I'm not that good with ebay so I hope you will bear with me.

I was watching an item (an engine), it had received no bids (great I thought, I'm going to get a bargain!) but the seller ended the listing the day before the end of the auction. I was going to put my bid in a few hours before the auction ended. My question is if I had put a bid in early, would this have stopped him ending it? If so, in future I will put a bid on something I want as soon as possible. It said "This listing was ended by the seller because there was an error in the listing". I rang the seller up and he just said "it's gone now" so I presume he sold it outside of ebay.

Here is the listing:

talbot sunbeam 1.0 coventry climax engine

Thanks

IIRC if you put a bid in within the last 24 hours it has to run. Happy to be corrected on this though... I haven't used ebay as much recently

A seller can (could?) cancel bids if they have been placed. Not in the last 24 hours though.

If you are really interested in something, as in this case, it is worth contacting the seller as many will end early etc etc etc.

I agree - it's worth contacting the seller just to see the lay of the land. If he's willing to end the auction early then at least you'll be able to have the conversation with him on price. If not then you know you can rely on it running to the end.

Unfortunately eBay and paypal fees mean that it's in the sellers interest to use eBay as an advertising platform and then sell to the first person that comes around to have a look at puts cash in their hand. I'm guilty of it myself.

He's a dealer and ended it because there was an error

If you really want it, no harm in dropping him a line to see if you can buy it, tell him you were watching it with the intention of bidding and lost broadband for a couple of days.....

Talking of the 850cc Imp engined Sunbeams....Anyone drove one?

The seller use to be able to cancel bids right up to the last 12 hours, when did it change to 24?

Not sure it has, and if it has, then its to stop exactly that kind of behaviour, of which I must admit I have done myself as I would rather not sell it than let it go for peanuts.

In my recent experience, the seller has ended an item which i was the only bidder 4 hours before it finished, then re listed it at a higher start price.

[Edited on 15/1/2015 by philw]

If there are bids on a item they can't end the auction within 24 hours of the end time.

Before that you just get the option to cancel bids and end the auction.

quote:

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Originally posted by r1_pete
He's a dealer and ended it because there was an error

If you really want it, no harm in dropping him a line to see if you can buy it, tell him you were watching it with the intention of bidding and lost broadband for a couple of days.....

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quote:

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Originally posted by CosKev3
If there are bids on a item they can't end the auction within 24 hours of the end time.

Before that you just get the option to cancel bids and end the auction.

quote:

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Originally posted by r1_pete
He's a dealer and ended it because there was an error

If you really want it, no harm in dropping him a line to see if you can buy it, tell him you were watching it with the intention of bidding and lost broadband for a couple of days.....

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Did you read the first post?Fully.............

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quote:

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Originally posted by r1_pete

quote:

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Originally posted by CosKev3
If there are bids on a item they can't end the auction within 24 hours of the end time.

Before that you just get the option to cancel bids and end the auction.

quote:

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Originally posted by r1_pete
He's a dealer and ended it because there was an error

If you really want it, no harm in dropping him a line to see if you can buy it, tell him you were watching it with the intention of bidding and lost broadband for a couple of days.....

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Did you read the first post?Fully.............

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Clearly not

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Regardless of what ebay allows, there is nothing ebay can do to force the seller to sell the item, even if you are the highest bidder at auction end.


Let it go,. ....

any listing can be ended up to 12h before auction end!!

if the item has received bids, those bids can be cancelled from the seller and than the auction ended.



its common to do so nowadays:

ebay has increased their fees.


thats why professional and / or private sellers often list an auction starting with 1pound, avoiding any (high) fees for the options "reserve price" and "buy now"

so sellers will push the price in an expected region with their family or friends accounts

if nobody "real" is bidding, those listings would end "as sold" with the ebay sales-charges of 10% being applied.

thats why those sellers are ending the auctions early, avoiding paying those charges.

common procedure nowadays. but you need to pay attention that the last (highest) bid before cancelling the bids and ending the auction should be from a friends / family account:


recnetly a german court felt the following decision:

Ebay sellers can not just stop because they want to sell their goods elsewhere. This has been decided by the Bundesgerichtshof (reference VIII ZR 42/14). Although one may end the auction early, automatically the last bidder with highest bid gets the item.

here the wording of the court-decision (i was too lazy for translating it correctly, so i used mr. google´s translation tool):


In the specific case involved a Ebay seller who had a used VW Passat offered and set as the minimum bid one euro. Shortly thereafter, a prospect actually offered a euro. A few hours later the seller stopped the auction early. He informed the bidders via e-mail that he had found a buyer outside of the auction. Who would be willing to pay 4200 euros for the car.

The Bidder did not want to put up with that. He sued for damages. The VW Passat, he argued, would have had a market value of € 5250. This amount he called a minus one euro, which he had commanded - and rightly so, as now, the judges. Between the bidder and the seller, the Supreme Court, an effective sales contract had been concluded. Because the seller the car could not deliver, he must compensate the bidder.



[Edited on 16/1/15 by alfas]

Thanks for all your replies. I think I need to be a bit more 'streetwise' when dealing with ebay!

As I said, the seller said it has gone, so I have lost that one. I should have phoned him as soon as I saw it and tried to buy it directly .

Fatgadget - I have not driven a 1.0litre Sunbeam - by the way they were 930cc and not 850cc, 80cc makes all the difference! But I had an Imp thirty (!) years ago and really loved it. Its revvy engine made the A series and similar seem hopelessly lumpen.

02GF74 - I have 'let it go' and will look out for another one, but they don't come up very often.

[Edited on 16/1/15 by softfeet]

[Edited on 17/1/15 by softfeet]

If you see ebay sellers performing there antics contrary to e-bay rules, report them to ebay,
Without the rules, the whole ethos of ebay has no point, if you cant trust the feedback to at least some extent you might as well trow your money away.

quote:

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Originally posted by K13JOB
If you see ebay sellers performing there antics contrary to e-bay rules, report them to ebay,
Without the rules, the whole ethos of ebay has no point, if you cant trust the feedback to at least some extent you might as well trow your money away.

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quote:

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Originally posted by alfas

quote:

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Originally posted by K13JOB
If you see ebay sellers performing there antics contrary to e-bay rules, report them to ebay,
Without the rules, the whole ethos of ebay has no point, if you cant trust the feedback to at least some extent you might as well trow your money away.

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i do not know anybody within my family, mates, friends, who is using ebay according to the rules.


the times for getting a bargain via ebay are rare, as you will hardly find any geniune sellers....

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IMO a geniune seller is one who isnt manipulating, in any way, the auction.