UPDATE! Severely cheated (I still think a little screwed, too) on e-Bay)

[Sid 7.1]

You should be happy. I got scammed for $1500 on Egay about a year and a half ago by some jackass(who is now in jail btw). Egay gave this seller an excellent rating and besides scamming me he took 200 others also. I was pissed at the time and am now long over it. I take it as a learning experience and you should feel very fortunate for your minor incident.

 

[Herbman]

With no money lost this thread is meaningless. This kind of crap happens all the time on Fbay. Just be happy you didn't lose money.

 

[Herbman]

Posting this on the Anandtech Hot Deals forum really is going to make a difference to all the sellers on Fbay.

 

[Varborta]

Hope this thread will live but chances are slim anand forum has strict policy

 

[Phunktion]

There outta be a lock just for putting the word mod in your title..

 

[judgejudy]

this is a dumb thread... you didn't even lose your money... foo

 

[shadowfaX]

Sorry that you got "cheated" on eB@y, icecube, but you can't always trust people for what they're trying to sell to you online. That's just life.

 

[Hossenfeffer]

Yup, a deal gone wrong. I knew a guy who was in a similar situation. He was selling an item for a friend. The auction ended, the friend decided that he didn't want to sell the item at so "low" a price. I told the guy that it's his reputation that will suffer and the "friend" needs to understand the binding nature of a bid, regardless of the hit (or lack of profit) he takes on the deal.

As for what to do. Trying to work it out with the seller is the A number 1 first thing. No threats need to be made but everyone has to understand that there was an agreement and it was broken. Yes, he's gotta learn about responsibility and it's a shame you can't give feedback to the seller's friend.

As for what's obvious in the matter, I see a couple things. Money is tempting and it's very normal to deal with people with less than stellar integrity. Clear, negative feedback can be a good indicator of how the deal went foul. Especially since you aren't out any money on the deal, you essentially missed out on a hot deal. Also, contacting safeharbor would be a very good thing, particularly because the listing fee he originally paid likely had been refunded, and he's getting out of paying a bit of the closing fee(s) by selling at a higher price.

I personally wouldn't call this a hot deal, though I could easily see it going into the realm of OffTopic (*shiver*). Take issues like this to the discussion boards on e-bay. You'll get attention. Not only that, but you'll get attention from people who want to help If every e-bay buyer and seller was a professional we wouldn't run into problems like this. The problem is, that we (I apologize if I speak for more than just myself) assume too much. Go into every deal with your eyes open and have your sh*t together. No need to be arrogant or combative, just be clear. Clear and clean. (I think that'll be the name for my new line of cosmetics. )

 

[FreeIsFun]

This should tell you something. I know someone who is an egayer. He would sell his sister to "make a buck". He had a burner that was a piece of junk that sold to some poor kid. He now wants to sell an old computer that's probably worth about $300 tops but he says he paid $1500 for it and wants more like $600 or $700. He says there is a sucker born every day. Needless to say I stay away from egay.

oh yea, one more thing, he would love to know where I find the deals that I found to build my computer, uh mmm wonder why he would want to know that....havent a clue!

 

[Jalapeno]

This is the response I got after selling a game two days ago on that auction site:

"hi my name is xxxx xxxxx, i am so sorry,my son bid on the game without telling me...he aint going to get it...i am so sorry..\\
sorry"

Happens all the time.

 

[madthumbs]

* you weren't screwed by e*ay
* your money was not taken
* you cannot prove you were lied to
* you CAN leave feedback
* you gain nothing by whining except some advice

For one thing, the "freind" should have bid on his own item if he wasn't going to be happy with a lower price. I'm sure the auction would frown on this, but I don't think it is illegal. Negative feedback is payback enough. You could try to reason with them, but you can't force them to give up the goods.

You will find that there many are online stores that are much worse than this person. You can also regularly find better prices paying retail for brand new than you can on an auction site for used. I only sell through online auctions, I rarely shop at them.

 

[KevAngle]

You should quit whining, get on pricewatch and build your own computer, I dont see why or how you feel you should be upset for not getting something at below fair market value for the item. This is still America, and we still live in a capitalistic society, and egay rules or no egay rules, if he didnt wanna sell at that price, he shouldnt have to. And again, you should not be upset at not getting something below what should be considered fair value. You lost nothing here, he didnt take your money, so, I dont see your problem here.

 

[Azraele]

Sorry you got screwed but sometimes a lesson is worth learning. You have to be careful with auction sellers and buyers. Try to deal only with those who have high ratings of positive feedback and make sure to ask any questions you may have before you place a bid. As far as buying a computer from an auction site, I wouldn't recommend it. It's just too risky as any number of things could be wrong with the system or could become wrong with the system during shipping. It stinks but with deals gone sour all you can do is leave negative feedback and count your blessings that you didn't lose any money.