Need some opinions on something

[Gonzai]

I need to vent, however, I am also looking at what others of you would do in my situation.

I bid on a absolutely stunning baby Phat winter coat for my oldest granddaughter.
I won the same coat last year for my second oldest granddaughter, and kaila fell
in love with it. She always wants to wear ir, but being that she is so tiny, and
Aurelia is so much taller, the coat is absolutely huge on her (not to mention
Aurelia doesn't like anyne wearint the coat. erm..... sorry for going off on a tangent.

Anyway, the auction ended at 2:00 AM this morning. I won the coat for a measly
$24.50. I was ecstatic. Last year I won the same coat for Aurelia for $80. SCORE!!
So, I get to work and am just about to send payment when I receive a notice from
eBay that the seller wants to cancel the auction, since she sold it to someone else. @_@

WTF?? That is just insane!! SHe can't do that can she?? Anyway, I declined the request
and sent the seller a nasty note saying that it was not right on their part to do something
like that. I explained that my max bid had been $50, and that they should have contacted
me before selling it to someone else, since I was the wonner of the auction. Then I
promptly went to eBay and left negative feedback. -_-

So, I have been fuming about this ever since, when I receive a response from the seller
blaming the cancellation on eBay, and claiming they have no idea why eBay sent the
message in the first place, but that they would gladly sell me the coat for my $50 max
bid. I sat back and thought before I replied, but the more I pondered this, the angrier
I got, so I replied back that since I won the coat for $24.50, that is the price that I should
have to pay, not $50. Am I wrong about this?? They replied back to me that they didn't
understand why I was so upset, since they were offering to sell me the coat, just for twice
the amount that I won it for. @_@

So, my question to you guys is this, should I stand my ground and only buy the coat at
the original win price (this includes shipping by the way), or should I give in and pay
the $50 amount that my max bid was. I really want the coat, and I did pay $80 for
the same coat a year ago. Both coats are were band new, and I know that they retailed
for well over $100. Should I pay the extra and get the wonderful coat that Kaila wants
so much, or should I stick to my principles and walk away. Here is a link to the auction

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pea-coat-/26110 ... 7675.l2557

What would you guys do if you were in my position??

[cutiebunny]

I'll be the first to admit that I know nothing about fashion, so I don't know how "common" these Baby Phat jackets are. Were a lot of them made or was it an item that was hard to find?

First thing's first, though. I'd report the whole thing to E-bay. When a seller lists and sells an item on E-bay, they enter a contract where they agree to sell the item for whatever the auction's final price was. After the auction has finished, the seller can't decide that they want more for the item and then choose not to sell it. That's against E-bay's rules. Nor can they claim that, since you were willing to pay more by bidding more than the auction's end price, that you should pay the full amount that you bid. I've had sellers try to do this in the past and I think it's lousy. I'm also a bit hesitant about doing business with anyone like this. If they're yanking your chain to get you to spend more on the item you already won, what makes you think they won't change the shipping price, or, because you left them negative feedback already, will poorly package the item so that it will likely arrive damaged?

Assuming that they're usually a solid seller with great feedback and this is just a one-time thing, I'd consider doing the following...

If there's several auctions for the item on E-bay (or you've noticed that there have been in the past), then I would stick to your guns and point out that you won the auction for $24.50, and that's the price that you are going to pay. Mention to them that they entered into a contract with you, as the buyer, once the auction ended on E-bay and that they need to sell the item to you for the price you won the item for. If not, there are several other sellers that would be willing to sell you the item for the price you won it for.

However, if it's a hard to find jacket, then, I'd cough it up and spend the $50. At least you know that you have the item in your hands and that's one less thing to be concerned about as the holiday season creeps up. It's $25 extra to see that priceless smile on your granddaughter's face. So what means more to you - the happy look on her face when she discovers that great jacket or your principles? If you go this route, make sure to buy insurance and tracking service for the package in the event the seller does something vengeful and your item arrives damaged (or doesn't arrive at all).

Either way, I wish you good luck with this situation. Sellers like these make me hate buying things off E-bay.

Edit: Ok, I checked out the auction. Looks like another person has had the same problem with the seller and the feedback rating is less than 75%. I also question one of the pictures in the auction (think it's the third - the one where there's a cartoon dog in the photo on the lower left hand side). Looks like the picture was taken in a classroom, which makes me wonder if this wasn't a jacket that a student lost and therefore is used.

[kamidake]

First of all, so sorry this happened to you. But it really does sound like the Seller was unwilling to sell at $24.50 and tried to blame ebay for the "mistake" and hit you up for a higher price. If it really was an ebay "mistake" the seller would be obligated to sell it to you for the price it was won at, not your max bid. The person had no business even knowing what you max bid was. If it was me, even if I was willing to pay $50 for the jacket, giving any more money to this person than he/she deserves would just leave a bad taste in my mouth, doesn't matter how much I wanted the item. In any case, you should totally report this seller to ebay for fraudulent selling practices.

[ReiTheJelly]

This sounds like the seller is unhappy with the ending price, so tried to pull the listing once it was over (which is against eBay TOS). And once you mentioned you were prepared to pay $50, they are now trying to get that amount out of you (which is also against eBay's TOS). I would report the seller to eBay - be sure to send along all correspondence you've had with this seller.


