Help with Timewater - Bidded when asked not to!

Huggins

Hi

Can anyone help me please. I placed an advert on ebay stating very clearly at the top of the page "PLEASE DO NOT BID ON THIS ITEM - THIS IS NOT AN AUCTION FOR A PHYSICAL ITEM" as i was promoting a service - not selling an item.

Anyway some jack*ss **User id removed by BG *** has placed a bid on the item! He has a bidder feedback score of (0) next to his name but when i look at history he has 50% rating with 3 negative and 2 positive - 3 negs saying he's a timewater -which i'm inclined to agrre with!

So i am concerned he will give me a negative if i get arsey with him about it and i have 100% feedback because i don't mess people about like this idiot.

So far I have contacted him to ask why he bid? and to inform him that i have filed an 'buyer and seller have mutaually agreed to withdraw the bid on this item' via the ebay disupute console and have asked him nicely to oblige.

My question what else can i do? what if he doesn't go along with it! can calim back the sales fee's i have now been charged by e-bay for this idiots actions etc etc .


I have now added him to my blocked bidders list and suggest eveyone else does!

thanks for nay help in advance
huggins

Altarf

So let me see, you were misusing ebay by putting up a false auction to advertise a service that could be bought off ebay, which is totally against their rules, and then you complain when somebody bids on it.

It will be interesting to see what happens when the ebay disputes team look at your listing. You might be lucky and keep your account.

soolin

The bidder is almost certainly a stomper who 'stomps' people who place adverts on ebay. You admit quite freely that you had placed an advert not an auction so are actually breaking ebay terms and conditions.

Many other users feel aggrieved that even when sellers are reported to ebay they are rarely removed in a timely fashion, so the only way to stop them is to place bids using a throw away account.

I am of course guessing here, but reading this thread and also the various unmoderated ebay threads you will see there is a definite feeling against sellers who use ebay as a site just to promote businesses and to avoid paying ebay fees.

If the bidder has actually won your item then he cannot withdraw his bid and will be able to leave you feedback. If however he is merely the current highest bidder you don't need his permission to withdraw his bid, you can just go ahead and do it.

One last thought, there will be problems with 1p BINS as a cash back site now offer 20p for every BIN purchased on ebay. There has therefore been a rush to find all the 1p BINS to stomp so it might just have been that as well.

Soo

soolin

Having seen your auction I would point out that you actually broke more than one ebay rule. You also had a second bidder, again whose bid you never withdrew.

Soo

Huggins

granted i was operating alittle outside the rules but i'm not out to rip anyone off ( in fact i'm promoting something that actually saves people alot of money and only advertsied the items in this fashion because i don't have the money to buy them outright/hold as stock - unfortunatley!) Plus ebay still got there money from my listing - is it such a big deal that people will go out of their way to make my life difficult by bidding? if so then there are very sad people about and what goes around comes around as they say!

thanks for the feedback any how and v.quick to!

also i hope e-bay will take a kind view on my account - what's the verdict - knuckles wrapped and don't do it again??????????

soolin

Huggins wrote:

also i hope e-bay will take a kind view on my account - what's the verdict - knuckles wrapped and don't do it again??????????

If neither bidder or any one else has actually reported you then you can go through the NPB process and get your listing fees back. You won't be able to get your final value fees back though whatever.

If however there is a pending complaint on file then ebay may well just refuse to grant you a refund of your FVFs, and also place a warning on your account. If you get a warning it means that you would almost certainly be suspended if you should break any terms and conditions in future.

Unless you or your bidder is suspended you will still be able to leave feedback for each other. A negative will cause your business a lot of harm as it would bring your overall feedback down so low that people won't buy from you. A neg to your buyer probably won't make any difference as he is likely to just close his account and open another one in a new name.

One final tip, although I would not wish to encourage you to continue to list if you flout the rules, but assuming you list legitimately, set your buyer preferences correctly. As this buyer had recent negs and possibly recent strikes you could have blocked him from bidding by excluding the types of buyers you allow.

Soo

Huggins

thanks Soolin. just hope they don't neg me but suspect they will! - in any case i will ask people to look at theie other feedback and then look at mine. But it's quite worrying that they can set up accounts so easily without any real verification just to act like the 'ebay police' and then drop them and re-start a new account. Proper sad individuals if you ask me - but then they probablt think i'm some kind of fraudster!

so how do i set my preferences for bidder please - that's a great tip.

tia huggins