My experience with investinbaseball, a Net54 Advertiser

[yankeeno7]

Ebay is a contract. There are legal obligations for both the buyer and the seller. The seller, in this case, breached the contract. Not only is it legally wrong for him to do, it is ethically wrong. It's also bad taste.

Ive made pricing mistakes on ebay as well. I met my obligation and took the hit. (and no, they weren't only mistakes of a couple of bucks but a significant amount) I then scanned my remaining items for pricing errors. It was the right thing to do.

At worst, the seller should have first asked the buyer permission to cancel the purchase. If the buyer did not want to then the seller was legally (and ethically) bound to sell the item.

[yankeeno7]

Past "good deeds" or "he is a stand up guy" or "Ive had great dealings with him in the past" does not matter...especially when he just did exactly opposite of the claim. People DO make mistakes but how you handle the mistake makes the difference.

You should not treat anyone differently just because you think that you can get away with it for the reason that you are a part of a similar community.

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by yankeeno7

Ebay is a contract. There are legal obligations for both the buyer and the seller. The seller, in this case, breached the contract. Not only is it legally wrong for him to do, it is ethically wrong. It's also bad taste.

Ive made pricing mistakes on ebay as well. I met my obligation and took the hit. (and no, they weren't only mistakes of a couple of bucks but a significant amount) I then scanned my remaining items for pricing errors. It was the right thing to do.

At worst, the seller should have first asked the buyer permission to cancel the purchase. If the buyer did not want to then the seller was legally (and ethically) bound to sell the item.

I am not certain of legal issues, but see no moral problem with correcting an obvious pricing error. This is a common practice in other industries, and even websites such as Amazon.com. I work for a car dealership. If an ad is posted with an incorrect price, we print a retraction. I remember a used car worth around $25k getting priced at 2,500. We received several calls and emails the next day. We did not sell the car for 2,500.

I see a moral problem with someone trying to take advantage of a seller's honest mistake and buy a card for 10-20, or even 50% of its value. Like Matt said, had I seen a card like that on a BIN, I might have hit the buy button. But I certainly wouldn't hold it against the seller when he catches the mistake and cancels the sale.

[GregC]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

I am not certain of legal issues, but see no moral problem with correcting an obvious pricing error. This is a common practice in other industries, and even websites such as Amazon.com. I work for a car dealership. If an ad is posted with an incorrect price, we print a retraction. I remember a used car worth around $25k getting priced at 2,500. We received several calls and emails the next day. We did not sell the car for 2,500.

I see a moral problem with someone trying to take advantage of a seller's honest mistake and buy a card for 10-20, or even 50% of its value. Like Matt said, had I seen a card like that on a BIN, I might have hit the buy button. But I certainly wouldn't hold it against the seller when he catches the mistake and cancels the sale.

I agree. People seem to have an issue with a seller not honoring the sale of a misprinted item but no one takes issue with a buyer looking to take advantage of that mistake and then sullying the sellers reputation on a public forum for not taking the financial hit?

Honest mistake made. I would want the buyer to be understanding if I was the seller in this case.

[yankeeno7]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

I am not certain of legal issues, but see no moral problem with correcting an obvious pricing error. This is a common practice in other industries, and even websites such as Amazon.com. I work for a car dealership. If an ad is posted with an incorrect price, we print a retraction. I remember a used car worth around $25k getting priced at 2,500. We received several calls and emails the next day. We did not sell the car for 2,500.

I see a moral problem with someone trying to take advantage of a seller's honest mistake and buy a card for 10-20, or even 50% of its value. Like Matt said, had I seen a card like that on a BIN, I might have hit the buy button. But I certainly wouldn't hold it against the seller when he catches the mistake and cancels the sale.

Really? You see a moral problem with the buyer in this case? SMH.
And no, there is no problem correcting a price BEFORE it sells. Like I said, the seller could have asked permission to cancel and if the buyer did not agree then the seller had the obligation to go good on the sale.
This is not a car for sale of a mis-advertised price. It is a collectible on an auction/selling website that has an explicit contract.

This type of thinking is why I have distanced myself from this hobby 90%.

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by yankeeno7

Really? You see a moral problem with the buyer in this case? SMH.
And no, there is no problem correcting a price BEFORE it sells. Like I said, the seller could have asked permission to cancel and if the buyer did not agree then the seller had the obligation to go good on the sale.
This is not a car for sale of a mis-advertised price. It is a collectible on an auction/selling website that has an explicit contract.

This type of thinking is why I have distanced myself from this hobby 90%.

If it was an obvious error for well below the market value of the card, then yes, I see a moral problem with not only trying to take advantage of that mistake, but then taking the next step of posting in a public forum in attempt to hurt the seller's reputation. Bad form in my opinion.

[yankeeno7]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

If it was an obvious error for well below the market value of the card, then yes, I see a moral problem with not only trying to take advantage of that mistake, but then taking the next step of posting in a public forum in attempt to hurt the sellers' reputation. Bad form in my opinion.

If it happened only once, ok, I would let that slide and the buyer did. In fact, he let it slide and gave the seller another opportunity only to have the same thing happen again. Bad form to out the seller? I disagree. Tough to call if a pattern but the seller himself came here and said that he has multiple mistakes every day. How often is this happening? Is it ok for him to continue to do it to many buyers every day? Now the pattern is there.

The seller has hurt his own reputation by his own doing. Quite a liberalistic approach to not let the seller have any responsibility.

