From what I've seen, half of the time seller canceling bids because of a BIN offer from a buyer. And, half of the time, the bin offers seller accepted were horrible.

 

Starscream, I disagree. And I think a huge logical and reasoning essay could be good, but not necessary, so I will say this:

Just because the system (ebay) is harsh on someone (the seller), it does NOT give the seller "more rights" to do the same onto those they deal with (the buyers).


A quick example to illustrate the point: Just because your parents abuse you and gave you a HORRIFIC childhood, it does NOT grant you the right to abuse your children. It is exactly because people think this way, that causes many of these abuse cases to be in existence.

 

That is why I always start something at the minimum I'd be willing to sell that particular item for...I'd rather be out a buck or two on the listing fee than to see an item that cost me $50 sell for $10.

However I do agree that the eBay fees are getting ridiculously high. It was nice when they had the free listing fees during August, personally I feel that's the way it should be, fees should only be charged if the item sells (which I'm sure most sellers wouldn't complain about).

 

Shit, I just want to make my money back, and if canceling an item prevents me from losing money-then I will. In no way does this relate to child abuse or anything of that nature. Its just a smart buisness move, and your taking care of yourself as a seller. Nobody cares about you but you. I could care less what a guy behind a computer screen thinks of me.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with this. Well said.

 

Okay then I will put this in the most simplest of terms. Who are you to dictate to the seller when they should keep an item of THEIRS on auction and when to or not to pull it. Sorry, but at least 65%-75% of buyers on eBay are low ballers. And I am not going to let you, or any buyer dictate to me how much to let an item of mine sell for. If oyu don't like it, stop crying about it and move on and find the item from another seller. How about his, why don't you put an item up on ebay you paid like $50.00 for but let it sell for only $10.00. Try and tell me you would be okay with that. if you did you'd be lying.

There is no rule against ending an item early. It's up to the seller's discretion. thats just the way it is so just deal with it...IMO

 

ebay has no right to charge for a reserve fee when someone sets a reserve price...it costs ebay ZERO to have you type a # in a field...freaking ebay and their fees....that is why seller set things at 99 cents...if you set it for $50 to $99 starting...ebay is charging you $5 just to list the damned auction...screw that noise...

 

so we have seen opinions from both sides on this...to the OP...a seller can cancel the auction for any of the bulleted options that ebay provides up until the last 12 hours of the sale...then you no longer have the option of canceling the auction...in ebay's eyes...once the auction is concluded at whatever price the item sales for....that is a binding contact for the seller to sell it at that price and for the buyer to pay the selling price....so to specifically you do not have a binding contract until it has ended with a bid on the item...and no a seller canceling an auction does not constitute a violation of the binding contract rule in ebay's eyes as long as you can select one of the given choices for killing the auction early.

 

I never said it was legal, or not legal. I know its legal. That was never the question. It was a matter of fairness and good business practice.

A lot of people can circumvent taxes. Its legal. Does it make it right to go around the law? yes, you can say its the law's fault for having loopholes, or can you say, its the people's fault because they knew the intention of the law and purposely, for their own selfish needs, decided that they don't have to take care of their social responsibility, etc.

 

ok...simply...it is fair...otherwise it would not be allowed in the land of ebay....land of pro-buyer rights.

 

I can't agree with what you stated Cind. The logic of "its fair, or it won't be allowed", is so flawed, even using "ebay the land of pro-buyer rights", I don't think I need to state the reasons as to why I think its flawed.

While I understand that there are instances where cancelling bids and auctions should be allowed, I was discussing at the instances where it is not "good practice".

 

I haven't been a seller yet, only a buyer at this time. Personally, I don't have any real issue if seller want to cancel their auction regardless the reason. I understand they're trying to make the best profit as possible. If the auction gets canceled, I just move on. Why am I calm about this? Because sometimes I took part of the action where the seller agreed with my offering and they choose to end the auction. In other word, sometimes I am the victim and sometimes the auction works in my favor because I made the seller canceled the auction.

On the other hand, I hate the BEST OFFER buyer 48hours restriction commitment. Some sellers see your best offer but wait until the last minute to see if they get a better before accepting or decline your offering. Now if I saw another auction that has a better deal and especially when the time is getting closer to an end, I'm screw. I want the freedom and flexibility to cancel the best offer at anytime as long it doesn't interfere once the seller accept your offering.

 

I personally don't care. In my mind, the item is the seller's item until the auction has succesfully ended (and even until the item has been paid for). He's free to do what he wants with it, much like if he was listing the item in the newspaper and changed his mind at the last minute and decided to keep it for whatever reason.

 

Wow! I just learned something tonight that has me completely floored. I did not know, as I have never sold on ebay, that ebay will charge you a "fee" for placing a minimum cap or a reserve on an item that you are selling. That is your item! It is your god given right to decide what you will or won't accept for your own personal property. You shouldn't be charged for wanting a certain amount minimum for something with which you are parting. I"m finally at a point where I am just about ready to sell some things and I keep hearing about all these ridiculous fees and what not. I think I'm going to take the lower road, which to me is the higher road, and sell my things here. I think I'd rather help brothers/sisters on here and not be hassled by some company that continually drums up ways to make even more money off of you using their service. Sorry if I got off topic with my rant, like I said that just kind of had me baffled.

 

Is there any where else to sell other than ebay? I mean some place as "stable" and i use that term loosely as ebay? Maybe all these ebay sellers should setup some other website to use for their online selling needs and not take out the crap coming from ebay corporate. Maybe I am just being naive though.

 

Well said. The fees are horrendous on ebay/paypal and i cannot fault anyone who sells (i sell occasionally) for trying to make their money back. It may be annoying but sellers have the right not to lose money.

Lots of sites like ebid... they just do not have the traffic that ebay does.

