Mispriced item - what would you do?

GabbaGabbaHey

While I was looking for a particular item on eBay today, I found a new one from a UK business seller priced at 99p BIN (normal price would be circa £35). More in hope than expectation, I bought it and paid.

I've just had an email from the seller saying:

[FONT=&quot]Hi.
Thanks for purchasing from us
As you have seen this item was listed for a really cheap price, the reason being that this was listed only for .99p is that our automated system messed up all of our sold out items to the minimum price of .99p, and it must have also included this <item> as sold out when we still had 1 on our listing
As you are an experienced eBay buyer please understand that this listing was a mistake
We will leave you positive feedback and if you ever come across one of our listing please contact us and we will give it for a discounted price as a thanks for understanding this mistake
if there is anything else we could do to satisfy you please feel free to contact us and our customer support team will gladly assist you
Yours faithfully[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]So[/FONT][FONT=&quot] - [/FONT][FONT=&quot]what [FONT=&quot]should I do[FONT=&quot]:[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

1. [FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Just accept it [FONT=&quot]- [/FONT]as long as I get my 99p back[FONT=&quot]!? [FONT=&quot]([/FONT]which is my initial thought)[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
2. [FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Get [/FONT]vindictive and leave negative feedback, along [FONT=&quot]with a Non Performing [FONT=&quot]Seller report (and an INR claim[FONT=&quot])?[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
3. [FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Something else?[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]
   [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT] [/FONT]

Sam_Fallow

You could try to negotiate a price for the actual item using this special 'discounted price' of which they speak.

kazwookie

ask for it at 0.99p

McKneff

Get your 99p back and move on......

theoretica

Interesting that the email doesn't actually say they will be refunding and not sending you the item.

Also interesting that the email was written as though your item was the only one this had happened to. I would expect any company big enough to have a customer support team would have swallowed a one off £34 loss. Can you see in their completed/sold items if this seems to be a bigger problem?

arbroath_lass

GabbaGabbaHey wrote: »

I've just had an email from the seller saying:
[FONT=&quot]So[/FONT][FONT=&quot] - [/FONT][FONT=&quot]what [FONT=&quot]should I do[FONT=&quot]:[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

1. [FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Just accept it [FONT=&quot]- [/FONT]as long as I get my 99p back[FONT=&quot]!? [FONT=&quot]([/FONT]which is my initial thought)[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
2. [FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Get [/FONT]vindictive and leave negative feedback, along [FONT=&quot]with a Non Performing [FONT=&quot]Seller report (and an INR claim[FONT=&quot])?[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]
3. [FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Something else?[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]
   [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

1. You knew it was a mistake or 3. negotiate a sensible price.


Life is too short for 2.

RFW

theoretica wrote: »

I would expect any company big enough to have a customer support team would have swallowed a one off £34 loss.

I often big up how many staff I have, a lot of the time I'm a one man band and my own customer support team. I often have inter departmental arguments whilst watching Coronation Street!.

That said I don't see why an obvious mistake/error should mean that any company has to honour it, no matter how few or how many items were affected.

It's easier to get someone to pay up if it's a less obvious mistake. So if they had listed at £20-£25 the buyer would have more of a case to keep at that price.

From memory there is a section of the law on consumer rights regarding mistakes. It's common sense really.

A while ago I had an error on a price and one of my regulars contacted me to let me know. That's probably what I would have done if I was the OP.

Red*Dragonfly

RFW wrote: »

From memory there is a section of the law on consumer rights regarding mistakes. It's common sense really.

'invitation to treat'? It applies to retail prices, but I don't know about online purchases.

Basically, the prices on the shelf/in window, etc, are only a suggested price, when you go to the till you are making and offer to pay the suggested price, the cashier then accepts or rejects your offer, and you pay.

Not sure how it works online, since you pay right away.

VanyaHargreeves

Red*Dragonfly wrote: »

'invitation to treat'? It applies to retail prices, but I don't know about online purchases.

Basically, the prices on the shelf/in window, etc, are only a suggested price, when you go to the till you are making and offer to pay the suggested price, the cashier then accepts or rejects your offer, and you pay.

Not sure how it works online, since you pay right away.

For most online retailers, it states in T&C that placing an order is the making of the offer, which is only accepted when order is confirmed/dispatched/payment taken. Not really sure how eBay works though.

Pretty certain there's reams of law that says that when an item is clearly mispriced the buyer cannot enforce the contract i.e. demand that it is honoured. Most places will honour it anyway for the sake of good business, though. I'm very rusty on this area of law :rotfl:

soolin

OP is not asking about enforcing the contract though, OP wishes to know what they should actually do to warn other buyers or something else. OP accepts they are not going to get their 99p item.

GabbaGabbaHey

Thanks for all the responses.

The seller actually rang me yesterday, was quite apologetic and was obviously very concerned about getting a negative and/or a defect on their record. I suggested that they do a mutual cancellation, but they said that this would also give them a defect if they (as the seller) started it.

I told them that I was happy to cancel the sale and that I wouldn't leave a negative. I've since left them positive feedback to reassure them, and they then marked the item as despatched and left me a positive. They also paid £2 (unasked) into my PayPal account.