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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,342 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
So...the winning bidder on a coin of mine that sold for $33.00 decided he didn't want the coin and asked me to cancel the sale. I reluctantly complied and then offered the coin to the 2nd place finisher whose high bid had been $32.00. He accepted my offer. Yay for me. However, I really don't understand why he won it at $32.00 rather than some lower number. The 4 highest bids on the coin went like this: $19, $25, $32 and $33. The guy at $32 was the same guy who was at $25. Why didn't ebay ratchet back the price that I could offer him the coin to either $20 or $26...? I'm not complaining, mind you, I'm just a little surprised. If the $33 bid had never happened, wouldn't he have won the coin for a lesser amount than $32? In effect, $33 did NOT happen, so why does he have to pay $32 under the terms of the 2nd chance offer...? |
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Pillar of the Community
872 Posts |
You'd have to cancel his bids while the auction was ongoing in order to erase any of his bids. Then ebay would automatically adjust the bids back down where they should be. The seller who did not want the coin may have a history of doing the same thing to other people. Its up to you how you handle some one like that, but you can report the issue and give him a strike via ebay or block him from future bids, or just hope he doesn't return. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:Why didn't ebay ratchet back the price that I could offer him the coin to either $20 or $26...? I kind of agree with you that the bids should have been canceled to that point, but in the end its really just money. That gives ebay higher fees and makes the seller more likely to do that. A dollar difference makes it a no brainer to offer the 2nd chance, but a 10 or 15 would make some sellers think twice. Whether or not this is standard for auctions if someone backs out I'm not sure. They may also just want to stay out of it and let the seller and buyer work out the final price so they cant be accused of playing favorites. Almost all of eBays policies revolve around either legal liability or money though. |
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
3167 Posts |
I think the way ebay looks at it is that that 2nd place bidder was willing to pay that $32, so they placed a bid in at that much. Therefore, it would make sense if a seconds chance offer occurred, that the buyer would pay the highest amount they bid. It is an auction after all  |
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1291 Posts |
Quote:The seller who did not want the coin may have a history of doing the same thing to other people. Its up to you how you handle some one like that, but you can report the issue and give him a strike via ebay or block him from future bids, or just hope he doesn't return. I DID add him to my blocked bidder list, but not just because he cancelled. I did so because when I agreed to cancel I did so only after sending him a rather snotty email. And the ONLY reason I sent that email was because nowhere in his initial message to me were any of these nice little words: Please Thank you I'm sorry The gist of his initial email was "Changed my mind. I want to cancel this transaction." Like it's incumbent upon me to do his bidding. Churlish dolt. |
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Pillar of the Community
1028 Posts |
I also block most buyers who don't pay or make frivolous returns. As long as the picture is fine and description is accurate, there is really no good reason to return something. In 7-8 years buying on ebay I have never returned a single item that met the above criteria and this includes items where I somewhat regretted the price I paid. People need to take responsibility. As far as the original topic of this thread, don't you get to choose which bid you want to make the offer to? When I've made second chance offers I am provided several boxes to select for the top bidders. I have actually chosen to make an offer to say, the third place bidder, instead of the second place bidder on occasion. I don't know if it works for situations when the second and third place bidder is the same guy, but I don't see why it wouldn't. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1291 Posts |
Well, yeah, I think I could have done that, but I really don't have any qualms about receiving the maximum he was willing to pay ($32). My question goes to the logic that ebay applies to these things. If the $33 guy had never bid, I think the $25 bid would have been the highest and would have taken the coin at $20, a dollar higher than the next highest bid. So my expectation would be that it should work the same way when the high bidder decides to renege and pulls out. It'll sure make me think twice if I'm ever on the receiving end of a 2nd chance offer. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
It'll sure make me think twice if I'm ever on the receiving end of a 2nd chance offer. The way I look at it is if its still in my price range I was willing to pay Ill usually go for it. I will check the bid history though and make sure theres not a huge gap between me and the 3rd bid. If there is Ill try and get it lower, if its all close Ill likely accept. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2077 Posts |
Way back it was like that. If the winner backed out, the 2nd chance was the amount that it would have taken for the 2nd highest to win. It matched the logic used in their dutch auctions. They dropped the dutch auctions because nobody understood how they worked. Probably changed the 2nd chance logic at the same time. It means higher closing fees for them, so I'm sure that had something to do with it.
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,342 |
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Posted 11/24/2013 5:36 pm
