Kind of sad to see some of the replies. I've nit numerous BIN on Ebay and email the seller to let them know that they probably made an error and can cancel the sale so that they don't have to deal with the attitudes of some people. It's all about Karma.

To me, it's all about attitude of BOTH the buyer AND the seller and it's sad that it has changed over the years...

50 years ago:
Seller: "Sorry, I made a mistake on the price, but I'll give it to you for what it was advertised"
Buyer: "No, it was an honest mistake and I won't hold you to it."
Seller: "Thank you for understanding. Let me make it up to you by...(fill in the blank).

Today:
Seller: "It was a mistake and I'm not going to honor that price or do anything for you."
Buyer: "You have to sell it to me for what it was advertised. It's the law!"
Seller: "F you!"
Buyer: No, F you!"

Because Ebay always takes the side of the buyer. Well almost always. Try buying something on Amazon at a price that is an obvious mistake. Even if you place the order and pay for it there is a good chance it will be canceled and refunded when they catch the mistake. The same is true of many companies, as it should be. I dont want to pay a higher price because they need to make up for losses from customers taking advantage of honest mistakes.

They side with the buyer because the customer is always right another good business practice.

50 years ago? as someone who has been a small business owner since 1975, even as recently as 10 years ago people were civil and understanding toward each other. although to be fair it SEEMS like 50 years ago. :):):)

If I'm buying or selling a card, I want both parties to be happy. If I'd purchased this, I'd very much expect the seller to cancel the sale and would be completely understanding were that the case. Just like I would expect people to understand if I made a pricing error. I don't care how big the company is, it's not a business making a mistake it's the individual that did the listing. If it comes to him getting in trouble/potentially fired, or me missing out on a card, I'll take the later every day. It's just a baseball card.

On a side (but not too distant) note, I recently bought a graded card pretty cheaply off of ebay, because it had a wax stain on back. After I purchased it, the seller almost immediately sent me a message making sure that I knew the card had an 'ST' qualifier. He told me I could cancel the sale if I wanted to, because he wanted to make sure he only had satisfied customers. Yowza, talk about great customer service. Of course I was fully aware of what I was buying, but this seller definitely earned my future business.

So we should all just make mistakes and expect for nothing to happen? Really?
Life does not work that way. Own your mistakes !

It seems like a few need this. https://www.artofmanliness.com/artic...p-to-mistakes/

Ebay's T&C specifically state the buyer has entered into a legally binding agreement to pay for the card. Are we to assume this is unilateral, and possibly not enforceable? Can an auction house sue and win vs. a non paying bidder? Mistake do happen, and Ricks employees would rather put where the item is in the stock room and their name in the listing rather than a description, or a back scan of the card. Though I did see they have been adding some.

Today at the show, I was at Rick's table. A young lady asked me if she could help me. I told her I wanted one of those PSA 5 Jimmie Foxx's for $250. She just gave me a confused look...the joke fell flat.

There are certain customers a business is better off without. I get the feeling you fall into this category.

Wrong a business needs all of its customers. If ever signal one is treated right then there should be any issues.

We all make mistakes and, when I make one, I apologize. But, when someone makes a mistake in a listing and needs to cancel, I accept their apology--I don't need their money or them to get punished.

Sorry, but you're wrong about this. I learned it the hard way. I used to think the same thing, thought I needed every customer. But once I figured out that wasn't the case, it made my business run a lot smoother. There are just some people that aren't worth the hassle of doing business with. Doing business with them can actually cost you other good customers because you're spending your time dealing with the problem ones instead of focusing on the good ones.

Right, it's just common sense. This is why the option exists to ban bidders on Ebay. And why Amazon just banned the accounts of a bunch of serial returners. Some customers will cost a business either money, time, or the loss of other customers. And the ones that are out there trolling for pricing errors to take advantage of wont be missed by most business owners.

I don’t think the word “honor” should be tossed around in a case like this. Honor only applies when a person has made a conscious decision and then goes back on it. A simple mistype, IMO, no.

I saw the listing probably minutes after the card was purchased. I don’t blame the buyer for snagging it, but I also would not hold the seller to it. BUT you better believe I would let THEM bring that up!

As far as “needing every customer”, or “the customer is always right”, I personally would not a customer who would hold me over the coals for an obvious mistake. Good riddance. My 2c

20% of your clients make 80% of your problem...or something to that affect. I've had to fire clients before. I think in this case it was blatant, but as in my Dean's cards debacle, he set the price, and then when the card sold he went back and realized he made a mistake, resulting in the one and only auction I remember Dean's cards ever listing. Again there is nothing I can find holding the seller accountable. Unlike Frank Prisco, Piedmont auctions who just takes thousands of dollars and never refunds or sends the cards

So.... did the card actually get sold for $250? Kind of doubt it.

