Made a mistake on a listing. Just realized. I have bids etc. . .what to do

[chet872]

The subject is pretty self explanatory.  I listed 5 putters this week and somehow mis-measured one of them.  Honestly, I cut it down 2 inches from it's original length--for myself to use.  Completely forgot because I never used the putter.  

So, I added a message, tried to edit the listing.  But having 7 bids or whatever I have, it won't allow me to change information obviously.  

I've never dealt with this kind of mistake.  I just need to know what to do.  The auction ends in about 7 hours.

Thanks,

Chet

[hillbillymedia]

Last I knew it will only let you add to the description in a second description box and it sounds like you already did that. I guess you could ebay message each of the bidders letting them know. You could cancel all bids and end the item but I dont know what ramifications are involved. You could also let the auction play out and email the winner and explain and offer to cancel the sale if they don`t want the item. Someone may come along with better suggestions.

[chet872]

THANKS! That's helpful. I'll see what I can do.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@hillbillymedia wrote:

Last I knew it will only let you add to the description in a second description box ... cancel all bids and end the item ...

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None of that is possible when an auction has less than 12 hours left.  The seller could cancel individual bids,  but cannot end the auction early except to sell to the high bidder.

I'd just let the auction run its course, then try to work things out with the winner: Offer them a partial refund and ask if they want to cancel the transaction.

[lintbrush*]

You're pretty limited to what you can do.

Because there are less than 12 hours left.

You can't end the listing unless you sell it to the highest bidder.

You cannot edit the description as there are bids.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/revising-listing?id=4356

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/cancelling-listing?id=4146

At best, you can message the bidders and let them know - and see if they will voluntarily retract.

Another option is to wait until the very last few seconds and then cancel all of the bids so it ends without a winner.  There could be snipe bids being waiting though, so it's risky.

Or let it ride and then contact the buyer and let them know of your mistake.  If they want it, great.  If they don't want it, you need to cancel and the real reason is that you can't fulfill the listing as written.  Yes, it's a defect, but one in a year is very survivable.

[hillbillymedia]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

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@hillbillymedia wrote:

Last I knew it will only let you add to the description in a second description box ... cancel all bids and end the item ...

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None of that is possible when an auction has less than 12 hours left.  The seller could cancel individual bids,  but cannot end the auction early except to sell to the high bidder.

I'd just let the auction run its course, then try to work things out with the winner: Offer them a partial refund and ask if they want to cancel the transaction.

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Dang, I forgot about the 12 hour rule. I`m glad you are here to give out correct info. as I`m pretty forgetful lately. OP...sorry I gave you mis-info.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@lintbrush* wrote:

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 ... you can message the bidders and let them know - and see if they will voluntarily retract....

During the final 12 hours of the auction, it's not possible for a bidder to retract their bid except within an hour of placing it. 

[berserkerplanet]

You can't cancel the bids and end the listing with bids and less than 12 hours left cleanly if I'm interpreting the current policy correctly.

The way I read it is that you would be forced to sell to the current highest bidder at this point, which could be ok, or could turn into a SNAD return. Alternative would be cancel, refuse to sell to highest bidder, and take the resulting out of stock defect.

Or contact the bidders. explain, and ask them to cancel their bids.  edit: apparently not possible under 12 hour mark.

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/listings/creating-managing-listings/cancelling-listing?id=4146

Unless the buyers are cool (by that I mean the typical buyer in my experience), you won't make it out of this unscathed. (if you had cancelled before the 12 hour mark you could have gotten out cleanly, but would have had to pay the FVF on the highest bid at the time)

[lintbrush*]

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@nobody*s_perfect wrote:

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@lintbrush* wrote:

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 ... you can message the bidders and let them know - and see if they will voluntarily retract....

During the final 12 hours of the auction, it's not possible for a bidder to retract their bid except within an hour of placing it. 

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Whoops.  Guess the coffee hadn't kicked it, or I've lost my mind.  I think a little of both 

[adkhighker]

I had it happen to me once when I made a serious mistake and there were already bidders. It was only in the first day of the auction, so I ended it. When I ended the auction, there was a place where I could message all the bidders telling them why I was ending the auction. There were no ramifications, and I relisted it with the mistake corrected. I actually got some nice messages back from the bdders who had gotten my messages, telling me no problem.

Since it's too late for you to end the auction, you could message all the bidders letting them know about the mistake. That way, at least it might prevent them from upping their bids in the dying moments of the auction.

Whoever wins the auction, you could send them a notice such as, "Dear buyer. Thank you for winning my auction. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the description concerning the length of one the putters. By the time I realized it, it was too late to revise the description. I appologize for this, and if you have any suggestions how I can make this right with you, please let me know. Or if you would rather cancel the transaction, I would have no problem with that either. Sorry for any inconvenience."

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@adkhighker wrote:

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 ... you could send them a notice such as, "Dear buyer. Thank you for winning my auction. Unfortunately, I made a mistake in the description concerning the length of one the putters. By the time I realized it, it was too late to revise the description. I appologize for this, and if you have any suggestions how I can make this right with you, please let me know. Or if you would rather cancel the transaction, I would have no problem with that either. Sorry for any inconvenience."

That's too vague.  Give the buyer something specific to respond to.  You should specify the correct length, and make specific suggestions about remedies such as canceling the transaction or giving a partial refund.  If you leave it open ("If you have any suggestions...") you might get a suggestion that's unacceptable to you such as selling it at half price.

[adkhighker]

Yes, of course it would be a good idea to be specific about which putter it was and what was done to it in the actual message sent out.

[nobody*s_perfect]

Each listing is for just one putter.

[adkhighker]

My post was only a suggeston of an example of a message the OP might use and not to be taken literally word for word. Any other corrections I need to know about?

[chet872]

Ok everyone! Thanks so much for your help and advice. Hillbilly, no worries!
I have messaged the 3 bidders, I didn't hear back from any of them. I told them exactly what I did, I gave them the correct length of the putter. Told them ALL, I would work it out and somehow deal with a refund if they so desire. The listing is Non-returnable, although I don't remember marking it as such. Once again, none of the bidders have contacted me and showed anything negative, "I want out", "I won't pay", nothing like that. So, I'll deal with things as they come.

Thanks again everyone for your help.