Leaving Me Puzzled and Smiling

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Posted By: Lee Behrens

I recently had a very strange non-transaction on ebay. The seller is a reputable dealer we all know and will remain nameless.

About a month ago I put in a bid for a card, I accidently put in a $366 bid (instead of $36) for a item that should not go for over $50. I could not retract the bid because it was within the time frame that Ebay does not allow a retraction. I emailed the seller that I had dropped in the wrong bid. I had to go to work before the end of the auction, so when I got home I was amazed to find that I had won the card for $137.
I emailed the seller with what had happened and he agreed to not hold me to the bid but made it known he was not overly happy about because he realized the price was really high on the card and he would have to relist the card for the consignor. I told him he could just use the second chance offer beccause there were 3 bidders over $100. I was told they do not use that feature because nobody uses it. I thought that was strange because what could it hurt. Well that seemed the end of that. But there's more.

A couple of weeks later I unknowingly won the same card for $40 (more realistic price) again after the relist. I did not realize it was the same card until after I won it. I received the invoice sent the money, received notification of payment received. The payment received notification had a note attached:

"We received your payment for the card. However, we do not think it is fair for our consigner that you won it for $100 less than when the card was originally listed. If you want the card for your original bid price of $137.38, then we will be happy to sell it, otherwise, we are going to return your payment."

This kind of floored me. I sent email in response that if that is the way they felt I just wanted my money back and reviewed the whole scenario again with them.

I still don't know if I am angry, confused, laughing or what. I have had dozens of transactions with the seller and this really questions whether I want anymore. I appreciated the fact that they were willing to not hold me to the original auction, but I felt if they were trying get the best money for there consignor they should have used the second chance offer.

Just needed to relay this bizarre exchange,

Lee