Seller refuses to let items go cos the auction was won at a low price

[ashley_g 10]

Hi guys.

 

Please can somebody advise/tell me what to do in this case.

A user had an auction running for 3 Blackberry cellphones. I won the auction at R1,000 ... but the user responded saying that he made a mistake and will relist the item next Wednesday.

According to him, he says he made a mistake and set the auction to end at 10am, instead of 10pm.

Now, correct me if i am wrong, when creating a listing it does show you the start date/time and end date.time of your listing.... and whenever you go into your profile you can view the status of your listing. Also, he did respond to a buyers question during the auction... so i'm sure he was well aware of the time it was ending.

He has also sold many other items on BidorBuy, so a simpke mistake as setting the ending time can be avoided.

 

I communicated with him via email and he says that he cannot let the phones go at such a low price (R1,000).

He says he was looking at getting R1,900 but will let me have it for R1,600.

Isn't this wrong?

The items were on auction... i outbid the other buyers and won the auction.

So how do i take action against this seller, or can i take action against him?

I won the auction fare and square, so how do i get him to release the items to me?

 

The bottom line is that he is not happy the auction ended at R1,000 because he wanted more money, and therefore he does not want to go ahead with the sale now.

 

Please help.

[kyle2 10]

I would contact BidorBuy, you won the auction at that price, thats it. The seller is bound by the rules as well as the buyer. A case of sellers remorse it seems, if they wish to conduct themselves this way, they should not auction anything. I have let things go for R1 on auction sometimes, one of those things, you win some, you lose some. I would contest this.

[MsPlod 10]

Shew - a difficult one indeed. If the mistake is indeed a genuine one (which it appears to be since it was a Crazy Wednesday - and very few traders end CW auctions earlier than the Wednesday evening), then the trader must be kicking themselves VERY hard indeed.

BlackBerry - 3 Blackberrys (1X 8900, 2 X 8310) originals was sold for R1,000.00 on 2 Nov at 10:09 by Vince911 in Durban (ID:49573658)

 

IMO - you won the item fair and square - the mistake was the trader's. But I do feel sorry for the trader - school of hard knocks...

[ashley_g 10]

Thanks guys.

I have logged a ticket with BidorBuy yesterdat but had no response, so i have sent an email to communitywatch, or something like that, on BidorBuy asking them to look into that issue.

Hope they can do something.

If they can't get the buyer to release the items at that price, then they must ban him from trading on this site.

Its sellers like him that make it bad for the others.

 

He also has an advert on Durban Gumtree for the same 3 phones, at R1,900.

[Miss Jewels 10]

I also incorrect loaded a time on one of my diamond rings and it ended 10am the morning instead of 10pm that Wednesday evening. My loss...I had to let it go to the highest bidder at time of closing. BoB informed me that they could not intervene as this was the closing time. So this seller must let the sale go at the given price. Error or not!

[ashley_g 10]

Yeah... that's what i say.

I was communicating with him via email...and he gave me his stories and said i can take it up with BidorBuy if i want... so thats what i did, and am waiting now

[lilythepink 10]

Good luck, ashley. I hope BoB manage to sort the seller out. You won - fair and square - and there's no way the buyer can wiggle out of it.

[MsPlod 10]

He also has an advert on Durban Gumtree for the same 3 phones, at R1,900.

I just stopped feeling sorry for the seller!:rolleyes:

[staccato 10]

The seller is bound by the rules! He has no choice but to sell to the highest bidder, mistake or not.

[ashley_g 10]

Till today BidorBuy has not taken any action against this user, or this case.

The user has today put the cellphones up on auction again, but this time each one separately.

I am wondering how many other users will take advantage of buyers/sellers and do a similar thing to them.

This is not fair at all... and i don't have faith in BidorBuy anymore, like i used to.

[qball 11]

Good day Ashley

 

bidorbuy has been responding to you and investigating the matter, however, please bear in mind this is a contract between you and the seller. We will be issuing the seller a warning for non fulfillment as the reason he stated to us does not gel. Should you wish to take the matter further, you will unfortunately have to seek relief through Small Claims Court, we cannot enforce your contractual agreement. You are also entitled to rate the seller negative for his non performance. Unfortunately it does take time to investigate allegations and queries, we also need to get feedback from the seller and have to deal with other matters pertaining to complaints and queries regarding issues experienced on the site, not all of which can be wrapped up quickly or within the time frame you would expect. We do apologise for this.

 

Kind regards

Cuan

[MsPlod 10]

Come on BoB! Protect this buyer's - and your - interests here!

 

Have just sent the trader the following question...

 

Is this one of the phones won fairly by ashley_g

BlackBerry - 3 Blackberrys (1X 8900, 2 X 8310) originals was sold for R1,000.00 on 2 Nov at 10:09 by Vince911 in Durban (ID:49573658)

I think you need to visit the BoB Forum to see what other BoB users think about this issue...

http://forum.bidorbuy.co.za/buying-bidorbuy/15147-seller-refuses-let-items-go-cos-auction-won-low-price.html#post125003

 

Let us see what they come back with - or whether the question is simply deleted.

