Ever misplace a decimal in a listing? And then it sold...

[sin-n-dex]

It happened to me at least once. It was a token, supposed to be $99 and I listed it for $9.90. The good news is, it didn't sting too much because I had bought 1500 tokens that averaged out to $1 a token (with the cheapest ones being worth about $3 retail), so I didn't lose on the investment, just the profit. Live and learn.

But I do have a story about something that happened to another seller a few months ago...

I was looking for a Marc Jacobs purse. At the Hudson's Bay Company they want around $500 for one, with very little selection. While I would spend $500 on a purse, I didn't feel like wasting my money this way. I try to get good stuff at better prices and be happy with the savings. So I came on here and looked around.

Someone had one up for auction with a BIN of $37.50. It was a bit worn in places and definitely used, but in reasonably good condition (acceptable for my standards of buying something used). I was suspicious it was a fake because of the low price, so I checked all the photos carefully. There was one bid of $1 but I'm not going to mess around, I did the BIN and got the purse for $37.50 plus shipping.

The purse showed up, and I called a friend to help me authenticate. (I can authenticate bags by the quality of the workmanship, but I don't know what hardware is used on a genuine bag or anything to determine a fake that way). We determined the bag was legitimate, so all good, I put in my closet to use later.

A few months go by and I'd forgotten about the bag, until I got a new pair of glasses this week. Ironically the frames were also Marc Jacobs (and from the half price section of the store). Then I remembered the bag...

I took it out yesterday and took a look at it. I started wondering again, why did they only want $37.50 if the bag is legitimate? It's $500 new, you'd think they'd want a bit more money than that. Then I realized what happened... the listing BIN was supposed to be $375. That must have really stung... but the seller lived up to their end of the bargain and shipped me the bag, which is what I do when I make this type of mistake.

C.

[fern*wood]

There was a long, rather contentious thread on this board about this situation just a few days ago.  It was over a watch.

My mistake was thinking I was listing as a auction, but was on the fixed price format instead and didn't notice until my item quickly sold for my "opening bid".   I shipped.

[donsdetour]

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@sin-n-dex wrote:

It happened to me at least once. It was a token, supposed to be $99 and I listed it for $9.90. The good news is, it didn't sting too much because I had bought 1500 tokens that averaged out to $1 a token (with the cheapest ones being worth about $3 retail), so I didn't lose on the investment, just the profit. Live and learn.

But I do have a story about something that happened to another seller a few months ago...

I was looking for a Marc Jacobs purse. At the Hudson's Bay Company they want around $500 for one, with very little selection. While I would spend $500 on a purse, I didn't feel like wasting my money this way. I try to get good stuff at better prices and be happy with the savings. So I came on here and looked around.

Someone had one up for auction with a BIN of $37.50. It was a bit worn in places and definitely used, but in reasonably good condition (acceptable for my standards of buying something used). I was suspicious it was a fake because of the low price, so I checked all the photos carefully. There was one bid of $1 but I'm not going to mess around, I did the BIN and got the purse for $37.50 plus shipping.

The purse showed up, and I called a friend to help me authenticate. (I can authenticate bags by the quality of the workmanship, but I don't know what hardware is used on a genuine bag or anything to determine a fake that way). We determined the bag was legitimate, so all good, I put in my closet to use later.

A few months go by and I'd forgotten about the bag, until I got a new pair of glasses this week. Ironically the frames were also Marc Jacobs (and from the half price section of the store). Then I remembered the bag...

I took it out yesterday and took a look at it. I started wondering again, why did they only want $37.50 if the bag is legitimate? It's $500 new, you'd think they'd want a bit more money than that. Then I realized what happened... the listing BIN was supposed to be $375. That must have really stung... but the seller lived up to their end of the bargain and shipped me the bag, which is what I do when I make this type of mistake.

C.

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Yep and held to the sale:

I know a book dealer that did it this way: Price originally 37.95..

Missed the placementwhen listing  like 379.50 and got it with in a day for a fixed price....

Goes both ways...

[jayjaspersgarage]

Same thing happened to me when I bought a house in 1982.  Was supposed to be 137,900 based on comps a block away but was listed for $92,000.  My agent had just returned to his office twenty minutes after the listing went live.  I was there with him in his office and the house was two miles away so we went to look at it.  In less than ten minutes after entering the home three other realtors showed up.  I rolled the dice and made an offer within an hour.  The seller was acting as his own agent and tried to back out of the contract while interest rates dropped four percent during the closing.  lol  The day they handed me the keys I was up 45K.

[popblox]

Trying to enter $19.99 and fell asleep after I pressed '1'. I woke up to my hand on the enter key and a notification that my NWT Columbia Fleece Jacket had sold for $1.00.

