The MLP Arena
TCB => Trader & Shipping Support => Topic started by: tootie_tails on April 16, 2012, 12:19:56 PM
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I'm so disappointed. I was watching a really hard to find item and all of a sudden it had been ended. I thought it was weird and checked it out, yep, seller had cancelled all bids and ended it early.
You know how when this happens it's always a nirvana pony or something, never a Peachy or a Lemondrop...?
Well this was just the same but with Fairy Tail birds... a seller had a few of them listed and most of them were the typical common ones you find in auctions. But one was a hard to find fluffy tummy variant bird.
It has been on my wantlist for years. They don't pop up that often in the first place and when they do they are usually playworn. So the rare occasion when a decent one shows up it's obviously of great interest to collectors.
I contacted the seller and asked about it, hoping it was just she had find out the rarity of it and was going to relist it to a higher price or something. Wishful thinking.. :huh:
She didn't bother to reply at all so I guess that means the bird is gone.
I'm just so peeved. There are a few things on my wantlist, ponies and other similar toys, that has been there for ages, so that I seriously wonder if it's even *possible* to acquire them in a normal fair way. It seems whenever one of them is listed somewhere, it soon has a bin added to it or it's ended early because 'the dog ate it'.............
Moving to TS :) OL1
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Grrrrrr......I feel your pain! I totally hate seeing this...
I just always think its silly by both the seller and the buyer...the buyer will never be able to brag about their exclusive/rare item because everyone will know they are the person who cheated the system and the seller is a fool for not letting the auction run on an item which has value. If I was selling something I didnt know much about and someone asked me to end the auction for a certain price...you would be guaranteed this would make me realise I had something that had value and I would let the auction run. So basically the seller doesnt get the same money they should have [ha ha] and the buyer has to secretly love their item and not brag [ha ha x 2]
Sorry you missed out tootie tails... :hug:
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So stupid and unfair :(
I am really sorry for you. And I find it not ok she didn't even respond to your pn.
Hugs for you :hug:
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Hate it when that happens! I am guessing it is possible that someone may have offered her a buy it now price and she accepted. She may have been tempted by that if it was a high offer and she did not know it was worth that much. It is bad that she did not reply to your message!
Or...
There could be personal reasons why she cancelled and she may not have been on to reply to you.
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On our local auction/trading site, you're not allowed to close the auction once there's been a bid. I think ebay should have the same rule.
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On our local auction/trading site, you're not allowed to close the auction once there's been a bid. I think ebay should have the same rule.
I think ebay does have that rule...the problem is that the option in case the item is damaged or lost needs to be allowed in genuine cases of loss or damage so a seller can cancel an auction...and people simply abuse this system to cancel auction and claim the "item is no longer available"...even if its because they are simply selling it outside ebay rather than have lost or had the item damaged.
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I seriously hate this kind of thing :mad: so irritating when sellers do that :throw:
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I think ebay does have that rule...the problem is that the option in case the item is damaged or lost needs to be allowed in genuine cases of loss or damage so a seller can cancel an auction...and people simply abuse this system to cancel auction and claim the "item is no longer available"...even if its because they are simply selling it outside ebay rather than have lost or had the item damaged.
I was wondering how sellers get away with closing an auction once there are bids. I've never tried to close or end auctions early as a seller. I've also had ebay end auctions early in the case of bad sellers.
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I think ebay does have that rule...the problem is that the option in case the item is damaged or lost needs to be allowed in genuine cases of loss or damage so a seller can cancel an auction...and people simply abuse this system to cancel auction and claim the "item is no longer available"...even if its because they are simply selling it outside ebay rather than have lost or had the item damaged.
I was wondering how sellers get away with closing an auction once there are bids. I've never tried to close or end auctions early as a seller. I've also had ebay end auctions early in the case of bad sellers.
