I'm a dishonest buyer, be the judge? (Potential ebay seller warning too)

[Lejuan]

That's a very nice post, and I totally disagree with it. Don't make offers on listings that have shipping restrictions for your country without first asking permission to do so. The seller wouldn't have set up his auction with that restriction if he didn't want it that way. The fault is mutually shared between seller and buyer in my opinion. The seller should have read the offer more clearly and informed himself about shipping to Australia, but the buyer should have followed the rules provided in the listing as well.

A simple pm before submitting the offer and it wouldn't have been an issue

 

[Freak_Zombie]

Woah a sudden barrage of posts, lol sorry for the late reply, been busy lately.

Did money exchange hands?

Nope, no money exchange hands.

wow...this confirms my suspicions that this board has many adolescents. look at you acting like a baby and throwing a hissy fit on an online board over something like this. just let it go and move on.

Appreciate the advice.

He didn't bid on it or buy it now, he MADE AN OFFER. He was clear in the offer he made that he was in Australia and how much he was offering to pay, including shipping costs. The seller agreed, then changed the deal and eventually backed out. It was totally the seller's fault.

It would have been totally different if he had used buy it now or even bid on the auction, only to tell the seller he was in Australia at the last minute. The seller knew up front he was from Australia before he accepted his offer.

If you really have a problem selling outside the U.S., how difficult is it to say no when someone from Australia makes you an offer? The buyer could have missed out on buying one from someone else in this time because of this transaction that fell through due to the seller's inconsiderateness.

The seller was totally unprofessional and was without honor.

That's a very nice post, and I totally disagree with it. Don't make offers on listings that have shipping restrictions for your country without first asking permission to do so. The seller wouldn't have set up his auction with that restriction if he didn't want it that way. The fault is mutually shared between seller and buyer in my opinion. The seller should have read the offer more clearly and informed himself about shipping to Australia, but the buyer should have followed the rules provided in the listing as well.

Like I said before, the seller knew before hand I was from Australia and he accepted my offer. I still don't see how that's my fault but lets say that it is, he didn't state anywhere in the description part of the listing that he won't post internationally AND there was no restrictions listed on ebay AND when I tried making the offer I had no warning that shipping was restricted (this has happened on some listings that even had international postage, so it can be set if you want to). It was only after the offer was made AND accepted was I not able to make payment due to the shipping address.
Also I tried asking him a question through the ask a question function on ebay but instead ebay won't allow me. Something along the lines the seller won't accept questions that have not already been answered in the Q&A section. So making that offer was my only way of asking whether or not he can ship overseas.

 

[a-dev]

I think that answers that pretty well. I thus still see this as the seller's fault and he was in the wrong to blame you.

His only excuse can be if he's a newb ebay seller and didn't know how to make the listing properly to cover all bases/exclusions etc but I think you said he claimed a lot of experience in selling.

 

[Boba Ben]

Like I said before, the seller knew before hand I was from Australia and he accepted my offer. I still don't see how that's my fault but lets say that it is, he didn't state anywhere in the description part of the listing that he won't post internationally AND there was no restrictions listed on ebay AND when I tried making the offer I had no warning that shipping was restricted (this has happened on some listings that even had international postage, so it can be set if you want to). It was only after the offer was made AND accepted was I not able to make payment due to the shipping address.
Also I tried asking him a question through the ask a question function on ebay but instead ebay won't allow me. Something along the lines the seller won't accept questions that have not already been answered in the Q&A section. So making that offer was my only way of asking whether or not he can ship overseas.

I found the auction. It says "Ships to: United States" under the shipping section of the auction. If it wasn't restricted it'd say: "Ships to: Worldwide".

 

[carbo-fation]

No money exchanged and the seller didn't call him out by name on his subsequent listing. A neutral at most. A negative feedback is uncalled for. Buyer needs to get his ego in check.

 

[a-dev]

I found the auction. It says "Ships to: United States" under the shipping section of the auction. If it wasn't restricted it'd say: "Ships to: Worldwide".

Oh....OK well I've always understood ''Ships to: United States'' as meaning it doesn't ship outside of the US.

 

[Boba Ben]

Oh....OK well I've always understood ''Ships to: United States'' as meaning it doesn't ship outside of the US.

You understood right. That statement under the shipping section means that the seller set up his auction for U.S. shipping only.