That was the day I learned about defects. 

[femmefan1946]

My painful one was over a decade ago.

DH gave me a batch of South Pacific Islands post cards to list for him, the left overs of a larger batch he had cherrypicked for his Solomon Islands philatelic exhibit*.

A couple were Real Photos, so I put them up at $14.99US , a bit higher than I usually would.

And one sold within hours.

It was captioned "A Cannibal Chief"

Looked again.

He might have been a cannibal, but he was certainly a headhunter and he was casually holding his latest prize!

Pretty sure I could have moved that decimal place and still sold it fast.

OTOH, it went to French Polynesia so the chief was repatriated.

*Did you know there is such a thing as competitive stamp collecting? Now you do.

[jayjaspersgarage]

"*Did you know there is such a thing as competitive stamp collecting? Now you do."

Yes I do know that.  Just like competitive coin collecting.  It's a rich persons' hobby but fun to watch from the peanut gallery.

[baantiques]

Yeah I've done that.  Accidentally listed an item that was supposed to be an auction of a $100 item with a .99 starting bid as a fixed price.  It sold almost immediately.  I almost immediately canceled and sent a refund.  The buyer was angry but realistically you shouldn't expect to get a $100 for a .99 BIN.  Yeah yeah, people are going to say you should honor that price.  Maybe for a $10 item but not a $100 item.  Fortunately for me I'm normally really careful about checking and double checking and so I've caught the few times I've made that mistake in the 20+ years I've been selling on Ebay, with that one exception.  It's not good business to cancel like that so I take my time to make sure I catch a mistake like that before it goes out.

[tdumonde2014]

I did once, listed a sterling silver tea set for $39.99 instead of $3999.99. Needless to say I cancelled the transaction. Buyer wasn't happy, but...

[*madison]

About 8 years ago I listed a BIN item.

Price should have been £599.00, I made a mistake and entered £5.99.

Item sold straight away. Buyer paid straight away. I shipped the item straight away.

And then I sat down for about 3 months and cried.

I shipped the item to teach myself a lesson, ( and of course because I'm honourable). But that mistake will never happen again.

[luckythewinner]

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@jayjaspersgarage wrote:

Same thing happened to me when I bought a house in 1982.  Was supposed to be 137,900 based on comps a block away but was listed for $92,000.  My agent had just returned to his office twenty minutes after the listing went live.  I was there with him in his office and the house was two miles away so we went to look at it.  In less than ten minutes after entering the home three other realtors showed up.  I rolled the dice and made an offer within an hour.  The seller was acting as his own agent and tried to back out of the contract while interest rates dropped four percent during the closing.  lol  The day they handed me the keys I was up 45K.

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That does not look like a decimal point issue.

That aside, why did they accept your offer? Real estate offers are not a binding contract on the seller unless they are accepted, are they? 

[gjs_16]

No but I listed an auction with a BIN price once, mistakenly thinking the BIN would be the LOWEST I would take... It sold fast also, and at first I'm all excited somehow thinking it sold HIGH but what, no wait...

I shipped.

[johnrj1226]

1982 was  a  real bad year  1980/81 was a struggle- inflation rate was around 10% in 1981 and 13.5% in 1980,  unemployment rate 10.8%, mortgage rates around 16.5% (30 year, fixed).  Was laid off in late Dec. 1981 after 14  years with a company, unemployment in Illinois  paid $80 bucks a week for  a family of 4 had to wait two weeks before I could make a UE claim.    Financially we were fine - found a real decent within 4 month (a lot a people were not - neighbors lost their homes).   Sold our house for a little more than what I paid for it in 1978 with a mere 9.5% mortgage. 

Moved to  Texas and their bubble burst when the oil business went upside down in '84/'85 - home values dropped like a rocket and S & Ls folded their tents left & right.

Retired in 2007 & life is still Good or Pura Vida if you are in Costa Rico

[jayjaspersgarage]

"That does not look like a decimal point issue.

That aside, why did they accept your offer? Real estate offers are not a binding contract on the seller unless they are accepted, are they?"

Interest rates were 16% when he signed the contract and it was late Fall.  Who knew interest rates would drop three points in 90 days during closing and prices would spiral up?  He was stuck but delayed the closing with illegal maneuvers so the interest rate dropped another percent before closing. 

[jayjaspersgarage]

We were very lucky to have that listing pop up two miles from our realtors' office as we were reviewing the homes we had just toured.  Who would think that two 21 year old 'kids" could swing a house purchase with 8K down?   Paid 92K.  That home is four miles from the Tesla plant on the edge of Silicon Valley.    It was a rainy cold day that set us up for life in real estate.