Was I unethical on Ebay???

[Mesa]

So I'm in the middle of some SSW LOTR bust auctions, you may have seen them. I needed to thin out the collection of some pieces that just don't do it for me anymore; I'm still keeping most of the statues I have.

So anyway, this last week was a good round and I recovered most of what I put into the ones that were sold. I have another round set to complete this Saturday. Of that round, an international buyer contacted and asked me if I would sell him the Galadriel and Legolas early for $180 shipped to France. Seeing as how that's roughly $70 a piece with shipping accounted for, I took him up on the offer. I was hesitant to do so, I've never done so before, but figured I may not even get that amount after waiting a week for the auction to complete.

At the time that I cancelled the items this past Sunday, they were bid up to maybe $10 tops.

One of the bidders was understandably upset, so I answered his ebay message.

why was my bids cancelled on the teo LOTR Busts? I am very sad about this

of which I replied to:

very sorry about that.. I was made an offer that sounded too good to pass. I will not be cancelling any other auctions, the rest will complete as scheduled. Sorry about any invonvenience.

And just now I got...

That is unfair. If you were going to allow for a best buy offer you should have listed that. I might have given you a much better offer and you should have allowed the bidders to try by adding a best offer buy.
I am involved in a very prominent LOTR collector group and will be informing them not to buy anything from you. We support MANY of the ebay sellers who sell LOTR products. (see my ebay feedback, I have spent over 5000 dollars in the past year on these)
FYI I also have contacted ebay about this as this is unfair selling.

of which I went out of my way to courtesly say:

I apologize if I offended you. I do understand why you’d be upset and I probably should have notified that I was going to be cancelling the auction. This is not my normal operating mode, but I needed the money. I purchased the Sam and Bill and needed the funds quickly to come up with payment for that, which the buyer was willing to make immediate payment. The buyer was also willing to pay above the going rate, which is approximately $60 for Galadriel (less for Legolas). He offered $180 for both, which included international shipping. I already saw another Galadriel at $60 BIN listed yesterday if you are interested.

As you can see from my feedback, I really do try my hardest to satisfy my buyers, going out of my way to make sure there is no damage before the sale and packaging extremely safely.

Again, I apologize for the inconvenience. I wasn’t trying to waste anyone’s time, but like I said, this was an offer that was too good to turn down, because I don’t think I would have gotten above this amount after waiting a week for the auctions to complete. I too am a huge fan and in a forum group discussing the hobby. I hope we can be reasonable about this.

Did I break the rules according to Ebay? I understand it's probably a little shady in cancelling the auctions (this will be the one and only time I do that again), but as stated in my last message, I needed to recover some funds to quickly pay a $1300 paypal bill from some newly acquired purchases.

If this was anyone on this board; an offer came along that sounded great and timing was when I needed it.

 

[Cocoboloboy]

I normally don't cancel auctions but one of the choices ebay gives a seller for cancelling an item on ebay is that it is "no longer available". As a seller you have every right to cancel an auction for whatever reason.

You handled the disgruntled bidder very tactfully and politely.

 

[wofford29]

From what I understand about ebay is that if it's listed you're not supposed to make outside deals, so yeah, I think you broke the rules.

 

[Bannister]

So I'm in the middle of some SSW LOTR bust auctions, you may have seen them. I needed to thin out the collection of some pieces that just don't do it for me anymore; I'm still keeping most of the statues I have.

So anyway, this last week was a good round and I recovered most of what I put into the ones that were sold. I have another round set to complete this Saturday. Of that round, an international buyer contacted and asked me if I would sell him the Galadriel and Legolas early for $180 shipped to France. Seeing as how that's roughly $70 a piece with shipping accounted for, I took him up on the offer. I was hesitant to do so, I've never done so before, but figured I may not even get that amount after waiting a week for the auction to complete.

At the time that I cancelled the items this past Sunday, they were bid up to maybe $10 tops.

One of the bidders was understandably upset, so I answered his ebay message.




of which I replied to:



And just now I got...


of which I went out of my way to courtesly say:




Did I break the rules according to Ebay? I understand it's probably a little shady in cancelling the auctions (this will be the one and only time I do that again), but as stated in my last message, I needed to recover some funds to quickly pay a $1300 paypal bill from some newly acquired purchases.

If this was anyone on this board; an offer came along that sounded great and timing was when I needed it.

You broke ebay's rules. You are not supposed to sell items outside of ebay like that. Ebay doesn't like it because it costs them fees. I have done the same thing many times however. You should have just told the person you decided not to sell them at this time or just ignored them. That buyer is being a little +++++ in my opinion.

 

[Ryanfromindiana]

You broke ebay's rules. You are not supposed to sell items outside of ebay like that. Ebay doesn't like it because it costs them fees. I have done the same thing many times however. You should have just told the person you decided not to sell them at this time or just ignored them. That buyer is being a little +++++ in my opinion.

 

[Buttmunch]

I don't see anything wrong with that. That bidder is just a poor loser. Auctions end all of the time for various reasons. I'm sure you could have found a typo or something in there and claimed an error in your listing, if that makes you feel any better.

I wouldn't worry about it. The guy can't give you any sort of feedback since he didn't win. It doesn't sound like you plan on having a lot more auctions so his threat of telling on you to his friends is nothing to you anyway.

I'd just be carefull about the guy you DID sell it to. Get tracking, delivery confirmation, etc. etc. to protect you from any "lost" packages.

 

[EVILFACE]

I would have just said the item is no longer available and left it at that.

Was it against ebay rules to sell it because of the offer? Yea. Does it really matter? No.

 

[nash]

You broke ebay's rules. You are not supposed to sell items outside of ebay like that. Ebay doesn't like it because it costs them fees. I have done the same thing many times however. You should have just told the person you decided not to sell them at this time or just ignored them. That buyer is being a little +++++ in my opinion.

agreed, maybe you didnt know better but when it comes to ebayers, dont disclose anymore information than you have to.

