Accepting and then refusing a BIN

Happy_bunny

Quick Ebay lesson - People Bid/use BIN & pay, You then send the item! Trying to wriggle out of a sale because you're greedy is just wrong, If you had wanted more for the item you should have waited not accepted the first offer made :mad:. Sadly it's people like you that have made Ebay the place it now is - Full of suspicion and doubt on both buyers and sellers minds.

fred7777

Leaving aside the fact that you would be breaking a deal you have already made you have no way of knowing if the other buyer is genuine or will pay.

You could quite easily get rid of your buyer then find the other buyer has changed their mind giving you an item you can't re-list.

Also how are you going to ensure you are protected if you sell outside ebay, as you can't sell in ebay without the first buyer being able to see the listing.

terra_ferma

forever.insane wrote: »

If the profit is good enough, I would have ditched the 1st buyer and sold to the 2nd, coming up with some make believe story for the 1st.

Buyers on ebay are now too savvy to fall for make believe stories, even when it may actually be true!
There was a thread on the ebay board about a seller who had lost a baby and was forced out of business because they could not keep up with orders, could not afford to close the shop, and sellers did not believe/care that it was not an excuse....
Buyers (and sellers) have become very cynical, and threads like this one can only make things worse, as lots of people read it and what they will remember it's not us HONEST sellers, but only those who admit lying, and next time someone makes an HONEST mistake, they will not believe them!

lulu650

At the end of the day, I was happy with the original BIN. I expect if someone has to put food on the table for their family then, after a certain point, morals go out of the window.

I am pleased that I sell worldwide and take good photos though. The piece has been identified as an American piece of history rather than my really stupid description.

pseudopensioner

lulu650 wrote: »

I appreciate that CQ and it's good to hear how everyone has strong feelings on doing the right thing.

Let's just say my eagerness has cost me several hundred pounds On the plus side I won't be making the same mistake again............hopefully!

You didn't actually lose the 'several hundred pounds' though did you? You lost out on the possible opportunity to make a larger profit.

Who knows whether the offer from buyer no.2 would have actually become a done deal?

There is a price to be paid for being able to live with your clear conscience. Sometimes it's a high price but to me, it's always one worth paying. Profits come and profits go but a clear conscience is with you forever.

macfly

Any of you people ever sold a house? How many have tried to buy and then been gazumped?
What's all this nonsense about giving all sellers a bad name, or destroying confidence in ebay?
That's just illogical tripe. If I get bad service in Boots, it doesn't put me off shopping in Marks next door.
The OP did actually lose several hundred pounds by selling it to the lower offer.

pseudopensioner

macfly wrote: »

The OP did actually lose several hundred pounds by selling it to the lower offer.

How can you lose something you didn't have?

The world is full of the 'if only' stories and scenarios. If only I hadn't told the bank that they credited my account with £20,000 too much! 30+years ago in the days before computers it would have taken them a while to trace it (if at all). Me being me, I told them before I was tempted to spend what wasn't mine.

Crowqueen

If you had wanted more for the item you should have waited not accepted the first offer made

Or used an auction since with a BIN you sell at the fixed price rather than accepting offers anyway.

I expect if someone has to put food on the table for their family then, after a certain point, morals go out of the window.

Actually, no, otherwise a lot more of us would be in prison for fraud and other sorts of white-collar crime. I'm not getting at you here, but people can make a decent living without being dishonest.

The law says in this context that you would technically be in breach of contract had you refunded the original buyer. While that is not a criminal issue, it would be a civil issue if it was worth the original buyer taking you to small claims over it. It may not be worth claiming over, but contract law is part of what keeps buying and selling in general above board and fair. Away from eBay, there have been a lot of issues such that even big companies cannot escape being brought to book over breach of contract, such as the Hoover flights issue twenty years ago, which IIRC ruined the company's reputation even as a maker of vacuum cleaners because of a stupid promotion that they tried to weasel out of honouring.

If everyone tried to wriggle out of contracts, then trading would be useless. Honouring a contract is necessary because trust in the marketplace is enhanced as a result. Putting a BIN up is basically agreement to sell a particular item at a particular price. Breaking that trust ruins the basic premise of contracts. It's less clear cut with auctions, but in this case it's clear, at least to me and probably to the average lawyer, where the contract begins and ends.

Generally speaking it is possible to live your life within the law without being tempted to let your morals go. And as I said, the neg would do you no favours at all as people would avoid your listings because they wouldn't know whether you would honour their purchase or not, thus doing you more damage in the long run than the possibility of extra money now.

macfly

pseudopensioner wrote: »

How can you lose something you didn't have?

The world is full of the 'if only' stories and scenarios. If only I hadn't told the bank that they credited my account with £20,000 too much! 30+years ago in the days before computers it would have taken them a while to trace it (if at all). Me being me, I told them before I was tempted to spend what wasn't mine.

And then you would have gone to gaol.
How can you lose something you didn't have? Supposing your wages weren't paid at the end of the month? You never had them, but it's a loss. The idea that you physically have to have something in your possession to count it as a loss is daft.
It's also becoming less easy to "live your life within the law". A friend of mine is a builder. He is also a smoker. The law says he can't smoke while alone in his own van. He treats that with the contempt it deserves. The law says you can't use excessive force on an intruder in your home. Etcetera etc.
When you finally get to live in the real world, your views may change.

pseudopensioner

macfly wrote: »

And then you would have gone to gaol.
How can you lose something you didn't have? Supposing your wages weren't paid at the end of the month? You never had them, but it's a loss. The idea that you physically have to have something in your possession to count it as a loss is daft.
It's also becoming less easy to "live your life within the law". A friend of mine is a builder. He is also a smoker. The law says he can't smoke while alone in his own van. He treats that with the contempt it deserves. The law says you can't use excessive force on an intruder in your home. Etcetera etc.
When you finally get to live in the real world, your views may change.

Your wages you have earned are legally entitled to, you therefore have legal redress with which to claim payment. Possible/potential gain is a completely different ball game.

I think you just like picking holes and argueing for arguments sake.

I do live in the real world, and as such I abide by the law and by the moral standards which are common to most decent people.

I do get frustrated and at times angry that dishonourable people thieves/con artists etc. appear to profit from their behaviour, usually at the expense of decent folks. I know that there are crooks & vagabonds within all levels of society, Jeffrey Archer, Robert Maxwell et al. but it doesn't mean that I'm willing or prepared to get down to their level.

If you can say the same then fine, you live with your conscience and I can live with mine.