eBay winning bid but wanted to cancel, seller agrees but no action.

OK this is the flip side of this discussion I guess.

I put a bid in on a US ebay auction a week ago did my normal thing and put in my max comfortable bid, but was pip'd in the last hours and decided to stretch my budget and upp'd my bid in the last minutes to win by $10USD (my ebay app woke me up at 4am Saturday with the 15min warning and I added a new max of $100USD on top of my previous and it basically jump up to that amount). The thing is I did not realise at the time that my new bid plus shipping took the price AUD over $1000, when I went to pay for the item immediately as I always do and Paypal had another $170USD for import and duties. This took what I had thought was going to total a little under $1400AUD to just over $1700AUD .. and I simply did not have that money available to make payment. I also honestly would not have bid had I been aware of that implication. Now when I placed my first bid I definitely saw a note with the shipping that said something like the duties and fees were included and did not see any notice when I placed the newer bid that they may then be additional. I don't blame the seller, but rather myself / eBay for not being aware .. and 4am is not a good time to spontaneously add $100USD.

I have never cancelled a bid before, and I know it is a 'contract' but I was already pushing my self financially with that last bid already, and really didn't have the money to send. I thought it over all day and then I wrote to the seller and told him that I had not expected that cost (and that I knew it was not his fault) and the options were I could not pay for it unless he waited over a week for my next paycheck or we cancel it. His reply was almost immediate and brief ' either way is fine you choose' so I emailed back and asked for it to be cancelled (said my thankyous and apologies again and pointed out there were other close bidders and he should realist and would likely get the same value) now 3 days later he has not cancelled the auction, and has not re listed another. I shot him an email last night again thanking him for offering to cancel and a link to ebays instructions on how to do it. But today still no change (remember his days are our nights so he had that email all 'day').

What should I do now? Is there a reason for the delay. Has he changed his mind and is he going to wait until it has been a week and then make me pay .. should I email PayPal before then as I have the conversation via email where he said its fine you choose?

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Comments

  • +4

    I wouldn't stress. Morally, the seller has acknowledged they are happy to go with your choice. Worst case scenario, you get an unpaid item strike - I believe you need two before sellers can start preventing you from bidding.

    • Morally doesn't help if he changes his mind. I guess I'm concerned he will wait a week then email me saying you said you'd pay in a week so now pay. So I'm kicking myself I made that statement I should have just asked to cancel it flat out and kept it brief.

      • Which is why I gave the worse case scenario for a unpaid item strike.

        Let's be honest, this is probably a irregular seller over in the USA. Even if the thought of litigation was a though, someone from the states isn't going to chase you for non-payment.

        The moral comment was more so you don't feel bad for stuffing the guy around.

      • Don't worry too much about non-payments. What would most likely happen, as mentioned, is an unpaid item strike.
        There are 2 possible reasons for the seller not cancelling the transaction:
        1) They do not know / can't be bothered to cancel it.
        2) Because they know that it is risky to cancel the transaction.

        An elaboration of the 2nd reason:
        a) If the seller just ignores the transaction (and files for an unpaid item strike), then YOU the buyer will get penalised.
        b) If the seller "cancels" the transaction and selects "buyer request to cancel transaction", you the buyer will receive an email asking if you requested to cancel. If you select "no", then ebay counts it as a strike against the seller. Therefore, most sellers would rather file an unpaid item as opposed to cancelling a transaction.

  • +1

    its a slow process
    don't worry , if he has agreed its all good
    I have people cancel on me all the time
    its frustrating as a seller but there's no point fighting with the buyer.
    You might get a strike as mentioned.

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