eBay Buy It Now Issue/Question
 

Hi everyone, just wanted to get some thoughts/feedback on a recent eBay situation. I won an auction that was listed with an opening bid of $100 or a Buy It Now of $750. It was a 3 day auction and I bid with 5 minutes remaining. I was the first bid and there was one other underbidder who bid after me. It ended at a very good price for the item. After the close of the auction, the seller contacted me and indicated he didn't know what happened, that he didn't set it up as an auction (only as a BIN), and it only ran for 6 minutes. I call BS on that, I believe it sold for way less than he expected and he has seller's remorse. I can appreciate that, however he is a seasoned seller for 7 years and has >700 feedback so it wasn't his first listing. Karma might come back to bite me, and I know I could offer to cancel the transaction ... but I feel that I would be taken advantage of in that situation.

FWIW, I estimate the value of the item at $250 based on other eBay sales, so I paid about half, which also makes the $750 BIN pretty high and understandable no one took that in the 3 days the auction was open.
Ray

maybe offer him what you think the card is worth and see if he's agreeable to that? i've found it's usually better for the seller to not feel totally ripped off, but that's just me. you certainly have the right to the item at the price you paid.

It can be a bit confusing when listing a single item. Ebay defaults to an Auction format each time you list an item. But the fact that the seller is not a beginner, it sounds like they were expecting more action on the item than it got.

I've made best offers on auctions that were refused and then bid on the auction at the last second and won it for less than what my offer was, and the seller expects me to pay what I offered originally. I think the numbers were $750 Buy It Now, $9.99 Opening bid, or Best offer. 7 day auction. Offered $200 on the first day and made it a 48 hour offer. It expired. So I waited another day and still no bids, so I made a $200 best offer again for 48 hours. About 40 hours into my offer, someone placed a bid, so my offer automatically gets canceled. I placed a max bid of $180 and won it at $122.50

That particular auction I didn't hear one word of conversation from the seller and was expecting some sort of issue like the wrong card sent. But got the card without any issues. But there have been other auctions with very similar numbers where I got some sort of excuse, with the most common being that they couldn't find it, to the most odd excuse being that their kid used crayons to color the cards. Most of the time, I just accept the excuse because I don't want to be screwed in the long run but I watch for the item, especially when I'm told they couldn't find it. I also keep a list of eBay user names that I've had problems with.

I think what bothers me most is that I always offer a fair market price to the seller and then get the run around. But when it's me selling a card, I get a message about a card that doesn't even have a best offer option, I look at what they offered and then look at who's selling the same card at the same grade and TPG. Then I look at completed auction prices. I'll usually accept the offer if it's at or higher than a completed auction price. Or I counter offer at the difference, along with the reason why. Nearly 100% of the time, a successful sale is made, and we are happy on both sides. Something that rarely happens anymore.

In your current situation, You can complete your side of the transaction and see what happens. You might get refunded, or you might get an empty package. I recommend recording the opening of the package at the post office if a P.O. Box or a detailed recording if sent to your house. Just play it safe, especially if you feel you paid a fair market price. I sometimes see some dealers I know, accidently miss a number in the price. So when I see a bunch of $99.99 cards a one $9.99 card, I purchase it and message them that they made an error and bought it so I could cancel the order and they can fix their listing. Legit errors do happen, but they are usually obvious.

I only partially believe the seller’s story. I suspect he made the same mistake that I once did. He probably intended to hold a 7-day auction, but accidentally hit the 3-day button. He didn’t realize this until it was too late. As soon as you made your first bid, the system wouldn’t allow him to increase the auction’s duration and he was stuck.

How bad do you really want (or need) the card? If it’s high, I would attempt to negotiate a reasonable price - probably under market value, though. If you do not do this, I suspect the seller will find an excuse to “cancel” the transaction.

I have had some items go for ridiculous low prices and really did not want to sell the item for that price. I put the item up and it was my responsibility to sell it for what it went for. If you didn't put a buy it now or reserve price on it that's to bad. I sent everyone of those items to the winning bidders. They bid and I sold it as you are supposed to do. It's a contract. Get the item.

Pay for the item and let the seller take the hit if he cancels, a mistake on a BIN is different than an auction, he had time to fix it and the item sold for the highest bid.

eBay
 

Ebay defaults to an Auction format each time you list an item

No it doesn't.