Not the same, if you don’t pay me you are costing me money. Admittedly it isn’t a lot of money, but there is the listing fee, as well as the vig that eBay takes on the final sale price. Depending on the final bid price, this can be a good amount of money. It costs you nothing to bid, you lost nothing by not getting the piece, and the seller actually did lose something in the situation. The seller still has to pay for the listing and pay the Final Value Fee, even if they refund the buyer their money.
I would like to reiterate that at this point I am not defending this particular seller (who it would seem got bitten by karma), but eBay sellers in general.
Lute, if they kept the item and the money, that’s theft, not a negative buying experience. Note this Pit thread the entire problem is that the company advertises a product for sale and isn’t keeping it in stock. Should I go in there and tell Ripper that he’s got nothing to complain about since a Cingular employee didn’t mug him when he walked in the store?
NAF1138, that’s a fair point. Can I assume then that sellers would provide positive feedback if I sent them a $2 check to cover fees on the $50 item I didn’t buy?
I think buyers should get their cojones back and leave negative feedback when transactions don’t complete.