[FooFighter]

K there was a car I was watching a few days about and it ended before I could bid on it! It ended without one single bid! There was NO reserve!!! That means I could have bid $125 and won it!

K well my eBay account is broken and I can't send messages to sellers (don't ask!)
SO I was wondering if one of you guys could send one asking him if the car is still for sale?
This is a link to the Ended Auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... %3AIT&rd=1

 

[baker_jeff]

Damn! On the right side of the screen you can "Email the Seller". Might be able to work something out with the guy from there!

 

[FooFighter]

Well I guess that proves how unobservant I am!
Good call Mark!

 

[Dodo]

Most likely sold it locally.

 

[Charles]

When you see a rex on eBay that you think is a great deal, email them to offer to buy it... especially if it is local. eBay prohibits this but it is done all the time.

 

[D_Britt_57]

When you see a rex on eBay that you think is a great deal, email them to offer to buy it... especially if it is local. eBay prohibits this but it is done all the time.

I bought my seats from an ebay ad ( MINT!! he said... yeah, right)
Anyway, I emailed him my number, he called, I drove to CT. to get them.
He, and his mom who was home to give em to me, couldnt believe I drove from Delaware for them.

I was unaware that egay frowned on buying on the side :shrug:

 

[Charles]

That's why I don't use my seller's account for anything other than selling. Have a second account for buying and approaching buyers about out of auction sales. eBay does ban you because you are taking money out of their pockets.

 

[ryan_long_01]

I was unaware that egay frowned on buying on the side :shrug:

Of course they frown on it, by selling outside of eBay the seller cheats eBay by circumventing the eBay fees and basically just uses the site as a free classified ad with a huge audience, screwing the site AND all the people trying to win the auction fair and square. I HATE running an auction and having to deal with all of the countless idiots asking me to end the auction early (every time, I say the same thing -- no, I'm letting the auction run its course...anything else would be unfair to the people that have already bid).

I also hate when I'm watching and bidding on an item only to have the auction suddenly end because the seller copped out, screwed all the bidders, and cancelled the auction with a day left to sell off-site.

It's unfair to everyone that's making legitimate bids (under the impression that the item will sell to the highest bidder at auction end) to end it early, and it's a good way to get your username with all that nice positive feedback blacklisted from the site. It's also a good way to get cheated, since a lot of crooks use offsite sales to rip people off, due to fact that eBay can't do anything about it (their fraud/buyer protection only covers actual auctions, obviously), they don't get negative feedback, etc.

If you wanna sell an item at a certain price, just set a starting bid and "Buy It Now" at that price. That way, nobody can make a small starting bid and turn off "Buy It Now", and if someone offers you the right amount, the auction ends early in a fair manner while not screwing the honest guys who are trying to win the auction fair and square.

I'm not sure how it's set up now, but you should have to pay the full auction fees PLUS a pretty hefty penalty for ending auctions early, because that crap really has to be stopped.

 

[Baker]

When you see a rex on eBay that you think is a great deal, email them to offer to buy it... especially if it is local. eBay prohibits this but it is done all the time.

That is done all the time, i have done it and as the seller you can avoid paying the ebay final value fees or avoid paying a high FVF too! :lol:

 

[crxsubeguy]

i'm a firm believer of the saying "if its too good to be true, it probably is" :wink:

 

[stick]

Making offers to circumvent other people's efforts to buy an item is not just unique to ebay. It happens all the time. Ebay can whine all they want about fees and whatnot...but listing on ebay is never free and they won't provide you with any helpful customer service to earn the money they charge. They charge you a fee to list...then a percentage fee when it sells...and then they charge you a percentage fee of the paypal payment that's sent to you. In the end, you can end up paying 10% or more of your final sale price to ebay.

Any issues I have had on ebay have never been resolved. Their customer service is completely incompetent at helping you. It's not unlike when you're driving around lost, and stop to ask someone: "Where am I?"...to which they reply: "You're in a car."... completely unhelpful information.

 

[Baker]

They charge you a fee to list...then a percentage fee when it sells...and then they charge you a percentage fee of the paypal payment that's sent to you. In the end, you can end up paying 10% or more of your final sale price to ebay.

They will not even let you, as the seller, to pass along the 2-4% fee to accept paypal payments to the buyer!
Ebay scams and picks their way into YOUR pockets more than you think!

 

[ryan_long_01]

Making offers to circumvent other people's efforts to buy an item is not just unique to ebay. It happens all the time. Ebay can whine all they want about fees and whatnot...but listing on ebay is never free and they won't provide you with any helpful customer service to earn the money they charge. They charge you a fee to list...then a percentage fee when it sells...and then they charge you a percentage fee of the paypal payment that's sent to you. In the end, you can end up paying 10% or more of your final sale price to ebay.

Yeah, but on eBay you're selling the item via an auction...when you don't let the auction run it's entire course, you're screwing over all the people who are bidding on your item. I don't really know why people end auctions early anyway, because auctions are the PERFECT way to ensure that you get the most money possible, since people are making offers, seeing the offers of others, and making higher and higher offers in response...perfect way to drive up the selling price.

Sure, eBay charges fees, but you're perfectly aware of that when you list the item. Now, to be honest, I don't feel sorry for eBay when people end auctions early...they're doing fine -- although you ARE cheating them and taking advantage of them (now sure, they probably cheat and take advantage too). I DO, however, feel sorry for the people who are trying to win items fair and square when greedy sellers end auctions early just to save themselves a few bucks in fees. I've watched items for days hoping to win them, just to have the seller cancel the auction early.

Little did the guy know that I was willing to pay whatever I had to in order to win it...but there really should be stiffer penalties for cancelling auctions. When you start an auction, you make a commitment to selling that item to the highest bidder. The seller even has things like reserve prices, "Buy It Now" prices, etc. at his disposal -- to ensure that the item isn't sold for a cent less than the seller wants it to, and to sell an item quickly for a predetermined amount, plus, he can name his starting bid...so really, if a seller is smart enough to set up the auction correctly, there's no reason for a seller to freak out and think he's not going to get the amount he wants.

I guess maybe I'm old fashioned, but I certainly don't end auctions early for any offer...if somebody has the money and wants to spend it, they can bid and wait and see if anybody wants it more than they do, or if their offer holds up and they win. I really think it's totally unfair to all the other people that are trying to win an item to end the auction and hand it to someone who hasn't even bid...so I'm not going to end them myself, and I'm not going to make offers for other people to end their auctions.

I didn't know my respect for the auction process was so rare, haha. Selling stuff on the side like that is pretty ****ty, I personally wouldn't be able to do it in good conscience.