May 23, 2013
Issue 1738
RESPONSES TO REPORT THAT A SELLER SAID THEIR CAT BROKE THE CANDLESTICKS AND COULDN’T HONOR THE SALE
Re notice from the seller, who stated that his/her cat had knocked these and other items off a shelf —
While I don’t doubt that things like this do happen, sometimes this can be a seller’s ploy to avoid selling the item. This can happen when another bidder has made the seller an offer for the item in question that is higher than the final bid. Or, if seller is disappointed with the final sales price (or that someone had the audacity to click “Buy It Now” at a price the seller now regrets) and they’d like to try to sell the item elsewhere for more money.
As an eBay seller myself, I don’t like to assume the worst of sellers in all cases, but I’ve seen and heard all kinds of galling transactions, both on the buying side and on the selling side. Bless the honest sellers and honest buyers. I strive to be both.
Michael Krumme, Los Angeles
MORE RESPONSES
CANDLESTICKS broken letter
Possible scenario:
I got an offer higher than your bid so decided to refund your purchase price to cancel sale with no negative feedback.
cure:
send image of pieces to buyer
Longbrook Antiques, Stratford, CT
The “Doubting Thomas” in-me (you know, that little devil that sits on my left shoulder) thinks our “Collector from Corning” has been had ! ! ! I will give the “online auction” seller some credit for their imagination, and creativity. (The dog ate their kid’s homework, too, I bet.) I think that the candlesticks were sold, in a situation other-than the online auction, simultaneously and at a better price for the seller. At least the duplicate-selling of the candlesticks was too close, time wise, for the seller to pull the online auction. Since we are not naming the online auction service, I won’t either. But with a well-known one I have had similar situations following the payment in-good-faith, and inability for the seller to ship/deliver. Because a full-refund was processed, the buyer will be asked to process a “cancellation” of the purchase making it null-and-void. (And, impossible for the buyer to leave a negative or positive “feedback.”) If the buyer does not willingly do so, the auction company will do it for you. Yeah, really! The excuse provided for one of these was that the seller had packed-away the glass, ahead of hurricane “Sandy,” and could not locate it afterwards. The seller said that they would contact me, if they found the item, and give me the chance to “Buy-It-Now” at the price of my winning bid. They did not do that, but I was able to win the second auction – anyway. The Opening-Bid-Requirement has higher, the second-time-around. Hmmmmmm.)
The other scenario happened before the auction’s closing. The seller advised that she could not locate the item, but promised to contact me if/when she found it. It was over a year later, and she did not contact me claiming that she had lost my email address when she re-listed the item. In this case I contacted her, asking why she did not let me know that she found the item. Again, in this case she was much more honest and remembered me, and cancelled the latest auction so she could re-list it as a B-I-N at the price of my previous bid.
Terry Smith
Signal Hill, CA
I think there are several “flaws” in the ebay system and this is one of them. Not much a purchaser can do but I suppose it is self-containing since a seller wouldn’t be able to do it too often. My other pet peeve is the ability of a seller to end an auction early (even with bids) because “there was an error in the listing” or the “item is no longer available.” I’ve always assumed that is “code” for “I got a much better offer.”
Scott Hansen, Briarcliff Manor
2013 Carder Steuben Club annual Symposium will be held at The Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, NY from September 19-21, 2013. The festivities will begin with Frederick Carder’s 150th birthday celebration on the evening of September 18, 2013.
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