JZ1276

Not really sure what to do here. I sold a set of old school Technics components on eBay for $305 and just got this message from the buyer...

Hello again. I won this item via auction by adding a super high bid ($500) during the last few seconds of the auction, in order to be certain that I would win the item (I really want it). However, I could not see that someone else already had a maximum bid of $300, so by placing my $500 max (higher than theirs), it automatically took the current price from $80 to over $300 with only one bid. I regret doing this now, and as such, I am writing to ask if you would take less for this item. Please let me know. Thank you!

What do you think?

Cardsfan111

The guy is an idiot.

I'd kindly tell him that he's lucky it didn't cost him $500.

Trevor

Tell him another buyer told you he meant to bid $499, and charge him the $500.

RonG617

This is just the kind of thing that stopped me from selling on Ebay after 5 years. If you say no and charge him the full price he can give you a negative feedback and Ebay won't do a thing about it, and you can't give him anything but positive feedback.

JZ1276

Well I told him no (didnt get a response yet) and then sent an email to whoever he outbid asking if theyd be interested in purchasing for their bid of $300. Most likely the winning bidder isnt going to pay.

Obi-Wanma

^Except if the $500 bid isn't valid, neither is the 300 bid, as no-one else bid it up that high. If I was the second place buyer, I wouldn't pay more than 5 bucks over the next valid bid, as that's what he should have won it for if numbnuts here didn't do something stupid.

JZ1276

What do you mean no one else bid up that high? You misread the original post. He outbid someone else's $300 bid with his $500 bid.

DVD Josh

Exactly, it's like a kicker in poker. They both bid $300, and he bid more, so he won.

His $300 is what it took to win. Had he bid $299 he would have lost. I'd remind him of that. And of his binding (pointlessly unenforceable) contract with you.

JZ1276

Well, surprisingly, he just sent payment lol.

Alan Smithee

Uh, don't bid more than what you're willing to pay for it. Simple as that. There used to be some discussion of auctions ending with ridiculous prices, like some kids' VHS tape going for over $10,000- don't know if that was actually paid.

Obi-Wanma

I didn't misread anything. And I guess it's moot now since he paid. But if someone outbid me and then backed out, then his bid was never valid, and if you offered it to me as second place bidder, I wouldn't agree to pay you my max bid, as it was only bumped up to my max by some douche who didn't pay. I would agree to pay you 5 bucks more than the third place bid, which is what i would have won the action for if he never placed his bogus bid.

JZ1276

Sorry my mistake.

DVD Josh

Yes you did misread the OP. You didn't misread the second one.

Obi-Wanma

No, I didn't. Maybe I didn't express myself clearly enough in my first post, but what I wrote in my second post was always what I was trying to get across.

stingermck

Glad you got paid, hold on on tight for the charge back

The Man with the Golden Doujinshi

Can we add in "Don't bid up items early. If you wait until closer to the finish time, you have a better chance of paying less"?

It's annoying to see a couple people bid up something with 7 days left of the auction. Great for the seller but dumb as s**t if you're a buyer.

JCWBobC

Couple of reasons that he might have paid.

1. He knows that he can always file a SNAD claim and you'll have to refund plus pay the return shipping cost if you don't want negative feedback. Of course he can still leave negative feedback even if you do pay the return shipping.

2. He is hoping you don't use DC so he can claim he never received it and get his money back while keeping the items.

3. He knows that if he doesn't pay you will file a UPI claim & he will get a mark on his account and can't leave negative feedback.

4. He decided that he was okay with the price and he will leave you with glowing feedback after he received the items.

Let's hope it's number 4 for your sake.

RonG617

All of this. I would have cancelled the whole thing and then blocked him from ever bidding on my stuff.

adrenaline78

Ship the thing with signature confirmation. DC just proves it was delivered.. It doesn't prove whether the buyer actually received it.

Numanoid

Hell, I'd film myself putting it into the shipping box, driving it to the post office, and mailing it, all in one long unedited take. This guy is gonna be trouble.

JZ1276

I'm taking my sweet time shipping this out, it'll probably go out on Monday. I'm definitely going to do sig conf if it doesnt cost too much. I'm already gonna get killed with shipping prices as it is. This is an old, bulky receiver from the early 90's as well as a tuner and a remote. I'm thinking of shipping 2 separate packages.

movieguru

Over $250 Paypal requires signature confirmation.

kodave

Definitely ship it with not only signature confirmation, but insure it too.

You're going to get screwed.

Don't touch the money in your PayPal account until the period for filing a claim expires. He's totally going to file a claim on the last day possible and PayPal will freeze your funds or take funds out of your bank account/credit card.

Me007gold

based on the fact its been a week since the auction ended and you still haven't shipped it. That's a negative feedback right there. Refund his money and do the auction again, but block him form bidding. This is going to end bad for you.

Pizza

I have always felt the same way on this. I know that's not how it's handled but it should be. Whether its someone being over zealous or messing with the bidding or someone purposely jacking up the price I feel if someone backs out of their winning bid then all their bids should be deleted and then the highest from the remaining bids wins.
As for this buyer, I'd say no too and take my chances. Definitely take pictures/video of the items working and ask for a signature.