Giant Apology: was Re: [CR]EBay Masi Fun and Games

(Example: Framebuilders:Cecil Behringer)

From: "Thomas R. Adams, Jr." <KCTOMMY@msn.com>
To: "Classic List" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
Subject: Giant Apology: was Re: [CR]EBay Masi Fun and Games
Date: Thu, 18 Oct 2001 19:59:20 -0500


All right, I need to shut this thread down. The seller was list member Tom Hanson, an excellent fellow who has sold me much good merchandise in the past. I didn't recognize his ebay handle when the auction was cancelled, so I shot off my big mouth instead of contacting Tom first.

It turns out that Tom had a $500 opening bid, but some glitch with eBay as he tried to revise his sale listing resulted in his reserve being cut way down and his opening bid being 1 cent. Naturally, with his reserve corrupted, he cancelled the auction. Tom and I disagree with the practice of using low bids as a supplement "watch" feature when we have no expectation of winning the auction, which is Tom's right. He chose to express his feelings about that in his bid cancellation page, but explained how eBay had messed up his reserve price and opening bid amount in the body of the auction listing, which I didn't read before I posted to the list. The sound you just heard is my size 12 going deep into my oral cavity.

Tom I am deeply sorry that I posted without contacting you first, and without reading the entire auction listing. 10,000 apologies.

I would have apologized on the list sooner, but I apologized privately to Tom and was waiting to hear his reply to see if he wanted to keep this going in public. But as it's going on without either of us, I felt I needed to get the truth out.

Also, if someone wants a wickedly beautiful black lugged steel Masi for a reasonable price, drop Tom a line. I wish I had the money to take it off his hands. It's early 90's so a bit off topic, but any lugged steel bike needs to go to a good home.

Tom Adams, blushing purple, in Kansas City


----- Original Message -----
From: J.Dunn
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 5:51 PM
To: "Thomas R.Adams", Jr.
Subject: Re: [CR]EBay Masi Fun and Games


Tom, this guy started the bid at .01. This means that the bid increment is a nickel. So if the current bid is 10.00 and you bid 999.00 (1.00 below his reserve) the bid could show up as 10.05. Right? Even if the was current bid was 300.00 (I wonder if that would insult him?) it would show up as 300.05 I use low bids to keep track of things all the time, why should the seller give a damn? The more bids there are the hotter his item looks.

Anyone who starts an auction at a penny with a thousand dollar reserve is 1) stupid 2) ignorant of the way the bidding works 3)an asshole. Since he has over 300 completed transactions , we can pretty confidently rule out ignorant, so, I guess, that leaves only number one or number three. ;-)

His official reason is that there was an error in the minimum bid or reserve amount, so my guess is that he just screwed up and took it out on his bidders. Result? Just what he deserved. Ebay fees and no sale.

John Dunn in Boise


----- Original Message -----
From: "Thomas R.Adams", "Jr."
To: Classic List
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2001 4:29 PM
Subject: [CR]EBay Masi Fun and Games


Here's a new one to me. The seller cancelled an auction for a Masi because bids of a few dollars when the reserve is $1,000 were an "insult". I guess he didn't realize that some of us use low bids to keep track of items instead of watch it now. Did I do something wrong?

http://ebay.com/<blah>

Tom Adams, Kansas City