Did anyone get this? It was on Ebay and I was bidding...but guy ended it

[Ltransam]

As I said I learned Again .

Curtis .
I know Business is Business !!!   But As its been said The Seller Dose What He wants Even Know It was offered on E-bay For EVERYONE to Bid On .

You Said your Guy Gave You $3800 To Play With Could i IF i wanted to went Higher then that YEP!!!      If I had Wanted To !!!     But that's the Difference I never Got the Chance !!!  But I can Live without It. And YES your a Very Positive Person around Here And Yes You Have Help with your Knowledge .As Many Other here have done .Including ME helping you a couple times ..

Again It's more about the seller I Fell

But I'm Sure You'll Do it Right 

As I would Have put in the garage with the rest of the stuff i don't do anything with .

[globalcompressors]

Goes back to what I keep saying...you People just don't get it. The SELLER can ask for whatever price they want or sell to
anyone they wish... yet, you Guys will continue to bash people and WHINE like little girls, because you didn't get your way.

Good job Curtis.

[davethebirdman]

I would hate for this post to end up like a couple previously. I have been a seller in the past and someone has made an offer that I have thought could not be beat and jumped at it.
Patricularly when you take into account eBay fees and PayPal fees on top and the fact that the bids don't come til the end. Wrong I know but a calculated guess on my part. At the end of the day as the seller you want the best you can get. Some would say "you've got no balls" and I think  you'd be absolutely right. But I'd rather have no balls and cash in my pocket than balls and feeling regret that I have "given" something away. 

As the buyer you want the lowest you can get. You're not going to turn round to a seller and say, you sold that too cheap here's a couple of 100 dollars more..

I'm sure Curtis will turn that machine into something of real beauty and if we were all honest I don't think many of would have would have bid as much as he offered. I saw it when it first came on and thought that  i would go that way. It is extremely frustrating to see the occasional odd piece disappear when you're ready to throw your bid on at the end thinking you're going to get it for a bargain. You watch it for a week. Checking in regular and then it goes. I tend to put a bid on "early doors" so they can see who is interested.

Chin up chaps.... They'll be another old  girl along any minute.

Dave

[halehouse]

I see your points. It's the same when someone has something on CL, agree to a price and say they'll hold it for a day, then sell to somebody who came that day or offered more. Plenty of people complain about that too, but it's no different. You win some you lose some I guess.

[aspbear]

I agree that business is business and this really goes to the intergrity of the seller.  I dont believe it is whining when someone places an item on ebay in an open auction format and then turns around and sells the item before the auction ends.  I sale some items on ebay and have had offers to take items down, I have never done that and I would say that 90 to 95 percent of the time it brought more than the person was offering.

Now I am not a fan of ebay or their fee's but do you think that the guy took the item down and then told ebay what he sold it for and paid their fee's.  That is fraud if he used their site to sell the item and then did not pay the fee's that is why ebay keeps placing more and more restrictions on buyers.

Finally, these things are not worth losing sleep over and it is sure not worth hard feelings over a piece of metal.

[halehouse]

I agree that business is business and this really goes to the intergrity of the seller.  I dont believe it is whining when someone places an item on ebay in an open auction format and then turns around and sells the item before the auction ends.  I sale some items on ebay and have had offers to take items down, I have never done that and I would say that 90 to 95 percent of the time it brought more than the person was offering.

Now I am not a fan of ebay or their fee's but do you think that the guy took the item down and then told ebay what he sold it for and paid their fee's.  That is fraud if he used their site to sell the item and then did not pay the fee's that is why ebay keeps placing more and more restrictions on buyers.

Finally, these things are not worth losing sleep over and it is sure not worth hard feelings over a piece of metal.

I agree. That's what I said earlier. The "issue" in my eyes falls more on the part of the seller. If he needs a certain price for it, then list it with a reserve. If you are willing to end it early, then don't list an auction with no reserve. To me, listing with no reserve says you agree to sell to the highest bidder. Isn't that how ebay and other auctions (are supposed to) work?

Of course the seller can ask whatever he wants. I've pointed that out before too. Just because an item is listed for what seems like a lot, doesn't mean he gets it. And if he does, good for him. In this case, if it was started at $200 w/ no reserve, he was saying to the potential buyers, "Here it is at $200. Let it ride."

I think it makes for a good discussion. No hard feelings. I wasn't bidding. It's a discussion of principle.

[Seven181]

Ok, I will chime in on the topic. I was in on this, when it was first listed. I was the high bidder, when it ended. I was not sure what I was going to spend, but figured it would go for $3500-$4000 being rare. I hold no hard feelings toward anyone, Curtis congrats on getting it! This is a business for you and a hobby for me. I don't speak for anyone else, accept myself. This is only a hobby, but I spend what I spend, on this hobby. I see something I want and I try to go get it.

My issue is with Ebay. I don't agree that someone should start a listing and then be able to end it at anytime, unless they clearly say they have it for sale locally and can end, then I understand. This listing did not say that. Now, who knows maybe the guy lets it run and get gets $3500 maybe he gets $10,000. The point is, if you put an item on Ebay, let it run, unless you otherwise state it's for sale outside the bidding format. Congrats on a nice rare item. Who knows if we will ever see another one, but it shows that they are still out there!

Brian

[bcharlton]

I think those of us who are weekend warriors in the restoration hobby need to realize one thing.  Ebay is ebay.  On the positive side, it establishes retail market for the sellers to sell things for realistic values.  The negative side is that, for us "armature" junkers, we are finding amazingly cheap finds are getting more and more scarce.  The average person is a little smarter with regard to what stuff is really worth.  It probubly all washes out in the end.

Curtis is one of the few people who makes his total leaving on his trade.  Most of us just dabble.  He is also very generouse with his help.

(now if he would only call me back so he can pick up his Stoner Pastry machine in my garage)

Just my .02

Brian

[MoonDawg]

       I think it's rather huge and ugly and wouldn't have even placed the $200.00 bid but that's just my opinion.
      At least one our members got it and I really hope he shares pictures of it restored!

[BONOVOX]

I can see everyones point of view on this... and I'll put my 2 cents in I guess....
But like others have said, lets not turn this into a hate post lol

What I read in all of this, is that yes, Memorylane did what he had to do, and at the time of bidding doesnt know who he's up against.
He saw something that he wanted, and made a move that all of us would do if we wanted something enough and/or had the cash to do that. Ebay is Ebay, it is what it is, and no complaining here will change what it is.
I agree with others too that if there is an Ebay listing with no reserve etc... than once 1 bid is placed, it should run to the end, period.  But thats for Ebay to correct, not Memorylane.

In saying that, I do think that the initial reply of Memory Lane could have been a bit nicer, learning that a fellow member here was bidding on it.  Putting up little icons and rubbing it in  by saying early bird gets the worm, is not something I would have done.
Yes, it's a business for him, and I can appreciate that, as Im in business for myself too, in construction, but at the end of the day, he's on a site with 99% of the people on here are customers for  people like him.  So a little bit of a nicer reply would have been in order with regards to Seven181, and then his reasoning which comes off like "screw you guys this is my business" when Im sure its not, rather far from it.

I just think this is a issue more with Ebay, than it is with anyone here on this board.
Lets just say that we agree to disagree

PS, I too think its ugly ... but then again, my wife thinks ALL my machines are ugly lol... so what do I know.  We all cant have the same taste.  For a millionaire fruit store owner, this is his holy grail!