It pays to email the seller!

[Iron Draggon]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=8140803518&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

I recently missed out on sniping this auction, like I intended to, because the system was unusually slow to respond that day, so my bid wasn't submitted until the auction was already over, even though I began the process in time.

Well, since the winning bidder had zero feedback, I emailed the seller and asked them to please let me know if they didn't get paid for the item. I told them what had happened to me when I tried to submit my bid in the last few minutes of the auction, so they said that they would keep me informed.

Well today they finally said that they still hadn't received payment from the winning bidder yet, and he hadn't responded to any of their emails until just now. They said he told them that he had sent cash, even though it states in the listing that they don't accept cash. They told me that he had asked if it was alright for him to bid on it, as per the terms of their listing, and yet even though it also stated that payment must be received within 7 days, he still had failed to meet their terms, despite their willingness to be lenient about it.

So guess what? They offered the game to me for the same price, and I sent them payment with Paypal right away. So I'm getting what I wanted, and would've gotten anyway if the system hadn't been acting up or I had tried to place my bid sooner, and it's not even costing me what it would've cost me to outbid the other guy who apparently didn't have the money anyway!

Isn't that cool? I was so upset when I failed to snipe that auction, because it was one of my worst nightmares come true the way that it happened, and now I'm still gonna get the item after all! And all just because I sent an email!

So the moral of the story is that just because you didn't win an item or you didn't even place a bid on it doesn't always mean that you can't still get it anyway! All it takes is a polite email to the seller about it, and if the deal falls through for the winning bidder for whatever reason, then you can still get it!

BTW, here's a list of all the items that this user has bid on recently on ebay:

http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MfcISAPICommand=ViewBidItems&sort=3&userid=e_baythomas&completed=1&all=1&rows=200&satitle=&from=R7&nojspr=y&pfid=0

Looks like he's won alot of stuff since he became a member, and yet none of the sellers have left him any feedback yet. So I think it's safe to assume that he's gonna end up getting alot of negatives, and a negative feedback rating, and he's just gonna get himself NARU'ed pretty soon, when all those other sellers get tired of waiting for their money and listening to him telling them that he sent cash, if they even manage to get a response from him.

I didn't even think to check on all that before, I just noticed that he was a noob and he'd only been a member since the day after that auction started. I also noticed that his location says that he's in Singapore, which we all know isn't exactly the best place that you wanna have any of your bidders located. I've very nervously bought stuff from sellers in Singapore before, and they turned out to be trustworthy, but with a new user like this being in a place like that, I thought that it was pretty likely they wouldn't pay, and it looks like I was right! I don't mean to stereotype anyone based on their location, but I've heard alot of horror stories about buyers in that general area before.

Anyhow, I'm glad that his foolishness resulted in me getting what I wanted anyway. I've been hoping that he would mess up and not pay for that item ever since that auction ended. Now all I have to worry about is having it get here safely, so I can finally stop stressing over it! I sure will be glad when I finally have it here in my house and everything has worked out OK, so I can finally add it to my collection! It doesn't seem to show up sealed very often.

So, just about one more week of worrying about it now, hopefully. I really hope that it doesn't take any longer than that for it to get here, and even more importantly, I really hope that it doesn't get lost or stolen or damaged or anything else before I get it safely here inside my house! I'm already tired of having to worry about it, so the sooner it finally gets here, the better!

@_@

[Daria]

I also noticed that his location says that he's in Singapore, which we all know isn't exactly the best place that you wanna have any of your bidders located.

I know why you'd want to be cautious about sellers in Singapore. But what difference does it make where your bidder lives?

[Gemini-Phoenix]

I always eMail people (Usually major sellers) to see if they have anything of interest in their personal collections... Often they turn up trumps with some good rare stuff!

So yes, it does pay to ask around! If you have money to spend, most people will be convinced to part with things they wouldn't usually have put up for sale on eBay...

[Iron Draggon]

I also noticed that his location says that he's in Singapore, which we all know isn't exactly the best place that you wanna have any of your bidders located.

I know why you'd want to be cautious about sellers in Singapore. But what difference does it make where your bidder lives?

You're kidding me, right? You do read these forums, don't you? From what I've gathered, nobody wants to ship to anywhere in Indonesia, among other places, because they frequently scam you in one way or another, so it's the same reason why you have to be cautious of sellers in that area. It's just not a very good area to be trading with online, either as a buyer or as a seller.

Gemini-Phoenix: It's interesting that you mention that here, because that seller's website has a special email address for making offers on items in their collection that they have listed as "not for sale". So everything has a price, you just have to have enough money to name the price for what you want. Too bad I'm not in that position anymore, it would make my collecting easier!

[Daria]

You're kidding me, right?
Nope.


You do read these forums, don't you?
I would have thought what I did here was called reading, but apparently not as I don't know what you're talking about.


From what I've gathered, nobody wants to ship to anywhere in Indonesia, among other places, because they frequently scam you in one way or another, so it's the same reason why you have to be cautious of sellers in that area. It's just not a very good area to be trading with online, either as a buyer or as a seller.


Ok. That didn't really clarify anything though. Do you remember any specfic examples or have a link? I mean I know Asia's known for it's bootlegs which is what makes buying from asian sellers tricky (although certainly not every asian seller is a scam artist, you just have to be careful). But I don't see how an Asian buyer is in any better a postion to rip me off then one from anywhere else in the world.

[Azazel]

Yes he's right about Singapore and those kind of places. It's been talked about before but I don't have any links handy. From what I remember they would send a money order. You would receive it cash and send out the item. They'll do a stop payment on the monet order and you'll be out both the item and the money.

[jonjandran]

Yes he's right about Singapore and those kind of places. It's been talked about before but I don't have any links handy. From what I remember they would send a money order. You would receive it cash and send out the item. They'll do a stop payment on the monet order and you'll be out both the item and the money.

I thought that was Nigeria . :)

[Iron Draggon]

Well I don't remember any specific examples here recently, but from what I understand, they either pull the standard ebay scams on you, like claiming they never received the item when they actually did etc., or they're just an NPB like this guy was, so even not selling to them costs you money to relist.

Of course that's not to say that every Asian buyer is like that, because most of them aren't, but you do have to be careful about them. So in this case, I really feel bad for the seller, because they've obviously been through this sort of thing alot before, judging by all the terms of their auctions. I'm glad that it worked out for me, but it is sad that this sort of thing still happens even when you make a bunch of assinine sounding requirements in your listings, trying to prevent it from happening to you. But I'm sure that the seller was glad that I was interested in buying it outside of ebay, since they aren't gonna have to pay to relist it there now. So that worked out well.

BTW, another interesting thing that I noticed about this seller. They also have a special email address on their website for items that you wish to buy outside of ebay. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds like you can even email them and make a private offer for something that they have up for bids on ebay. That's pretty neat, but I have to say, if I ever buy anything else from them again, and I probably will, then I'm gonna be sure to pay them right away, before what I won gets sold to a higher bidder! It also makes me think that I should just email them about whatever I want, and avoid the whole ebay process, since they don't seem to want to have to deal with it anymore than I do. It's actually a very cool site, and they have alot of really cool stuff, so I have them bookmarked now. The owner is very nice too, so I really wish that I could leave him feedback for this transaction.