I think it's just a product of eBay being so huge that unless a prospective bidder reports an auction for being suspicious, eBay staff cannot possibly check up on every cancelled auction because that's the only thing they would be doing. Not that they shouldn't have a staff group dedicated to this, but they aim for a pretty small customer service staff to eBay user population ratio from what I can tell.
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Wow, that sucks !! Never happened to me so far since I use Ebay, but a few days ago I did cancel an auction because someone made me an offer, but I would NEVER cancel the auction if it had bids ! It's just unfair ! :(
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If you want to PM me the name of the seller, you can. You deserve at least a polite response to your inquiry as to why your bid was cancelled.
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I'm sorry that happened to you! I hope you're able to discover why the auction was ended early. :(
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Thank you everyone!
I agree it's strange ebay still allow sellers to do this!
Just like the New Zealand auction site, our local Swedish auction site does not allow it either. As soon as there are bids, it's no longer possible to end the auction.
If there is a case of item having been ruined or lost during the auction time, the seller will have to own up and work it out with the high bidder at the end of the auction.
Mind you, it's always possible for the seller to add information to the the description, and also possible for the bidders to retract their bid based on the added information.
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It seems shady. All I can think is that if that's how a seller behaves, then I do not want their product anyway. :/
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Oh this is one of my pet peeves! I can't stand when this happens. :( I've been selling a lot of things on eBay to help bring in some extra cash and I've had so many people ask me to end auctions and give me low ball offers. (nothing pony related so far) I was selling two soft sculpt cabbage patch kids and this person messaged me wanting me to end my auction early and they'd pay me $40 for both. Do they really think I'm that dumb?! When I politely told them I never ended auctions early, they got very rude. I ended up selling both dolls for over $100.
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I've never had it happen to me but I can imagine it sucks.
Last time I sold something on ebay I had 5 items in total up for auction.
I received offers on 3 of those items, but I politely declined each one.
All 3 items ended up selling for less than what I had been offered lol
I'm sure there is a lesson here somewhere...
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Good to hear that you stuck to your guns, Sebby, and let the auctions run their course. :)
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I hate when this happens too :( Yes there are are some who have genuine reasons for doing this, but all too often its because someone else asked if they could BIN *sigh* the seller should have at least responded, but when there is something shady going on a lot of the time they dont bother even to make up an excuse
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Sorry this happened to you tootie_tails. Sometimes people ask for a buy it now because they need the item right away. I had someone offer me more than what I was asking because she was going on vacation & needed the items before she left. I was happy to accept since I thought the offers were reasonable. But I do agree that sellers should post a buy it now price instead of just simply ending an auction.
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Just updating this for reference as the person who did it came out and admitted it.
She is a member on the arena, it's all in this thread in off topic:
http://mlparena.com/mlp/index.php/topic,294291.0.html (http://mlparena.com/mlp/index.php/topic,294291.0.html)
:huh:
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I am sorry you found out it was a member here. Nobody likes it to happen to them and nobody likes to find out that they know who did it, especially if it's something we really want.
The only advice I can offer is to report the seller and bring it to other members attention, which you have.
I do hope you can find another bird someday and hopefully not let this ruin the search for it.
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The buyer didn't do anything to anyone. She's free to make an offer to anyone for any item if she wants to. She just beat you to the punch.
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The buyer didn't do anything to anyone. She's free to make an offer to anyone for any item if she wants to. She just beat you to the punch.
It's against EBAY TOS to make a deal off Ebay and avoid fees.
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The buyer didn't do anything to anyone. She's free to make an offer to anyone for any item if she wants to. She just beat you to the punch.
It's against EBAY TOS to make a deal of Ebay and avoid fees.
And it has been frowned upon here as long as I can remember.
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The buyer didn't do anything to anyone. She's free to make an offer to anyone for any item if she wants to. She just beat you to the punch.
I have to disagree with this. It is not a good buying or selling practice to get into. It is not only frowned upon in some communities, it is also somewhat against ebay policy to contact a seller and ask them to sell the item off ebay. There are exceptions with this policy of course, but only if they are already the high bidder on the item are they allowed to contact the seller to request this. The seller then can either honor their request or let the auction run it's course as it should to be fair to all parties.
