Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

I would be curious to know how many lawsuits have come out of ebay transactions brought by either party. From other threads on here if the member that posted the thread about the Berkman Allstar jersey a few months went through with his stated intent to take legal action there is at least one from a buyer and I have heard of sellers retaining collection firms to collect from buyers. I am not endorsing it at all and would never do it but if someone really wants an item more power to them if they are willing to expend time and money on it.

[aeneas01]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

As my earlier post said I was not endorsing the idea just that it was an option.

so you consider suing the seller an "option" even though there's absolutely nothing to be gained by such a course of action (and arguably much to lose)? doesn't strike me as much of an "option".

the bottom line is there's not a court in this country that would award specific performance in this situation - not unless we're talking about a truly valuable and unique collectible, which i don't believe is the case. frankly, the notion of the buyer pursuing something like this is nothing short of laughable considering the time and expense involved. even if the buyer went the small claims route the most he could expect for his time, effort and expense would be a price difference judgment - but good luck even winning that battle.

btw, i wonder if steelpenguin's ebay name is "penguins_steeler" - if so he often lists some very nice items....

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[legaleagle92481]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

so you consider suing the seller an "option" even though there's absolutely nothing to be gained by such a course of action (and arguably much to lose)? doesn't strike me as much of an "option".

the bottom line is there's not a court in this country that would award specific performance in this situation - not unless we're talking about a truly valuable and unique collectible, which i don't believe is the case. frankly, the notion of the seller pursuing something like this is nothing short of laughable considering the time and expense involved. even if the seller went the small claims route the most he could expect for his time, effort and expense would be a price difference judgment - but good luck even winning that battle.

btw, i wonder if steelpenguin's ebay name is "penguins_steeler" - if so he often lists some very nice items....

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Since he did not provide any details I have no idea what the item in question is but alot of GU stuff is arguably unique and money would not be the proper remedy. Some of these particular items rarely come onto the market even if they are not that expensive. For example say the item in question was a baseball used in a particular game of historical significance several years ago and it was MLB authenticated and the first such baseball to surface on the market in the past several years. It is only worth a couple of hundred dollars but money would not be an adequate remedy because he cannot go out and buy the item elsewhere. But if the item was an autograph of a living player of which there are 1,000s upon 1,000s on the market at any given time then I would agree with you.

[JasonBanz]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

I have once as a seller had to refuse to sell someone the item. In my defense I contacted the buyer hours before the item ended to let him know. The buyer still paid for the item after the auction. He then sent me a message afterwards complaining that he did not get the message. I apologized several times to him and explained the reasoning behind it. Did I like doing that? No. But I had to.

[yankees506]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

If i placed a bid on an item and won, i would not rest until i have my item, if you dont want to sell an item below a specific dollar amount then start the auction at that price. The item could be worth $1 or $1000 i would not be content until i got my item. I read an artice a while back in the New York daily news about a guy having to sell a million dollar yacht for 22 euros because he did not set a reserve price, via a quick internet search i found these 2 links: http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177389 and http://www.thelocal.de/society/20081010-14813.html

Bottom line, you sell it, it sells, its sold

[aeneas01]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

If i placed a bid on an item and won, i would not rest until i have my item... The item could be worth $1 or $1000 i would not be content until i got my item.

scenario: you see a soriano game-used bat listed on ebay for a buy-it-now price of $35 instead of $350 (which is clearly what the seller intended based on his past ebay history). you jump on it and immediately pay for it using paypal. the very next day the seller reverses your payment and tells you the bat is no longer available, that it was stolen. you live in new york and he lives in california.

tell me how you would successfully get this bat. be specific. linking to a five-figure german case or a six-figure australian case won't do. i want to know how you, before ever again resting or being content, would successfully get your hands on this bat.

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[skipcarayislegend]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

If i placed a bid on an item and won, i would not rest until i have my item, if you dont want to sell an item below a specific dollar amount then start the auction at that price.

Bottom line, you sell it, it sells, its sold

You're missing the point. Bottom line is that people make mistakes and that's what likely happened here. The guy obviously did NOT want to sell it for what it sold for. It was an error. Get over it and move on.

If I jump on a $5 BIN for a g/u Pujols jersey that should've been $5,000 and the seller explains the error to me, I'll rest just fine. Yeah I'll be a little disappointed, but big deal. Put yourself in the seller's shoes. I seriously doubt you'd be quick to give away $500 for $50, etc.

