Does anyone THINK before placing an ebay bid?

[Billy Claire]

Some of you may remember the saga of my 1973 Tele on ebay. To recap: listed it with starting bid of $1500 and a Buy It Now of $2100. Two days into the auction, someone clicks on the buy it now. Emails me with questions afterwards, like weight (which was in the ad), alternate payment (which the ad said to contact me about first) and then commmunication stops and I find out the kid has no money...

So I relist it.

Last day of auction, there's some bidding etc. with a guy that lives near me as the winner at $1999. Emails me, could we avoid shipping (which I said I would do in the ad and do cash) Fine by me since then no Paypal fees. Then comes the next email.... will I reduce the price by what I'll be paying to Paypal. You gotta be kidding me... but nice guy that I am, I offer to split the difference and reduce it by $30.

THEN, I get an email from the next highest bidder saying that the winner offered it to him with me selling it to him.

I email the winner saying basically WTF... he said that his wife didn't want to see him pulling $2K out of their savings or something to that effect and that he would make up the $24 difference since the next guy only bid $1975.

I emailed the next highest bidder asking Are you serious about the guitar? and said I need shipping info etc. and that's when I find out he's in Canada. My ad states: "Bids will only be accepted from the US and UK." Last I checked, Canada isn't the 51st state.

So, obviously he didn't read the ad very thoroughly either.

Shipping via FedEx is $107 2nd day air. Ground isn't an option unless you're a commmercial FedEx shipper with an account and I'm not setting one up to ship one package.

Maybe I need to keep the guitar. I spent the better part of the day driving and trying to figure out shipping and I'm pretty disgusted right now.

I guess I should have told the winning bidder that he had an obligation to buy it and if he wants to send it to the guy in Canada, that's his business.

Arrgh. It might be quite a while before I put anything on ebay again...

[Billy Claire]

... and in the meantime, every Les Paul that I was watching has sold... even one in a music store that I was going to use as a last resort.

[ComingApart]

Ship or give it to the original winner, that was the terms of the auction he particiapted in.
Tough turds about his wife but he clicked the button, he's responsible. He should be shipping it to Canada.

There's no way I would be breaking my back to help out some goober who bid before he thought.

Either cancel the sale due to buyer misconduct or take the guitar to him, have him pay you in cash for the full amount and wash your hands and drive away.
Sounds like a bad deal to me.

[nasonm]

I've bought and sold 121 items on Ebay, and I ALWAYS think twice (even 3 or 4 times) before actually clicking to bid (or buy it now).

I've been the idiot before and man...do it once and you'll learn from it!

The problem with high cost items is the idiots that bid on some of them. I sold $4K of video equipment in once auction. Luckily the buyer wasn't a dufus, but I got a lot of emails from people that shouldn't even of been looking (they had no idea what I was selling).

[rcrecelius]

Sorry to hear about your troubles...Ive not had any terrible experiences on eBay but I must admit things are always smoother when I am the buyer and not the seller.

I always read the ad carefully before making a decision to buy...then I go back and read it again, check the shipping details, payment options, etc. I guarantee ya if Im serious about bidding on something I have read the ad in full more than once!

As a seller, Ive had a few people drag their feet about paying but Ive only had one deadbeat bidder who won the auction and never responded. One other guy had trouble setting up a paypal account (zero feedback) and ended up sending me a MO overnight because he was in a hurry for the item...but then again Ive never sold a high dollar item on eBay...usually smaller stuff, pups, pedals etc.

[Daddy Elmis]

I've always thought that eBay should allow the Seller to "accept" a Buyer using "Buy It Now" since once that button is pushed, your auction is screwed if the buyer flakes out on you.

They could make it so that when BIN is hit, the Seller and Buyer have 24 hours to finalize the deal (which to me means having the Buyer send the money by PayPal) then the Seller can accept the BIN and the auction is over.

IMHO, there is zero reason a Buyer should not be required to lay the money down immediately on the auction closing. Likewise, the Seller should be in a position to ship within 48 hours of payment. Both the Buyer and Seller had, what, 7-9 days to get ready?

[jwsamuel]

I hope you filed for the final value credit with eBay and report the bidder as one who does not complete his purchases.

Jim

[chet]

I just got through dealing with a buyer who decided he didn't want the item. I warned himseveral times and didn't hesitate to give him a negative feedback. I applied for the credit for not selling the item and had to go back and forth again with the nut. I think it's finally resolved but I'll be sure when I get the credit for the bad deal.
I also blocked him from ever bidding on anything I sell in the future.

[mellecaster]

The more I deal on E-bay...the more I think this Country needs a Good Ole Cleansing of the "Gene Pool"

[Flipped Mustang]

I don't know if it would make you feel any better to know you're traveling a well paved road rather then a slightly beaten path :). I'm a professional Ebay seller with about 20 fairly large ticket sales a week. About 10% of every weeks sales go down exactly like you describe. If it's a musical instrument or amp, the flake rate/dingdong bidder goes up to about 40%. It doesn't matter how well your description is written or how careful you are; These folks will find you (block one and two fill their place). What's worse is that once they've ruined your auction, the next time people see the guitar come up for sale, some will assume something is wrong with it "Hey, didn't he sell that?". The "Buy it now" option will get the impulse buy, but the bidder is much more likely to flake out. The good news is you still have a valuable item that could sell for potentially more than it did last time you listed it. You'll need to monitor your blood pressure and keep relisting/wading through the wastoids if you want to sell on Ebay.