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Just because there are no bids on an item doesn't mean there are not people planning to bid. Many people wait until the auction is nearing its end to bid, so lots of auctions will run with no bids until the last day, last hours, or even last seconds. "No bids on an auction" is no excuse to swoop in and make an offer.
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Yeah.. It isn't about etiquette alone. It's about rules too.
Policy overview We don't allow our members to use eBay to contact each other to make offers to buy or sell items outside of eBay. Also, members can't use information obtained from eBay to contact each other about buying or selling outside of eBay.
If you receive an offer to buy or sell outside eBay, please report it (http://ocs.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ContactCS&ref=1).
Make sure you follow these guidelines. If you don't, you may be subject to a range of actions, including limits of your buying and selling privileges and suspension of your account.
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Personally, I think the seller wasn't too smart to accept the offer. I've had this happen in the past, where a tempting "buy it now offline" offer comes in on a pony. I always politely decline and invite them to bid on the active auction. EVERY TIME the auction had ended with a higher value than what I was offered offline.
However, what is done is done. I read the other thread from the offending buyer, and she was desperate for the item. I'm not saying it is right, but I hope she is allowed to enjoy her completed set in peace because I'm happy for her that she is so thrilled with her set.
Amy
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Thanks for updating, tootie_tails! I really hope you find your Birdie soon!
The Trader List has now been updated... :(
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I'm sorry to hear you missed out on your Fairy Tail bird, hun. :(
It's been interesting to read the opinions on here about listings ending early. I'd never really thought about the harm done to other watchers of the auction, and it made me feel really sad! :(
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Ebay rules are only there so that they can collect fees. Ebay rules also allows buyers to bid on 10 items and then cancel whenever they want. So yeah, as soon as they get rid of that we can all treat it like a reputable auction website.
What auction house would let someone bid and then cancel?!?!
No one. Plus, Ebay's rules isn't the end all be all to how auctions are supposed to be run. The rules are in place only to be certain that they make as much money as possible.
I think people are being too hard on the seller and buyer. It's not much different than losing a pony because you got outbid. There was another thread on this forum about how snipers are flaky bidders and blah blah blah.
The fact of the matter is, no one likes to miss out on an item. But it happens.
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If you take a look at the auction, there were bids that were cancelled by the seller. There's no timestamp, so it's hard to determine when they were done, but....
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RPB, this has been frowned upon in this community for several years, and it's against ebay rules. Plain and simple.
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RPB, that's a selfish attitude to take. The rules are there to be followed and anyone who doesn't want to abide by them shouldn't use the website, plain and simple.
I hope in the future that the buyer and seller involved in this debacle take a moment to consider the ramifications of what they are doing, should they ever choose to do it again.
Sad event.
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Well the point here is that the behaviour of asking for bins like that has been frowned upon around here, like someone said, that is the way it has been for years.
It used to be that most people here hated that, and there was like an agreement between people here *not* to do that.
But maybe that simply has changed over time?
Because I don't really see the same disappointment and rage towards it around here any more.
Also, while it used to be *officially* unacceptable here, as in moderators would state harshly 'please be aware it is extremly frowned upon around here' or something like that, it is now acceptable enough for moderators to officially congratulate the member who did it.
So I'm guessing this is an effect of the arena having changed a lot the last few years.
The more tight knit community of friends with similar interests and similar values, that is gone... The member base is now a melting pot of different people with different reasons for being here, different goals, different attitudes towards collecting and other collectors.
So maybe we are now a minority, the people who dislike the asking for bins. If most people here don't mind or don't really care anymore, then it's a free for all I guess. I mean it will come to a point where the few people still trying to uphold the agreement will only keep losing out when all the others "beat each other to the punch". So if that is the case I might just have to give in and adjust.
