eBay Selling Problem

Tilrong

Hi, everyone i wonder if you experienced obeyers could give me some advice.

I was selling a high value computer on ebay and bidding was going well until someone asked me if the John Lewis warranty was transferable. I check with JL and they told me it was not.

Not wanted to sell something with an incorrect description i tried modifying the description but as there was less than 12 hours left i couldn't. I contacted ebay Customer Service via chat who recommended I open a new listing (with a correct description), cancel the bids for the existing listing and then end the auction early.

I followed the steps outlined by them but couldn't end the auction early. I contacted eBay again who said i couldn't close the auction early and it was best to close the auction with a bid and then contact the person to cancel the transaction which I did.

Unfortunately the person does not want to cancel the transaction and the value of there bid is more than £500.00 less than the maximum bid at the end of cancelling the bids.

What would you guys recommend, do i need to sell(give) the item at the price it closed at or should i just wait and expect some bad feedback + a non-performing seller mark against my name?

Crowqueen

You do need to sell the item at its closing price unless you can convince the person otherwise.

They may not need the guarantee and accept it as is. It's not their fault the other person pulled out after being notified about your mistake - you may just have to take the hit .

MissGivings_2

How long does the warranty have left to go?

MissGivings_2

Your description may not have been innacurate, actually.
What was your wording about any guarantees or warranties?

Tilrong

Hi, Because i cancelled the bids the first time i contacted ebay, i had bids up to £567 but these were cancelled as per ebay's instructions. When i chatted to Customer Service the second time they told me to end it and the bid at that time was about £10.00.

Surely I can't be expected to let an item which had a bid of £567 go for £10?

MissGivings_2

Tilrong wrote: »

Hi, Because i cancelled the bids the first time i contacted ebay, i had bids up to £567 but these were cancelled as per ebay's instructions. When i chatted to Customer Service the second time they told me to end it and the bid at that time was about £10.00.

Surely I can't be expected to let an item which had a bid of £567 go for £10?

No, but that's not your issue.
Your present buyer doesn't want to cancel.
What was said about the warranty or guarantees in your listing when sold?

You could get back to your buyer and explain that you were trying to end the auction on eBay's advice etc. Say you're not happy to sell now you realise the warranty's not transferable etc

Crowqueen

Tilrong wrote: »

Hi, Because i cancelled the bids the first time i contacted ebay, i had bids up to £567 but these were cancelled as per ebay's instructions. When i chatted to Customer Service the second time they told me to end it and the bid at that time was about £10.00.

Surely I can't be expected to let an item which had a bid of £567 go for £10?

When you list something at a price, you have to accept that much for it even if it only gets one bid.

It's your mistake. It's immaterial whether it is not as described, since the bidder wanted to pull out once they realised the warranty wasn't transferable.

MissGivings_2

Crowqueen wrote: »

When you list something at a price, you have to accept that much for it even if it only gets one bid.

It's your mistake. It's immaterial whether it is not as described, since the bidder wanted to pull out once they realised the warranty wasn't transferable.

Except that thank goodness no-one can force you to sell, just to add although it's impossible to soften it for you, sympathies that you've made a mistake in your listing like this. We've all been there.:(

Tilrong

Hi

To clarify the order of events was:

- Found Description was incorrect following a question from another buyer

- Contacted CS who told me to relist item, cancel all existing bids, and then end the auction. The CS person knew i had less than 12 hours left.

- Relisted the new item, cancelled all existing bids. Tried to end auction but it wouldn't let me with no bids and less than 12 hours left

- Contacted CS again, advised to end auction when a bid was there and cancel the transaction.

- Ended the auction, advised the buyer who had bid £10.00 (talked on phone to explain what happened), but the person does not want to cancel the transaction.

At this point in time the buyer emailed me saying they were unhappy and asked me what price i actually wanted for the item. (The email from the buyer states they were happy to bid until the normal ending time, although no-one expect the buyer would know how high).

soolin

I think people are misreading the thread. Ebay and OP appear to have got them selves confused as to whether it is possible to cancel an auction or not.

OP, it should have been possible for you to close the auction , I odn't know why it wouldn't allow it once you originally tried to cancel all the bids. The person who came in and bought at start price, after you had removed the other bids does have a winning bid- however you cannot be forced to sell it to him. I'm sure someone will tell you about the court case and the yacht where someone did sue for breach of contract- but being realistic the buyer will probably be cross and leave you a neg, poor stars and posisbly make a non performing seller complaint. If oyu have a note of who you spoke to at ebay who gave you the advice about cancelling they might even- as a long shot- remove the feedback.

Yes you have made a mistake, but I think suggesting you let the PC go at £10 when you were trying to put things right is not good advice and i htink we need to be realistic here . You rmistake was not a lot worse than many of us have made in the past, it is just for you an expensive one and personally I would risk my account rather than lose £500.

Crowqueen

From some perspectives OP has lost £500 but not really if the other bidder did not want to buy it at that price with the way he described it. Buyer could turn round and say "loss of bargain" in the same way. He cannot enforce the bid that was vaporised during the auction, even if the other bidder's maximum was £500 they still "won" it for £10. All OP has lost is the listing/FVFs fees, not the potential price.

Plus it was his choice to start it at that low price. If it hadn't accumulated the bids - because there was no warranty included - then it might not have ended that high. OP - you can't force a buyer to accept anything other than the price it ends on - in these circumstances Soo says you probably have a chance of sorting it out without selling, but generally speaking when you set a start price you do have to be warned if it sells for that sort of price the buyer is not obliged to pay anything more than that.

Next time start the listing at what you are prepared to accept if there are no other bids and don't promise things you haven't researched properly beforehand.