Seller ends Item before offer

[smashedbanana]

So an interesting one. Thought I'd ask sellers about this rather than buyers.

I make an offer on an item.

About 12 hours later seller makes a counteroffer.

It says I have 48 hours to respond.

I click respond now and I get a box saying the seller has ended the item.

When I click on the ended item it does not say it's been relisted or anything.

I click on the sellers other items and there is a new listing for the item (not shown as relisted)  at full price.

I assume the seller panicked and that's why they cancelled the item. But kind of seems like an abuse of the end an item function. 

The seller could have just declined my offer.

[escuintla]

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@mam98031 wrote:

@escuintla 

Because you don't look at the numbers does NOT make it wrong for a seller that does.  Because a seller does look at the numbers does NOT mean they have any less "integrity" than you do.  But what it does mean is that you have a different way of running your business than other sellers.  There isn't nor should there be a one size fits all.  Do it your way or there must be something shady about it.  We all have choices as sellers.  Lots of them.  We may not see everything in the same way or some things are more important than another.  It is for EACH of us to decided what is important for our little businesses.  I said, "this is me". No more to say about it. 

I don't think misplacing the inventory was anything this OP or the seller had an issue with.  

A counter offer does NOT create a contract.  It is an OFFER extended to the other member that can be accepted, declined or ignored.  it does NOT become a contract until the counter offer is accepted.  There was NO breach of contract on the issue this OP came here about. My reasoning is based on courtesy, communication, isn't that what we argue so many times on this forum? Be nice with your buyers, always communicate, offer solutions. Do not pull the rug under their feet. 

If you find that after the buyer has accepted your counter offer that the item is MIA, you will have to file for a cancellation for the seller being out of stock [OOS] which creates a defect for your selling account.  But this has nothing to do with the problem the OP came here about. It happened to me. Did you read me? 

A seller is NOT required to notify a potential buyer of the need to close a listing.  The buyer has not yet purchased anything and the seller does not need the buyer's permission to close the listing and repost it.  I never said that seller is bound to anything. I was saying seller should have waited for offer to expire, or, notify buyer of item being taken down for whatever reasons. It is about diplomacy, courtesy, pulling though with a promise to deliver something via an exchange for money for an item listed and offered during 48 hours. Put yourself in the place of this buyer for a minute. You have wasted enough time to wheel and deal with the seller. He counter offers, you see the "contract", $ for the item, but you have to buy it within 48 hours. You then, emotionally challenged because you now got something you liked, well......you go and click on the offer but...…...the seller played a joke on you. He took the ball and even the game field and went home.

It appears you are assuming the seller lost or misplaced the item, which if they did, I have no answer to why the seller reposted the item for sale at the same price as before.  I didn't say seller misplaced, lost or broke the item since he relisted it. I said "that's me" who went throught it. I am suggesting that if it were me, I would wait for an offer to expire. That would be a silly move if they misplaced the inventory.

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Don't get me wrong here. I have a theory.

Maybe, that is a "maybe", the seller either forgot to notify the buyer, ended the listing, changed the description, and relisted it, or, after thinking it twice, the item had a few hours to exist, and then it ended and got relisted.

[escarchac]

So the seller can withdraw an offer/ counter-offer. The link is hard to find, but it is possible. I have done it when a buyer sends me a lowball offer, and when I counter, that offer just sits there.  While the first counter offer is brewing, the same buyer lowballs me on other items. I usually withdraw all counter offers and decline all other offers from that buyer.  I would check to see if you are still able to buy from that seller.  If you can contact tgem, ask. If you can't contact them, then they probably blocked you.

[lovefindingtreasures2]

Agreed. If the seller didn't hear back from you with their counteroffer to your offer in a fairly quick manner, many will assume you were not interested. Most counteroffer's made back to buyers are never answered, if a buyer does not get their first offer accepted, they often move on to the next seller. They don't hit declined, it is rare a buyer hits decline after their first offer is not accepted and another one comes in they don't like. They usually just walk away, the seller has the same right.

Your counter offer still leaves other offers on the table too. Buyer may be countering several people at once (in a fantasy world here most of the time, lol) and while you have 48 hours to 'think about it', a faster buyer will jump on the counteroffer and item is sold. Think about the seller. He/she has an item and has to wait 48 hours on just you to decide if you will purchase at a lower price? I don't know any sellers who will wait 2 days when there are other buyers coming along. Why tie up an item like that? That is why best offer does not tie up an item until seller hits agreed 🙂

Also, many sellers now sell on multiple platforms and cross post their items. It sells somewhere else and listing is ended. Another similar item or even identical item may take its place, it doesn't mean the seller was pulling a fast one. It means item sold on another platform, and they had to photograph and list a new one for eBay.

And of course, your first thought, they changed their mind about taking your offer and preferred to end the listing and return it back to a price they were comfortable accepting 🙂

[buyselljack2016]

2)

The seller choose to list the item again without using the relisting feature. Why? I assume and someone can correct me that if you have an offer on an item, cancel that item and then use E-bay's relist feature that offer carries through or draws a red flag with e-bay. It's like the item is back for sale. Negating the choice you made to allow the cancellation.

