"Junk" ASE....with a catch.

[cesariojpn]

I find it laughable he "promotes honesty and integrity" yet implies "I don't care if your bid is the lowest, I can null that bid and jack it up to the days current silver spot price."

http://cgi.ebay.com/Junk-2002-American- ... 1e64519f32

Also, illegal under eBay rules?

[neilgin1]

dude's way off base...avoid.

[Morsecode]

"I will only sell this if it meets my secret reserve price, without actually having to pay a reserve listing fee..."

Old seller trick.

[daviscfad]

wow he should be reported. i am surprised he has gotten away with this

[henrysmedford]

wow he should be reported. i am surprised he has gotten away with this

I clicked on report this listing and Ebay said they would look into it.

[VWBEAMER]

If I won it and he didn't sell he would get a big negative.

What would happen if spot suddenly dropped the day of the sale, do I get to back out of the sale?

[JerrySpringer]

Just placed that seller on my watch-list for scoundrels.

[Mossy]

He has too much history for this to be a scam, unless he got hacked. What's up here?

[68Camaro]

The item may have been pulled due to a complaint, but I have a hard time understanding the complaints, no matter whether the listing literally follows ebay rules. He clearly states that he has a reserve, the difference with a normal ebay reserve is that it is a somewhat floating reserve that follows silver spot price. What's devious about that? Nothing. It's clear as a bell.

[henrysmedford]

The item may have been pulled due to a complaint, but I have a hard time understanding the complaints, no matter whether the listing literally follows ebay rules. He clearly states that he has a reserve, the difference with a normal ebay reserve is that it is a somewhat floating reserve that follows silver spot price. What's devious about that? Nothing. It's clear as a bell.

From --http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/listing-reserve.html

Stating a reserve price for an item when the reserve price feature wasn't used when listing the item.

[Thogey]

The item may have been pulled due to a complaint, but I have a hard time understanding the complaints, no matter whether the listing literally follows ebay rules. He clearly states that he has a reserve, the difference with a normal ebay reserve is that it is a somewhat floating reserve that follows silver spot price. What's devious about that? Nothing. It's clear as a bell.

I'm on board with this opinion.

But, e-bay is the wrong place for this. It's just not set up for it. The seller is risking a good rating in exchange for pulling a weird gimmick.

Not unethical or wrong though.

[Treetop]

i dont get the problem either. Its just weird.

[Thogey]

He'll probably just have people bidding it up from spot in the final minute.

[VWBEAMER]

I wrote him, telling that the listing was unfair to the buyer because the buyer didn't have the chance to back out if spot falls.


He apologized and pulled the listing.

[daviscfad]

The biggest problem is if he wants to sell at spot he needs to list it at spot and revise his item if it goes up or down. If i win a 1909svdb for 300 with no reserve i dont want to read in the listing that if it dont sell for 1000 then i am keeping it. That is why ebay has buy it nows and reserves. I realize the fees suck but if your using there auction house then you should play by their rules.

[cesariojpn]

The item may have been pulled due to a complaint, but I have a hard time understanding the complaints, no matter whether the listing literally follows ebay rules. He clearly states that he has a reserve, the difference with a normal ebay reserve is that it is a somewhat floating reserve that follows silver spot price. What's devious about that? Nothing. It's clear as a bell.

* Seller posts auction for dinged-up ASE.
* Seller lists it at 99 cents.
* Seller adds in auction description that if the bidding doesn't reach the current days spot price, he has the right to ignore the LEGALLY CONTRACTING BID in favor of the spot price.
* eBay has mechanisms (for a fee) that a seller can use to get the price they want. By not using them, seller is violating eBay rules. Also, Seller runs afoul of other eBay rules, including but not limited to fee avoidance.

What part of the auction do you believe is kosher again?

[barrytrot]

Actually, this listing aside, I think it would be a nice feature of any auction site to have a reserve of "spot at time of close". That would be a reasonable feature.

Then a side feature would be to bid "spot time X%" as well.

It would convert both of these on the fly to compete with "raw dollar" bids.

I think that would be a nice feature. Although, of course, the down side is that people aren't super smart

[slickeast]

Tell the guy that you will bid, but if you win and the price is above spot, you have the right to retract your bid.

[68Camaro]

The item may have been pulled due to a complaint, but I have a hard time understanding the complaints, no matter whether the listing literally follows ebay rules. He clearly states that he has a reserve, the difference with a normal ebay reserve is that it is a somewhat floating reserve that follows silver spot price. What's devious about that? Nothing. It's clear as a bell.

* Seller posts auction for dinged-up ASE.
* Seller lists it at 99 cents.
* Seller adds in auction description that if the bidding doesn't reach the current days spot price, he has the right to ignore the LEGALLY CONTRACTING BID in favor of the spot price.
* eBay has mechanisms (for a fee) that a seller can use to get the price they want. By not using them, seller is violating eBay rules. Also, Seller runs afoul of other eBay rules, including but not limited to fee avoidance.

What part of the auction do you believe is kosher again?

The part where he has clearly and legally modified any other implied contract, in writing, in advance, in clearly understandable terms. Ebay rules don't constitute law, they are just rules.

[slickeast]

If he wants a certain price, set a reserve.

Who do you think e-bay is going to back if he didn't pull the listing? The seller would lose. He would probably get a warning from e-bay about rules and policies for listing an item. Once you list an item you are saying that you agree to e-bays rules. This guy is adding his own rules to the auction.

These are just my thoughts and opinions, not backed by facts.

[68Camaro]

If he wants a certain price, set a reserve.

Who do you think e-bay is going to back if he didn't pull the listing? The seller would lose. He would probably get a warning from e-bay about rules and policies for listing an item. Once you list an item you are saying that you agree to e-bays rules. This guy is adding his own rules to the auction.

These are just my thoughts and opinions, not backed by facts.

He did set a reserve, a reserve that floats with the price of spot silver. That is novel, and may bother people because it isn't fixed, and can't be pre-set, but it is clear, it is above-board, and it is indisputably calculable at time of auction end.

I realize that ebay rules can't handle that. I realize that this goes outside their rules. But rules are rules, not law, and rules can be arbitrary, and ebay rules are in fact often arbitrary and for the convenience of ebay and not the buyer or seller.

The primary question was, I think, is there something inherently illegal, unmoral, unethical, with this. The answer to that would be no.

That said, ebay won't tolerate this. But I like the idea of it.

[cesariojpn]

The part where he has clearly and legally modified any other implied contract, in writing, in advance, in clearly understandable terms. Ebay rules don't constitute law, they are just rules.

Last I checked, he's on eBay, and if he doesn't follow THEIR RULES, he's in violation. If he wants to do that sort of thing, he does it elsewhere.

Much like this site. I have to follow the rules, and if I violate "teh rules" then I get punished.

[Oldpagan]

Good luck getting ebay to do anything