Got shafted on eBay - transaction cancelled

[logan2z]

I was bidding on what appeared to be a nice Korean Epiphone Sheraton on eBay. It had been upgraded with Gibson '57 Classic pickups and came with a nice HSC. At the close of the auction I was the high bidder. I emailed the seller and asked him to calculate shipping costs to my zip code so I could remit payment. 24 hours later I hadn't received a reply so I started to think that something was up. The next day I received notice from eBay that the seller was requesting a cancellation of the transaction. I guess I'm an eBay noob since I didn't realize that was even an option. The seller claimed that he was packing the guitar for shipment and dropped it, damaging it to the point that it was no longer fit for sale. Ok, that's possible, but my gut tells me that the $411 selling price in this no reserve auction was well below the seller's expectations and he decided not to sell. I guess I should have taken more notice of the two negative feedbacks he had received in the past, but they were from 2006 and he had nothing but positives since then. Well, I fixed that I think I'll stick to local CL sales and the TDPRI classifieds from now on.

[Bones]

You paid nothing and you got nothing, why the bad feedback?

[pondcaster]

The $411 selling price in this no reserve auction was well below the seller's expectations but was not far off from reality, as far as street prices go...?

I agree with what Bones said, no $$ so who cares. There are more out there in that price range...go for it!

[Radspin]

To me it's the principle of the thing. The seller either should have shipped the guitar or shown pictures of the damage as proof of what he was saying. But is sounds like maybe this wasn't the kind of person you'd want to deal with anyway.

[Mike Eskimo]

You could have always held him to it.

Cancelling a transaction takes 2 parties to agree to it.

Since you're the more powerful of the parties (the buyer), it was completely up to you to agree to cancel it or not.

Did he break it ?

Of course not.

He probably unloaded it locally or on a forum.

But - I agree w Bones about the feedback. If you agreed to cancel the transaction that should be the end of it.


BTW - that was a good deal on the Epi (You "won" it for $456 not $411) but not a phenomenal deal.


UPDATE : I just double-checked : You have 3 transactions and he had 21 ?! That right there is a recipe for major disaster.

Your transaction - on both sides - is what scares people about Ebay.

[Big_Bend]

As an Ebay seller - the OP is the type of buyer I despise. Go retract that negative feedback, it was NOT deserved, you didn't lose a thing, you did not get "shafted". Grow up.

[logan2z]

Originally Posted by Radspin

To me it's the principle of the thing. The seller either should have shipped the guitar or shown pictures of the damage as proof of what he was saying. But is sounds like maybe this wasn't the kind of person you'd want to deal with anyway.

Exactly, where's the proof that the seller's story is legit? I could have pressed him/eBay on the issue, but frankly figured the seller was not someone I wanted to continue to do business with, so I agreed to the cancellation request.

And to address the post from Bones, I agree that I lost nothing in a monetary sense and considered that before leaving feedback. However, I entered into a contract with the seller to purchase the guitar. Because of that commitment, I passed on a similar guitar for sale locally on CL and that guitar is now sold. Again, not really a monetary loss but something of a loss nonetheless.

[Colt W. Knight]

I use to buy used cowboy boots on eBay, and a lot of times, when the sellers ending price was less than they desired, they would retract the auction. Whenever, I asked why, they always said, oh, I accidently put the wrong size. That way, they don't have to sell the item for less than they wanted. That always rubbed me the wrong way, and I wouldn't bid on those sellers' items again.

[logan2z]

Originally Posted by Big_Bend

As an Ebay seller - the OP is the type of buyer I despise. Go retract that negative feedback, it was NOT deserved, you didn't lose a thing, you did not get "shafted". Grow up.

As an eBay buyer, you're the type of seller I would avoid. A seller who enters into a contract to sell an item and then backs out with no legitimate justification completely undermines the eBay model.

[logan2z]

BTW - that was a good deal on the Epi (You "won" it for $456 not $411) but not a phenomenal deal.

Agreed, I didn't say I got a 'phenomenal' deal. And of course you're right, there was an estimated shipping charge of $45 so the total cost of the transaction to me was $456. But to the seller, it was $411 less eBay/PayPal fees.

[Mike Eskimo]

This thread is why THIS is right on top of my listings :

**** NO Buyers with less than 20 transactions and 100% rating unless you contact me FIRST & I will ship world-wide but you MUST email for international rates BEFORE you bid ****

[logan2z]

Originally Posted by Mike Eskimo

This thread is why THIS is right on top of my listings :

**** NO Buyers with less than 20 transactions and 100% rating unless you contact me FIRST & I will ship world-wide but you MUST email for international rates BEFORE you bid ****

What does someone with less than 20 transactions have to say in email to convince you they're worthy of bidding on your item? And what does the seller backing out of this transaction have to do with a policy to prevent flaky buyers? Remember, it was me with my measly 3 transactions that was ready to pay in full and make good on this purchase.

[flyingbanana]

Who's the noob...

[Telesavalis]

if you AGREED to cancel the transaction then leaving negative feedback for the seller was uncalled for. You should retract that feedback. You suffered no loss AND it takes two to cancel a transaction.

[BobbyZ]

At an old fashin auction when thay say SOLD that's the end of it. No BS.
Seller wanted more TOO BAD. Buyer says "oh I didn't see that" PAY THE LADY and SHUT TF UP !

I've never bought a thing on ebay. Not a good thing because when I see someting I might want to buy some sellers don't want first time bidders.
I did sell some amps in the 90s and had no problems. One guy said a tube was broke in an old Gibson amp so I sent out a replacement. (it was a 12au7 and not a 7591 thank God)

[BLAM]

The seller may well have been telling the truth and could be much more out of pocket as a consequence. No guitar, no money and I guess being left negative feed-back as well really made the guys' day. You might have lost a bargain but it cost you nothing financially apart from a little time. Kinda harsh in my book.

[logan2z]

Originally Posted by Telesavalis

if you AGREED to cancel the transaction then leaving negative feedback for the seller was uncalled for. You should retract that feedback. You suffered no loss AND it takes two to cancel a transaction.

Here's my logic:

If the seller is telling the truth and cared about his eBay rating, he could send me an email with some pictures of the damaged guitar. The minute I received that email I'd retract my feedback. Without that I'm calling BS and think my feedback is justified. I'm happy to hear where my argument is flawed.

[flathd]

That doesn't sound as bad as one experience I had. I won an item for a good price, and never recieved an invoice from the seller. I tried contacting the seller several times, and got no response. Then the seller left me a negative feedback saying I never paid them.

I complained to eBay about it and they told me to call him to resolve the issue. The seller had a fake phone number listed which was 123-456-7890. Pretty smart, eh? eBay suspended the seller for having false contact information and removed the negative feedback they gave me. Oh, I also gave the idiot seller a well deserved negative feedback, the only time I ever had to do that.

[Bones]

Originally Posted by logan2z

Here's my logic:

If the seller is telling the truth and cared about his eBay rating, he could send me an email with some pictures of the damaged guitar. The minute I received that email I'd retract my feedback. Without that I'm calling BS and think my feedback is justified. I'm happy to hear where my argument is flawed.

I could send you a photo right now of a damaged korean sheraton that I don't even own.

[Nafees]

Originally Posted by logan2z

As an eBay buyer, you're the type of seller I would avoid. A seller who enters into a contract to sell an item and then backs out with no legitimate justification completely undermines the eBay model.

Agreed, buyers get a lot of **** if they back out of a sale. It's perfectly okay for sellers to back out though. He deserved the negative feedback. He (probably) lied his way out of a contract.