WTF is up with this shady seller?

oddigy

oddigy

CAG Veteran
Please reference the URL:

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=gamebin&sort=4&page=1&rows=200&since=30&rdir=0

Note that the majority of his ended auctions were ended early and had the price changed to 0.01. Is he trying to circumvent eBay fees or something? Could someone please explain to me exactly how something like that would work?

Perhaps someone could be clever enough to watch his currently running auctions like a hawk, and try to snag one of these in the time between when he changes the price to 0.01 and when he ends it... ;) Good luck!
 
[quote name='iheartmetal']i dont see how he can be shady with over 1500 feedback and 99.9% positive[/QUOTE]

...Well, I have a hard spot in my heart for people who list stuff at insane fixed prices

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=62053&item=8216249555

artificially inflating the market value of stuff... ...then try to weasel out of eBay fees somehow, also screwing up the completed auctions listings, I dunno. :\

I'm still wondering what exactly he's doing by changing the prices of all of those to a penny and ending them early.

I guess he's making a killing, since people still bid. :\ I'm just a really big fan of the "start the damn item at what you paid, and let the bidders determine the price." approach. :)
 
maybe he does circumvent the system, but his rating is high. i wouldn't do anything about it unless he/she messed me up somehow or some CAG.
 
[quote name='minos1067']maybe he does circumvent the system, but his rating is high. i wouldn't do anything about it unless he/she messed me up somehow or some CAG.[/QUOTE]

Ok, good point.
Sorry, I'm new here (as you can see) and am trying to get a feel for the types of things you guys post about in here.

Please forgive me. :D

*runs off*
 
Yeah, he's just trying to get around ebay fees. His fixed prices are pretty high and don't always get purchased. So near the end of the auction if he realizes it's not gonna sell, he just changes it to one cent and ends it, in order to pay the minimum listing fee.
 
[quote name='anteis24']Yeah, he's just trying to get around ebay fees. His fixed prices are pretty high and don't always get purchased. So near the end of the auction if he realizes it's not gonna sell, he just changes it to one cent and ends it, in order to pay the minimum listing fee.[/QUOTE]I dunno if that works though. The listing fee is incurred when you submit your auction to be listed in the first place, isn't it? Every time I list a new auction, it tells me what the listing fee is and what my new balance is.
 
[quote name='oddigy']Please reference the URL:

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=gamebin&sort=4&page=1&rows=200&since=30&rdir=0

Note that the majority of his ended auctions were ended early and had the price changed to 0.01. Is he trying to circumvent eBay fees or something? Could someone please explain to me exactly how something like that would work?

Perhaps someone could be clever enough to watch his currently running auctions like a hawk, and try to snag one of these in the time between when he changes the price to 0.01 and when he ends it... ;) Good luck![/QUOTE]

I was going to side with the seller until I realized he ended his listings prematurely after changing the price to 1 cent.

I routinely drop my prices by several dollars and quantities on my fixed price auctions to minimize the impact of lost listing fees, but I keep my listings going until they end normally.

However, this guy is ballsy! I'll definitely be lurking for some bargains.
 
[quote name='banpeikun']I dunno if that works though. The listing fee is incurred when you submit your auction to be listed in the first place, isn't it? Every time I list a new auction, it tells me what the listing fee is and what my new balance is.[/QUOTE]

Yes, but changing a $199.99 auction to $0.01 will change the listing fee charged from $2.40 to $0.25.

Apparently, eBay doesn't regulate how many auctions you can prematurely close.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']I watching this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-LEGEND-OF-L...ryZ62053QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It went from $78 and running to 1 cent and ended prematurely is less than 5 minutes.

This guy is good. So, I reported him to eBay.[/QUOTE]


how can they end it 5 mins early when you cant cancell your items if you got less then 12 hours .... and who is to say they didnt sell these someplace else. Yea if you win something and they dont sell it i can see reporting it , But they have every right to take down item with more then 12 hours to go
 
I think the 12 hr thing might only apply to regular auctions that already have a bid placed. So it doesn't apply to fixed-price auctions. And I don't think this seller sold his games elsewhere, a lot of them have been relisted. He just didn't want to have them end without a buyer and have to pay higher listing fees.
 
[quote name='slidecage']how can they end it 5 mins early when you cant cancell your items if you got less then 12 hours .... and who is to say they didnt sell these someplace else. Yea if you win something and they dont sell it i can see reporting it , But they have every right to take down item with more then 12 hours to go[/QUOTE]

He didn't end the item with 5 minutes left, he ended it with a little over 12 hours left. I was watching him.

There's nothing wrong with taking an item down if:

A. You genuinely discover an error in the listing such as the wrong shipping cost or type, etc.

B. You lost the item.

C. You broke the item.

D. You sold the item in your store or another auction site.

I reported him because:

1. He dropped his BIN price from $78 to 1 cent in order to circumvent $2.15 in listing fees from eBay.

2. Since he repeatedly does the same thing with several items, it is most likely that nothing listed in A-D occurred to the item.

The seller needs to be an adult about it and take the lost listing fee on the chin. These sort of shenanigans cause fee increases and loss of freedom/functionality for honest sellers like me.
 
I threw some of the stuff on my watch list. Maybe I can catch him while his price is down and either get a great deal or screw him over with eBay. Either way, he'd be screwed :)
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']He didn't end the item with 5 minutes left, he ended it with a little over 12 hours left. I was watching him.

