Seller adding 'reserve' just before auction end - advice please!

cat04

Hi there, just looking for a bit of advice for my BF please.

My BF bid on and won a bundle of Blu-ray films which ended today at 6.40pm. Before trying to pay he went onto the listing to tell me which films we were getting. The films went for £36 plus £10 p&p. The p&p price was stated in the body of the listing, not in the p&p section.

Anyway, at the bottom of the listing the seller had added a note today at 4:48am 'Please not(sic) I have a reserve on these Blu-rays . They have got to reach £65 before I sell. Thanks'

There is no reserve added to the auction, this is just a statement made by the seller.

BF and I know his statement is rubbish and can not be upheld. As no invoice had been sent BF clicked to pay and as I mentioned before there is no postage cost set so BF would have to enter the amount himself.

Basically I just want to check that paying for it is the right thing to do. BF has just checked the seller's feedback and he is now down to 76.?% due to 2 negs received from autions ending on 20th June stating the same problems. I.e. along the lines of 'seller refused to sell for winning amount even though no reserve set'. Yes I know, BF still has a lot to learn about silly ebay sellers - he's not a MSEer :eek:

I don't want my BF to get hit with a NPB strike, neither do I want issues over a refund as I get the feeling he may play silly beggers. So far no contact from seller to say he won't sell, just want to cover our backs and find out the 'correct' course of action.

BF thinks the seller will either tell him it's a no go, or will send an invoice with a higher postage cost, i.e. £40 to cover his 'shortfall' in the end price. Obviously he wouldn't pay this! Also told BF NOT to agree to a mutual for obvious reasons.

Any advice on what to do to protect ourselves would be gratefully received

hermum

He should pay the amount he won them for & the p& p stated in the postage box. As the p&p is capped I think. Nobody of course can make the seller sell for that price but your BF doesn't want a NPB strike. When he doesn't get them he'll have to open an Item Not received to get his payment back. He can then leave neg feedback for the seller.
He mustn't agree to cancel the sale if asked by the seller, as then he can't leave feedback & the seller will get his FVF back.
ebay won't be too happy as the guy is avoiding fees by not setting a reserve or starting the auction at the price he wants.

sam.4000

You need to pay for the item and I would pay postage. Then let them hang themselves, they obviouly don't understand ebay and if they continue these practices they will not be on for long.

Enfieldian

It's not the same genius that sells bundles of 3 bluray films for 1p + £19.99 to "Keep eBay and PayPal fees low", is it?

theonlywayisup

As hermum says, pay the item cost and the P&P in the listing box. Anything in the text is immaterial. Some categories (and DVDs may be one of them) have a capped rate for P&P to stop sellers charging to excess to avoid fees. I don't sell in this category so cannot confirm it.

Edit, found it. DVD is capped at £1. http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/maximumPP_FAQ.html#dvd

cat04

Sorry for disappearing last night...thanks for all your replies. I knew I could rely on MSE for some good advice I thought paying for the Blu-rays would be the right course of action, but just wanted to check what 'the experts' thought. I will get BF to pay asap.
Thanks again x

cat04

Enfieldian wrote: »

It's not the same genius that sells bundles of 3 bluray films for 1p + £19.99 to "Keep eBay and PayPal fees low", is it?

I don't think it was him, I'm sure my BF will let me know if he comes accross him! So far no other problems over postage and silly terms and conditions whilst increasing our Blu-ray collection so far.

I know ebay is a huge company, but they really should employ someone to trawl the listings and get rid of ebayers like that - I'd do it - for free!

forgotmyname

Report to ebay adding reserve price in the auction listing evades their fee's. They dont like people doing that.

I agree pay for them and wait for the response. Leave negative feedback if your not happy with the outcome.
Only put the facts and your are safe.

hermum

If they refuse to sell, don't mention giving neg feedback as they could possibly get that removed by ebay. Just open an INR & forward any messages with it. If the seller hasn't got back to you yet, maybe he'll have decided that the winning bid is all it's worth.

cat04

Thanks for all the advice so far

Update - BF sent a message mentioning that he had seen the negs for not selling due to 'reserve' not being met, and that it was against ebay rules etc etc. No reply to that so he will just pay for them and hope for the best! Worse case is seller won't sell, or they 'get lost in the post' and we have to claim the money back. I will make sure BF blocks the seller!

Interestingly when BF looked back at sellers feedback it has gone from 76.?% back to 100% :huh:. The negs aren't there anymore, there isn't even a reference to those sales like you would usually get when buyer agrees to remove the feedback. BF said the negs didn't say anything that might make ebay remove them so really don't know what is going on there....???

BillTrac

I don't use Ebay but curious.

If the seller does decide to accept the buyers price, what is to stop the seller sending just one BD, having proof of postage etc? Package wold be noted as received but the number of items in the package could be less. Not much difference in weight, so you OH could end up paying more than the films are worth. How could you prove being short changed (or in this case short filmed..)

Does that make sense?

As I said just curious.