My eBay nightmare
Posted by: Bill Cable 02.14.07 12:01am
So last week I ran some eBay auctions. And they did really well (except for one stupid Squidhead...). One of the more popular items was my loose Takara C-3PO. There was one bidder in particular who was extremely interested. And he asked me to sell it to him. EVERY       SINGLE        DAY. It was so ridiculous that I figured I'd share it with you guys.

On 2/7 I received the first, rather innocuous message:

Bidder: Hiya, What sort of offer would I need to make to win this figure? Thankyou :o)

He followed up an hour later (after no response) with:

Bidder: Hello - I have put in an offer of $225 - Now I know it isn't quite up to 2/3rds of your Buy It Now, but please let me know what you think, it is a really neat looking figure? Thanks

My reply: The last ungraded example went for $275. So I was hoping for $300. I'll probably keep the auction live until Sunday just to help generate traffic for my other items unless somebody does the BIN.

Bidder: Can you tell me what grade that was and do you have the item number? So, would you take $250 for it, I could paypal you tonight/right away?

My reply: I don't have the auction number for the last 3PO. I know the guy who sold it and he told me what he accepted for it to end his auction early. I don't think I'd end the auction tonight for less than $350.

Bidder: Well say it gets to the last day, then what amount would you let it go to me for?

My reply: Probably $300, assuming nobody else offers more.

Bidder: Hi, So you wouldn't take any less than $300 whatsoever? Also, how much to send it to England, unsinsured, but well packed and will you write a low value of $5 on it so I don't have to pay import fees please? Thanks

My reply: I really doubt I won't get any offers above $300. The last one ended early after two days because the seller received so many offers. And I have a good number of people watching this auction. Shipping under your conditions would run around $10.

That ended Day 1 of messages from this bidder. You'd think I'd made myself pretty clear, right? Apparently not. Move to 2/8...

Bidder: whats the best i could get it for tonight?

My reply: $350, just like I said. ;-)

That shut him up for one day... but the next day I got two questions on top of one another...

Bidder: so on the last night, whats the best you could let me have it for?

Bidder: soif it gets to the last day, would you accept $275 and would you accept $300 now?

My reply: I'd consider $325 now. I'd definitely take $350 to end it tonight. The last day I'll accept $275 if it's the highest offer I have. If it gets to the last day I'll probably let it end and see what I get.

Bidder: so if it gets to the last day, near to the end, youll accept my offer of $275, is that right then, that would be cool?

My reply: As long as $275 is the highest offer, then yes.

The next day, 2/10, I received an offer from a different bidder. The bidder contacted me almost immediately...

Bidder: What offer has starwarsdude made? can you give me the opportunity of beating his offer, by letting me know?

My reply: I'm sorry, I can't do that. That would be unfair to him. You'll just have to use your best judgement.

You'd think he'd let up, but nope. On the day the auction ended it got really fun...

Bidder: Hiya, Since it is the last day, with less than 12 hours to go, presumably you have had offers over $275 - the amount you said you'd sell it for if you'd had no other offers. My question is, what offer would I need to make to get the figure today/right now, what's your best price for it including delivery to England? Thanks

At this point, I'm getting irritated and irrational. So I decide I'm not going to play as nice with him.

My reply: I have no incentive to end the auction early, now. Any offer made will extend beyond the auction close. So why would I end it when I might just be shooting myself in the foot? Somebody could hit the BIN with one minute left. I'll look at the offers I have at the end of the night and accept the largest one. Since I didn't end it early, on an item this expensive I'd need to insist on registered and insured parcel post delivery to the UK with the full declared value of the figure. I'm sorry, I know that's not what you were hoping for, but I wasn't really comfortable with that arrangement to start with. If it got lost in the mail, I'm sure you wouldn't want to eat the entire price. And I don't want to take on the responsibility of a refund just to dodge customs fees.

Bidder: I did not know that you could accept offers after the auction had ended, surely that would mean, feedback could no be left and that the deal would be done off ebay, is that what you are intending to do? You can send items, recorded and fast so that they are trackable online, registered with a signature upon delivery as paypal requires, this would ensure it does not get lost and you can still send uninsured with alow value of $5 on the customs form. Please let me know what you think? Thanks

Now, in this next response I make a major error. I assumed since the offers submitted said they expired in 48 hours, they actually expired in 48 hours. I mean, that's what they said. Explicitly. But it turns out they expire when the auction ends, a fact that ended up giving me fits when I tried to accept the highest bid after the auction ended. I went from WooHoo to @#$#%#@$#&^!! in 2.5 seconds. But it all worked out ok, as I found a buyer. But damnit... eBay's notices should have been a lot clearer!!

My reply: When you place a "Best Offer" bid, you can choose how long it'll be valid. The guy who sent an offer on this auction chose for it to last 48 hours, so I'll still be able to accept it for another 4 hours after the auction has ended. If somebody sends an offer tonight, that offer will be good for 24 or 48 hours after it's placed. So people can bid up until the very last minute, then I have some time to mull over the offers for a few hours or days and decide if I want to sell.
As for shipping, I'm pretty sure for it to be covered by PayPal's seller protection in International transactions that you must declare the actual value. If I needed to send them proof of shipping, they'd deny my claim if they see the declared value was $5. So if you want to use PayPal all the shipping docs will need to be filled out accurately. I'm sorry that your post office will end up screwing you over, but I can't afford to take on the risks of filling the forms out incorrectly on a PayPal transaction.
There are other payment options which would keep me safe an allow me to fill out the forms differently. Western Union. International money orders. Cash in US$. Or I could ship it to somebody you know in the USA and they can get it to you any way you want. I'm just not a big money collector, so I can't just hope things will go well and if they don't take the loss.
For any of this to make any difference you'd need to beat the offer I've already received, and any other offers I might receive tonight. So you really shouldn't worry about it until you've decided what you're willing to pay.

Bidder: I guess you'd need to let me know how much I'd have to offer - to be your highest bidder, otherwise I'd have no idea. Also, whenever I have had things sent from USA with a recorded delivery, they have always arrived, everytime. So if I tried to claim it back on paypal and say it didn't arrive, you'd have the tracking number to prove to paypal that I did receive it, so that way, we would both be certain. If you want to let me know and can post it to me that's great?

My reply: I'm sorry, I can't let you know the other offer.

After that, he decided to harp on the shipping with a series of messages...

Bidder: and what about postage?

Bidder: well i guess my offer is higher than the other fellas, can you ship it the way i ask and accept my offer and how much would shipping be?

Bidder: so if i have he highest offer, can you ship it recorded but uninsured, to cove us both or not?

At this point the bidder had made an offer lower than my top offer, so I just wanted to shut him up...

My reply: We'll work something out.

Bidder: so is there any offer i could make now for you to sell it, would you not even take $350 for it tonight?

My reply: No, I'm not ending it early.

Quite an ordeal! What was funny was that the guy seemed to think he was wearing me down as the days wore on, when nothing could have been further from the truth. I became more and more dedicated to selling it to somebody else, even if he had submitted the highest bid! I mean, when I refused $275 the first four times, and insisted on $350, you'd think if he really wanted it he'd either offer $350 or just shut up and see what happens. I was elated when I received that offer from a US bidder because I knew I wouldn't have to deal with this craziness.