won item which should have been cancelled

[jackteet]

Hi,  I am extremely worried about a giant mistake. I placed two snipes for watches. I decided which I wanted and I won this yesterday. Before I left home for business I asked my son to log into my snipe and delete the other watch. This came up for auction this evening and I won it. My son has just lost his inheritance. I dont want the watch and am not inclined to pay for it. I dont know what expenses the seller has incurred but I want to reinburse him. I have not yet toold him that I am not paying. What can the seller/ebay do to my 220  100% account. TIA

[ngnerdy]

Per the eBay help page on bidding,  "When you place a bid in an auction it's considered binding – when you win an auction, you're agreeing to complete the purchase."  Motor vehicle and real estate are the only exempt categories listed.  You will likely get a nonpaying bidder strike.  

[jackteet]

hi ngnerdy, many thanks for that. What  is a non paying bidding strike and what actually happens to my account. thanks.

[ngnerdy]

You might want to review THIS help page for eBay's unpaid item policy.  Here is an excerpt.

"When a seller cancels an order because the buyer hasn't paid, the unpaid cancellation is recorded on the buyer's account. Buyers who have excessive unpaid cancellations may have limits imposed by a seller or by eBay, or lose their buying privileges."

eBay has a threshold when they do not allow buyers to bid.  Many sellers set a more restrictive number to reduce the likelihood of getting a nonpaying bidder.  It irritates sellers to have to go through this process, then relist the item and wait for a sale. 

[klhmdg]

@jackteet  if you do not pay and the seller files the Unpaid Item. You will get an unpaid item strike.

Most seller have their accounts set to refuse sales to buyers with 2 or more in 12 month.

All buyers have 100% FB because they can get nothing but positive. 

At this point it is best to message the seller and apologize for  buying the item and let the seller know you forgot to cancel the snipe. 

Ask them if they will please cancel the sale.

Most sellers will cancel per the buyers request but they do not have to cancel. Also many sellers after canceling will block the buyer from buying from them again.,, just in case.

[jackteet]

hi ngnerdy, Thank you so much for your help. I feel terrible for causing so much inconvenience to the seller.  I shall certainly be more careful in the future.

[jackteet]

Hi klhmdg, thank you so much for the detailed info, I feel an asolute git for messing the seller about. regards.

[nobody*s_perfect · Accepted solution]

Contact the seller immediately, take the blame for this unintended bid, and politely ask him to cancel the transaction.  He might be motivated to do this for you, because he can do this type of cancellation immediately and relist the item, whereas the unpaid item process takes 4 days.  

If he chooses to go through the unpaid item process, and you get an unpaid item strike, ONE strike won't have any effect on your account. But if you get a second strike within 12 months, you'll find yourself blocked from bidding/buying from many sellers.

[jackteet]

Hi nobody`s perfect. Many thanks for the words of advice. I shall contact the seller forthwith and offer profuse apologies. thanks again.

[woodland_gnome]

This is a first.  We often get people wanting out of a commitment to buy because their "child did it."  This is the first one I've seen where the "child didn't do it."

Does your snipe service not have conditional bidding, where you set up a list of items that meet your needs and it bids on the list in sequence and then stops  once you win one?   That's what you should have used  in this case.   If it doesn't have that function (might be called something else on your service) you might look into a different service.  The one I use has it (even in its free service) and also has options where you can set it for stopping after winning x auctions of after losing.