OT (sort of) -- Some venting from an ebay seller

[cubsguy1969]

Hi, guys. This is kind of off topic, but it could easily apply to sales of cards, so I'm hoping Leon will let me vent here.

Has anyone else noticed that buyers are getting more and more demanding, sometimes to the point of obnoxiousness? I’d say 95 percent (maybe a little higher) are great, but then there’s that 3 to 5 percent. People who expect everything shipped out 2 minutes after they make a purchase, people who demand tracking and insurance on a $10 item but don’t want to pay for it, people who ask you to lie on customs forms, etc., etc. Maybe it’s just coincidence and I’ve had a run of bad luck, but it seems that way.

Anyway, here’s the latest one. I sold some mid-19th century books for about $220 to a Canadian buyer. He paid quickly (much appreciated), but then asked me to lie on the customs form and put the value at $10, and to claim it was a sample. I refused, he got nasty, and we eventually voided the transacation and agreed to part ways (fairly amicably after many e-mail exchanges).

So then I send a second-chance offer to the underbidder (at $212 or something). No response. I shoot him an e-mail to see if he’s interested in the books for $200 and I’ll throw in shipping. He agrees, I send him my info, and I never hear back from him. I send him another message asking if he changed his mind. No response. I e-mail him once more, asking for him to please let me know, and telling him I’ll make it a buy-it-now just on the chance that he’s fearful my second-chance offer was a scam. No response. I give up and relist the books, with my opening bid of $100 (which I would have been perfectly happy getting in the first place). Guess who won the auction for $107. That underbidder. Should I be pissed? I don’t care all that much that he got them for cheaper. I took my chances relisting the books with the $100 opening bid. I just find it extremely distasteful that he ignored my repeated messages, backed out of an agreement without a word to me, then bid in the auction and got the books at a much cheaper price. (In hindsight, I should have blocked him. But I hate to do that to people.)

Anyway, what do you guys think? I’m very tempted to simply reneg on the auction and just take the negative feedback. It galls me to have to send this guy the books. And again, it’s not about the money. Obviously, I’d like the higher price, but that’s not what bothers me.

Feel free to share your thoughts and other issues maybe you’ve had as an ebay seller. I’ve been both buyer and seller, and I believe ebay’s weighed things so heavily in the buyer’s favor that it’s to the point of ridiculousness. Anyway, thanks for letting me vent.


Rob

[vintagetoppsguy]

I feel your pain, but it is possible that the underbidder who won the auction the second time around could have had a much higher proxy (maybe $200?) and no one out bid him. Just saying. Either way, I see your point about the fact that he did not even bother to return your email.

And regarding your first point, yes it seems like buyers have gotten much more demanding.

[Matt]

Without a seller being able to leave negative feedback for a buyer, there isn't anything to stop a buyer from having unreasonable demands.

[Jim VB]

It was wrong for him to agree to do the deal and then back out, But he may have had his bid in the initial auction pushed to the max by the first winner.

What was the bid of the third highest guy? One increment over that would have been enough to win if the original winner had not ever bid.

Sometimes those second chance offers aren't really fair.

[cubsguy1969]

That's a fair point about his bid being pushed up. The third-place bidder was considerably lower. But what he bid initially was rendered irrelevant by the fact that he agreed to purchase the books for $200 (in my humble opinion anyway). And the books are massive. Beautiful old Shakespeare books that are not cheap to ship, even at media rates. So I was giving him a break there. Sigh. It's just frustrating when people don't have the decency to do what they say they're going to do. All he had to say was, "Sorry, I changed my mind."

[usernamealreadytaken]

I will chime in on the Customs declaration ask. Buyers from Canada always ask I do this (I believe it saves them $ somehow?). Anyway, I don't mind helping out but the form pretty much provides that lying is considered fraud and puts me, the seller, in a tuff spot. I don't like shipping to Canada amyway (either pay out the wazoo for registered mail, or cross your fingers).

[peterose4hof]

Ebay's rule changes the past couple of years have given the buyers all the power now. To quote Jim Carrey, sometimes you just have to "bend over and take it up the tailpipe!"

[Bilko G]

I dont blame him for backing out of the 2nd chance offer (although he should have told you and it sounds like it was more of a verbal "2ndchance offer", then the actual ebay one). He might have agreed to the "verbal 2nd chance offer" and then talked it over with friends or even posted in a forum like this and people could have put it in his mind that he was shilled, especially liked mentioned if it pushed his high bid to the brink. Its your books, so obviously your choice, but i would complete the deal or it will appear (to the buyer) that you shilled the first auction and are not happy with the 2nd auction price that he won. Just my opinion.

[Matthew H]

I almost never respond to second chance offers. Especially ones that come in real soon after the auction. I have become a skeptical buyer with all of the stuff that goes on. I can't help but to assume that "second chance offer" means "I over shilled my auction". If it were me bidding on your books, I would respond better to an e-mail describing what happened along with an offer. Your story sound like fact so I would be confident as a buyer.

[ChiefBenderForever]

Can't be mad at the buyer. What was the third under bidders price that should've been bin price, the Canadian screwed you not the underbidder.

[smtjoy]

I have only accepted one 2nd chance offer and that was at a price just above the 3rd bidder. Too easy to shill on ebay and no way of knowing the truth to trust a second chance offer any other way.

I would just complete the transaction as is.