Advice needed - i think i may be in trouble here

Danny_Lee

Hi there

just won which had a title 'Two PLATINA Tiny Laptops for sale'

the auctions describes both machines as a pair, saying things like 'both are missing batteries but I have power leads for them'

now the problem is there is a line at the end of the auction saying *please note this auction is for one of the laptops

now i feel like a tool but i didnt see it untill the auction was over (last min bidding)

Being a good ebayer i paid right away but then spotted that cheeky last line

is there anything that i can do?

Myyrrddyn

One should read all the advert before bidding. Ebay do recommend that you do this.
Best course of action, is contact the seller and tell him you have made a mistake, be honest and not 'My son bid on this'.
He can cancel the deal and refund your money and give the sale to the next highest bidder.

Azari

Fleabay should stop people doing this.

I don't suppose the sellers are doing it dishonestly, in the main, but it clearly confuses people.

Plus, you can waste a lot of time checking various other details in the listing only to find out, right at the end, that you've wasted your time.

Danny_Lee

iv already contacted the seller, explained whats happened and offered to cover there fees etc by saying they can keep £5 of the payment, however there response was not helpful to say the least. I not an ebay newb by a long shot, and tbh i cant beleive I didnt see the last line.

If the seller refuses am i likley to win an ebay dispute?

Crowqueen

Azari wrote: »

Fleabay should stop people doing this.

I don't suppose the sellers are doing it dishonestly, in the main, but it clearly confuses people.

Plus, you can waste a lot of time checking various other details in the listing only to find out, right at the end, that you've wasted your time.

Genuinely, I hate people who do this too, but how do you propose they vet every single listing that comes online? (This is not unique to eBay - it goes for every site that allows sellers a free hand when writing listing descriptions.)

As long as eBay allows people to add what they like to a listing box, you are always going to get either new sellers (this one sounds like they think they are placing a classified ad, tbh, and may not fully understand the listing process) or scammers taking advantage. I can think of a few solutions, but they would either require an overhaul of the listing process, or cost a lot more.

alx2010

I suppose that the payment has already been claimed?
otherwise I would be tempted to cancel the payment in paypal which you can do if it is pending or unclaimed.

Crowqueen

Aside from the obvious answer - which is don't bid on anything like this without reading it closely - and the possible answer - is the price OK for just one laptop as opposed to two? - I would let them take it to an NPB strike if you don't have one already. One won't hurt your account significantly, though you would obviously have to be very careful not to get another one for the rest of the year.

I'm not sure how you would fare in a dispute.

Azari

Crowqueen wrote: »

Genuinely, I hate people who do this too, but how do you propose they vet every single listing that comes online? (This is not unique to eBay - it goes for every site that allows sellers a free hand when writing listing descriptions.)

Yes, I suppose it isn't the easiest thing to stop.

Presumably you get some sort of list of rules/advice when you start selling so they could discourage the practice there by telling people not to do it and informing them that if they do and the buyer complains they will lose the dispute.

It's a problem that goes way beyond auction site: that people are allowed to advertise things with a headline that significantly misrepresents what's actually on offer.

Danny_Lee

the price is quite high for one 7 year old laptop, but i assume other bidders where under the same impression as me

for once i regret being a prompt buyer

Danny_Lee

alx2010 wrote: »

I suppose that the payment has already been claimed?
otherwise I would be tempted to cancel the payment in paypal which you can do if it is pending or unclaimed.

I paid right away and cant see any cancel option on paypal so assume its been claimed

i feel so foolish! i see it all the time and cant believe i feel for it!

Azari

Danny_Lee wrote: »

iv already contacted the seller, explained whats happened and offered to cover there fees etc by saying they can keep £5 of the payment, however there response was not helpful to say the least. I not an ebay newb by a long shot, and tbh i cant beleive I didnt see the last line.

If the seller refuses am i likley to win an ebay dispute?

What is the seller's feedback?

If it's 100% you can tell him that you will give him a negative on the basis that his title did not accurately represent what he was selling.

I wouldn't blame a seller for doing this mistakenly but they should certainly do whatever is necessary to mitigate their error.