1/5th of auctions 'my kid bid please cancel'. *headdesk* UPDATE!

[Thunderwing]

So the auction ended, and the buyer has not paid. Unpaid item dispute opened on Nov 13th.

[Haruna]

I sell a modest amount of stuff on Ebay, and I've had the "my kid bid on this" excuse, too. Strangely enough, I've also had the "no one bid on this" excuse. A guy bid on one of our vintage Polly Pockets and then said it was an Ebay error or something. True, the rest of the stuff he had bought recently had been computer parts, so it seemed unlikely he bid on it himself. But it had to have been someone in his family/house.

Ok...so I feel like I just got hit with a blast of karma. I made an earlier post about how I haven't believed people that told me this and that it has never happened to me. Well it literally just happened to me!!!! My 2 year old just bid on an ebay pony!! I left for one second because I was putting up my big brother ponies that she had gotten into and then when I got back she had bid on a pony!!!

I feel so silly! And I don't even want to send a message because now I know they won't believe me! I don't know...I guess I might have to change my attitude after this. I'm sure not all of them are telling the truth but it just happened to me.

I hope that if you do win that auction, it's not an expensive pony!

[TickleMePink]

Ok...so I feel like I just got hit with a blast of karma. I made an earlier post about how I haven't believed people that told me this and that it has never happened to me. Well it literally just happened to me!!!! My 2 year old just bid on an ebay pony!! I left for one second because I was putting up my big brother ponies that she had gotten into and then when I got back she had bid on a pony!!!

I feel so silly! And I don't even want to send a message because now I know they won't believe me! I don't know...I guess I might have to change my attitude after this. I'm sure not all of them are telling the truth but it just happened to me.

If your kid did that, I think it's up to you to follow the auction up and pay for the item should you 'win' it.  That's not fair to the seller, ever, and you can always use it as a lesson for your kid.  When the pony comes in, it gets put UP.  She doesn't get the pony until she 'works' for the money of your's she spent.  Extra chores maybe until she can earn the pony herself.  Or, you can get the pony up and resale it to someone else, and make her pack the pony up when it sells.  Your decision of course, but that's what my parents would've done had ebay been around to teach me a good lesson about that. 

I think that´s a great strategy, but maybe not for a 2 year old? They don´t understand the concept of buying or money. Should she win the auction I say it´s just to bite the bullet and buy the pony. But not make the kid pay. It´s the adults mistake for not logging out, not the 2 year olds. Easy mistake to make :-)

[Artemesia's Garden]

I just had someone saying they put in the wrong amount and saying they "don't want to pay" The auction for a vintage Valentino dress and it only closed at around £20.  I am hoping she doesn't leave me a negative feedback. She already sent me two replies saying she doesn't want to pay so I opened an unpaid item case. Annoying but I made 60 listings recently so I suppose I should expect a few bad apples.

[Sarah-Bee]

Kid, sister, dog... had all the excuses!

Some of them may actually have been a kid bidding. Lesson 1, don't leave your ebay open for your kid to use. Lesson 2, if you didn't and they hacked it make them pay for the things out of their pocket money to show them the consequences!

The dog I mentioned obviously didn't bid but the sister did. I don't buy that for one second.

I'm sick of it too.

[Radha]

 I didn't know you could cancel someone's bid without a big to-do!  I just had someone contact me about a bait auction saying they 'didn't mean to bid' on it.  And then apparently when I wasn't glued to my computer, they felt the need to send another message (this is all with the past couple of hours, mind you) saying 'Hey I didn't mean to bid on this'.  I don't want to deal with the drama but part of me wants to write back "Then why did you?".   

Post Merge: November 19, 2014, 11:23:08 AM

  Figured out how to cancel it and then blocked her.    It actually wasn't hard, so at least there's that.

[fingerpaints]

This is one of the reasons I no longer sell on ebay. I had so many messages claiming a child had bid, that they wanted the item for a terminally ill child so I should pull the listing & relist at a cheap BIN for them, using hospital as an excuse not to pay etc.

I never had those problems as a seller when you could leave a neg feedback. I don't think a seller should be able to leave a retaliation negative, but a lot of buyers deserve a negative at times.

[silverdawn]

I love the "unexpected bill" excuse.  Ticks me off to no end.  Even if it is true, if a $15-25 item is going to make or break your "bill", maybe consider your finances *before* you bid.  Cause I'm telling you, my house could burn down to the ground, my car could get demolished, and I could get fired, all at the same time and I could STILL pay for current auctions.  (I certainly wouldn't be buying again for awhile though!) *sigh*  You don't have to be wealthy to be smart with your money.   [end rant]

Silverdawn

[Tiggums6]

 Ha! I just got back from a quick trip to see that an ended auction had a question on it ...they wanted me to cancel their bid ($4 lol) as they had a lot arrived with the same pony in it. Sheesh. $4. Unbelievable. Anyways, someone else bid and won for $4.50 before I could reply so I'll post their pony with a bonus 50 cents

[squishy turdl]

People often act ridiculously on ebay, I think we can all agree.

I like to think what I bid on or what happens is my responsibilty, once I bid on a minty G1 pony with her ribbon & brush and accidentally bid 200 instead of 20.. (I did it from my phone, sometimes it makes mistakes.. have since learnt not to do it). Thank goodness the seller wasn't shill bidding on the item and it didnt really go over to much.

Lesson learned, very careful with ebay bids since.


Back to the point, I think you're right in your actions. I don't think accepting to cancel bids unless there is a very good reason should be normal practice, and you are most definitely in the right.

[bluerose9978]

Apparently one in four people shop online under the influence. So a lot of them could be doing this, not remembering they bid and blaming their kids for their conundrum.

[Tiggums6]

Ha! Bluerose, that is how i ended up with a very expensive pony once a bid was retracted!

[Loa]

Ha! Bluerose, that is how i ended up with a very expensive pony once a bid was retracted!

Oh is THAT your story?

[Tiggums6]

Ha! Bluerose, that is how i ended up with a very expensive pony once a bid was retracted!

Oh is THAT your story?

Puh-leaase....gimme a break mom

[ButtercreamDream]

I actually did have something like that happen to me once, but I paid for the auction because it was my mistake.  It wasn't the same thing, but I put 1 too many zeros in my max bid, and I guess someone else really wanted it.  The auction went $250+ over the $100 max bid I meant to place. 

I know people who've used that exact excuse though, and you're right, it's never actually their kids, they just had buyers remorse.