There are deals on ebay all the time. Mistakes, people looking for quick turnover, what ever the reason. Is the buyer suppose to know this was a mistake? Should he be messaging the seller to tell him that he thinks his prices are too low? It's unreasonable to put that on the buyer.

[HRBAKER]

Ted is obviously performing a valuable quality control function here.

[clydepepper]

Originally Posted by pokerplyr80

If it was an obvious error for well below the market value of the card, then yes, I see a moral problem with not only trying to take advantage of that mistake, but then taking the next step of posting in a public forum in attempt to hurt the seller's reputation. Bad form in my opinion.

I totally agree.
.
.

[Exhibitman]

Legally, if the mistakes are blatant errors, like listing a $1000 card for $10.00, a seller is usually able to cancel a transaction based on the obvious mistake. An objectively clear mistake is grounds to rescind a contract. If the numbers are a lot closer than that, though, like $650 instead of $1000, and the mistake is one of degree, it is a lot harder to prevail.

That said, from a customer relations perspective, canceling orders and telling a customer "too bad" is a poor idea. When I make a mistake with a client I do some sort of make-good.

[skelly]

I actually saw the 52 Mathews. Spoke to my wife in the next room. Explained that we might be a few hundred dollars poorer, and then went to buy the card literally 2 minutes later and it was gone. Never thought it would come up here in a thread.

[pokerplyr80]

Originally Posted by yankeeno7

Really? You see a moral problem with the buyer in this case? SMH.
And no, there is no problem correcting a price BEFORE it sells. Like I said, the seller could have asked permission to cancel and if the buyer did not agree then the seller had the obligation to go good on the sale.
This is not a car for sale of a mis-advertised price. It is a collectible on an auction/selling website that has an explicit contract.

This type of thinking is why I have distanced myself from this hobby 90%.

It seems we have opposite views on this one so perhaps we'll have to agree to disagree.

I will add that a seller who has 1000s of cards listed will probably make a few mistakes per day, I know I would. If a potential buyer is actively searching for them I'm sure he could find them. It may not just be a coincidence this happened twice. That being said we don't really have enough information to make that determination as the OP hasn't mentioned what cards he tried to buy at what price. Sean said one was a 52 Eddie Mathews for $650. As 1s usually go for over a grand, and this could have been a nicer example, I probably would have canceled that transaction as well.

[KCRfan1]

Jesus Christ. People are human and are going to make mistakes. Life is way too short to get hung up on this or to take it so personally.

Move on.

I don't understand why this is being aired publicly.

[Runscott]

Originally Posted by KCRfan1

Jesus Christ. People are human and are going to make mistakes. Life is way too short to get hung up on this or to take it so personally.

Move on.

I don't understand why this is being aired publicly.

Then you should read the posts more carefully. We're a vintage baseball discussion board and we discuss vintage baseball cards. We've been discussing ebay sales here for over a decade, and sellers who also participate on this board and who advertise here, are even more susceptible to discussions. Odds of being discussed go up exponentially when they make mistakes. Not sure how you could have missed any of that.

Ted, thanks for posting.
Sean, thanks for responding.
Everyone in-between, thanks.

[Jason]

Seems like alot of mistakes,my bads,and misunderstandings seem to follow this seller. Just saying.

[KCRfan1]

Originally Posted by Runscott

Then you should read the posts more carefully. We're a vintage baseball discussion board and we discuss vintage baseball cards. We've been discussing ebay sales here for over a decade, and sellers who also participate on this board and who advertise here, are even more susceptible to discussions. Odds of being discussed go up exponentially when they make mistakes. Not sure how you could have missed any of that.

Ted, thanks for posting.
Sean, thanks for responding.
Everyone in-between, thanks.

Thanks.

I did read the posts, and understand this is a vintage baseball discussion board discussing vintage baseball cards.

Businesses are going to make mistakes, and consumers need to understand that just because a mistake was made, the business can tell the consumer that a mistake was made and the price should be.....A business may not always take this course, but they certainly have the right to do so.

However, some people will piss and moan over pricing and raise a fit. Regardless of what the item is and the price involved, the business somehow " owes " it to the consumer to sell the item at the marked price. That's just not the case and it's an unreasonable expectation for a consumer to assume that.

We just have different views about how this was handled.

[begsu1013]

pretty simple stuff...

ya'll have dealt in the past. don't let your prides effect the outcome. is it worth losing a customer/dealer/fellow collector over who was actually right or wrong?

sean:

slow down. take your time. do it right the first time. the issue isn't the pricing error...it's the fact that it seems to be happening way too often and it IS frustrating. for most it's a hobby...people don't want unnecessary headaches when it comes to collecting. that's what work is for (see all the hoops, screenshots ya had to provide). offer to send ted a reasonable store credit for the repeated headaches. it wasn't his fault. if ya'll work it out and he buys another card that you've made another mistake on...own it, eat it and send him the card regardless.

ted:

haven't really looked to see if they were grossly underpriced errors and if they were set wide as stated. if he has genuinely helped ya out in the past, then it is three strikes, you're out. take a store credit, keep him on his toes and perhaps give him one last shot. but if he screws that up, then....


edit to add: thanks for posting, ted. i don't see anything wrong w/ it.

[bobbyw8469]

and no, there is no problem correcting a price BEFORE it sells.

The problem with that is, on obvious pricing errors, the listing sells within minutes, if not quicker!!! Sorry, I am on Sean's side with this one.

[nolemmings]

Seller states

"It (pricing errors) happens many times a day. I do nothing but program spreadsheets and type numbers all day and mistakes happen"

Unacceptable.