddy vase that I didn't actually like!

[chromium]

wow the board filter doesn't work on "5th word of George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words"

 

And I'm surprised you haven't encountered this problem before, I know a few sellers that routinely end their auctions the last few minutes it it seems they will not get what they hoped...

 

eBay doesn't seem to care, and there is next to nothing you can do save from hurling your slipper at the screen when it happens...

 

Sellers can use the ' item is no longer for sale because I accidentally broke it" excuse and walk away....

[joe_collector]

Report it to EBay.

 

They issued a release awhile back, concerning a crack down on this sellers (suspension if caught), as this is essentially lost revenue for EBay.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/contact_inline/report_problem.html

 

Report Problems with Other EBay Members ->

 

Problems with Sellers ->

 

Seller Ended Listing Early to Avoid Reserve Price Fees

[kryptonitecomics]

As Joe said.....report it. I have never seen them do anything about it, but now that it's hitting them in the pocket book maybe they'll give a damn.

[joe_collector]

As Joe said.....report it. I have never seen them do anything about it, but now that it's hitting them in the pocket book maybe they'll give a damn.

 

That's the key, and I've seen a few big sellers get suspensions for repeated offenses, so EBay is doing something.

 

Rip off a buyer and EBay laughs, but just try and rip off EBay.....

[JohnBull]

wow the board filter doesn't work on [not very nice person]

 

Aargh!!! Stand by for an edit!

[chromium]

wow the board filter doesn't work on [not very nice person]

 

Aargh!!! Stand by for an edit!

 

Oh great....I guess you want me to edit mine as well now ??

[JohnBull]

[Ares]

wow the board filter doesn't work on "5th word of George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words"

 

And I'm surprised you haven't encountered this problem before, I know a few sellers that routinely end their auctions the last few minutes it it seems they will not get what they hoped...

 

eBay doesn't seem to care, and there is next to nothing you can do save from hurling your slipper at the screen when it happens...

 

Sellers can use the ' item is no longer for sale because I accidentally broke it" excuse and walk away....

 

it really dont work on ****sucker?

wow I gues it didnt!

 

But just you try and type in P rick as one word and see what happens!

[Tomega]

I just had the same problem with a seller ( eBay id mwidas) on eBay. I bid on an auction for a GS #1 and he cancelled with little time left. I wrote him en email to voice my displeasure. Of course he responded angrily but actually admitted circumventing fees because " Due to EBAYS high fees, sellers have to suffer now ." We have shared a few email banters back and forth because he got pissed because I reported him to eBay. I did a little research and found that he does it in about 50% of his auctions. In fact he has done it before on the same GS1 I bid on- take a look at his auction history.

 

I do not know about the rest of you, but I put this guy on my blocked bidder list.

 

Guys like this are what is wrong with eBay.

[JohnBull]

Report it to EBay.

 

They issued a release awhile back, concerning a crack down on this sellers (suspension if caught), as this is essentially lost revenue for EBay.

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/contact_inline/report_problem.html

 

Report Problems with Other EBay Members ->

 

Problems with Sellers ->

 

Seller Ended Listing Early to Avoid Reserve Price Fees

 

Thanks. I tried this, but I'm not too confident. It leads to a stock form where you only report the item number (ie: I can't include the fact that I have an e-mail from him admitting that he did it). I then got this stock response from ebay:

 

Thank you for writing to eBay's SafeHarbor Department with your concern

about a seller who cancelled all the bids on a listing and ended it

early. We understand your concern. While this response may be the only

email you receive from us, we want to assure you that an eBay SafeHarbor

Representative will promptly review the situation.

 

Although there are some situations where eBay allows sellers to cancel

bids and end an auction early, eBay policy prohibits ending items early

because the desired price has not been met. This type of policy

violation is considered reserve fee avoidance. You can read more about

it at the following web address:

 

http://pages.ebay.com/help/community/investigates.html#selling

 

Once we investigate your report, we will take appropriate action based

upon the policy violation and the member involved. This action may be an

educational alert, a temporary sanction or type of suspension. Please

keep in mind that, due to our privacy policy, you will not be sent

specific details about the results of our investigation. If we need more

information, we will contact you.

 

Although we encourage sellers to email the bidders on their listings to

explain any reason for canceling and also advise them to post an

addition to the item description about the cancellation, they do not

always do these things. Therefore, if you have additional questions

about why an auction was ended early, we suggest you email the seller

directly with your concerns.

 

Please remember that an auction will end early if a bidder uses the "Buy

It Now" option offered by the seller. There are also some situations

where eBay may end an auction early due to a listing irregularity or

violation of eBay rules. If eBay ends an item listing, we will notify

all the bidders involved in the listing through email.

 

**Please do not respond to this email as your reply will not be

received. If you have additional questions, please review our help

system by clicking on the help button located at the top of every eBay

web page and contact us through it.

 

We appreciate the time you took to contact us and wish you all the best

with your future eBay experiences.

 

Best regards,

 

eBay SafeHarbor Team

 

I won't hold my breath.

[thunderkitten]

Before everyone jumps to conclusions, remember that there are 2 sides to every story. I dont find it very reputable of "tomega" to abuse my user name on the boards here. I havent done this to him.

[supapimp]

paging BOC...paging BOC

[joe_collector]

Before everyone jumps to conclusions, remember that there are 2 sides to every story.

 

We're listening....

[Rocketeer]

I prefer peanuts....

[Tomega]

Before everyone jumps to conclusions, remember that there are 2 sides to every story. I dont find it very reputable of "tomega" to abuse my user name on the boards here. I havent done this to him.

 

Yeah, let's here the other side to cancelling 5 of your last 11 auctions minutes before the auction cancelled. Let's here it - we are waiting..............

[Rickdogg]

Reynoldjay comes to mind!

[Darthdiesel]

[comicmankev]

I'd like to here the 2 sides to a story too! If you actually said:

 

Due to EBAYS high fees, sellers have to suffer now

 

Then it's PLAINLY clear what you think, and many others do it too. It is against Ebay policy, but saves you $$ too, so it goes both ways.

 

Tomega doesnt seem to be 'abusing' your username, just stating what happened. And if you continue doing this then you will get reported to Ebay for some of them, thats the risk you take, isn't it?

[JohnBull]

To keep you up to date with how the might of ebay deals with this, I got this in my inbox earlier:

 

Thank you for writing to eBay Customer Support UK,

 

Your question is very important to us and will be treated with our full

attention and respect for your needs. If you have received this

auto-response, your email has been received, and it is not necessary for

you to resend it.

 

You will receive a response from one of our customer representatives on

your specific question within 24 hours of receipt of this mail.

 

e-Tip!

Need help fast? Visit our NEW interactive Help pages to get instant

answers to our most frequently asked questions, as well as a wealth of

information about all things eBay! Click on "Help" in the menu at the

top of any eBay page, or go directly here:

 

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/index.html

 

 

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please do not respond to this email. Any email sent as

a response to this Acknowledgement will not reach us. Should you have

another question or would like to send us additional information, please

contact us by using our online Contact Customer Support page found at:

 

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Thanks for your co-operation and assistance,

 

Best regards,

 

eBay Customer Support UK

 

Can you feel those wheels moving?