Predicting how much an item will sell for

greenstreetprince

delete all bids and then revise? although the genuine bidders might be put off! to counter that leave a note at the bottom of your description saying "Sorry, as this item is collection only I will not accept Paypal"

if it really is a highly sought after item you'll get bidders coming in for it again and hopefully your watchers who have not yet bid will also turn up before bidding ends.

poppycat_3

Ok I can't really see an ideal way out of this because its a no win situation now.

What I've done is this, I've added a note to my listing in very big red letters saying along the lines of:

"Due to the possibility of fraudulant buyers, I regret that I am no longer able to accept Paypal as payment for this item. My sincere apologies to my current bidders, if there is a problem please contact me.

Please note that I am unable to change my payment option in my listing but I must stress that I will only accept cheque or cash payment."

I've also sent a message to my high bidder to explain the situation, and I know I can't really stop anyone paying by paypal but I can refund them if they still try it and then offer it to someone else if they don't want to buy it any other way.

I know its not ideal by a long shot but I dont really want to cancel my listing or my bids and I can't think of any other way round it.


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FloFlo

Didn't realise you were advertising it for collection, as the others have said you should now ask for cash on collection. Most buyers will be happy with this as they can inspect the item before paying.

soolin

Poppycat your new terms do not form part of your auction as they are not a revision merely a note. Whilst a genuine buyer wills ee what you are trying to achieve they might still be miffed especially if they have set a snipe and never see your message at all.

It is not really a good idea to add mere notes and expect them to be binding, as you just might end up with a stubborn buyer who insists on paypal as he simply wants to use his credit card rather than draw out cash and pay a withdrawal fee.

Also, just to be picky, you really ought to have specified that cheques will need to be cleared before goods released otherwise someone is just going to turn up with their cheque book.

poppycat_3

Hiya Soolin, Yes I really do agree with you!

Although about the cheque issue, I have already specified that it will need to be sent and cleared in advance so theres no issue with that.

I do understand that what I've done isn't binding and I the first thing I thought of were any legitimate buyers who wanted to use a credit card via paypal.

I just feel as though I'm damned if I do and damned if I don't, ok so I could have pulled the listing and started from scratch, but with 8 bids and now 42 watchers I didn't want to do that.

I'm just hoping that the scenario you mentioned doesn't happen, that someone doesn't realise about the paypal issue.

TBH I'm more annoyed at Paypal and eBay than anything else. They push Paypal down your throat and make claims about how secure it is and frankly its not at all, if someone can just walk away with my goods and my money.

If I did pull the item and relist straight away, would all those watching it still be able to find it again? I don't mean by randomly looking at all the listings, but would there be anything to show that the item had been relisted?

Actually, just to add, what about sending a message to all the bidders explaining the situation and letting them know that I have to cancel their bids? That way, as someone mentioned, I should be able to change the payment options and won't lose out on my 42 watchers?

meerustar

Good Luck with the auction ... anyone remember the Dartboard I had for sale and other Oasis stuff where my auctions went mental? lol

(I bought a car with the money, btw)

Anymore clues as to what it is ... and also, remember that the more people you tell will be watchers too rather than potential buyers towards the end.

Good Luck with it ... fingers crossed

FloFlo

I remember your auction - well done!

slinks

aha! i know what it is!!! i know what it is!!

vrooooom vroom!!!! 'no need to insert coins'

soolin

Poppycat, your problem is that whilst real buyers will not realise that they can scam you if they use paypal, a scammer will know instantly and there is always a chance that they are targetting you for this very reason.

Obviously if your winning bidder, even a real one who has not read the revision insists on paying by paypal you can refuse, no one can make you sell. However you do then leave yourself open to negative feedback and a large bill for final value fees which you will not be able to reclaim.

Also whilst I understand your frustration at paypal they make it very clear that the seller remains responsible for delivery and unless delivery can be proved using a paypal approved method then the buyer has the right to a refund. If you are going to use paypal, much as I like it, I would strongly suggest that you go through some of the terms and conditions you agreed to when you opened your account. Otherwise you might have problems in the future.

My real concern here though is either a late genuine bidder winning with a snipe bid and not seeing your revision, or a scammer who is specifically targetting you due to your misunderstanding of how paypal works. personally I would have ended listing and relisted, maybe dropping a note to the few highest bidders. However I do tend to be very cautious online and on ebay generally and other posters here might consider that I am in fact being over cautious.

poppycat_3

Thanks Soolin, what you say does make alot of sense.

Just a thought, I know alot of people have had problems where they have had a legitimate reason to claim their money back thru paypal but the seller has taken the money from their paypal account.

So what would happen if someone did pay thru paypal then tried to get their money back if the money was no longer in my paypal account?