Hear, hear. I've gotten my panties in a wad and asked for a BIN if there are no bids on it yet, but it is seller choice, auction or BIN. Hard ride on both sides of a fence.
Jon M. Crate 825 Chance Road Marietta, Georgia 30066
-----Original Message----- From: classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org [mailto:classicrendezvous-bounces@bikelist.org] On Behalf Of Steve Birmingham Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 10:19 PM To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: Re: [CR] AS Gillott - a small thanks to members of CR, loose lips sink ships.
Sorry, I can't disagree more. I was also raised capitalist, but also with ethics and a sense of right and wrong.
The check off box for "item no longer available" is NOT so you can stop the auction and sell to someone who made an offer. It's for circumstances like "my house caught fire and the item burned" or something like that.
Their own rules say ending early to sell outside ebay is not allowed unless
the item is sold to the current high bidder at the current high bid. I'm not
sure why any capitalist worth his/her salt would want to do this, but it's
the one allowable loophole (Another is to add a buy it now, which is
possible before the item has been bid on)
http://ebay.com/
Over 10 years or so, I've had maybe 5 offers to end an auction early, and every time I've been very happy I declined.
I also can't see much point to threatening a seller for doing something they shouldn't do. Either report them or don't.
All in all, it's a matter of sellers not honoring their word to sell an item to the highest bidder at the end of the auction period. And I have to say I have little respect for sellers that end auctions early nor for buyers that try to cheat the system. Bid your offer and win or lose.
Steve Birmingham Lowell, Massachusetts USA
Message: 10 Date: Sat, 29 Aug 2009 18:52:39 -0400 From: david <viciouscycles@excite.com> Subject: Re: [CR] AS Gillott - a small thanks to members of CR, loose lips sink ships.
Hello, My opinion is that eBay has people buffalloed. eBay is not the same as a propper auction as eBay never takes possesion of the item and is only a facilitator. eBay has a box to check, when you end an auction early, that "the item is no longer available" and that is their rules. Whose ethics are you talking about ?, the sellers obligation to himself is to get the highest price, or to sell to whomever he pleases. The true buyer's only obligation to himself is to BUY the item for the best price, or if $ is not the object, buy it period. What bugs me is someone threatining to turn in a seller. Does anyone think that is the correct thing to do? Sound exactly like sour grapes to me. If an auction runs it's course and ends in a sale then the seller is , and should be, obligated to follow through with the sale. In my experiance there is always the second guy behind a deal who , if they are a punk, want's to make the seller feel bad about it. Usually these guys never step up and are just blowing foul smoke. This is what is wrong with this country, people want to use intimidation to get the deal, or make themselves feel empowered, instead of making an offer to the seller themselves. And spineless sellers cowtow to the threats and corperate giants. I cannot count how many times I have bought a good deal(not on eBay) and then had a "lookie Lou" tell the seller how much was left on the table. A transaction is vapors until cash hits the hand. Letting eBay ,or any other entity, rule your private affairs smacks of Communism to me. A few people make thing happen, many more watch people make things happen and most people wonder what happened. (and then there are a few who are happy to make everyone feel bad about it ).
David Cowie Oakland , Oregon USA raised as a capitalist , why would you want to be anything else?