You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I feel like a mug. Bit of a newbie to eBay.
I wanted this synth. Sold prices were around 780 - 820. I found one, and before I bid, got an offer from eBay for 10% off, up to a max of £50. Checked around, it seemed to be an offer where eBay covers the difference and the seller gets the full whack, so I bid 870 as a result. Figured I'd be more likely to win, and would still only pay 820 which was a fair price.
ha.
I was paranoid about the offer, so I kept checking it was still live, even an hour or 2 before the end of the auction. Then, guess what? The auction ends, I'm top bidder with 870, and eBay cancel the offer.
eBay support said 'yeah we just cancelled that offer, deal with it'. I argued that since I'd made a bid based on the offer, they could at least have notified me, but was told to take it up with the seller. They also suggested I could just not pay for a couple of days and see if another offer comes up. (!)
The seller is quite reasonably expecting 870, and when I mailed to explain the situation to him, he said he'd have been perfectly happy with 820 (gah) but now it's gone for 870 so tough. He is at least happy to wait a couple of days for payment.
I feel like i've been mugged by eBay here. Is it too much of a coincidence that this little manoeuvre just happens to make them more commission? Is there anything I can do? I'll probably end up paying the extra 50 quid but it's just so annoying. This was a big purchase and I'm not someone who has a pile of fifties to throw around!
If it went for £870, if you had bid £820, you wouldn’t have won it. A winning bid is basically the person who comes second’s bid (or a reserve price), plus the minimum bid on top, up to whatever you bid.
It’s only 6% extra...
If you don't want to pay 870 just ask to cancel the transaction. If the seller has any sense he will agree and offer it to bid number 2 which must have been about 860. If he's an *rse and doesn't agree then just don't pay. Nothing will happen except some negative feedback probably.
BTW - the ebay offer probably just ended before your auction completed - it's not personal, it'll be in the Ts and Cs.
You made a mistake. If you want the synth then pay. Ebay has always been bit win some lose some if you're not careful.
This seems to be quite common on Ebay. They advertise a discount code, with a specific end date, but end the offer early. Yes, it is covered by the terms and conditions, they say the offer may be cancelled early.
I was going to buy a tablet yesterday, I'm sure the code said valid until 30 September. But it seemed to stop working before that. I'll just wait for the next offer, maybe next weekend.
Its a risk you take with auctions, the code may not be valid by the time the auction ends.
As mentioned above, there will be another bidder at approx £860 so the seller can just give a second chance offer to the next buyer.
If you had bid £820 you would have been outbid so although its caused you some frustration, its not actually changed the outcome. The worst that can happen is the buyer files a non-paying bidder strike but if you don't make a habit of failing to pay it won't matter. He can't leave you a negative.
Maybe the second bidder also bid more because they saw the offer was available. They might not want to pay £860.
WWSTD?
I would "don't pay" and live with any negative feedback (if that's even possible for a seller to leave, these days).
Ebay codes are useful enough for BIN listings, lesson is, don't bet the farm on one.
If you don't want it at that price I don't think it's unreasonable to retract, since you've already communicated with the seller and they seem to understand.
Nothing to do with being an eBay noob, I've been using it for years and still don't understand how these promos work.