During the lock down, my interactions with a well known auction site increased considerably ....
.... mostly this has been odds and sods, or books, and the transactions have gone smoothly enough ... just one lost in the post (which I believed as the lady was upset about it).
But in two instances the seller simply cancelled the order within a few minutes or hours of the purchase. The reason given was 'Out of Stock or the item is damaged,' which for one off items such as a painting (which is illustrated with photos), or second hand brass drawer handles, is simply laughable.
This ability of sellers to simply cancel a sale without the buyers agreement is apparently a comparatively new function, and in the past sellers had to agree with buyer (or at least discuss with them), any cancellation. Now I can understand this in the case of business sellers, after all they could sell more than they stock, and be unable to fulfil all their orders.
But private sellers usually only have one of an item, and when they are one of a kind, then they simply cant be out of stock after a sale, as the item was only sold to one bidder. So this cancellation facility should not be available for these sellers. But then again, the well known on-line auction sites makes no money from buyers, so making the playing fields even and fair for buyers is not a priority for them.
Now I can't prove 100 per cent that the private sellers in both these recent instances were not really some how "Out of Stock" (Hah), on a one off item sold on the auction site, and in some respects its better than in the old days, when an unwilling seller would mark it as posted, then refund you only after you went through the item not received procedures.
However in every case where this has happened to me, there has been one common factor - Price. Yes, I have been the only bidder on an item with no reserve so it has been sold for £1.00 plus postage. Quite obviously the seller in every case has expected the item to sell for considerably more than £1.00, but have been too cheapskate to pay the extra fee for setting a reserve.
So instead of honouring the sale, which on the high street or genuine auction house would be the case, they do the sneaky low-ball thing, and simply cancel the sale and refund any money paid with the lame excuse "Out of Stock".
Now I know that I am not the only person pissed off by the willingness of the auction site to allow this to happen as their community website has had the matter raised a number of times (by the way, what is the point of the community websites that the big Internet Sites operate? Apart from to deflect from the fact that they don't actually have proper complaint procedures?) .... and ignored by all and sundry from the official site.
But I pose the question. What is the point of a site where you supposedly can get bargains, if those bargains can simply be cancelled at the whim of the seller? You are better off buying from the large retail websites, where orders are honoured.
Finally, the big on-line auction site doesn't encourage you to leave negative feedback on cancelled orders .... at least not on the order details page where the functionality is removed when an order is cancelled. But, and there is always a 'but' isn't there? A really angry buyer can go their accounts settings page. Then go to the Feedback link (under 'Personal information and privacy'), and then open it .... there you will find the feedback option on the errant seller available (note the Mobile App also still allows feedback on seller cancelled items) ... but obviously, the seller can retaliate so be aware of that (but lets get real here, no seller cares if some seller who cancels orders, gives you a bad review for telling the world they cancelled the order - your a buyer, you pay, they are happy).
Sadly, you can't even block certain sellers from ever appearing on your search results (another strange omission for such a big company), to prevent them appearing in your searches in future, so you either have to rely on a good memory, or keep a list somewhere.
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| On-Line Auction Site Has Seen A Lot Of Activity |
.... mostly this has been odds and sods, or books, and the transactions have gone smoothly enough ... just one lost in the post (which I believed as the lady was upset about it).
But in two instances the seller simply cancelled the order within a few minutes or hours of the purchase. The reason given was 'Out of Stock or the item is damaged,' which for one off items such as a painting (which is illustrated with photos), or second hand brass drawer handles, is simply laughable.
 |
| This Is Becoming An All Too Familiar Message ..... No Bargain This Time.. |
This ability of sellers to simply cancel a sale without the buyers agreement is apparently a comparatively new function, and in the past sellers had to agree with buyer (or at least discuss with them), any cancellation. Now I can understand this in the case of business sellers, after all they could sell more than they stock, and be unable to fulfil all their orders.
But private sellers usually only have one of an item, and when they are one of a kind, then they simply cant be out of stock after a sale, as the item was only sold to one bidder. So this cancellation facility should not be available for these sellers. But then again, the well known on-line auction sites makes no money from buyers, so making the playing fields even and fair for buyers is not a priority for them.
Now I can't prove 100 per cent that the private sellers in both these recent instances were not really some how "Out of Stock" (Hah), on a one off item sold on the auction site, and in some respects its better than in the old days, when an unwilling seller would mark it as posted, then refund you only after you went through the item not received procedures.
However in every case where this has happened to me, there has been one common factor - Price. Yes, I have been the only bidder on an item with no reserve so it has been sold for £1.00 plus postage. Quite obviously the seller in every case has expected the item to sell for considerably more than £1.00, but have been too cheapskate to pay the extra fee for setting a reserve.
So instead of honouring the sale, which on the high street or genuine auction house would be the case, they do the sneaky low-ball thing, and simply cancel the sale and refund any money paid with the lame excuse "Out of Stock".
Now I know that I am not the only person pissed off by the willingness of the auction site to allow this to happen as their community website has had the matter raised a number of times (by the way, what is the point of the community websites that the big Internet Sites operate? Apart from to deflect from the fact that they don't actually have proper complaint procedures?) .... and ignored by all and sundry from the official site.
But I pose the question. What is the point of a site where you supposedly can get bargains, if those bargains can simply be cancelled at the whim of the seller? You are better off buying from the large retail websites, where orders are honoured.
Finally, the big on-line auction site doesn't encourage you to leave negative feedback on cancelled orders .... at least not on the order details page where the functionality is removed when an order is cancelled. But, and there is always a 'but' isn't there? A really angry buyer can go their accounts settings page. Then go to the Feedback link (under 'Personal information and privacy'), and then open it .... there you will find the feedback option on the errant seller available (note the Mobile App also still allows feedback on seller cancelled items) ... but obviously, the seller can retaliate so be aware of that (but lets get real here, no seller cares if some seller who cancels orders, gives you a bad review for telling the world they cancelled the order - your a buyer, you pay, they are happy).
Sadly, you can't even block certain sellers from ever appearing on your search results (another strange omission for such a big company), to prevent them appearing in your searches in future, so you either have to rely on a good memory, or keep a list somewhere.
I keep a list!
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