Is that some sort or scam or simply not meant to happen?

[imhr-7]

I know everybody's free to do what they want here (within reason) but I just can't wrap my head around this one.

Is that just a weird set of circumstances?  What am I not seeing here?

"new seller" with 100+ feedback, never sold here and nothing recent either.

Has had an auction going for months now without a single bid (one of many, many).

The price is a pinch high but reasonable otherwise.

Seller finally decides to add the make offer button after 3-4 failed auctions.

Fast forward another month further when I can finally make that purchase.

I offer full shipping and MSRP + 15% (on a lightly used item), but that's still like 15% under asking.

He refuses saying he wants full asking, fine.

Then magically, 1 bid appears 1 hour later and the auction is won.

And now days later, the auction is back on (I "guess" $hit happens).

But he still has the make offer button (you want offers or you don't?!?!?!).

So assuming the other bidder retracted or something I remake the same offer hoping he'd at least counter mid way or something.

Goes straight to decline without saying anything.

I don't want to report the seller for not wanting to sell, but at the same time I just don't know what to think about all this.

Any ideas or light shedding appreciated.

And if it's a scam, I just don't see what's the benefit and how that would work.

So now I'm just assuming I don't want to trust the seller and have to find something else somewhere else.

[imhr-7]

Then why would he not simply state that in a reply?

"ebay want best offer and I have no way to remove it".

Also why not counter with "I see your offer's reasonable", here's 1% off final offer, take it or leave it, that's all I can do.

Also, I thought it was instant decline but as I rechecked the e-mail sequence and there's like 20 and 40 minutes between offer and rejection so it clearly looks manual unless I'm missing something here.

[imhr-7]

Found it, but I could be misreading this (seller doesn't intend to complete the sale).

This could be read as free unpaid ads or after the money's been sent, or even go outside to pay me there so I save the fees.

I'd assume ebay could intervene or at least would like to know about all of the above.

https://www.ebay.ca/help/buying/working-sellers/report-seller-listing?id=4022

But that definitely looks like the draconian choice here.

[imhr-7]

Once again proving my point.  The seller didn't even bother to counter with 1% off.

I offered ABOVE market (including ebay) value to already meet the seller half way.

Take it or leave it, fine it's your choice, but could you at least be bothered to REPLY to 1 e-mail with MONEY in it????

Sorry but that just makes me wanna go somewhere else.

I already considered automated rejections but my 2 offers were rejected with a combined 60+ minutes delay.  Which is definitely not the same as here's my bid and 1 nanosecond later, sorry you were outbid.

[ed8108]

EBay does not require a seller to list an item at a competitive or customary price at which it is currently selling on e

Bay by other sellers.

The seller sets the cost that he/ she will accept to part with that particular item.

It could be ten times or more than the exact item currently offered for sale but by other sellers.

What are the odds against it selling ?

If unsold for an extended period of time, your seller may even raise the price !

[imhr-7]

I was referring to my offer.  Simply stating that I was offering 87% rather than 5%, so there were no obvious instant dismissal for a false offer or whatever that's called. 

As I was stating his ask was a pinch high, but "reasonable" by any neutral observer, whatever that means.

I've also seen "sellers" ask 2K for something that's actually worth 500$.  Haven't been around long enough to see that price respike up once more though.

But doesn't seem to sell for some obscure reason.

[7606dennis]

If the item was listed at auction and your best offer was below the starting bid set for the auction it is not unreasonable for the seller to turn it down.  However, I'm curious as to whether the seller's auction included a best offer option or a BIN price option?  The adding of a BIN is not the same as soliciting offers.

By the way, if the listing included shipping, shipping would not be negotiable in a Best Offer. 

[imhr-7]

Thanks for the feedback.

I never said he had no rights to turn it down.

Buy it now is afaik the only thing not active on the listing, now or ever.

And is also kind of the point.  If it's your way or the highway, make it buy it now and that's that (+auction in  case you get lucky). 

Why keep wasting your time with offers you know you'll reject?

Sequence of events people. Bids only > doesn't work, at all, for MONTHS now.

Imma gonna add bid OR best offer (I saw all this happen).

Sorry I'm not taking a penny less >> divide by 0 error.

Insta fake bid, relist, AND don't take down the best offer button.

Sorry but none of that makes sense in my brain.

You're all making little tiny good points, but nothing so far has addressed that sequence of events.

But ya we can both do whatever the hell we want.  

[imhr-7]

Thanks for letting me know.

[mudshark61369]

@imhr-7,

Last evening you replied to stephenmorgan;

"Afaik the first 2-3 auctions were straight bid auctions (maybe more prior)  (Never sold, at all)

Then the last 4-7 had the best offer option.  Seeing that from the outside, I just presumed that the seller was willing to consider and chat about something around 90% asking price". 

In an earlier reply you said the starting price was high and you noted the seller had (0) as a seller.

It is not unusual for a new sellers items to not get bids or to sell, because most experienced buyers know newbie sellers run into problems with their first few listings.  Their listings also have low search placement and may not show up on the first pages of results until they are close to ending. That may not matter if they are selling something there are not many of currently listed. If it is something there are a lot of listings for their price and low placement make a big difference.   If the listing had a Buy It Now option as well that often dissuades people from bidding.

Others have posted screen shots of listing pages with the option to add Best Offer.  The option is available on ebay's Advanced listing tool, but not on their Quick listing tool it is automatically added.

  "I don't want to report the seller for not wanting to sell, but at the same time I just don't know what to think about all this... So now I'm just assuming I don't want to trust the seller and have to find something else somewhere else."

