Ebay purchase gone bad

[yooperdave]

This is kind of a repost from the Kubota owning forum regarding the purchase of a Kubota snow blower for a F series front end mower.

A nice snow blower went on ebay and located only 130 miles from my house. I contacted the seller on several occasions to get more of the specifics regarding his snow blower.

Since my F2400 is kind of uncommon around my area, I was pretty excited to get a snow blower attachment for it.

Before the auction closed, I received a email stating that the seller sold the unit locally. I figured this is why he has not been communicating very well with me.

If you go to the listing, he did not close the auction, nor did he say that he had the right to sell somewhere else prior to the auction close.

This is the listing:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&category=6737&item=2433808024

I am the winning bidder, but the seller has nothing to sell.

What are my rights?

Any comments?

Thanks

Yooper Dave

 

[Gomez]

Try contacting the Ebay powers that be?

 

[EdDekker]

Your seller has violated his ebay user agreement. From the ebay help system under 'non-selling seller':

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It is not permitted for a seller on eBay to refuse payment or delivery of an item at the end of a successful sale.

If you have sent payment and have been unable to receive your item or a refund, please refer to the eBay Buyer Protection Program for information on how to proceed. On this page you will also find instructions that will allow you to report the seller.

If a seller has refused to complete a sale and payment has not been sent or payment has been refunded, report the seller . Make sure to include a copy of the email documenting the seller's refusal to complete the sale with the full message text and complete email headers when making your report.

After receiving your report, eBay will consider the circumstances of the alleged offense. Disciplinary action may result in a formal warning, a temporary suspension, or an indefinite suspension. If a complaint cannot be proven with certainty, it is possible that no action will be taken. Due to privacy issues, eBay will be unable to discuss the result of the investigation.)</font>


Under 'withdrawn from trade':
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( If you are no longer able to complete the transaction because the item is no longer available for trade, you may consider contacting your high bidder and explaining the situation. Many times, these issues can be amicably resolved between the seller and buyer. Resolving the issue can also help to prevent negative feedback from the buyer.

Please note that eBay reviews reports of sellers that refuse payment and fail to deliver an item at the end of a successful transaction.)</font>

The bottom line is he may be kicked off ebay, protecting the next guy, or he may be slapped on the wrist, but Ebay will not help you get any compensation.

If the seller fails to provide some sort of compensation to you, be sure to leave negative feedback on the seller.

 

[Mrwurm]

Yooper Dave,
Sellers may end their auction early for any reason. But, they must actually sign in and go through the procedure to officially end the auction. Once the auctin closes with a winning bidder they cannot exercise this option. The seller is now obligated to sell you the item. A contract between you and the seller exists. The problem here is that you would have to go to so much trouble to enforce the deal that it would not be worth it. Sellers know this, that is why they get away with cheating people like you. At the very least you should report it to ebay and leave the seller negative feedback. You will find that you CAN leave feedback because ebay considers this a valid transaction.

The seller may also be surprised to know that they owe all the ebay fees that go along with a valid transaction.

 

[yooperdave]

I also noticed that when a deal goes bad and you issue some well deserved neutral or negative feed back, they will do the same to you - regardless of who or why.

It is kind of like kicking feeces - the more you kick it the worse you will smell.

Can ebay kick someone like this off? I felt the auction should have closed the minute the item was sold.

Why can a seller back out for any reason without penalty, but a buyer can not?

This really seems like a seller's game.

Yooper Dave

 

[Alan L.]

Dave, you beat me to it. The feedback system on Ebay is flawed, because of what you just mentioned. You give a bad review, you get a bad review in return. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Von]

Dave, the bidder can retract a bid at any time while the auction is still running, and the seller can stop an auction at anytime. Since the seller did not stop the auction I would contact him and demand that he sells you the snow blower for your high bid or you will see him in court. Since you are both in the same state you have the law on your side. Take him to small claims court. Make him drive up to your town! He has a busness that deals in tractors and stuff like it, so go after him. Teach him a lesson he won't forget! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif If he doesn't show up you win and then have the police seize his property to pay you! What ever you do, good luck.

 

[Gatorboy]

Write a letter to Judge Judy -- this sounds like a case she would put on TV!

At the very least, leave NEGATIVE feedback on this seller.

 

[Mrwurm]

Yes Dave, ebay could suspend this user it punish him. But, it does little good. He can just re-register with a different screen name. He might have to use a different address too, but that's no big deal.

Some sellers on ebay re-register once their negative feedback gets too numerous.

 

[Gatorboy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Some sellers on ebay re-register once their negative feedback gets too numerous. )</font>

I don't believe users with 100+ positive feedbacks would be someone to worry about. The users you are referring to most likely are the ones with under 20 feedback responses, and starting over is not a big deal to them.