Crooked Ebay Seller

[Hankphenom]

Good points made by all. But my bottom line is still this: I've seen way too many auctions of great stuff end early to think that all but a few were done in response to errors in listings rather than to an offsite offer the seller thought he couldn't refuse. As for policing this practice, how about at least making the seller state what the error in the listing was? Is that too much to ask?

[thecatspajamas]

(deleted duplicate post)

[thecatspajamas]

Originally Posted by Hankphenom

I've seen way too many auctions of great stuff end early to think that all but a few were done in response to errors in listings rather than to an offsite offer the seller thought he couldn't refuse. As for policing this practice, how about at least making the seller state what the error in the listing was? Is that too much to ask?

I'm not disputing that. I'm just saying that eBay can't completely do away with a seller's ability to end a listing early for legitimate reasons. And as long as there is a way to end a listing early, there will be people who abuse it. Making the seller type out what the supposed error was won't stop crooks from ending their listings early for profit any more than having them check a box next to a generic reason (current method) does. You're not being a very good crook if you can't lie on a form question...

So I guess my point is that you shouldn't get pissed at eBay when crooks abuse their system. There are plenty of other reasons to get pissed at eBay, and I for one am glad that this is one instance where they haven't completely tied all sellers' hands in order to thwart a few crooks. They tend to do their fly-hunting with shotguns rather than chopsticks

And just to be clear, I do not have any affiliation with eBay other than the usual buying/selling. I do not end auctions early to sell an item outright, no matter how ridiculous the offer, but I have ended listings with gross errors in the description on a number of occasions. It happens. If it's a minor error, I'll add a note to the listing and double-check with the winner to be sure they still want the item, but if it's a major error, I have found that it's usually better to just go ahead and end it, fix the mistake, and let any bidders know when it will be relisted (correctly).

[Hankphenom]

...and like other organizations I depend on, no reason be shy about pointing out flaws as I see them and recommending fixes. I love you sellers, too, by the way, and want all of you to be very, very, happy, so you'll keep doing what you do.