 

[Freak_Zombie]

I found the auction. It says "Ships to: United States" under the shipping section of the auction. If it wasn't restricted it'd say: "Ships to: Worldwide".

Not exactly, like I mentioned before, when I looked at the original listing, it says seller MAY not ship overseas. If it was completely restricted, it will say seller does not ship overseas. Hence why I made the offer, and also why I tried asking in advance but was not able to.

No money exchanged and the seller didn't call him out by name on his subsequent listing. A neutral at most. A negative feedback is uncalled for. Buyer needs to get his ego in check.

Thanks for the feedback. It seems like the general consensus is regardless of the negative experience I had, negative feedback is only restricted to negative experiences that involves exchange of cash.
My bad! While I've been on ebay a while I've always assumed that with regards to ebay, its the same with a retail store, negative experience = negative feedback. But I'll keep this experience in mind moving forward.

 

[Boba Ben]

Not exactly, like I mentioned before, when I looked at the original listing, it says seller MAY not ship overseas. If it was completely restricted, it will say seller does not ship overseas. Hence why I made the offer, and also why I tried asking in advance but was not able to.

Well this is what the completed auction says under the shipping section when you look at its original view. It also doesn't show any revisions to the listing or anything. I'd post the auction, but I want to protect your ebay id privacy:

Item location:
Massapequa, New York, United States
Ships to:
United States

I'm not sure if an Australian ebay account would display it differently, but like I said, that's what it shows from here with no revisions.

 

[Freak_Zombie]

Well this is what the completed auction says under the shipping section when you look at its original view. It also doesn't show any revisions to the listing or anything. I'd post the auction, but I want to protect your ebay id privacy:



I'm not sure if an Australian ebay account would display it differently, but like I said, that's what it shows from here with no revisions.

Yeah, the reason why I even bothered with an offer was cause from where I saw it, when I checked the shipping status, it only says may not ship as opposed to does not ship. Since I couldn't contact him through the normal ask a question function through ebay, I figured my only option was to make an offer significantly higher than the buy it now price with the message stating my condition.

He only accepted my offer a day or a day and a half later and from our conversations, he was well aware I was from australia before he accepted my offer.

 

[Lejuan]

...he was well aware I was from australia before he accepted my offer.

You speak English real good for an Austrian!

 

[Blackthornone]

That's a very nice post, and I totally disagree with it. Don't make offers on listings that have shipping restrictions for your country without first asking permission to do so. The seller wouldn't have set up his auction with that restriction if he didn't want it that way. The fault is mutually shared between seller and buyer in my opinion. The seller should have read the offer more clearly and informed himself about shipping to Australia, but the buyer should have followed the rules provided in the listing as well.

"without first asking permission to do so"??? So he is supposed to contact the seller before he makes an offer to get his permission to make an offer? Are you really serious? I would think that simply making an offer would be sufficient.
"Hello, I am from Mars, and would like to make an offer on your item. May I have permission to do this?" Seller: "I said I don't ship outside the U.S., and your offer to buy from Mars is a little too inconvenient. I'm going to pass." Buyer: "But you haven't even heard my offer yet, how do you know how much I am willing to pay?" Seller: "Alright, dammit, how much ARE you willing to pay?"
Buyer: "So now my offer is..."

Seems a bit complicated to me.
Why isn't it ok to simply make an offer and say in the offer he is in Australia? (Which we will assume the seller knows is outside of the U.S. and that the seller is not completely incompetent at world geography)
I suppose there might be some confusion if the buyer was from Venice, Memphis or Alexandria.

 

[Boba Ben]

"without first asking permission to do so"??? So he is supposed to contact the seller before he makes an offer to get his permission to make an offer? Are you really serious? I would think that simply making an offer would be sufficient.
"Hello, I am from mars, and would like to make an offer on your item. May I have permission to do this?" Seller: "I said I don't ship outside the U.S., and your offer to buy from Mars is a little too inconvenient. I'm going to pass." Buyer: "But you haven't even heard my offer yet, how do you know how much I am willing to pay?" Seller: "Alright, dammit, how much ARE you willing to pay?"
Buyer: "So now my offer is..."

Seems a bit complicated to me.
Why isn't it ok to simply make an offer and say in the offer he is in Australia? (Which we will assume the seller knows is outside of the U.S. and that the seller is not completely incompetent at world geography)
I suppose there might be some confusion if the buyer was from Venice, Memphis or Alexandria.