It looks like the card is up for sale again for $1500 (same seller). I suppose that's got a 1 in front along with another $250. What happened to $1250?

Looking at other 1933 Goudey Foxx cards with a "5" grade, the final price range has been from about $550+ up to over a grand.

I guess you could look at the $250 BIN and determine it was most likely an error based on the seller and the volume of nice card listings they have.

If you were to have purchased it with the BIN price of $250, I suppose you could look at it like one heck of a bargain, but in the back of my mind I'd believe it was an error would just accept the excuse that it was listed in error.
I wouldn't like it, but I'd just accept it for what it is. I probably wouldn't neg the seller but would ask for a little latitude or $100 credit on a large purchase (lets say over $400) just to take some of the sting away. Or just be a generally good person and just say phuc-it.

Now, if they shipped the card to me and then asked for it back a week or two later, then things might be a little different.

Also, if this was a card that was not a BIN and it was listed in error and went the full distance, then I'd have to figure the price would have been much greater than the $250 starting price because there are a lot of savvy buyers out there and things like this just don't get past everyone and certainly not for a huge discount.

Same thing happened to me with a P42 back I had missed. This community has a lot of great folks.

I couldn't disagree more. Been in business for a long time....just like this forum. Not all members are good members. If your crap to equity ratio is upside down you will get the boot. A few members thought they were exempt. They weren't.

This is pretty false. A business needs good customers. Tolerable customers. Not customers who think they can shit the bed and get away with it just because they're a customer.

sales of stuff like houses and cars are different than retail sales. A retailer, at least in Mass is required to honor the marked price.

sales of cars and Houses require P+s agreements contracts etc. And there are outs for a lot of circumstances like that. With a house it would be "you listed it at $250, I offer that." Followed by "sorry I don't accept that offer" (This even happens at listing prices more like the 250K..)
Cars are close, but it gets odd.
The place I worked there were two sales people who could authorize their own deals on behalf of the dealership. One weekend, one of them authorized a deal at like 2000 under cost because he wasn't all that good at math. The sales manager caught it Monday, everyone got a stern taking to, and the customer got a great deal on his purchase. And while he wasn't fired, he wasn't allowed to approve his own deals anymore. And the rest of us called him "give it away Dave" for a month or so.

I bet you deal with a lot of both in your profession.

So I’ll admit I’m wrong on this side. But not the sale being honored mistake or whatever.

Massachusetts explanation of the retail pricing requirements.

http://www.mass.gov/ago/consumer-res...uirements.html

Abbreviated version, leaving out exceptions like rope and live animals etc.

The Attorney General’s Item Price Regulation, 940 C.M.R. 3.13, applies to non-grocery stores or to the non-grocery items of a mixed-product retailer. The regulation requires, among other things, that such merchants mark goods offered for sale with the selling price by either affixing a price tag or sticker on the product or its packaging, and states that it is an unfair or deceptive act or practice in violation of the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Statute, G.L. c. 93A, to fail to do so.

Sellers are obligated to sell goods at the correct price, which is the lowest of the advertised price, the posted price, the sticker price, or the checkout price, and must clearly and conspicuously disclose to a buyer the exact nature and extent of the seller’s refund, return or cancellation policy prior to completion of the purchase transaction.

Heh, so also pays treble damages, wonder if this is the case with Ohio.

I'm all for steals. If something at a show is severely underpriced and the dealer says that they are sure that's what they want to sell it for, then go for it. It's on them to be knowledgeable about their product. But that's not the case here.

Clearly a pricing mistake. Most likely the buyer recognized that it was a pricing mistake as well. I'd have to assume very few people are looking to buy a Goudey Foxx without having an idea on what the going rate is.

Would it be cool if they honored it? Sure. Do I think they're bad people if they cancel the transaction? Absolutely not. People make mistakes. It's not like it's a modern card and they're cancelling the transaction because the player has gotten hot and prices have shot through the roof after the purchase.

If some of y'all think that sellers should be so honorable and fall on the sword, then shouldn't the buyer also have to have some decency? Shouldn't he have messaged them making sure that that was what they intended to price it at?

/end rant

The seller creates the listing, proofs the listing, then asked if they want to list the item.Thats plenty of opportunity to avoid a “mistake”. As a grown man and business owner not some guy just selling cards. Giving the buyer only has to press buy it now. You can’t say they need to do anything it’s being offered at this price from a professional company that’s been doing business for years.
Owning your mistakes is a part of life. Not all mistakes are avoidable this one is.

So what happens if I send a 50k 52 Mantle to probstein to list and some assistant of his puts it up for 5k by mistake and it instantly sells? Is he supposed to eat the 45k or am I?

I don't get this need to screw someone over for a simple and honest mistake.

Who knows we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. It’s not that simple or honest of a mistake. The only person getting screwed is the buyer. By a blatant mistake and unhonest way of handling it.