And, unfortunately, I would recommend to just stick with your negative feedback and forget about this particular jacket. Even if the seller honors the original purchase price of $24.50, chances of them being pissed about this transaction are HIGH. High enough that I wouldn't trust them to send you the jacket in good condition or well-packed. It's not worth the risk, since it can be a HUGE pain in the butt to get your money back for an item in "not as described" condition. You'd be better off waiting for a similar jacket to go up for auction later. Just make sure you write down this seller's ID, so that you never have any dealings with them again.

[rallihir]

I would not consumate the auction. Trust once broken is not easily regained and is often a sign of more trouble in the future. You really have no guarantee that the item will be shipped to you properly or the seller might take a long time to ship it or even take your money and not ship the item at all. If you as a seller are willing to put an item up for auction, you have to be willing to take the risk the item will not sell for was much as you intend. That is the whole reason for having a minimum bid feature.

[tex-chan]

I don't buy off of ebay as often as others, so I'm not as familiar with their TOS. But, I do remember enough to know that this lady seems to be trying to pull a shady one over on you. If she didn't put a reserve on the auction, then that's on her. She has to sell the item for the amount at which the auction ended. I'm sure we've all listed something on ebay, had the auction end at a lower price than we had hoped or wanted, and finished out the deal in good faith. That's the chance she takes by listing the item for sale the way she did; when it doesn't work out, she doesn't get to pick up her toys and go home with them. So, I agree with everyone else who has said you should report her to ebay.

As for what to do with this particular auction ... That's really a hard one. I'm not sure what I would do in your situation. I think it would be a lot easier to stand on your principles and walk away from the auction if this was an item you had won for yourself. Because you won it for your granddaughter, it's not as easy to do that. At least, for me, I know it wouldn't be. If I had won something for my daughter that I knew she wanted ... I'm not sure I would be able to stand on my principles, no matter how much I might think I should or even if I would stand on them if the item was for myself. If you can find another coat like this on auction (or for sale somewhere else), then the smartest thing might be to walk away. Otherwise, if it was me, I would probably pay the $50 and just think about how happy my kiddo would be with the gift. Honestly, I'm not sure if this is good advice, because I think what this seller is doing is despicable. But I know how hard it is to look at those little faces and think you may have to disappoint them. I feel heartbroken for you over this situation, as I know how much harder and hurtful it must be for you because it involves one of your beautiful granddaughters.

Can you (if you decide to) go ahead with the purchase for $50 and then, after receiving the coat, file a complaint about the seller? It seems you have emails to back everything up. So maybe it's possible to get the coat (doing your best to assure the seller won't turn nasty on you regarding shipping, etc) and, later, get the extra $25 refunded ... ?? Like I said, I don't buy or sell on ebay that often, so I don't even know if this is possible.

I'm so sorry this is going on. I'm sending lots of positive thoughts and hugs your way! (It's a very adorable coat, by the way!!)

[Drac of the Sharp Smiles]

I think you should both report the seller to eBay, including all your correspondence, AND tell the seller they are going to sell you the coat for your winning bid. The way that eBay is set up right now, the person with the power in a bad transaction is the buyer. Make sure to pay by Paypal and if the coat doesn't show up or shows up damaged (remember photos, photos, photos of the item and the packaging in this case -- best to open a damaged box at the post office in front of a postal employee), you can sock it to them through Paypal as well as eBay. I think there's very little risk in completing the transaction for your winning bid.... The only thing you might have is hassle dealing with the bad merchandise/bad seller process.

I certainly WOULD NOT give them a penny more than the ended auction agreed upon price. First, you should have never tipped that hand and told them your bid. It's given the seller more room to be a jerk because you hinted that you might have paid more if they didn't like the ending bid, instead of telling them the only important thing: THE ENDING BID IS ALL YOU HAVE TO PAY and it doesn't matter if they like it or not.

If nothing else, my thought would be that $25 isn't a huge risk if things go irreparably awry, but the benefit is huge if it works in your favor... assuming these coats really are worth huge amounts. I don't bother with anything that has a name brand unless that name brand is (A) free or (B) has proven they really ARE better. (IMO, the B option there almost never happens. ^_~)

EDIT: Oh, and BTW.... The seller is lying through their teeth that eBay accidentally sent that message. No, they did NOT because it's against their TOS to decide you don't want to sell an auction after the auction is closed. END OF LINE.

[Gonzai]

Ok, so now what she is trying to tell me is that she was trying to close
her account and thought that it had been closed, so she was not sure
why the auctions went through. I told her that I am fairly certain that
eBay would not let her close her account while auctions were still going.
Anyway, just the fact that she said she was closing her account makes
me believe that she doesn't care that I leave her negative feedback, nor
would she send nme the coat regardless if I sent her the $25 or $50, so
I am just going to keep looking for the same coat in another auction.
I just go another beautiful coat for one of my other granddaughters for
under $40, so I will either wait and look for that same coat, or find
something else that Kaila really wants. In the meantime, I contacted
eBay, however, as I said, since she was wanting to close her account
anyway, I don't think she gives a damn what eBay says or does.

Thanks to all who took the time to respond. I really appreciate the
feedback and your opinions.