Dirty little eBay trick

tater415

Active Member
So 4 days ago a Marantz 2600 Hit The Auction Block which had a opening bid for$4,500 or a Buy it now price for $6,500. So I put a opening bid in. Well no one else bid on it so I won the bid and got it for opening bid of 4500 I immediately paid for it and 1 hour later I get an email from the seller stating that he tripped over the Marantz 2600 and broke it and cancels the sale. Last year a Marantz 2600 sold for 6500 and another one sold for about the same price. So was this a dirty little trick to get out of selling the Marantz at a lower price?
 
In all fairness 4500 is a lot less than he was likely expecting, dirty trick but not surprising
 
Not all that uncommon. Dirty trick--yes, but not much you can do about it. I have also seen auctions terminated right before their end with the statement--"auction ended, item is no longer available"--which basically means "not enough watchers/bidders to get what I want out of it, so I pulled it".

Another good one is "wait for invoice at auction end for total with actual S&H charges", which means "if I don't get as high of a winning bid as I expected, I'll make up the difference in S&H charges". Again, not much you can do about it--you agreed to an "open-ended" invoice.
 
He takes a hit to his seller's score when he does that, small satisfaction. You could however refuse to accept the cancellation too.
 
Not really much you can do. You can try leaving negative feedback but eBay will probably delete it if he complains.

Buyers find all kinds of ways of weaseling out of transactions all the time; stands to reason that sellers will do the same - not that it makes it right in either case.
 
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Before the auction ended he agreed that I could have a representative come pick it up providing I won the auction. I live in Southern California and the 2600 is just south of Dallas. So after he sent me the email that he tripped over it and broke it, I told him I would have my representative come to his location this Saturday 2 inspect the 2600. I was willing to accept it in a repairable condition. His reply was no, no and no
 
Before the auction ended he agreed that I could have a representative come pick it up providing I won the auction. I live in Southern California and the 2600 is just south of Dallas. So after he sent me the email that he tripped over it and broke it, I told him I would have my representative come to his location this Saturday 2 inspect the 2600. I was willing to accept it in a repairable condition. His reply was no, no and no
Contact eBay, they've helped me in the past.
 
Once the seller claims the item is no longer in the same condition in which originally described, it's over. Ebay is not about to send a team to verify whether the seller's story is correct. Since no transaction occurred, chances are they're not going to allow negative feedback to stick.
 
You're right, but they've pulled sellers accounts, the threat alone may help the seller to decide to do the right thing.

Ebay dings the account.
Big deal.
I have 8 accounts because of Ebay dings for crap like shipping damage and late ship (because the buyer asked to delay), returns from idiots and thieves.

I gave up trying to reason with Ebay.

There is nothing you can do here.
 
Not surprised at all. I've seen some sellers use another account to jack up the bidding price and then when the plan fails, it gets relisted. I would not deal with such dishonest seller, but If you really want the receiver, best to contact the seller and negotiate the price.
 
Before the auction ended he agreed that I could have a representative come pick it up providing I won the auction. I live in Southern California and the 2600 is just south of Dallas. So after he sent me the email that he tripped over it and broke it, I told him I would have my representative come to his location this Saturday 2 inspect the 2600. I was willing to accept it in a repairable condition. His reply was no, no and no

When he sent you the cancellation request, did you accept it?
 
Ebay dings the account.
Big deal.
I have 8 accounts because of Ebay dings for crap like shipping damage and late ship (because the buyer asked to delay), returns from idiots and thieves.

I gave up trying to reason with Ebay.

There is nothing you can do here.

If they throttle your account, max listings or $$$ amount, it is a pain in the ass.
 
Was there a serial # in the listing pictures? If so I’d ask for a picture of damage showing the serial #, or a picture of something with today’s date like a newspaper or weekly publication along with the damage. If they can’t provide that put in negative comments in eBay.
 
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