T206 Johnson psa/dna ended early????

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Posted By: Solomon Cramer

1) People wonder why items (by and large) get more money in major auctions than on ebay. Here is a shining example. You're dealing with a flake seller, who either has no idea what he's doing or doesn't care, jerking around everyone interested in an item. I haven't read them lately, but I'm sure ebay's TOS explicitly forbids the side deal that happened here...how much credibility does the seller have if he's going to violate the TOS of his initial contract.

Can you imagine if Mastro et al pulled a stunt like this? At least with a major catalog auction, I know a) the highest bid will win, b) the seller/auction house actually has the item in hand, ready to ship when they receive my payment, and c) isn't going to call me up three days later with a sob story how they were threatened by someone who wanted the item more than me.

2) Any seller who is going to grab the fast buck and take a (preceived) above market figure for his item is just undermining his long term success as a dealer/seller. Just as Paul mentioned, I cannot recall ever having pulled an item off ebay to sell it to someone privately. I ended auctions early at times, usually when I realized an error in the listing, or because I screwed something up. But I took pride, that if I posted an item for sale, people could expect that the highest bid would take it. And I always felt I got a premium over people who were jerking around, opening and closing auctions, etc.

3) From a practical standpoint, why should a buyer not do "whatever it takes" to get what they want? A buyer doesn't need to have any credibility - just money. Sellers aren't going to ban a buyer for making an offer early. The only thing stopping a buyer from doing so is eBay's TOS - if they are comfortable ignoring the rules they agreed to follow, that is the only impediment.


It's bullsh#! like this which is why ebay is fundamentally a flea market, instead of a real commerce/auction site, and will never be a premium vehicle for sales.