E BAY HELP - I have a question

[Frankie]

Ok I am not an avid ebayer, so I dont know all the ins and outs, and as per usual if you want any help you have to fill out various forms. So I thought I would ask you guys.

I have been bidding on an item and I was winning (at a good price) there was no buy it now button, and it was not listed as not meeting minimum value, but I had an email today to say the item has been pulled and is no longer for sale!!! WTF! Can people do this, I have spent time on this, and did not bid on other items as I was hoping to get this item.

My Question > Can people really do this without any hassle? or comebacks? well apart from me leaving a sh1tty feedback.

I have written to the seller to get their reasons, but this sucks, I have wasted time on this and lost out on other potential due to this, or am I doing it all wrong.

[duke63]

Yes they can sadly. eBay is nothing like as good as it used to be for buying or selling.

[Frankie]

Cheers for that, I really feel like leaving a crap feedback message for wasting my time like this!!!
I will see if they have the courtesy to answer my mail.

Seems to be the yin and yang of life, I had a really good chat with a helpful guy today regarding tyres, I will update more about the service if it all goes how it should.

[Kwacky]

Yep, they can. It's a common tactic.

[StMarks]

It seems that people do this now, rather than have a reserve price on a listing.: the start at a silly low price, then if it hasn't reached a threshold that they are happy with they pull the listing before it is due to end.
If that is the case, they'll probably re-list it again soon.

[Blade]

Had the auction actually finished with you as the highest bidder Frankie ? As I didnt think they could end an auction early once bids had been placed .

[Frankie]

No mate it had days left and I was the highest bidder, anyway whats done is done, what goes around comes around, so no doubt this twat will get their time wasted in the future.

I only posted this as I was gobsmacked that people can get away with this poor behaviour

[Blade]

Sorry it didn't work out mate.

[Rossgo]

I'm interested in what this item was...biking bling?!

[D6Nutz]

Happens quite often, you run an auction and someone messages you with an offer to end the auction early.

From the sellers point of view it saves money on fees.

I agree with Duke, eBay isn't the place it used to be. Shame nothing else has gained enough traction to kick it's arse a bit.

[Kwacky]

Ebay is shit. It's very rare for me to bid on stuff.

I tend to use it for stuff I need on a "buy it now" basis. Sadly a lot of suppliers give a better deal on ebay than they do with their own online shops.

[wazza675]

If you're looking at getting stuff at auction at a better price WITHOUT waiting till the very end, bidding in the last 20 seconds and then missing out anyway, you can use a proxy bidder. Ebay doesn't like them but there is nothing they can do to stop it. I use bidnapper.com but there are others available (just not sure what they are or how much they charge if at all).
Since I'm on the other side of the ditch (from anywhere) most auctions ends when I'm asleep, so I used to put in my max bid and have someone beat it in the last few seconds but didn't know till I'd missed out. Now I put in my max bid hours or days before which isn't placed by bidnapper till the last 4 seconds of the auction. You can't change your bid within the last few minutes (which is when bidnapper logs in for you and sets up the bid), and you don't win everything, but I've had some great success and easily covered my fees. There is also a initial free service that you can use to try before you buy (so to speak).
My last win was a new 675R Brembo master cylinder and reservoir for US$122. After postage and currency conversion, it was about AU$205 - far cheaper than anything here.

This doesn't solve the problem you had, but does give you a little more of an edge with auctions that do run their course.

I was screwed about when I tried to sell my last car. It sold twice from an ebay listing but both bidders pulled out - one blamed his kid for accessing the PC while his missus was logged in, the other said it was his brother who used his login. The car did sell the third time I listed it but that was a month after I initially placed the listing (after waiting for fee reversals, opening up disputes, etc).

[Frankie]

Cheers mate, Interesting stuff, but to be fair I don't use it much, as Kwacky says most things can be found through buy it now places on eBay or otherwise at best prices, you have got to love google (and other search engines for that lol)

This was something which I was going to buy second hand, and not new, once I found the right deal. Rossgo I will tell you in due course ha ha, once I have sorted it. Most likely with a photo on "what the postman brought" ha ha

[wazza675]

I buy most things second hand for the bikeas I'm on a shoe-string budget. This item just happened to be new (a bonus). It's no RCS 19 unit but it's better than the stock Nissin unit (hopefully!!).
Overseas postage scares many on ebay, so I need a nice polite (and cajoling) message prior to bidding!! That's all wasted if I miss out!

You often find expensive things (like bikes) will be listed with a reserve several times without selling. Then they list them without the reserve but pull them early if they're not happy with the price. I guess it's one way to get a line of communication going with potential buyers, even if they could be put off by the tactic.

If you don't use ebay much, you can still sign up for the free trial on bidnapper. I think they give you 20 wins before they request a payment. After that, you buy 'snipes' (in lots of 25) but they are only used up if you win the auction, ie 1 snipe per item won.

[kiwikrasher]

I use EZsniper, but like Kwacky tend to stick to "buy now" stuff these days. But I did snipe those leathers and score them for an absolute bargin!

I sold an onsite caravan/annex holiday spot I had up the coast on ebay, but used the 'classified ad' option. That way you don't deal with dodgy bidders and they price you're after is known and the negoitaion is around that. Worked well in that instance.

[Kwacky]

Anything I auction now is for buy it now with a best offer option. You price it slightly higher, they make a low offer, you get what you wanted and they feel like they have a bargain.