Ebay has so many loopholes and such, that any informed buyer can file disputes with Ebay to have you held accountable.

Next time dont even bother to answer. It is your choice what or how to sell your things, but the less ebay knows the better it is for you.

 

[Mesa]

I normally don't cancel auctions but one of the choices ebay gives a seller for cancelling an item on ebay is that it is "no longer available". As a seller you have every right to cancel an auction for whatever reason.

You handled the disgruntled bidder very tactfully and politely.

From what I understand about ebay is that if it's listed you're not supposed to make outside deals, so yeah, I think you broke the rules.

Both of these exact thoughts went through my head while contemplating on accepting the offer. If I had to lie about why I was cancelling, I wouldn't have proceeded. But is an "item is no longer available" option, which fit my case. I certainly won't be doing this again, it didn't sit well after I made the choice. But this guy seems to be taking it very personally. The $59.99 Galadriel is still up, and mine would have probably finished above that, so why doesn't this guy just by that one rather than giving me crap. I don't want some band of hostile LOTR nerds/fans revolting against me.

 

[nash]

Scott, Ebay is a business, don't let personal courtesy get in the way of that.

 

[photoshopmagician]

nah, I would have done the very same thing if offered a great deal. You were also very polite in handling the situation!

 

[lerath666]

Both of these exact thoughts went through my head while contemplating on accepting the offer. If I had to lie about why I was cancelling, I wouldn't have proceeded. But is an "item is no longer available" option, which fit my case. I certainly won't be doing this again, it didn't sit well after I made the choice. But this guy seems to be taking it very personally. The $59.99 Galadriel is still up, and mine would have probably finished above that, so why doesn't this guy just by that one rather than giving me crap. I don't want some band of hostile LOTR nerds/fans revolting against me.

becuase, my friend, people are generaly stupied, especialy about their hobbies.

 

[Mesa]

Scott, Ebay is a business, don't let personal courtesy get in the way of that.

Appreciate all the good advice, from all. I really did say too much. The second communication was handled in email outside of the Ebay message system, but I definately didn't need to tell him I accepted an outside offer in the "formal" ebay message.

I won't let it me bother me any further after getting it off my mind in this forum, but I don't like it when I piss someone off unintentionally. I always try and keep it pleasant for both parties, so stuff like makes me think about how I could have handled it differently.

 

[Bannister]

Appreciate all the good advice, from all. I really did say too much. The second communication was handled in email outside of the Ebay message system, but I definately didn't need to tell him I accepted an outside offer in the "formal" ebay message.

I won't let it me bother me any further after getting it off my mind in this forum, but I don't like it when I piss someone off unintentionally. I always try and keep it pleasant for both parties, so stuff like makes me think about how I could have handled it differently.

Ebay is full of whiny people. You are just lucky that you only just met one.

 

[uscmhicks]

If it was me I would of said stop being a sore loser , you lost , its my item.
I will take it down if I like. Theres more than one in the world anyway .
It happened to me ages ago with a hicks figure.
I was the winning bidder and he said someone offered him £400.00 ( about $800.00 ) I understood completely that he sold it too him. I definitely would of done the same!!.

 

[Bardoon]

OMG WHY ARE YOU POSTING ALL MY eBAY MESSAGES TO YOU ABOUT THOSE LOTR BUSTS?

YOU RAPED MY CHILDHOOD, I WAS GOING TO PUT THOSE RIGHT NEXT TO MY LIFE-SIZE HOBBIT FEET REPLICAS SIGNED BY THE ENTIRE CAST & CREW OF THE LOTR MUSICAL!

 

[Mesa]

OMG WHY ARE YOU POSTING ALL MY eBAY MESSAGES TO YOU ABOUT THOSE LOTR BUSTS?

YOU RAPED MY CHILDHOOD, I WAS GOING TO PUT THOSE RIGHT NEXT TO MY LIFE-SIZE HOBBIT FEET REPLICAS SIGNED BY THE ENTIRE CAST & CREW OF THE LOTR MUSICAL!

I never post "" type of replies, but that was funny.

 

[Kuato]

Hey there, I don't really think it was unethical. Honestly it works both ways, ebayers (buyers) place bids and if they can cancel their own bids, why can't the seller cancel other bids. Thats why ebay has that for an option??? I sell and buy on ebay, and ebayers cancel my bids when I place bids, I don't get pissed and upset, I understand. I also receive messages with offers, and I also do the same that you did, and I never received complaints. If he continues to bother you, you should report him for harassment. I know ebay has an option for "or best offer" but who knows if you get an offer, it doesn't always happen. And one more thing, you were very nice about the situation, never once were you rude to him. Thats a thumbs up, some ebayers are rude, very rude.

 

[piccolodaimaoh]

I read your post and all the time I remembered reading somewhere in the Ebay guidelines that once you put up an auction, as long as someone bids on it, you cannot cancel to sell to someone else. But I am probably wrong in my recollection.
My personal opinion you were right to close the auction early when a better offer came along. Ebay wants you to only do transactions through them because they make money off of it. Plain and simple. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
I would say the only mistake you made was giving the original bidder the details of why you cancelled the auction. Telling them exactly why you cancelled the bid almost always leads to hurt feelings.

 

[tylerd]

in the future, it would be the courteous thing to include a make offer option to avoid that type of problem. and unlike others thinking that it's your business so do what you want, when you sell under ebay's umbrella you unfortunately have to follow their rules. one is you can't sell the listed item on the side. ebay gets pissed because they don't get their final value fee. you may see a strike or even a temp suspension depending if the guy fielding the complaint is a dick. good luck.