New eBay Experience

[mygoose101]

Wanted to pass this along just to see if others have experienced this. Been buying/selling on eBay for years. Yes eBay has it's ups and downs but overall I still enjoy it.

I bid/bought a 81B Coke machine for $3,000. Older restoration but overall looked nice in the photos and I was happy with the deal. It was in one State over from me so shipping would have been reasonable. Seller and I made contact via phone right after auction ended. He had 7 feedbacks and had a Paypal account but told me he signed up for it years ago so he wasn't really sure how exactly it worked. I have heard that before and was fine with it. I then offered to mail either a money order or personal check. He said a check would be fine but would wait for it to clear. 3 days later he said he received the check so to wait a couple of more days to clear. A couple hours later I receive a e-mail from eBay saying the auction was cancelled. Something about seller not having my proper street address. I called him asking what had happened and he said he cancelled the auction to avoid his seller fee's but still had every intention of selling me the machine.

First, I had no idea you could do this as a seller after the auction was over with a winner bidder. I know you can end a auction during but not after a deal was made. It just seemed too easy and eBay never contacted me asking me that I wanted to cancel also. So now he still has the machine, my check and soon to be my money, $3,000 of it and I no longer have a binding contract through eBay and no buyer protection because we didn't use Paypal.

This really bothered me and I didn't want to worry about something going south so I stopped payment on my check, a $30 investment. I contacted him after telling him what I did and that I was disappointed of him cancelling the auction so he could save his eBay fee's. I explained it left me in a very vulnerable position  and it was a risk that I was not willing to take. In my dealing with him I honestly didn't think he was up to no good but I had 3000 reasons to stop payment on my check. He said he understood and we chatted about it for a few minutes and that was that.

[sodahunter]

I canceled an ebay auction once, after the buyer informed me it could be done....but this was after he picked up and paid for the item.  In my case, the seller (me) canceled the bid and (he) the buyer had to contact ebay and agree to cancel the bid.  It worked out as the transaction was done face to face and with cash.  I think you did the right thing in canceling the check.  I bet if you called the seller and told him you were coming for the machine and could pay in cash, you could salvage the deal.

[mygoose101]

He told me he was disappointed the machine didn't sell for more and said not paying the $300 in fee's would help which I understand. He didn't leave himself much protection starting the auction at $2,900 with no reserve. Had he informed me prior what he wanted to do I would have worked with him, like once the machine was in either my or my shipper possession. I told him I still wanted the machine for my bid price if we could do it in a way that wouldn't put me at risk and there is a few ways we could go. He said he would think about it and let me know. At this point either way is fine with me.

[ajf5577]

That's why I like PayPal in cases like this. You did the right thing, and the deal may come through anyway.

[cohammer]

The only experience I had simular to that , I won an auction on a sign , contacted be ebay to pay now and did so . A few days later the guy called me and requested more money or the deal was off . I did get my money back but when checking his feed back it was only 5 so he just closed it out .

[Creighton]

Suggested on the Vintage Drum forum. When you bid also put a watch listing flag.
Creighton