Yes, if there's a shipping restriction listed in the auction like I observed.

 

[Blackthornone]

Yes, if there's a shipping restriction listed in the auction like I observed.

That sounds too complicated. Either believe the seller is totally unwilling to sell outside the U.S. and don't even ask, or make an offer stating your location outside the U.S. seem like the only two options to me. Australia isn't like Mogadishu or Nigeria. I can understand why someone might not want to sell to certain countries due to unrest there, and not want to say that in their auction, but still be willing to entertain offers from Australia.

 

[Boba Ben]

That sounds too complicated. Either believe the seller is totally unwilling to sell outside the U.S. and don't even ask, or make an offer stating your location outside the U.S. seem like the only two options to me. Australia isn't like Mogadishu or Nigeria. I can understand why someone might not want to sell to certain countries to to unrest there, but not want to say that in their auction, but still be willing to entertain offers from Australia.

Ummmm.....it's really far and shipping to Australia costs a lot. The shipping cost was over $200 for this, so neither the buyer nor seller wanted to pay for the shipping on top of the offered price. Regardless, the seller doesn't have to sell to any country he doesn't want to for whatever reason he chooses. When the auction states, "Ships to: United States", that means he only wants to ship it within the U.S.

 

[Lejuan]

The buyer has said that there was no option available to put the question to the seller of whether they were prepared to ship to Oz, so I can understand that submitting an offer clearly stating the buyer's location was the only alternative (apart from throwing in the towel altogether). Seems to me that in accepting the offer the seller looked at the numbers but not the words. In which case the seller, in having this brought to their attention, could just have replied that they hadn't read the offer closely enough but, on reflection, they're not prepared to take such a large hit on the shipping. The buyer wasn't being sneaky by making an enquiry within the allowed listing parameters, but the seller has clearly implied some sort of underhandedness in how they've responded - which is kinda doucheish.

 

[Boba Ben]

The buyer has said that there was no option available to put the question to the seller of whether they were prepared to ship to Oz, so I can understand that submitting an offer clearly stating the buyer's location was the only alternative (apart from throwing in the towel altogether). Seems to me that in accepting the offer the seller looked at the numbers but not the words. In which case the seller, in having this brought to their attention, could just have replied that they hadn't read the offer closely enough but, on reflection, they're not prepared to take such a large hit on the shipping. The buyer wasn't being sneaky by making an enquiry within the allowed listing parameters, but the seller has clearly implied some sort of underhandedness in how they've responded - which is kinda doucheish.

The seller didn't handle the situation very well, but the buyer could have contacted the guy. If you click on the seller's name, you can send a private e-mail to him. I just did it now. Strangely enough, the seller also listed his phone number in the auction description and said people should contact him if they have any questions.

 

[Freak_Zombie]

The seller didn't handle the situation very well, but the buyer could have contacted the guy. If you click on the seller's name, you can send a private e-mail to him. I just did it now. Strangely enough, the seller also listed his phone number in the auction description and said people should contact him if they have any questions.

Don't know how you managed to send him a private email when I couldn't. (Might be how my ebay was not registered in USA) As for the number, I did try the first time, no reply. (Although, this could have been a technical fault, so I could have tried again instead of jumping the gun and making that offer) Although I have sent him multiple msgs through ebay after he accepted my offer with no reply, and he only replied after I texted him again. So its been a little disorientating in that sense.

So instead of going round and round, I think what I can get from this episode is:

Negative experience does not = Negative Feedback

Negative feedback is only reserved for negative experiences involving cash

Contact seller first before making an offer with conditions. (Although I think legally any buyer is allowed to make any offer and the seller has every right to reject that offer. But in this case, its also a case of common courtesy? I.e. contact seller first before making the offer )

Finally I learn that I am petty and have a huge ego and I should move on. lol

Case closed? haha Can someone close this thread?

 

[Lejuan]

Finally I learn that I am petty and have a huge ego and I should move on. lol

Hey man, a stranger questioned your integrity on the internet. You don't take that s **t lightly

 

[marlindesign]

Crap seller. should have looked into shipping costs before accepting your offer, or just declined your offer if he has "dealt with international shipping before and its a pain". you didn't Buy Now, you made an offer... Negative all the way.