 

I cant fault you for wanting to make your money back, but that is not what this is about. OK then, by that logic it is perfectly OK for me as a buyer to bid high on as many auctions as I want, find out what the final price is and then decide if I actually want to buy anything. After all, its just a smart business move and no-one cares about the buyer and the seller is just a guy behind a computer screen. Right? I assume that all sellers on here would be fine with this as well then.

Again, there are two issues here, getting back what you paid for a figure (or your minimum price) and screwing over a buyer.

You have a right to ask for whatever you want for a figure you own. I am going to defend that right just as hard. If you want $30 for a figure and it costs $10 for all eBay fees, put it on as a BIN for $40. Its not rocket science. But, a lot of sellers dont do that - and I would guess that this is because they would like $30 for a figure, but want to see if they can get more. Well, if you want to go down that route, you are taking a gamble and you should accept that it may not pay off. If you want $50 for a figure and all you get is low-ball offers, then maybe - just maybe - your expectations are unreasonable, since all it takes is two buyers from your entire buying group to agree with you, and a low-ball means that you either have only one or none who agree with you. eBay is the ultimate market valuation system, if you get only low-balls, then it is likely that this is what it is worth. If I low-ball, and someone else bids a reasonable value, I wont win it. End of the story.

How can I find the item from another seller when I dont know who is going to end an item early until they actually do it. You have to remember how eBay works as a buyer. I go specifically to search for something, then I find it at a reasonable price, maybe even a fantastic price, and put my bid in. At this point, I am on track to win a figure that I really want (and may be prepared to pay more for). Then it gets withdrawn, just leaving a bitter taste.

There is no rule against ending an item early. True. By the same logic, a buyer cant get negative feedback, so anything that they do must be fine by eBay since there is no negative comeback on it at all. Right?

Absolutely. eBay fees suck. But, why should I get screwed around by sellers who pull down auctions because eBay charges a lot and sellers dont want to pay it? Sellers choose to play by eBay rules, and you cant just pick some of them that you agree with and some you dont. If you dont like the conditions, sell elsewhere.

Sure. But imagine passing a store and seeing the figure that you really want, for a great price. You go in and say that you will take it, and the store owner says that he wont actually sell it for that price, and puts it out back. Frustrating?

You see, I hear a alot about how eBay only favours the buyer, and there are a lot of cases where this is true. But, the sellers get a lot more favours than they realise, and this ability to cancel an auction almost at any time and with no come-back or explanation is a really big one. As a seller, I cant even leave poor feedback for someone that cancels every item they list! If I cancel a bid, it is recorded and logged in the system, and if I do it too much then it affects my buying ability.

Actually, no they dont. Sellers have the right to decide to put a BIN on or risk losing money, the same way that any store does (ask any store that got screwed with yet another HA case containing HA BB and ask how much they made on each one).

Lots of sites dont have eBays traffic or charge eBays fees. Those extra fees are unfair, I will not defend them, but eBay will say that you are paying for a larger potential buying group and therefore a higher end price - since you are more likely to get two people bidding against each other. Sellers who cancel really just want the higher end price without paying the required fees and punish the buyers for it.

 

There are sites like Yahoo Auctions.

I do want to say:

1. stop using "ebay is charging me extra" as a reasoning. Its ebay, not the buyer's fault. No one ever complains if you want to add the fees to your shipping/handling to pay for it. The reason people don't want to is because its "unattractive", which is poop as an excuse, to say the least.

2. stop using "ebay favors buyer". As stated above, there are times when ebay favors buyer, but times where ebay favors sellers. (thanks Cybershadow, I didn't even know about some of the ones you mentioned)

But the general reasoning behind why it is "ok" to cancel when "item is not selling for a price you like" is "ebay this, ebay that". Without using ebay, the reasoning stated seems to be "I want to get what I want from the item, its my item, etc", which, while is true, ebay gave you the option of BIN and reserved prices. And if you say "ebay this, ebay that" in response, well... you CAN charge the buyer for those fees.

 

Ebay is a vastly flawed system...but it's the 800 lb gorilla so there aren't a lot of more viable options and they know it...

Yes, Ebay nails sellers on the listing fee plus the initial value fee, fee for setting a reserve price, and a fee if they accept BIN...

...which, like in the case of the poster earlier who said he places a BS bid just to "get rid of the BIN" is one of the reasons I think it should be like on YJ and the BIN should stand until the item sells, if I have to pay a fee to have the feature and a buyer comes along and is willing to pay my BIN price why shouldn't they be able to? I also hate the times I've been clicking on BIN only to have someone bid 99c at the same time...I've had auctions go beyond the BIN price i was willing to pay right then...

Ebay tries to cater to larger sellers and stores, they tried getting rid of "the little guys" a few years back so now I see lots of items that are also for sale in their physical store so an item may sell while it's still listed.

Personally, if they got rid of the fee for either initial value or for setting a reserve and kept the BIN active until an auction ends I think it would be a lot better...I also like Yahoo's final few minute policy that resets the clock when there's bids in the final seconds to let everyone watching at the end duke it out rather than just "last click wins"

 

again exo, you do not have the right to dictate when sellers remove THEIR items from an auction. Once the auction enters it's final 12 hours then it can not be removed. as for your not good business practice remark, not good for who? you the buyer? because it's good for the seller. i'm starting to think you are one of those low baller buyers on ebay and thats why you are complaining about this.

bottom line is, to put it frank, it's OUR ITEM until it enters the last 12 hours. If we, as sellers feel we are going to be ripped off and the market is dictating that we will not at least make our money back, who the hell are you to say we should take a loss?!?! I have removed many auctions just because I am not going to sell an item well under value. if I can't at least make my money back, I am keeping the item. better than a low baller getting it...IMO