 

Really BoB - this is the sort of case where intervention is really necessary.

 

Ashley - suggest you send another email to community watch and direct them to this thread on the forum.

 

Whoops - didn't see Cuan's post - but my comments remain. The fact that so little so late has been done for ashley_g, it hardly surprises me that his/her faith in BoB has been shaken.

Edited November 9, 2011 by MsPlod

[qball 11]

The appropriate action has been taken. Unfortunately whilst this may seem like an important issue, which it is, we do unfortunately have to prioritise more urgent, more serious issues and act on those before addressing such issues. Once again, we apologise for the delay.

[gypseygirl 10]

I had a similar experience, my winning bid was deleted minutes before the auction closed, but mine ended on a happy note with the seller agreeing to sell me the item at the bid price.

[MsPlod 10]

The appropriate action has been taken. Unfortunately whilst this may seem like an important issue, which it is, we do unfortunately have to prioritise more urgent, more serious issues and act on those before addressing such issues. Once again, we apologise for the delay.

Glad to hear that appropriate action has been taken.

 

Must say that I would think that sellers contravening auction rules would be one of the top priorities in order to ensure buyer safety and return of satisfied customers?

 

PS: Still no response from the seller to my question... And the items are still for sale.

Edited November 9, 2011 by MsPlod
Added the PS

[qball 11]

Unfortunately these are technicalities, we prioritse anti-fraud and prevention issues before listing policy violations, I'm sure these would understandably take precedence over such issues.

[MsPlod 10]

Unfortunately these are technicalities, we prioritse anti-fraud and prevention issues before listing policy violations, I'm sure these would understandably take precedence over such issues.

Would a violation of the terms of an auction not consitute fraud? Technically these items are already sold - yet here this seller is again listing them?

 

My question to the seller was deleted (presumably by the seller) by the way...

[qball 11]

Would a violation of the terms of an auction not consitute fraud? Technically these items are already sold - yet here this seller is again listing them?

 

My question to the seller was deleted (presumably by the seller) by the way...

 

No, no money was paid.

[MsPlod 10]

No, no money was paid.

Oh I see. So that in effect means that traders can in fact break the auction policy with little recourse from BoB? The only recourse being small claims court?:sad2:

[qball 11]

As this is a first time offense from what we can see, the seller is issued a warning, this does not constitute fraud. This is essentially a contractual issue between buyer and seller, we cannot enforce the buyer's legal rights, only the buyer can do this. Whilst the seller may be in violation of the terms of use, the action taken is at bidorbuy's discretion. Unfortunately many people are very quick to claim fraud, where no fraud has occurred. This is a policy viloation and as such we have taken the necessary action we deem is suitable in this scenario. Unfortunately we cannot legally act for or enforce the users legal rights, as we are not the seller nor buyer.

[MsPlod 10]

Thanks for the input on the matter!

 

Ashley - guess you are left with small claims court and with the ability to leave a negative rating. Rough stuff! Pity that the trader - Vince911 - didn't have the bollocks to actually stand by the auction in the first place.

[staccato 10]

I have had a terrible Wednesday, have had bids for only 3 items at R1. If these buyers win the auction I think I should refuse to honour the sale because I will be selling at a loss... this seems to be "legal" on BoB judging by some comments on this thread!

I feel that the seller in question should be blacklisted and not just issued a warning! Rules are rules and should be adhered to!

[catzcan 10]

I have had a terrible Wednesday, have had bids for only 3 items at R1. If these buyers win the auction I think I should refuse to honour the sale because I will be selling at a loss... this seems to be "legal" on BoB judging by some comments on this thread!

I feel that the seller in question should be blacklisted and not just issued a warning! Rules are rules and should be adhered to!

 

I agree, I've got 2 rings on, worth at least R250 each - at <100 at the moment. Does this mean I can simply relist them tomorrow (on a buy now with an enhancement ) and get free advertising for at least a month?? Well now, that leaves at least 40% of traders on wednesday auctions open to simply not honour their commitment????

[ashley_g 10]

The seller in question has listed those items on auction, and those same items have been won by other users.

This time the seller got his price for all those phones so i'm sure he will be glad to release them to the successful bidders who won the auction.

Yet i, who followed the same procedure as them, have lost out here.

To hell with small claims court and any other court for that matter.

It may seem small to you BidorBuy, but you have just shown me now that people can actually take advantage on this site without getting caught.

Issuing a warning to the person does what? He has been warned, and what has he done about it? What kind of warning was he issued with? Seems like he doesn't care about your warning!

I am a verified user on here, and Vince911 is not... therefore no action will be taken against him?

If i did the same, what would BidorBuy have done?

This is really disappointing. The seller is glad cos nobody has done anything about what he did to me, so im sure he will be pulling the same trick again in future.

I have nothing more to say rather than i am very disappointed with this site.

[Little Miss Muffet 20]

I have not listed anything on the Wed crazy since May.

I did do a Wednesday crazy this week and prices were very disappointing so that is the end of crazy Wed for me.

I have no intention of conforming to "Buy now" to get extra exposure.

I shall just Plod, plod along