And that is what I meant when I said this in the original post starting this thread:
I'm just so peeved. There are a few things on my wantlist, ponies and other similar toys, that has been there for ages, so that I seriously wonder if it's even *possible* to acquire them in a normal fair way. It seems whenever one of them is listed somewhere, it soon has a bin added to it or it's ended early because 'the dog ate it'.............
I'm trying to imagine myself asking a seller for a low bin on a htf doll, pony, or other toy on my wantlist, posting a brag here on the arena when I receive it, random members including moderators replying to it and congratulating me and commenting on how cute the toy is - somehow I can not really see that happening...
So, will I eventually have to join the dark side to be able to acquire those last few items on my list? I really hope not! :huh: Not quite ready for that...
Anyway thanks to everyone who replied, I really appriciate it, whether or not we think the same about this.
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Also, while it used to be *officially* unacceptable here, as in moderators would state harshly 'please be aware it is extremly frowned upon around here' or something like that, it is now acceptable enough for moderators to officially congratulate the member who did it.
So I'm guessing this is an effect of the arena having changed a lot the last few years.
The more tight knit community of friends with similar interests and similar values, that is gone... The member base is now a melting pot of different people with different reasons for being here, different goals, different attitudes towards collecting and other collectors.
So maybe we are now a minority, the people who dislike the asking for bins. If most people here don't mind or don't really care anymore, then it's a free for all I guess. I mean it will come to a point where the few people still trying to uphold the agreement will only keep losing out when all the others "beat each other to the punch". So if that is the case I might just have to give in and adjust.
And that is what I meant when I said this in the original post starting this thread:
I'm just so peeved. There are a few things on my wantlist, ponies and other similar toys, that has been there for ages, so that I seriously wonder if it's even *possible* to acquire them in a normal fair way. It seems whenever one of them is listed somewhere, it soon has a bin added to it or it's ended early because 'the dog ate it'.............
I'm trying to imagine myself asking a seller for a low bin on a htf doll, pony, or other toy on my wantlist, posting a brag here on the arena when I receive it, random members including moderators replying to it and congratulating me and commenting on how cute the toy is - somehow I can not really see that happening...
So, will I eventually have to join the dark side to be able to acquire those last few items on my list? I really hope not! :huh: Not quite ready for that...
Anyway thanks to everyone who replied, I really appriciate it, whether or not we think the same about this.
I'm so sorry that this happened to you, because it IS against ebay policy to cancel bids on an auction to sell outside of ebay and quite underhanded of both seller and buyer, but are you sure that the mods and members congratulating the buyer even realized what has actually happened here? Maybe they haven't seen this thread and only seen the one in off topic..
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tootie_tails, I think you've made your point and I see no reason for you to continue carrying on in such a way. I understand that you are disappointed but what's done is done and all we can do is move forward from here.
You are correct in that asking for BINs on running auctions is frowned upon here at the Arena and discouraged. However, you can't really expect our mods to publicly tear into someone for one offense. People make mistakes and shouldn't be humiliated and painted in a poor light because of it. If the behavior were to become chronic that would be a different story as it has been in the past.
Next time politely bring it to a mod's attention and we will take care of it without causing a public spectacle.
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Tootie, we have been saying this for YEARS until we are blue in the face and people ignore us and do what they please.
We cannot sit on people, or physically stop them from doing so, not matter how much you bully my mod team in PMs.
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tootie_tails, I think you've made your point and I see no reason for you to continue carrying on in such a way. I understand that you are disappointed but what's done is done and all we can do is move forward from here.
You are correct in that asking for BINs on running auctions is frowned upon here at the Arena and discouraged. However, you can't really expect our mods to publicly tear into someone for one offense. People make mistakes and shouldn't be humiliated and painted in a poor light because of it. If the behavior were to become chronic that would be a different story as it has been in the past.
Next time politely bring it to a mod's attention and we will take care of it without causing a public spectacle.
My point was to show that I have accepted this and will move on.
