Canon 814-XLS Ebay Auction

[Alessandro Machi]

I routinely bid on Canon 1014-XLS, I only have one and although I have an 814 I've wanted a second 1014XLS as a back up.

 

I mistakenly bid on an 814XLS thinking it was a 1014XLS. I didn't realize my mistake until a couple of hours before bidding closed. However at that time nobody else had bid on the camera but me.

 

I could not find the bid retraction function so I emailed the seller and told them that I had overbid by quite a bit because I thought the camera was a 1014XLS.

 

The bidder who came in second bid the camera up to almost my way overpriced high amount. The seller is not pressuring me to buy the camera BUT they have offered it to the second place finisher for the auction win.

 

This is unethical. If my bid had been retracted, the winning bid would have been for 285 dollars. To offer it to the second place finisher for almost a hundred dollars more is unfair to that bidder. I tried explaining this to the seller but the logic escapes them since it will cost them almost a hundred dollars. I hope the second place finisher doesn't accept the camera at that high a price and I wish the seller would still appreciate the fact that a 285 dollar auction win is still a decent price for the Canon 814XLs.

[Rolando Fernandez]

Something like that happens to me buying a 1014 Electronic ,I overbid a little, but it was my second

item for this seller and we make an "outside deal" to my top amount.

 

From that experience I learn not to bid until the last minute.

[jacob thomas]

I routinely bid on Canon 1014-XLS, I only have one and although I have an 814 I've wanted a second 1014XLS as a back up.

 

I mistakenly bid on an 814XLS thinking it was a 1014XLS. I didn't realize my mistake until a couple of hours before bidding closed. However at that time nobody else had bid on the camera but me.

 

I could not find the bid retraction function so I emailed the seller and told them that I had overbid by quite a bit because I thought the camera was a 1014XLS.

 

The bidder who came in second bid the camera up to almost my way overpriced high amount. The seller is not pressuring me to buy the camera BUT they have offered it to the second place finisher for the auction win.

 

This is unethical. If my bid had been retracted, the winning bid would have been for 285 dollars. To offer it to the second place finisher for almost a hundred dollars more is unfair to that bidder. I tried explaining this to the seller but the logic escapes them since it will cost them almost a hundred dollars. I hope the second place finisher doesn't accept the camera at that high a price and I wish the seller would still appreciate the fact that a 285 dollar auction win is still a decent price for the Canon 814XLs.

 

Which is more unethical you backing out of a purchase with no good reason or a seller trying to realize the value that their item reached at auction?

 

Or do ethics only apply to other people? :rolleyes:

Edited March 5, 2008 by jacob thomas

[Alessandro Machi]

Which is more unethical you backing out of a purchase with no good reason or a seller trying to realize the value that their item reached at auction?

 

Or do ethics only apply to other people? :rolleyes:

 

 

Since when is misreading the model number and then correcting the mistake as soon as I discovered it amount to not a good reason? I attempted to correct the mistake before the auction ended.

 

Tbe seller knows exactly what the item would have sold for if my bid had been retracted. Instead they want the final sales price and are using my bid to extract it from the second place finisher.

[jacob thomas]

Since when is misreading the model number and then correcting the mistake as soon as I discovered it amount to not a good reason? I attempted to correct the mistake before the auction ended.

 

Tbe seller knows exactly what the item would have sold for if my bid had been retracted. Instead they want the final sales price and are using my bid to extract it from the second place finisher.

 

Perhaps you should read the ebay rules a bit more carefully:

 

Can I retract or cancel my bid

 

Invalid bid retraction

 

 

This isn't a forum for discussing ebay's rules (which you broke).

 

The seller has no way to "extract" the final bid amount from the second place finisher all they can do is offer it to them and the second place finisher is free to accept or reject the offer. The only person contractually bound to buy the item for the amount specified is you. :blink:

[Alessandro Machi]

Perhaps you should read the ebay rules a bit more carefully:

 

Can I retract or cancel my bid

 

Invalid bid retraction

 

 

This isn't a forum for discussing ebay's rules (which you broke).

 

The seller has no way to "extract" the final bid amount from the second place finisher all they can do is offer it to them and the second place finisher is free to accept or reject the offer. The only person contractually bound to buy the item for the amount specified is you. :blink:

 

bla bla bla.

 

We have come up with a possible solution.

[gary szunyog]

I did exactly the same thing on the same model camera as you Alessandro. An hour had passed so I couldn't correct my mistake once I realized what I had done.

 

I don't make a habit of it but I am getting picky with age.

 

Situations can occur where the deal cannot be completed and a few sellers know how to deal with it. It is life.

[Jim Carlile]

There is nothing unethical about retracting a bid. Sellers refuse them all the time, and they can pull out of the auction afterwards, too. The only difference is that buyers can get penalized, sellers no.

