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March 28, 2024, 10:43:16 AM

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eBay Gum!

Started by Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth, December 16, 2021, 09:15:54 PM

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Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Twice recently, I've bought some second hand clothes (I'm not scabby, I'm recycling) only to have the seller cancel the order the following day. In both cases they said "the item was damaged or out of stock".

They obviously weren't out of stock, since they were both auctions and I'm skeptical that they got damaged after they were listed. They refunded me, so I don't feel particularly hacked off about it, but what gives? Can the sellers just cancel if they want more money? Or is this some new scam to gather people's contact details?


MojoJojo

Guess they just wanted more money, or maybe someone offered them money privately.

touchingcloth

Sellers have long done this, and I've never had any luck with getting eBay to enforce things, because I guess it's hard to prove that goods haven't been damaged or stolen after sale.

One common reason - all the more common now with places like Vinted on the up - is people listing the same items in multiple places. Another thing you will see sellers doing (more on listings than auctions) is actually running out of stock but then raising the prices by ten/a hundred x rather than removing the listing, because it's harder to get a relisted item back through the search ranks than it is to deal with messages from customers saying "lol why this price so high?"

I really dislike eBay these days. I'm surprised they're still hanging on in there, as they've felt outclassed by other sites for ages now.

Famous Mortimer

I just had a "whoops, I was away on holiday and therefore was unable to ship your thing until just now", which must be no.1 in the "big eBay excuse guide", given it's maybe the 20th time I've had that one. Or maybe that's just the jet-setting lifestyle of someone selling $1 baseball cards?

touchingcloth

This sort of behaviour isn't dissimilar from what must happen in bricks and mortar retailers, surely?

If a retailer had put a mistaken price tag on an item would they be within their rights to say "nah" and not sell it to you? And perhaps cloak that in an "oh, sorry, this one has been reserved" but of wording to sound a bit less harsh.

I'm never entirely sure how binding an eBay auction is, legally speaking at least. Certainly eBay's terms are in principle very binding, but I've never seen them take action in a meaningful way against sellers who clearly don't have the stock, or who just plain don't want to sell at the winning price.

Gurke and Hare

Quote from: touchingcloth on May 25, 2022, 01:44:55 PMThis sort of behaviour isn't dissimilar from what must happen in bricks and mortar retailers, surely?

If a retailer had put a mistaken price tag on an item would they be within their rights to say "nah" and not sell it to you? And perhaps cloak that in an "oh, sorry, this one has been reserved" but of wording to sound a bit less harsh.

An auction isn't the same as a shop putting the wrong price on though, is it? You can set a reserve on an auction item, but you can't then back out if the bid is only a penny more than that.

touchingcloth

True, and I don't know what the law says about traditional auctions - people not meeting their reserves and then "having an accident" before sending the item on must have been a thing pre-eBay, and just as hard to prove as a big load of bullshit. Though maybe traditional auction houses have insurance agreements in place so that they serve more as an escrow type house for the goods being sold (as they're typically auctioned off from the place where they physically are) and they'd bear the responsibility for covering the costs of accidents. Fuck it, I'm not Tim Wottacunt.