I recently bid on a camera on eBay and was the “runner up,” a few hours later I got a e-mail from the seller saying that he actually had two of the same camera (w/ same lens) and was willing to sell it to for the price that I bid on it ($5 less than the winning bid).
I don’t think i’d be doing this transaction as it leaves me pretty unprotected, and it sounds fairly fishy, but my questions are: Does this happen on eBay often? And is there any other protection other than feedback and escrow services for anytype of person-to-person online selling? ie. If I were to ask him to relist w/ a short time period minus the ebay fees would the only extra assurance I would get is that I can leave him/her feedback?
I get it all the time, but I put them akin to a guy on the corner selling Rolexes out of his trenchcoat liner. The only thing you might do is pay using your credit card via Paypal, so then you can at least stop the transaction if you get ripped. Personally, I’ve never gotten ripped buying from anyone on Ebay, and that includes some items > $1000. These after-auction thugs though I would beware.
I have actually purchased from these after-the-sale people before but the only ones I ever did were those who actually had their own on-line stores where they sold the stuff anyway.
This has happened to me several times. I think it’s a cheap way for the seller to learn your maximum price. All they have to do is have someone else put in a bid for a ridiculous amount (i.e $1000) and then after the auction ends, check the bid history.
Yes this is extremely common on ebay. There are three common scenarios:
Sometimes the seller is using a “shrill”. This is someone who is an associate of the seller who bids up the price of the item so that the seller can get a good price (and save a little money on the initial listing fee). However sometimes the shrill wins and if the seller wants to dump the item, he goes through the list of legitimate bidders until he actually sells the item. Or you could see the item listed again, and he uses a more conservative shrill.
Another seller has multiple items and wants to sell them to save on ebay fees. He will approach runner-ups and ask them if they want to purchase directly from him. Often these sellers have the balls to ask your high price and offer you no form of deal other than being a buck or so cheaper than the winner of the auction.
Still another type of seller will not be a legitimate seller on ebay at all. It is easy to get a list of bidders on ebay and also get their email addresses. These “bottom feeders” will offer the same or similar item to you at your high bid.
In all three scenarios, you can expect no assistance from ebay at all in securing your transaction. Since in all three cases you are not a legitimate high bidder, you can forget about leaving negative feedback. And even through all three are violations of ebay policy, don’t expect too much in the way of action if you should report them.
It is common and works both ways. You can contact the seller and ask if he has any more. If you are buying from a store that also sells on ebay, chances are good that it’s legit. You will have no protection or feedback ‘rights’ from ebay - and ebay discourages this (as it cuts them out of the loop).
As a method to see what you max bid was - I doubt it unless there was a bid retraction because you will no longer be the winning bidder and most people want ebay’s protection.
It happens a lot. My mother does it for every auction she starts on Ebay. And no, you don’t have any protection over the transaction, and with Ebay’s new setup, you can’t even leave negative feedback.
I second the idea of paying with PayPal. PayPal offers insurance on any item you buy using the service, eBay or not (though you should check the small print for yourself). The only real eBay “protection” you would be missing out on is their whopping $200 of buyer insurance. :rolleyes:
If the dealer accepts PayPal, I’d go for it. Better yet, if you have a “create a new credit card number for each interaction” card (like AMEX and MBNA cards), use it directly with the dealer, because don’t nobody kick ass like a CC company.
This activity is actually prohibited in the eBay User Agreement. I’ve reported several sellers engaged in this practice. You have no legal protection in this type of transaction and I would recommend against it.
You should know that both Ebay and Paypal have a minimum amount for all the protection features. I think it is $40.
The one time I got ripped, it was only $18, and I got NO help.
I got taken by some idiot recently for $35.00 on ebay, I paid with my reserve at paypal. A lot of other people were too.
ebay has a $25 dedectible. paypal refused to cancel the payment even though I know very well they did NOT mail the guy his money as they keep it for a few days to make interest on it. paypal says you have to ask ebay first. This is really sucky.
That person took some people for more than a thousand bucks.
I recently got F’d by some lady in a scenario similar to this. $125 for a leather jacket, and now I have no recourse through ebay. Paypal and my CC are looking into it, however.
I should also note that I have done this (not “real” auction transations) dozens of times and this was the first problem I’ve had.
I had something like this happen to me once. I was buying a video game and no one was bidding on it so I thought I had it cheap. the day before it ended someone ran it up to above what I wanted to pay so I let it go. later on the bidder e-mailed me and said he didn’t want it I told him too bad. a few weeks later the seller e-mailed me and said that the guy backed out and I took it. Everything came through ok, though I did end up paying what the original bidder bid so I lost 5 bucks. then one other time I had someone who wanted to sell his item to the next lowest bidder a day after I told him I had sent the payment. THAT sucked, but it worked out in the end too.
Im going to try to not keep money in my paypal account (maybe thats why they pay you 5.5% interest, so they don’t have to be responsible) & pay people thru paypal with my credit card. That way if I get ripped I can ask the credit card comp to not pay paypal. YOu can’t do that if you have a reserve credit at pp.