[earlywynnfan]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

scenario: you see a soriano game-used bat listed on ebay for a buy-it-now price of $35 instead of $350 (which is clearly what the seller intended based on his past ebay history). you jump on it and immediately pay for it using paypal. the very next day the seller reverses your payment and tells you the bat is no longer available, that it was stolen. you live in new york and he lives in california.

tell me how you would successfully get this bat. be specific. linking to a five-figure german case or a six-figure australian case won't do. i want to know how you, before ever again resting or being content, would successfully get your hands on this bat.

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Or, what about this scenario: I sold an auto'd baseball on ebay, and the buyer, whom I'd dealt with regularly, paid promptly. When I went to get the ball out to ship, I found that my toddler had markered it all up (I collect handpainted baseballs, and she tried to please me by making it look like all the others.) It was now worthless.

What would you have done to me??

Ken
earlywynnfan5@hotmail.com

[skipcarayislegend]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

It was now worthless.

Ken, you meant priceless, right?

[STLHAMMER32]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

What about looking at the situation from another perspective. It is very hard to go a week without having a nonpayer on ebay. It is just something i have learned to deal with and accept it as part of the ebay experience. I never get excited about winning an item either until it is in my hands. I have won several very very cheap items that should have sold for much more than my winning bid and I would estimate 60% of the time I actually get the item and the other 40% I get some weird excuse or flat out told it can't be sold that cheap. It is extremely frustrating but part of the ebay experience.

[legaleagle92481]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

You're missing the point. Bottom line is that people make mistakes and that's what likely happened here. The guy obviously did NOT want to sell it for what it sold for. It was an error. Get over it and move on.

If I jump on a $5 BIN for a g/u Pujols jersey that should've been $5,000 and the seller explains the error to me, I'll rest just fine. Yeah I'll be a little disappointed, but big deal. Put yourself in the seller's shoes. I seriously doubt you'd be quick to give away $500 for $50, etc.

You guys are too forgiving of sellers. It is the seller's responsibility to make sure the entire listing is accurate including the price before posting it. And the seller should take the loss if there was an error made. Any of us who have sold on Ebay unless we have used reserves and high starting bids has taken a loss at some point. Personally, I auctioned off four marquee items with 25% going to Haiti relief with $9.99 starting bids and incurred losses of 25-75% on each item but I went through with each transaction because it was my obligation to. I had the items listed on here at the same time and the day after the auction ended a member offered to buy one of the items at the price I had listed on here which was 2x what it went for at the auction but i turned him down.

If the shoe was on the other foot how forgiving would the seller be? For example you enter the wrong bid amount or misread the item description or just can no longer afford the item.

[skipcarayislegend]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

We're talking about sports memorabilia here, which is why it's not a huge deal for me at the end of the day. There are more important things in life to get worked up about. I get the frustration of "winning" something and not getting it. I just don't get the whole "I won't sleep until I get what I want" mentality here. It's a little overboard. It's not a kidney, it's a cracked bat.

STLHAMMER32 makes a good point too. I've lost track of the number of non-payers I've had to put up with since the feedback system changed. Totally annoying bunch. What about them? Should I pursue my $50 at all costs? Not much difference there, imo. And not a lot can be done about that either.

[yankees506]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

Its clear that if someone is so unconcerned with what they are selling that they would put a $35 price tag on a $350 item or $5 for $5000, then they shouldnt have the item to begin with. Im not the person a seller would want this "error" to happen to. There is a thing called small claims court and all id have to do is give the proof and the seller would have to show up where the claim was made, so even if you live in LA and i live in NY i think the seller would just find it more economical to send the item.

[STLHAMMER32]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

Its clear that if someone is so unconcerned with what they are selling that they would put a $35 price tag on a $350 item or $5 for $5000, then they shouldnt have the item to begin with. Im not the person a seller would want this "error" to happen to. There is a thing called small claims court and all id have to do is give the proof and the seller would have to show up where the claim was made, so even if you live in LA and i live in NY i think the seller would just find it more economical to send the item.

While winning the case could be simple if you want to take the time to go through the process but actually getting that item is a different story.

[skipcarayislegend]

Re: Anybody ever purchase an item and have the seller refuse to sell?

Its clear that if someone is so unconcerned with what they are selling that they would put a $35 price tag on a $350 item or $5 for $5000, then they shouldnt have the item to begin with. Im not the person a seller would want this "error" to happen to. There is a thing called small claims court and all id have to do is give the proof and the seller would have to show up where the claim was made, so even if you live in LA and i live in NY i think the seller would just find it more economical to send the item.

Wow.