article changed after offer refused

s_b

ess0two wrote: »

Seems others are of the same view point as me.

i think soolin has the real truth
the seller sold outside ebay rules and so listed something different on his paid for advert
it might be in ebay rules but is not a fair way to do business seeing as i as a customer was waiting for a response that i picked up on immediately

see it another way what is the point of offering a make bid if unless its within a teapot of your buy it now you are going to dismiss it

i must have deeper morals

starrybee

s_b wrote: »

i think soolin has the real truth
the seller sold outside ebay rules and so listed something different on his paid for advert
it might be in ebay rules but is not a fair way to do business seeing as i as a customer was waiting for a response that i picked up on immediately

see it another way what is the point of offering a make bid if unless its within a teapot of your buy it now you are going to dismiss it

i must have deeper morals

You made a bid that was rejected, the seller can do whatever they like!

Strapped

s_b wrote: »

i think soolin has the real truth
the seller sold outside ebay rules and so listed something different on his paid for advert
it might be in ebay rules but is not a fair way to do business seeing as i as a customer was waiting for a response that i picked up on immediately

see it another way what is the point of offering a make bid if unless its within a teapot of your buy it now you are going to dismiss it

i must have deeper morals

You made an offer. It was rejected. Nowt immoral about that. Put your dummy back in.

starrybee

Strapped wrote: »

You made an offer. It was rejected. Nowt immoral about that. Put your dummy back in.

I think op is confusing 'morals' with 'too much time on their hands'

terra_ferma

It is possible to 'recycle' listings to save money.
I'm not 100% sure how it works with auctions, but with BINs you can change almost everything (pic, description, specs) to sell a different item without paying for a new listing.

The problem with this is exactly what you describe, people who save your listing and go back find a totally different item and they are not too impressed. In theory someone could buy the wrong item if they don't look at what they are buying (which we all know buyers never do.. ).

It's a stupid way of saving money, but it can be done.

As people have mentioned you can check what changed have been made to a listing, there is a link just below the tabs Description - Postage and Payments, 'view all revisions'.

I doubt the seller was trying to scam anyone, may have sold the item outside ebay (not necessarily against ebay rules, maybe on his website, or to his neighbour..?) and decided to 'recycle' the listing (if they didn't have any bids, or could have just cancelled them anyway).

soolin

I have recycled listings myself. I once spent a lot of money on an auction style listing, only to then turn round and break the darn thing. Rather than waste the £2-£3 (this was a while ago) listing fee I just changed it for something else.

It is also possible to get a relist credit if you change an unsold item for something completely different and it sells the 2nd time. The only thing you mustnn't do is increase the price. I would warn though that that is almost certainly in breach of several ebay rules.

That accounts for the strange anomoly where you add an 'apple' to your watch list and ebay send you an email to say seller has relisted it, but when you check it is now an 'orange'.

chemical.galaxy

I was 'watching' a trailer - then the seller changed the listing to a motorbike!
I am guessing he sold the trailer off Ebay and decided to use the listing for something else, perhaps he listed on a free listing weekend and wanted to keep the listing open.

Crowqueen

A revision to a free listing would cost the seller if not done on the actual day itself - that's to get round this precise issue here or to stop people throwing up blank listings and then filling them in later on in the auction lifespan at their leisure.

As long as the buyer has a 'copy' of the original listing when they have purchased something then they are fine and presumably covered in the case of an SNAD (and I believe eBay limit revisions on e.g. multiple item listings to prevent buyers being shafted by someone who changes the description after purchase, since even for private sellers we would be getting into legal hot water here). I can see why the OP is spooked, but I can see why the seller is doing it.

terra_ferma

I believe ebay keeps a copy of the original listing for the item you purchased, I've seen that a few times when I've gone back to look at something I had bought. There was a warning saying that the listing had been changed, and giving a link to the old listing.

s_b

thanks for the insight everybody
i was spooked