Totally disagree with this viewpoint. If I was the buyer I would HOPE the seller would stand by it but would offer zero resistance if they honestly explained their mistake.

Well, you are just wrong. The card has been relisted at a higher price. So, the sale was cancelled. This is EBay's policy, what you or I think doesn't matter. At least in this instance it is good to see EBay siding with the seller.

Not all mistakes need to be owned up to. Maybe if the sale was in Massachusetts, you would have a point. However, that is a good reason for business owners to avoid states like that. No state that I have lived in has had such unfriendly to business policies.

The buyer isn't getting screwed in this scenario. He isn't out his money and he didn't make out on a killer deal that was a mistake anyway. He didn't get screwed though. I'd say if the deal fell through and the card is now relisted correctly, then nobody got screwed and all is well again. Let's move on.

How does the card being delisted make me wrong? You have have to own all your mistakes lol. That’s not a arming point.

Other instances it may be another buyer emailing the seller telling them the price was too low, or offering more.

How is the seller having to own his mistake? In this case he is not. Some people are forgiving. I posted earlier that I had someone hit one of my buy it nows and then asked to cancel the sale. I could have just kept the money and taken a negative. However, I don't want to be like that. I refunded his money and relisted the item. In this case EBay is being forgiving of an honest mistake and not making the seller own his mistake.

So maybe the buyer is forgiving. It doesn’t mean you don’t have to own your mistake.even if the buyer is not it doesn’t mean Probstein did the right thing. It really doesn’t matter how you cut it. When the buyer press buy it now the entered in to a legal agreement. Where canceling the order is against the rules of eBay. The seller had enough chances to get the listing right. You do have to own your mistakes. I’m sure plenty of people wish they didn’t make a mistake that cost them a thousand dollars. I’m sure a lot of people wish they could weasel out of it. I’m sure some might be forgiven. Like when you get caught speeding sometimes the cop say keep it moving and slow down. Other times they hit you with everything they could. It doesn’t mean you were speeding unperpose. You can’t tell the judge I didn’t mean to speed so see you around.
Most people would live if they didn’t HAVE to pay the ticket or go to court but they are forced to.

A seller cancelling a a winning bid after the fact is not against eBay policy.
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/ge...action?id=4136

All your other anecdotal rhetoric is meaningless.

Unless the buyer of this card can show some kind of intentional fraud and misrepresentation in regards to the listing and actions of the seller, the buyer would have no legal case.

The subject at hand isn't as convoluted as some are trying to make it.

Like it or not, the seller made a mistake and per eBay policy, had the option to cancel the sale and did so.

"your buyer for some reason – the item was damaged, or you had fewer items in inventory than you thought, for example – you can cancel the transaction."


If price was too low?

Ted didn't you have someone cancel your winning bids/BIN on eBay because the prices where too low? Did you ever get your items or are you still trolling eBay.:rolleyes::D

what are you talking about it says you will get a defect.

As you can see I already covered this. In fact not one person has been able to say anything in a factual manner to why integrity, honor and own your mistakes is not a way this should be handled.

I can't believe this argument is still going on. If you expect a seller to let a card go for 10, 20, or even 50% of what it's worth and what he meant to list it for just because he made a mistake when listing or marking the card, then you are the one who has no integrity or honor.

I posted facts. Just because a seller may get a "defect," that doesn't mean that the seller can't cancel a sale. I showed you a seller can cancel a sale.

The card has been relisted without the previous buyer asking eBay to intervene. There is no legal recourse now. It's done with.

You are wrong in what you said.

I see no point in responding further on this particular closed auction.

"When you can cancel a listing
If you cancel a listing, it risks disappointing potential buyers, so we strongly discourage all our sellers from doing so. However, we understand that there are times when a cancellation might be necessary. Some valid reasons include:

The item is lost, broken, or no longer available


You made a mistake, such as listing the wrong starting price in an auction"

It deoes not mention a wrong buy it now price.

Insult me eh....

You can take your opinion and stick it. If you offer an item at a price and I accept, that's a deal and not sticking with it is dishonest.

That seems a rather rude and confrontational response for a Canadian, but you can stick your opinion as well. I have no respect for someone who would try to stick it to a seller over an obvious error on an online price.

Maybe the seller needs better, or qualified help, or people who understand the product? Back in the old days, you had to ask for help or wait for the big guy to come back before you quoted a price or made a deal. All that is now lost. Also, I remember staying up nights learning the different years and types of cards so I wouldn't look like (more of) an idiot when someone asked me for 52 topps. How things change

Probably one of the top five quotes I have ever read. F^ckn eh’

Baffling stupidity as well as a total lack of any sense of personal responsibility.

I'm not Canadian.

Maybe IF you graduate Jr high and some how make it through high school you will have learned something.