UNFAIR: BIN disabled by eBay without bids

[split-cane]

273555293752.

This listing originally had a BIN price (don't remember what it was), but it was higher than the minimum bid (1100.00). Make an Offer was also available. After reading the minimal description, I made an offer of $525. My bid was automatically declined (no comment or counteroffer given). I decided I might purchase anyway and I went back to hit the BIN and that button was gone. This is seconds later. Why is this? All other bidders are screwed as well because they can't BIN either. So, I decided to contact the seller with additional serious, reasonable, and specific questions about the condition of the item and explain why, without knowing the answer to these questions, my offer was below his minimum bid. (BTW, the seller does not appear to have experience selling vintage fishing tackle either in his feedback or based on his description). I also said I was open to making a counter offer arrangement, a legitimate, approved-by-eBay method, fully traceable by eBay. Everything above board. This should have proved to the seller that I was legit and serious. (Also, feedback of 100% positive, score of 426, and membership over 15 years). I did not mention the BIN situation, thinking that I could just make an offer and it would either be below or at the BIN, so no big deal. After a couple of days with no response and no other action from other bidders, I check My eBay. There is a link on the right side of the page that says Buy It Now. Sweet. I click it. It brings me to a page that says my offer was declined and that I can still make other offers. Well, this is what I was planning to do anyways, but **bleep**? Why doesn't this BIN work either? Now today, finally, a bid, at the minimum of $1100. Funny though, the top of the page says I have been outbid. It no longer says my offer was declined. And the list of bids? None of them is mine, two of them are this other bidder. No mention of $575. If my bid was a bid and that is what made the BIN option disappear, it should be on the list. If someone can "outbid" me then it should show I have made a bid and what that bid is. Obviously, something is wrong and I'm screwed. This is what eBay has been waiting for, right? More fees for them. Maybe that was their intent. Because I am corn-fused and **bleep**, I call them to get the scoop. First responder CANNOT ANSWER MY QUESTION: what happened with BIN? I am on the phone for 33 minutes with her. She doesn't listen. She doesn't understand bidding. She can't understand what I am saying at all. Doesn't want to. Just keeps repeating that if I want the item I should increase my bid. I ask for the manager. I have been on hold for an additional 39 minutes and no manager. Even though he was just "resolving another call". What gives? Can anyone explain how this non-bid (not only called an offer, not a bid and should never have qualified as a bid as it didn't meet the minimum) screwed my BIN option? I do understand that sellers don't HAVE to answer questions though it's pretty stupid not to, but the rest doesn't make sense to me. I don't have the middle screen, but I do have the latest outcomes as screenshots, proving my point. Thanks for any help. Very frustrating.

[nobody*s_perfect]

When an auction has the "Best offer" option, that option (and any active offers or counteroffers) disappear when a member places a bid on the auction. Your offer of $525 was not a bid.

[castlemagicmemories]

This listing originally had a BIN price (don't remember what it was), but it was higher than the minimum bid (1100.00). Make an Offer was also available.

You can't have a bid price, BIN PRICE, and Best Offer on one listing.  It just doesn't work that way.  

(Also, feedback of 100% positive, score of 426, and membership over 15 years).

All buyers have 100%~it means nothing.  Only sellers can get negatives.  Ebay did away with negs for buyers in 2008.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@castlemagicmemories wrote:

This listing originally had a BIN price (don't remember what it was), but it was higher than the minimum bid (1100.00). Make an Offer was also available.

You can't have a bid price, BIN PRICE, and Best Offer on one listing.  It just doesn't work that way.  

 ...

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That was true a week ago (I tested it), but not any more (I tested it again tonight):

[castlemagicmemories]

WOW, ok, thank you!

[mudshark61369]

@split-cane,

I would let this auction go.  Looking at the seller's feedback it smells like bad fish.  All but 2 feedback over a year old. The two in the last year were for cheap items purchased. No selling experience in this category and an expensive item listed.  It screams hijacked account.  Even if it is legit, chances are the seller is going to run head on into PayPal's 21 day hold on your payment, and not know what to do about it. 

"I check My eBay. There is a link on the right side of the page that says Buy It Now. Sweet. I click it. It brings me to a page that says my offer was declined and that I can still make other offers. Well, this is what I was planning to do anyways, but **bleep**? Why doesn't this BIN work either? Now today, finally, a bid, at the minimum of $1100.".

Since there was already a bid on this item when you saw the BIN link, it would not be working since the minimum bid price had been met. Since you seem confused about offers and bids, if you tried to make an offer at the BIN price it would not go through because there is a bid. eBay never should have offered all three options Auction, BIN, & Best Offer on a single listing. Below is more info about auctions with B.O. and BIN

If you have an auction-style listing with Best Offer, bear in mind that:

• If you receive a bid, current offers and counteroffers will be declined automatically and buyers won't be able to make any additional offers on your item
• If a bidder retracts their bid, the Best Offer feature will be re-enabled
• If you received an offer that was higher than the current bid, the buyer who made the offer will have to place a bid

For Future Reference,

When writing a long post or reply, Please use paragraph breaks.  It is very hard to read through a post like this one and make sense of it. 

