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Post by kiev4a on Jul 16, 2006 16:37:01 GMT -5
Last night I placed a bid on a Nikon SB-16 flash for my F3. The seller started it at 99 cents and my bid jumped it to $10. I figured it would go higher and my maximum was higher. Item was scheduled to end Monday.
Today I checked in to see if I was still high bidder and the flash had entirely disappeared. No longer on my bid list or watch list. Doesn't show up in the history of items I have bid on over the past 30 days.
Apparently the seller didn't like how the bidding was going and pulled the item. Didn't think it was possible to do that after someone --actually three people--had bid but it's flat gone.
Filed a complaint with ebay but couldn't name the seller or the item number as I figured my bid and watch list would have that information.
Bummer.
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PeterW
Lifetime Member
Member has Passed
Posts: 3,804
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Post by PeterW on Jul 16, 2006 17:02:04 GMT -5
As you say, Wayne, a bummer.
Just occasionally I've seen on an ebay item a note something like 'This item is advertised elsewhere and the seller reserves the right to withdraw it from this auction'. Maybe that's what happened here, and the seller didn't mention it on ebay.
Peter W.
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Post by kiev4a on Jul 16, 2006 22:41:33 GMT -5
Finally tracked it down. The statement was the item was either damaged or stolen--but there wasn't any message to me -- I had to find the item by looking in completed auctions for SB-16s. Call me cynical but I suspect it had more to do with only a $10 bid with one day remaining in the auction than damage or theft.
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Post by kiev4a on Jul 17, 2006 9:45:33 GMT -5
Got a message from the seller (in reply to my message) saying he thought there was some problem with the flash so decided to pull it. He had good feedback so I guess he's probably telling the truth.
In the meantime, I picked up a Nikon SB 17 flash for the F3. It's more compact and less powerful that the SB-25 I have for my F4 but will do TTL metering on the F3. The F3 has the odd shoe on top of the rewind button. I don't use a flash very much but for 23 bucks including postage I couldn't pass up the deal.
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Post by herron on Jul 17, 2006 10:46:37 GMT -5
Wayne: I've experienced (several times) having eBay items pulled after bids were received. I found that most were for legit reasons, and had little to do with the bids received up to the point things were ended. Most sellers know that really good items often get "snipe" bids that come in during the very last seconds of the auction, so early bids may not mean a lot. I've "sniped" a couple of Mamiya auctions myself...particularly after I noticed a lot of bids happening on certain items only after I placed a bid. Since I mainly bid on Mamiya items (90% of the time), a lot of Mamiya watchers know my user name and web site, and I figure some of them are thinking "well, if he's bidding...." Or maybe I'm just exhibiting a bit of delusional behavior...again. LOL!   |
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Post by doubs43 on Jul 17, 2006 11:37:53 GMT -5
Ron said: "Most sellers know that really good items often get "snipe" bids that come in during the very last seconds of the auction, so early bids may not mean a lot."
So true. The exception is when two or more bidders - almost always "newbies" - get into an early bidding frenzy and run the price up trying to get the better of each other. Often they go beyond what an identical item would bring in a normal auction. If they don't take it far enough, a good item will surely be "sniped" out from under them.
Walker
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Post by kiev4a on Jul 17, 2006 11:45:23 GMT -5
I have to admit to sometimes being a "sniper." But if an item gets to the last day or so with few or no bids, I'll sometimes bid to try to get a feel for who else might be interested. Given the seller's feedback I think the withdrawal was probably legit. As I said earlier, I think Ebay should have some way of automatically notifying bidders as to why an item suddenly disappeared. Instead I havd to use every trick I know to locate the item. Finally found it by looking in completed auctions for that type of flash.
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rogprov
Contributing Member
Posts: 32
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Post by rogprov on Jul 17, 2006 12:56:46 GMT -5
Snipes are now the norm but it’s still worrying for new sellers when they see their item few bids and not long until the end. They panic and sometimes close early.
On the couple of occasions I’ve withdrawn an item I’ve notified the bidders prior to doing so. I think it become a little TOO easy to close early, once one had to cancel each bid manually but now eBay just does it automatically for you. with a single click.
Roger
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Post by John Parry on Jul 17, 2006 13:59:14 GMT -5
Bought a 'new' computer - after I'd won it, the bidder explained he'd 'given' it to his young brother after the cut-off time for withdrawal. It was way below my maximum bid, so it was obviously sour grapes. I wrecked his feedback, but I've no doubt at all he's back on there with another user name.
Regards - John
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