This just happened to me earlier this week

I bid on a new, hard to find item. I bid as high as $ 250. Item sold for $ 450.

The seller approached me and said he/she had a second one and offered it to me for $ 250. I thought about it, but then said no, as I saw cheaper ones show up in the days afterwards.

And now I have discovered that the seller has barred me from bidding on her auctions !

Did I do something wrong ?

yes, you failed to fall for it. well done.

The one I was not allowed to bid on just sold for $ 100

Seller has a 99.9 % positive rating

Consider yourself lucky and look elsewhere for the same item at the reduced price. If you believe the seller has damaged your reputation, you also have the right to report it. If you have no negative feedback from it, forget about it. You don't need the argument and your better off not going back anyway.

I have had no negative feedback at all over the past 18 years on ebay.

Shockingly, awhile back, I had one other ebay seller bar me from his auctions. I asked him why, and he said that something I posted here on Card Talk years ago offended him !

David, just curious, was the 250 you offered the top offer at the time or was that your max bid?

Although I typically BIN or snipe my actions at the last second I have wondered about sellers who might try to push as close to your max bid as possible through shill bidding. Then, if they happen to overshoot (although 450 is crazy high) they try to offer the original item in the same manner as it was offered to you.

That is precisely how it works. I don't do much on auctions anymore, but back when I was trying to catch up I got the "you were the second bid" from different sellers maybe 4 or 5 times. I took the sale a couple of times and refused the rest. Whether or not someone is trying to play you, it still comes down to the deal. If the item is worth it to you, take it. If you suspect you have been rung up and you are overpaying, look elsewhere. Everyone is looking for an edge, but there is a difference between people bending rules and people trying to scam you.

In this case the offered second price seems to have been way too high, so if any games were being played it backfired on the player big time.

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
I have had no negative feedback at all over the past 18 years on ebay.

Shockingly, awhile back, I had one other ebay seller bar me from his auctions. I asked him why, and he said that something I posted here on Card Talk years ago offended him !

I figure if a seller is so massively stupid that they wont take my money cause their feelings are hurt, maybe that's a level of psychosis I don't need to be doing business with in the first place.

Just sayin!

I don't ban many people but recently did for someone who literally screamed at me in an email for ruining her son's life cause he was buying her a present with his hard earned allowance but I ripped him off because my image had a picture of 6 cards but was only for 1. Called me a scan artist, dishonest, on and on. I agreed I was vague but miffed that she went to defcon 27. Ne need for the hysteronics. He jsut paid, I hadn't shipped yet. I refunded and went on my merry way and he bid again. I didn't feel like stepping into that pool again

Hi David,

Isn't still against Ebay policy to offer a side deal like that? You could point it out to Ebay, but then again, the seller is not a deep thinker. Who bars a bidder who went as high as $250 on an item. You just hope you have other items he might want to bid on. It sounds like you might have been saved some whipped-up drama in the future.

Jess

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
This just happened to me earlier this week

I bid on a new, hard to find item. I bid as high as $ 250. Item sold for $ 450.

The seller approached me and said he/she had a second one and offered it to me for $ 250. I thought about it, but then said no, as I saw cheaper ones show up in the days afterwards.

And now I have discovered that the seller has barred me from bidding on her auctions !

Did I do something wrong ?

Its probably a scam although they may have had 2 and was happy to take $250 for it, but banning you would suggest a scammer afraid you will check up on them.

There is a common scam on ebay, you start the bid low to attract interest and then get your friends to bid on the item trying to trap someone into a bidding war. If one of the friends ends up winning they use the 2nd chance offer claiming they have a 2nd one or the winner dropped out etc.

Thankfully non sports dealers are on the whole straight up guys but there are a few dodgy ones around that catch the unweary.

quote:

Originally posted by mykdude:
David, just curious, was the 250 you offered the top offer at the time or was that your max bid?

Although I typically BIN or snipe my actions at the last second I have wondered about sellers who might try to push as close to your max bid as possible through shill bidding. Then, if they happen to overshoot (although 450 is crazy high) they try to offer the original item in the same manner as it was offered to you.

$ 250 was my highest bid. I would not go beyond that. But then there were a ton of bids afterwards, and the winner drove it up to $ 450, the winning price.

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
$ 250 was my highest bid. I would not go beyond that. But then there were a ton of bids afterwards, and the winner drove it up to $ 450, the winning price.

Yeah....none of that makes a bit of sense. Why ignore those other bids and then offer you the duplicate deal? Or the chance to sell another for more than $250 with a separate auction?

Also I am pretty sure that agreeing to a deal like that violates Ebay rules. You could possibly lose payment protections as well.

Not to tell you what to do or anything but if that happened to me, I would be blasting the account name all over this board. Warn other collectors.

maybe the guys who drove up the bids past my $ 250 to the $ 450 were his friends who he obviously did not want to sell the item to ?

quote:

Originally posted by David R:
maybe the guys who drove up the bids past my $ 250 to the $ 450 were his friends who he obviously did not want to sell the item to ?

Magic 8 ball says it's a high probability.

Setting a maximum bid provides a great convenience, but has risks. You can tell in the bidding when someone has set a maximum, even if you don't know exactly how high it is. You are taking a chance, especially if placed early.

I try to do BINS, but sit on auction closings when I have no other choice. I drop out if its gone too high or put in my last second maximum bid. I would rather lose the snipe than get rung up by gamers or even legitimate bidders that just don't know when they should stop.

quote:

Originally posted by Raven:

I try to do BINS, but sit on auction closings when I have no other choice. I drop out if its gone too high or put in my last second maximum bid. I would rather lose the snipe than get rung up by gamers or even legitimate bidders that just don't know when they should stop.

Totally agree plus I just don't have the time to babysit an auction. I hate to see something I want go on a 5 or 6 day auction because I will usually forget about it.

Stupid job and family always getting in the way like that!!

this has happened to me before as a seller.. A 0 feedback bidder bids super high and wins the auction. Your bid was considerably lower. So right away what I do is offer it to the 2nd or 3rd highest bidder. I would never block you after the fact though.

Seller now has a THIRD one on ebay, and I can't bid on it as I am blocked !

It is not exclusive to him, but it is a new item and I have yet to see anyone else put it up for auction