[split-cane]

Point taken on the spacing / paragraphs--sorry about that. 

Thanks for your help. Also, glad I'm not crazy.

FWIW, I just noticed that the other auction I made an offer on, captured in one of my photos, shows the OFFER I made ($675, declined) and the BIN still available at $800. This time it's in the middle of the page. So, it's a bid on one and not the other? Ok, I'm just going to type it myself: BLEEP!

So, now--whether it's wise to pursue or not--I've lost the opportunity to BIN on the first item discussed through no fault of my own and NOT because of a (days) later bid being placed. 

BTW, I finally disconnected my call--the first, spiteful call center rep never connected me with a manager. Incompetence >>> defensiveness. Anyway, I called again and got a very nice rep this time who was most helpful. When I explained the situation and he saw what was going on, he fully admitted that there appeared to be a glitch and that he would alert engineering. He even apologized. We had a nice chat and I told him to write down my contact info and send me a pic of his first trout. I told him to head north to Redding or Dunsmuir and hire a guide if he could. Watch out for fires, naturally. 

Of course, that doesn't really solve the problem on this particular auction. I pointed out to him that the seller hadn't answered any of my questions, which he reviewed and agreed were totally legitimate. He also mentioned seller hadn't answered questions from two other bidders. I also pointed out that the seller made some claims in the listing that s/he had no business making, and, if untrue, would result in the item and payment being reversed under the money back guarantee. Customer Rep agreed. I asked, then why not do something about it? You agree with my observations, you have the power, etc. He claimed I needed to make a report to make it official. Wow! Talk about red tape! But, he also said he could send a note to the seller asking to answer the questions (but, still not required).

He also recommended not bidding. This was very different from the first rep who said I ought to just bid more. Phew! His advice is probably wiser, but I ask you this. First, will they even respond in time to prevent other bidders from winning, item shipped, nothing to be done about it? Second, couldn't the seller just blacklist the three bidders who have asked questions? What recourse would I have then? Third, if I do want the item, why ought I to keep bidding higher and higher when I had a shot at a lower price (upon further reflection, I believe the BIN was acutally set to the minimum bid or there abouts...it wasn't off by much if any). Anyways, there are lots of what ifs here. It's very disconcerting.

I offered as a final solution that they ought to just have the seller start over to make things fair to all bidders. "I can't do that, sorry. Maybe if you file the complaint?" Are complaints anonymous?

Thanks,

split-cane

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@split-cane wrote: ... I just noticed that the other auction I made an offer on, captured in one of my photos, shows the OFFER I made ($675, declined) and the BIN still available at $800. This time it's in the middle of the page. So, it's a bid on one and not the other? ...

It's important to remember the difference between a bid and an offer.   A bid on an auction will cancel out any "Best offer" submissoins and usually it will remove the "Buy it now" (BIN) option as well.  The only exceptions are 4 categories where the "Buy it now" option remains available until the bidding reaches 50% of the BIN price.

In the first auction, you made an offer but then somebody placed a bid. So now that auction is bidding only.  The BIN purchase option is no longer available nor is the option to make an offer. You were advised to bid because that's the only way to purchase that item, now that BO and BIN are both gone. The auction seems to be working as intended so it's not clear to me why you want to file a complaint.

When a seller puts a BIN option on an auction-format listing, the BIN price has to be at lest 30% higher than the opening bid price.

[creoleorchid]

Just going out on a limb here, but if this is a legit listing, don’t you think that the seller might be thinking “hmm, if I already have a bidder who upped his bid to who knows what, why would I want to entertain an offer from this guy who seems a little too anxious to get this?”  If I’m the seller I would just let the auction play out. 

And that rep that agreed with you on the seller making statements he/she had no business making? You actually bought that and thought he actually had the power to end the listing and make the seller start over? 

Just when you think you’ve seen it all. 

[reallynicestamps]

The opening bid was $1100.

There was Best Offer available.

There was Buy It Now available (at more than $1100)

You made a Best Offer of half the opening bid.

It was refused /ignored. The seller, surprisingly, did not Block you, so this was probably a pre-set automatic refusal.

You decided to go for the Buy It Now (which is higher than the opening bid).

You were unable to BIN because there was a bid.

You could at that point have bid the BIN price which you were apparently willing to pay a few minutes before.

So.

I'd advise you to ignore how confused you are by all this, and frankly having both Best Offer AND Buy It Now on an auction is just plain weird marketing, and pay attention to the poster ( @castlemagicmemories  ?) who pointed out that this seems to be a hijacked account.

[creoleorchid]

@split-cane

I see you won the auction. Congratulations! I would love it if you would come back and let us know if you get this rod and what it was about the description that you thought was wrong. I know a "teeny bit" about vintage rods and nothing jumped out at me.