I wanted to post my thoughts on it to sum it up, and to explain why I'm even debating to start asking for bins myself. It would be really strange otherwise, wouldn't it? if I started doing that just like that after speaking against it for years.
I in no way expect you mods to "publicly tear into someone". Again, that is just why I posted this, to state that while I do not like your your stance, I *accept* it.
And yes, I did talk to a mod about it, privately, first.
Tootie, we have been saying this for YEARS until we are blue in the face and people ignore us and do what they please.
We cannot sit on people, or physically stop them from doing so, not matter how much you bully my mod team in PMs.
Those are harsh words...
You are the head moderator of the arena, and you are stating that I "bully" your mod team to make you stop people from doing this.
I will post the two pm:s I sent about the buyer bragging about her bin so people can see what you think of as "me bullying":
Hi.
I have to say I'm disappointed. When you replied and congratulated that member, did you realize they got the item in question by asking for a bin? resulting in the seller removing other peoples bids and ending the auction early.
While it is impossible for the arena to stop people from doing that I thought you would at least not *encourage* it. Asking for bins has always been frowned upon around here. Or has that changed?
When you replied like you did, and as a moderator, of course she is taking it as confirmation it's ok to ask for bins like she did.
I hope you can explain this...........
Thanks
(then the moderator replied, not sure if it's allowed to post that so I will leave that out.)
Well if you did not want to encourage it you could at least have refrained from posting in the thread. You and other mods too. (I saw now another mod has replied as well, as if it was perfectly ok to do what this member did).
The staff posting in that thread, not having a problem with it, the message you are giving this member and other members is it's ok to ask for bins!
If I got a rare item from a bin like that and bragged on the arena, would you post and congratulate me too? :huh:
You are right though in that offtopic is not a good place for discussing it, I will post her user name for reference in the original thread instead.
sad, tootie
That's it. The "bullying". :|
Any communication I have with the mods on the arena, I'm happy to post it publically to show what has been said.
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Forgive me for intruding, but if, like me, said Mods saw nothing but the original Arena post, how would they have had any way of knowing the buyer had acquired the bird through a BIN/private sale/whatever? It wasn't clearly part of the original thread, at least I never saw it mentioned until later. All it said was that they had completed a collection, and were starting a website. Then there was the very typical round of "congrats" posts.
Most of the Arena members (unless I'm way off base) don't collect or follow Fairy Tails birds/auctions, and would not have seen the original ebay listing.
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You see, the buyer admitted it herself, in her brag thread. That is how we all knew it. (and that has been mentioned in this thread, including link to that thread). I also talked to them in pm:s as qouted here.
And in any case, I have accepted their stance about bins.
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Baby Sugarberry has a very valid point. I am not sure if you realize how many posts have to be read a day by one single or several Mods in one single forum. It was a Brag thread so who would of thought anything different except that it was a brag.
But like I said before I am not sure what else there was to do except report it to ebay and make a public statement in TS. Which you did. It is not a bannable offense if that what you were seeking. We can't control what happens on ebay.
I know for a fact you were issued an apology. So I do not see the need to keep dragging that about in here. I also don't like people speaking for me and by saying you have accepted "our stance" on the issue is well speaking for me. I will speak now though and say I am strongly against asking seller's to end items early. Plain and Simple but I have to answer concerns in a professional manner and keep the peace.
*sigh* We cannot control what other's do Tootie, what happened is wrong but what more is there to do about it. It was brought to our attention and the member's. I just don't see the need for a personal attack on the Mod team.
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And in any case, I have accepted their stance about bins.
You have accepted nothing because there is nothing to accept. I stated in my previous post that the Arena does NOT agree with buyers asking sellers to end auctions early. We share the same stance. The difference is that we understand that mistakes are made and choose to handle it quietly rather than demonize a member who maybe didn't realize they were doing something wrong.
You've gotten your apology and been offered an explanation but it seems you prefer to argue. This thread has obviously served it's purpose and is no longer constructive or helpful.
If you have any further questions please take it up with a site admin.
And with that this thread is locked.