 

EBAY has specific policies about the 2nd-place bidder and when and how they can take over if the first-place backs out. Not sure about how much they have to pay-- EBAY has thought it all out, though, so you can probably look it up.

 

Here's the problem for EBAY-- if their rules state the 2nd-place bidders own offer, then the automatic system is NOT allowing the seller to upgrade the bid to yours. That means they are doing it offsite to evade EBAY, which is a BIG EBAY NO NO.

 

If the buyer is willing to pay YOUR price for the item, then I'm not sure where the morality rests. They'd be dumb to do so if EBAY guarantees them their own bid price. I mean, they didn't go up to your price, so why are they paying it? They would have outbid you in the first place (?) So this makes no sense on their part.

[Alessandro Machi]

There is nothing unethical about retracting a bid. Sellers refuse them all the time, and they can pull out of the auction afterwards, too. The only difference is that buyers can get penalized, sellers no.

 

EBAY has specific policies about the 2nd-place bidder and when and how they can take over if the first-place backs out. Not sure about how much they have to pay-- EBAY has thought it all out, though, so you can probably look it up.

 

Here's the problem for EBAY-- if their rules state the 2nd-place bidders own offer, then the automatic system is NOT allowing the seller to upgrade the bid to yours. That means they are doing it offsite to evade EBAY, which is a BIG EBAY NO NO.

 

If the buyer is willing to pay YOUR price for the item, then I'm not sure where the morality rests. They'd be dumb to do so if EBAY guarantees them their own bid price. I mean, they didn't go up to your price, so why are they paying it? They would have outbid you in the first place (?) So this makes no sense on their part.

 

Because my bid was accidental, it then became the equivalent to a shill bid. The second place person's bid got rung up an extra hundred dollars to just under my maximum. That's what I felt badly about. I've offered the seller 20 bucks just for my stupidity.

 

Thanks for the great on topic response Jim.

[Jim Carlile]

Oh, I see-- that makes sense.

 

You're too nice! But I wonder what EBAY's price policies are for the second-place finishers being offered the item after the first-place backs out.....interesting problem-- I suspect they disallow the top bid, which would make what the seller is doing unethical.....

 

As far as it goes with backing out-- too bad for them. Sellers do this all the time. They can cancel your bid if they want to without giving a reason, they can back out of the sale if they don't like the results, etc. and this gets abused all the time. But if the buyers do this, they're called deadbeats! EBAY tries to have it both ways. The sellers get the favoritism, even though the buyers pay the money....

 

I first started bidding on EBAY in 1999 when it was still like a gentlemen's club. I came back to it a few years ago and was amazed at the difference-- bid sniping, retaliatory feedback from the seller (they wait to see yours first), bid cancellations, ignoring communications after you've won (which EBAY will do NOTHING about unless you have already paid.) It seemed like these guys knew all the tricks.

[Alessandro Machi]

Oh, I see-- that makes sense.

 

You're too nice! But I wonder what EBAY's price policies are for the second-place finishers being offered the item after the first-place backs out.....interesting problem-- I suspect they disallow the top bid, which would make what the seller is doing unethical.....

 

This is the primary issue I was concerned about. The second place finisher should get the opportunity to buy the item at one bid increment higher than the highest bid of the bidder that finished in third. I don't know for sure but it appears that ebay allows the seller to offer it to the number two person at the actual winning bid. This will only encourage shill bidding.

 

As far as it goes with backing out-- too bad for them. Sellers do this all the time. They can cancel your bid if they want to without giving a reason, they can back out of the sale if they don't like the results, etc. and this gets abused all the time. But if the buyers do this, they're called deadbeats! EBAY tries to have it both ways. The sellers get the favoritism, even though the buyers pay the money....

 

I first started bidding on EBAY in 1999 when it was still like a gentlemen's club. I came back to it a few years ago and was amazed at the difference-- bid sniping, retaliatory feedback from the seller (they wait to see yours first), bid cancellations, ignoring communications after you've won (which EBAY will do NOTHING about unless you have already paid.) It seemed like these guys knew all the tricks.

 

Recently, some changes were made on eBay that supposedly favor the buyer.

 

Overall, ebay is ok IF the item being sold is as described AND it gets the proper protection when it is shipped. In my opinion sniper bidding is offset by the fact that the winning bid is always one bid increment above the second place bid rather than just using the top dollar amount that was bid by the auction winner.

 

I've heard that another auction service keeps extending the end of the auction by five minutes everytime a new higher sniper bid comes in in the last five minutes. An interesting concept but one that would drive many nuts if they can't hang around because of other commitments as the end of the auction keeps extending. Lol, unless they have sniper proxy bid software to do the bidding for them.