Fishy Boing! auction

[MegaManFan]

This auction was ended by the seller with only 15 seconds left to go because of an "error" in the listing. I think the REAL error was that he didn't want to sell it for only $57, even though I had a high bid significantly larger than that I was going to put in - only I got an error message telling me the item was no longer for sale when I tried!

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...1385049324&rd=1

 

Is it worth complaining to eBay about? I have the feeling this guy either got a better offer online and cancelled, or he's going to relist it with an absurdly high reserve.

[CPUWIZ]

I keep seeing the same thing by a few different sellers, it's really starting to piss me off as well.

 

I mean, if you don't want to sell it low, put a freaking reserve on it.

[Philflound]

Problem is that it isn't against Ebay's rules to cancel an auction. Unless of course they keep doing it, then it's an abuse of the system and grounds for suspension/expulsion. You would have to report this person on several offenses before anything happens.

 

Phil

[The Young Game Collector]

Or I could go beat the snot outta him...i live close to mountlake terrace

[MegaManFan]

I got a mail back from the seller, and he admitted he cancelled it at the last second because the winning bid was too low and he hadn't set a reserve, so he didn't want to let it go for only $57.

 

Now sympathetic as I am to the seller's concerns, isn't it just possible that the AMV (actual market value) of a Boing cart isn't that well established? We've all seen them go for $80-$100 on eBay when there's a bidding war, but let's say the people who "had to have one" have been tapped out, and those who are left are probably only interested at under $70. The problem is, if everybody expects to get $100 for it now, and won't sell it at any price less than that, how will we ever know? There may (just a possibility) be more supply than demand, so by keeping the game off the market unless somebody gets $100 for it, it's an artificial scarcity.

 

Heck, if I can find a Tomarc the Barbarian in a $1 box of commons, it's not so unbelievable to think I could find a Boing! that way too. Didn't somebody just get a Malagai that way yesterday?

 

Anyway I don't want to turn into another "whine about eBay all the time" type person, because I enjoy the website immensely and find that for certain games I want right away and am tired of hunting around for, it's pretty hard to beat. That said, I wish I had gotten into collecting before eBay came around, because I think these days a lot of people think it's their golden ticket to cash in, and if they don't get at least 110% of what they expect out of it they won't sell their old games at all.

[maximebeauvais]

I think these days a lot of people think it's their golden ticket to cash in, and if they don't get at least 110% of what they expect out of it they won't sell their old games at all.

 

I had a same expirence here.

 

On a local newsgroup, a woman was selling a vectrex with around 15 games. So she call me and I ask her the price....300$ CAD and she said that she can take 25$ off. She asked me if I was a collector because she she said that this is a collector item and that was very rare and very expensive.

 

I said ''no thanks at that price'' and hang-up the phone.....

[Cap5750]

I had this very same thing happen to me over the weekend.

 

I had been bidding on/watching a Larry Bird Lithograph that would have went well with my Boston Garden Parquet Floor plaque.

 

Around the 5 minute mark I started refreshing once every 20 - 30 seconds in order to prepare for a final bid. All of a sudden, I see $1. At first I thought maybe the system had hiccupped or something and so I hit refresh again. Again it says $1. Hmm...okay...I'll bid $1. Oops...no I won't. The seller had ended the auction, cancelled all the bids, and just said "ITEM NO LONGER FOR SALE".

 

Ok...so I send a note about it and inform them that I was getting ready to place another bid and that I was still interested. No response at all...

 

I was so mad, I was tempted to go leave negative feedback. In my opinion, the person was just trying to get a "feel" for how much it would go for and probably had no intention of selling it.

 

I understand that there are times when you really need to cancel an auction, but it sure would be nice that if you were in the final..oh I don't know 10 hours? 1 hour? that you couldn't end it.....

 

Cap