Unless you paid for an item and the seller cancelled or did not send it, there is nothing for you to report. It is not a violation to refuse offers, or ignore them.  Since you are not a very experienced member, I suggest avoiding New sellers until you know how to deal with the problems they often run into.  It is not easy to get started on this site these days.

[stacy_1971]

And playing devil's advocate (which I am known to do), it seems to me the seller might be waiting for a specific buyer....   kinda creepy... but it is another option... 

There is a report seller option... for the seller not actually wanting to sell the item, or never intending to go through with the sale....  Perhaps, after asking the buyer through a message why this is happening, you could continue with that?   IDK - I'd straight up ask the buyer, why he/she isn't accepting any offers if they list the item as "or best offer"?   Inform them that usually 20% off is standard perhaps?  IDK.   There are some weird ones in the world.... I have made offers of 15% off, 10% off and it is declined... then I finally ask them in a message "hey, what is the lowest you will take on this item" and they respond with a price that's maybe 2% off!   LOL.  Maybe the seller is one of those.... LOL

[stacy_1971]

Oops... Meant to say...  eBay now gives you 2.3 seconds to edit your replies!  😛

And playing devil's advocate (which I am known to do), it seems to me the seller might be waiting for a specific buyer....   kinda creepy... but it is another option... 

There is a report seller option... for the seller not actually wanting to sell the item, or never intending to go through with the sale....  Perhaps, after asking the seller through a message why this is happening, you could continue with that?   IDK - I'd straight up ask the seller, why he/she isn't accepting any offers if they list the item as "or best offer"?   Inform them that usually 20% off is standard perhaps?  IDK.   There are some weird ones in the world.... I have made offers of 15% off, 10% off and it is declined... then I finally ask them in a message "hey, what is the lowest you will take on this item" and they respond with a price that's maybe 2% off!   LOL.  Maybe the seller is one of those.... LOL

[7606dennis]

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@imhr-7 wrote:

Thanks for the feedback.

I never said he had no rights to turn it down.

Buy it now is afaik the only thing not active on the listing, now or ever.

And is also kind of the point.  If it's your way or the highway, make it buy it now and that's that (+auction in  case you get lucky). 

Why keep wasting your time with offers you know you'll reject?

Sequence of events people. Bids only > doesn't work, at all, for MONTHS now.

Imma gonna add bid OR best offer (I saw all this happen).

Sorry I'm not taking a penny less >> divide by 0 error.

Insta fake bid, relist, AND don't take down the best offer button.

Sorry but none of that makes sense in my brain.

You're all making little tiny good points, but nothing so far has addressed that sequence of events.

But ya we can both do whatever the hell we want.  

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If the item was listed at auction with the BO option included, once a bid was received any offers would become void and the seller would not be able to accept them under eBay's system.  The fact that negotiations were in progress wouldn't matter, the offer would be void.

[rlsengager]

I don't mind the best offer part being a mess, but what I find really fishy about this entire affair is the part where item is bid on, is won, is canceled super quickly and relisted. The first thing i'd do is check the account history and feedback for any similar patterns or anything weird or 'off'.
Could be  just a honest mistake; could just be inexperienced, or a legitimate problem or cancel request was had. But from what i've dealt with on a few sellers in the past is that they either have scant listings that only list one item in 2-6 months or more, thus feedback info not available - or they have over 9000 (or so it seems) listed items of the most random, most diverse and most dollar store-eqsue collosal library of things listed; and more often than not, the telltale signs are in the feedback being worded either in a way that makes it obvious that the buyers' first language is not English, or is a smattering of more or less the same sets of feedback, alternating randomly but are literal 1:1 copypasted repetition. This is the usual telltale signs of 'feedback padding' where a seller and a collaborator 'buyer' essentially generate completed listings, cancel and relist, but only after they have left feedback for that transaction. Unfortunately, it is also hard to say for sure if that was the case.

[jonathankirkland]

I feel like you're being extremely unreasonable OP.

People are free to do whatever they want with an item. If they want to list it at 10x what it's worth for 10 years then they are free to do so.

No seller is under any obligation whatsoever to accept any offer or sell their item for what a buyer thinks they should sell it for.

You've been following this item for MONTHS but aren't willing to spend a few extra bucks on it? Either buy it or don't.

Good grief.

[jonathankirkland]

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@rlsengager wrote:

I don't mind the best offer part being a mess, but what I find really fishy about this entire affair is the part where item is bid on, is won, is canceled super quickly and relisted. The first thing i'd do is check the account history and feedback for any similar patterns or anything weird or 'off'.
Could be  just a honest mistake; could just be inexperienced, or a legitimate problem or cancel request was had. But from what i've dealt with on a few sellers in the past is that they either have scant listings that only list one item in 2-6 months or more, thus feedback info not available - or they have over 9000 (or so it seems) listed items of the most random, most diverse and most dollar store-eqsue collosal library of things listed; and more often than not, the telltale signs are in the feedback being worded either in a way that makes it obvious that the buyers' first language is not English, or is a smattering of more or less the same sets of feedback, alternating randomly but are literal 1:1 copypasted repetition. This is the usual telltale signs of 'feedback padding' where a seller and a collaborator 'buyer' essentially generate completed listings, cancel and relist, but only after they have left feedback for that transaction. Unfortunately, it is also hard to say for sure if that was the case.

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This day and age on ebay it is not at all uncommon for someone to bid on an auction and then change their mind and ask to cancel it. The smart thing to do for any seller is to just agree to that to avoid further problems later rather than trying to force a buyer to go through with a purchase they don't want.