No carry through. Listing ends for whatever reason, it is done.

[castlemagicmemories]

The seller choose to list the item again without using the relisting feature. Why? I assume and someone can correct me that if you have an offer on an item, cancel that item and then use E-bay's relist feature that offer carries through or draws a red flag with e-bay. It's like the item is back for sale. Negating the choice you made to allow the cancellation...I know sellers get the short end of the stick here, but it feels like this is a loophole for sellers only as it stands. When abused anyway.

No, the offer doesn't carry through.  It ends with the listing no matter how the listing ended.  No red flags either.  

[mam98031]

Don't get me wrong here. I have a theory.

Maybe, that is a "maybe", the seller either forgot to notify the buyer, ended the listing, changed the description, and relisted it, or, after thinking it twice, the item had a few hours to exist, and then it ended and got relisted. 

Yes, maybe that happened, but even if it didn't, the seller still didn't do anything wrong.

[luckythewinner]

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@smashedbanana wrote:

But is the reason that an offer cannot be modified not because it's supposed to be binding?

I mean otherwise what's the point if can all make offers and then walk away from them?

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A cynic would suggest that since both sellers and buyers can walk away from any transaction, it's a bit of a laugh to call anything on eBay "binding" in the first place. 

[lex-talon]

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@smashedbanana wrote:

So an interesting one. Thought I'd ask sellers about this rather than buyers.

I make an offer on an item.

About 12 hours later seller makes a counteroffer.

It says I have 48 hours to respond.

I click respond now and I get a box saying the seller has ended the item.

When I click on the ended item it does not say it's been relisted or anything.

I click on the sellers other items and there is a new listing for the item (not shown as relisted)  at full price.

I assume the seller panicked and that's why they cancelled the item. But kind of seems like an abuse of the end an item function. 

The seller could have just declined my offer.

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It might be because the seller no longer wants to sell his item. It's perfectly ok to do this. I've done it on occasion.

[mam98031]

The seller reposted the listing at the same price.  So it is likely they do want to sell it and maybe there was an issue with the listing itself.

[southern*sweet*tea]

Maybe the seller decided they didn't want to sell to a competitor?

If it was a US (or other non-Canadian) seller, maybe they decided they didn't want to ship outside the country?

Who knows...

[hillbillymedia]

"But kind of seems like an abuse of the end an item function. "

There is no such thing IMO. The seller can pull a listing for whatever reason they want at anytime. People change their minds all the time. I have been asked to cancel transactions several times even AFTER a buyer paid for an item and I have done so graciously. No big deal. The seller in this scenario simply changed their minds for an unknown reason BEFORE a transaction took place, again, no big deal and more importantly, not an abuse.

[hillbillymedia]

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@smashedbanana wrote:

I understand mistakes and second thoughts. But is the reason that an offer cannot be modified not because it's supposed to be binding? I mean otherwise what's the point if can all make offers and then walk away from them?

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I wonder how many times sellers have accepted best offers and the item never gets paid for?

[smashedbanana]

Out of curiosity, how long, into the 48 hours, after the seller responded, did you try to accept the offer?  You didn't specify, that I noticed, that is - but I may have missed it.

>> With 45 minutes of the counter offer.

1) If you haven't communicated with the seller, how do you know that the seller didn't have an incident such as you listed:  " Item is not longer for sale, mistake or error in listing, there was an error in the starting price buy it now price, the item was lost or broken"?

>>> The seller listed the item again identically. Identically. Same price, same everything.

2) If the seller made a material change to the listing, description, shipping or whatever, then it wouldn't be a 'relisting', it would be a 'revised' or new listing.

>>> Zero changes were made.

Not to be judgemental, but to some it might sound like you are upset because you didn't get it for the price you wanted and now it would cost more.

>>> No that was not my reason to post here. We are only talking about a $7 discount on a $57 item. I bought another from another seller.

[smashedbanana]

@smashedbanana wrote:

I understand mistakes and second thoughts. But is the reason that an offer cannot be modified not because it's supposed to be binding? I mean otherwise what's the point if can all make offers and then walk away from them?

I wonder how many times sellers have accepted best offers and the item never gets paid for?

>>> Well in that scenario there are options. You can go through the payment reminder, report a bidder, etc. process.

>>> In my scenario consensus seems to be here it's just the way it is.

[smashedbanana]

@smashedbanana wrote:

I understand mistakes and second thoughts. But is the reason that an offer cannot be modified not because it's supposed to be binding? I mean otherwise what's the point if can all make offers and then walk away from them?

I know buyers can retract their offers, so it seems logical that a seller could too.  I would have been afraid of ending it for fear ebay would think I was selling it off site.

>>> Can buyers retract offers? I haven't seen this. When I clicked on a offer I made the only option was to submit feedback to e-bay about the best offer feature.