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Seller Issues
There was an item up for bid or best offer, with an opening bid minimum of $90 and 2 days left in the listing. The item had 0 bids, so I was the first. I made an “offer†of $95 and didn’t hear anything until this morning when I was notified that the item sold for $90, $5 lower than my offer. I’ve reached out to the seller for an explanation but haven’t heard anything yet. Why would a seller do this? What’s my recourse with eBay? Thanks
3 comments
woodland_gnome
·2 years agoYou are incorrect that the item sold for $90. Most likely it sold for more than $95.* eBay hides the actual amount of a sale by Best Offer and substitutes the Starting Price for the actual price if on an auction listing (the Buy It Now price if on a fixed-price listing), so other potential buyers do NOT know what the successful buyer offered.
And even if it did, why would you think you should have a "recourse with eBay"? The seller is under no obligation to accept the highest offer (the "Best" in "Best Offer" refers to the "Best" that the offeror is implying s/he can go--which made more sense when eBay allowed only 1 offer per buyer and no counteroffer by the seller). It is entirely in the seller's discretion whether to accept any particular offer or not.
*ETA: assuming it was by another Best Offer, since you said it had 2 days left in the auction. If it sold via the auction then it sold for $90 if it only had 1 bidder.
disneyshopper
Mentor2 years agoInstead of using the Best Offer for $95, you should have just placed a BID for $95. The listing would have shown $90 until someone else came along. If no one else places a bid, you win for $90.
If you did use Best Offer, the seller has 48 hours to accept/decline/ignore/make a counter offer. In the interim, someone else might have come along and placed a bid of $90 which was probably the highest bid at the end of the listing.
eburtonlab
Mentor2 years agoBids and offers are treated differently.
A seller is not required to accept an offer, even if it is the highest offer the seller recieves. Sellers can accept, reject, counter or ignore any offer.
Once an auction receives a valid bid, any open offers expire, new offers cannot be made, and the auction proceeds with the high bidder being declared the winner.
Had you placed a bid for the same amount instead of making an offer, you may have ultimately won, or you may have been outbid by the other bidder.