Need Advice Regarding Potential Auction Problem

[David Karp]

Hi all,

I have been a sometimes E-Bay purchaser. Never a seller. It has been a while for me, but all of my few successful auctions have gone well. All sellers have been easy to deal with, very straightforward.

Today I won an auction for a 210mm Caltar II-N for $202.50, plus $13 shipping. I have seen similar Sironar-N and Caltar II-N lenses going for prices in this range lately. I was the only bidder. The seller had zero feedback. I took a chance anyway. I had zero feedback once too. My feedback is 100% positive.

I sent the seller a request for payment information. (Seller wants check, money order, or cashier's check only -- No paypal.) I received the following invoice: Lens - $202.50. Shipping - $13.00. "Seller discounts (-) or charges (+)" - $215.00. Total - $431.00.

Now, giving the benefit of the doubt, I have sent the seller an E-mail inquiring about the extra $215.00 charge. There is no hint of it on the auction listing. I am hoping that since the seller has no feedback that this was an error. However, I am afraid that the seller was hoping for a bigger price and did not have a reserve price on the lens and is now trying to make up for it or cause me to just drop the auction.

In preparation for the worst, while hoping for the best, I am asking if any of you more frequent E-Bay sellers and buyers have some advice on how to handle the situation.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Dave Karp

[Bart Nadeau]

He is trying to play you for a sucker. Start an ebay dispute resolution.

bart

[Paul Fitzgerald]

Hi David,

If it was an automation 'typo', it should be corrected by the seller quickly, noon tomorrow.

If not, then it sounds like the seller has zero feedback for a reason and is scamming you for the lens and ebay for the reserve fee. Decide if you still want a questionable lens and start a dispute resolution at ebay.

Good luck with it.

[Dan Ingram]

Since the questionable charge is almost exactly the same as the total legitimate charge, given the zero feedback it would seem that the seller made an error. Mistakes happen, so I'd be nice about it and let him make the correction. You can always get tough with him later if he gives you any trouble, but I can't believe anyone would try overcharging such a ridiculous amount as a scam. At any rate, no money has changed hands, so there's nothing to worry about.

[Brian Ellis]

Instead of just sending you an email with the price he tried to use the confusing ebay invoice form and screwed up the entries, which is very easy to do if you haven't used the form before. I don't remember the details of that form but I remember how easy it is to misunderstand what it's asking you to enter and where you're supposed to enter it because I did the exact same thing your seller has done when I sold a lens a few months ago, entered something on the wrong line and ended up sending an invoice for double the correct amount. The form is very confusing if it's your first time using it. I happened to catch my mistake by some fluke right away and immediately sent an email message to the buyer telling him not to have a heart attack when he saw the invoice. I'm sure your seller will realize the error he's made if he hasn't already so I don't think you have anything to worry about.

[David Karp]

Thanks Brian and Dan,

I was hoping that there was something like that going on here, and Brian's experience with the form seems like it could be the explanation. Now I feel a bit better. Since it is late, even here on the west coast, I hope to receive an e-mail that will clear things up tomorrow. Will keep you all posted.

Bart and Paul, I have been reading up on E-Bay dispute resolution, just in case.

Thanks.

[Capocheny]

David,

You're putting the cart before the horse! If I were in your shoes, I'd wait until the seller responds to your email. He may well come back and acknowledge that a mistake has been made. Then, you've wasted all this time worrying over a non-issue.

However, if he comes back insisting that he wants $431 instead of the $215... then that's another story and can be dealt with at that time.

For now... relax and don't fret over the unknown!

Cheers

[David Karp]

Henry,

You are right. I guess it is just my way. I just want to be prepared for all eventualities. That way I would be able to implement whatever plan is appropriate ASAP.

Now, I plan to get some sleep and check my e-mail in the morning.

Thanks.

[Remigius]

Hi David,

This happened to mee too recently. This occurs when the seller erroneously enters the total amount in the field for discount/additional charges (as Brian was hinting). We had a short but friendly e-mail exchange in which I notified the seller that possibly he may have to pay more e-bay fees due to the erroneous total amount (I don't know, if this is really the case). He thanked me for the notice and changed the amount, as it was never his intention to charge me for the double price.

[Chris Fergus]

David,

Can you let us all know how this works out? Ebay seems to take all my spare money as I discover things I never previously knew that I wanted... but I've never come across this situation. Fingers crossed it's just a mix-up.