There's nothing wrong with taking an item down if:

A. You genuinely discover an error in the listing such as the wrong shipping cost or type, etc.

B. You lost the item.

C. You broke the item.

D. You sold the item in your store or another auction site.

I reported him because:

1. He dropped his BIN price from $78 to 1 cent in order to circumvent $2.15 in listing fees from eBay.

2. Since he repeatedly does the same thing with several items, it is most likely that nothing listed in A-D occurred to the item.

The seller needs to be an adult about it and take the lost listing fee on the chin. These sort of shenanigans cause fee increases and loss of freedom/functionality for honest sellers like me.[/QUOTE]

OOOO I see now what you mean He had a BIN for 78 bucks then Pushed it down to a penny then ended it... I thought you was talking someone bidded it up to 78 bucks and they pushed it to a penny... I was wonder how they could do that
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']

I routinely drop my prices by several dollars and quantities on my fixed price auctions to minimize the impact of lost listing fees, but I keep my listings going until they end normally.

However, this guy is ballsy! I'll definitely be lurking for some bargains.[/QUOTE]

Ok I'm a bit slow. it's okay for you to drop your prices and lower quantitities on your listings for you to save money, but when he does it , he is a jerk?

What about taking the fees on the chin like you said? Oh wait, thats right it only applies to others and not yourself.

What does it matter if he ends them early if they arent going to sell?
Your a bundle of laughs FOC. Your retarded justifications dont hold up very well.
If you can't win his auctions at 1 penny you report him lol. What a joke.

Did you report yourself for circumventing Ebay's fees also?
 
[quote name='Megalith']I'm glad all of you care so much about eBay's profits.[/QUOTE]

I care more about the backlash eBay will impose on all users.
 
[quote name='Noodle Pirate!']Ok I'm a bit slow. it's okay for you to drop your prices and lower quantitities on your listings for you to save money, but when he does it , he is a jerk?

What about taking the fees on the chin like you said? Oh wait, thats right it only applies to others and not yourself.

What does it matter if he ends them early if they arent going to sell?
Your a bundle of laughs FOC. Your retarded justifications dont hold up very well.
If you can't win his auctions at 1 penny you report him lol. What a joke.

Did you report yourself for circumventing Ebay's fees also?[/QUOTE]

There's a fine difference between me and him. Try to follow along.

I have "Game A" for sale at $28 for seven days. My eBay listing fee is $1.20.
After three, four or five days of watching the item sit there, I might drop the price to $24.99. That lowers my eBay listing fee to 60 cents. However, I let my auction end normally. My item is still available for purchase. I'm trying to generate a sale rather than circumventing the majority of the listing fee.

He has "Game A" for sale at $28 for seven days. His eBay listing fee is $1.20. After six days and 11 hours, he drops the price to $0.01. That lowers his eBay listing fee to 25 cents. Then, he ends his auction because of an "error in the listing". His item is effectively not available for purchase after changing the fee. Even if you or any other CAG would be able to complete the sale during the window of 1 cent and auction close, he probably wouldn't honor the deal. He's not trying to generate a sale. He's just trying to circumvent the majority of the listing fee.

I'm trying to sell something. He's trying to defraud eBay.
 
Whatever.
You are both still circumventing ebay fees. Just one of you does it to a higher extent then the other. Don't try to justify your activities as "legal" while labelling his as wrong. Your both doing the same thing.
I could care less what anyone does with thier ebay listings. Just dont try to color him as an ass while you do the same thing and claim to sit on your high horse. You are both violating ebay's "rules". You are just as guilty as he is.
 
guys.. and gals... its onry ebay... and besides.

ebay will not care too much because they are still making a profit either way and apprently this guy has been doing this for quite some time now. so i believe they wont give him any more than just a frown.
 
[quote name='fatherofcaitlyn']I watching this auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-LEGEND-OF-LEGAIA-1-2-SEALED-PLAYSTATION-PS2-PS1_W0QQitemZ8216088528QQcategoryZ62053QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

It went from $78 and running to 1 cent and ended prematurely is less than 5 minutes.

This guy is good. So, I reported him to eBay.[/QUOTE]

Hm, how many seconds... sheesh, seconds... did he let pass between the time he changed the price and the time he ended it?

Also, thank you for reading my entire post. I was sure that someone here would find this type of behavior interesting.

Re: Noodle Pirate:
When other people lower their prices, they are giving bidders a chance to purchase the item at a lower price before the auction closes. This is NOT the case with this seller.

The reason I brought the activity to everyone's attention is that in the case that someone managed to purchase one of his auctions that was caught at 0.01, he 99% would not follow through. I had a run-in with a guy like this once when I was doing my sweep of categories... could've gotten a sealed Threads of Fate for 0.01. Actually, I bet it's the same guy. :\

No, nevermind, the guy is "htmaxpower" ... I even had the nerve to leave him a positive after he wrote back and told me that there was an error in the listing blah blah lies lies and that he couldn't send me the item for 0.01+shipping. :\ so rather than risk a negative, I told him ok, and left a positive, heh.

It is correct that sellers taking advantages of loopholes in eBay's system like this do end up making listing fees higher for everyone, somehow. I'm going to report him too. :|
 
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