a question about feeding different foods to hens

[WitchHazel]

A few days ago , my dad and I were talking about hedgehogs. Afterwards, I thought I'd search on Ebay to see if I could get him an Arthur Wood Hedehog teapot and pair of mugs, as an inexpensive for-no-reason present.

 

I couldn't see any sets on Ebay, so I searched the completed listings. There was one there with the small teapot and two cups, which had been listed at £9.99 + £5.50 postage. and hadn't sold.

 

I emailed the seller to ask if they would consider relisting as a buy it now, or a one day listing, as I would like to buy it.

They came back to me, asking what I was willing to offer.

 

I had expected to just pay the £9.99 plus £5.50 postage... but I could see that it wasn't unreasonable of them to expect more. I decided that the max I could really justify spending was £12 (£17.50 incl postage), so I wrote back to say

I was thinking of maybe £12 plus the £5.50 postage and if this is acceptable please relist and let me know the item number.

 

The seller came back saying she wanted £15 plus postage, she was relisting the item and she would see how it goes. She listed it for £9.99 as a 7 day auction auction or £15 buy it now.

 

I hesitated about what to do. I didn't want to pay £15, but it seemed rude not to do anything. But if I bid, then her "buy it now" would disappear, and she might thing I was being funny. While I dithered, she emailed me back with a short

"Have you changed your mind about buying this set?".

 

I felt cornered.

 

I replied

" Thanks for your email.

£15 plus the £5.50 P&P is a bit more than I really want to spend, so I was going to see how the auction went. I haven't bid yet because, if I do, the "buy it now" option will disappear, and I thought it would be fairer to you to leave it there in case someone else wanted to buy it at your preferred price.

Hope that makes sense"

 

That wasn't the end of it.

 

She wrote back, offering to meet me half way at £13.50. I could see that from where she was sitting, it was half way... but I was starting at £10.

 

I felt even more cornered than I had before. But, I'd had a bad day, with Royal Mail delivering my beef box to the wrong village, Omlet not sending me my parcel and not telling me about it, and each time I had been perfectly reasonable. I was a bit fed up with being such a pushover.

 

So, I took a deep breath, and wrote another polite (well, I thought so) reply, to explain why I wasn't accepting the £13.50.

Thanks for your email and your offer,

I was originally anticipating you'd be happy to relist if for the original £9.99. When you said "make me an offer", I realised that wasn't going to be the case. I could see that it wasn't unreasonable for you to expect a bit more, that's why I offered 20% more - £12 - instead of the £9.99 starting/ending price.

 

I don't think £15 is an unreasonable amount to ask - nor is £13.50 - it's just more than I was looking to pay.

 

I do appreciate that you can probably get more for it, which is why I won't bid yet as that will cockup your "buy it now" chance.

 

Thanks again for the offer

 

And do you know what she did?

 

She took the listing down.

 

I can see that I've obviously cheesed her off to the point where she would rather not sell, than risk having to sell to me for £9.99. I feel a little sad/fed up that she would do that, when I could easily have just bid on the damn things at £9.99.

 

I don't really know why I'm posting about it, I guess it's just a bit theraputic telling someone about it!

 

Thanks for reading, lol.

Edited June 24, 2015 by Guest

[Charlottechicken]

How bizarre!

 

I'd have guessed that as she started the listing at £9.99, she was obviously prepared to let it go at that price, if only one person bid. If someone offered me 20% more than my lowest considered offer I would snap their hands off! Sounds like she's got a sniff of a sale and is getting greedy?

 

You can never second guess folk on ebay, that's for sure

[Ain't Nobody Here]

She just sounds greedy to me . Obviously thought, ooh someone's interested in it now, I'll see how much I can get" .

[Bramble]

This happened to me as a seller once, a listing ended with the item unsold, someone emailed me the next day to say she'd missed the end of the auction, but did I still want to sell - I said yes and (on the basis that there had been no other interest) said I was happy to accept the starting price - I relisted as a buy it now, she bought it, was happy and we all moved on.

 

The point your seller needs to remember is that no one was interested first time around, had you been in time for the auction you would probably have got the item for the starting price, she might have been a bit disappointed with that, but presumably was prepared to let it go for that price?

 

Ebay doesn't always bring out the best in people, does it?

[WitchHazel]

Thank you all

[Cinnamon]

She sounds like she thought she was on to a good thing

 

If she relists at a starting price of £9.99, get someone else local to you to bid for you as if she sees you have bid she might well take the listing down again in a fit of pique.

 

You can set up a search for an item & get an email if one is listed - might be an idea to do this in case she lists again.

[WitchHazel]

Thanks Sarah.

 

I have set up a search, just out of interest to see if she relists. I'm not sure I'd bit (or get anyone else to), Iit was only a pur of the moment thing anyway.

[Olly]

She's being greedy. "Ooops, word censored!"ody wanted it first time round ... usually if I haven't sold something, I relist it with a lower starting price, not higher! I think you were perfectly reasonable and frankly if I had something I wanted to sell, I'd just be happy to get a committed buyer rather than get a bid for more and find they don't complete.

 

I speak with feeling - just wasted a week waiting for a buyer who did not pay, did not email and has not bothered to get in touch. They clearly didn't read the words 'COLLECTION ONLY' all over it, as they are based 100 miles or more from me.

[WitchHazel]

Yes, I've found people often ignore "collection only".

 

If something says "collection only", I contact the seller to ask if they weould consider sending it if I organise a courier. I'd never bid without them confirming.

 

I think the Ebay app is part of the problem, it doesn't show the description. You have to actively open the description to read it, and I think many people just don't bother.

[Redwing]

I think I would have paid the £13.50, its not an unreasonable amount and she was doing you a favour by reopening the sale

 

In the great scheme of things to refuse on principle over a few pounds may may you seem unreasonable to them, if entering in to a sale I would be worried that would lead to poor feedback and pickiness over condition/delivery so I would also have taken down the listing I'm afraid

[Bramble]

Speaking of "collection only" I tend to list items as "freepost" (saves people leaving you bad feedback for expensive postage when all I've ever charged is the actual Royal Mail cost of postage ) Anyway, t'other day I had a message from someone who said, does "freepost" mean "collection only" - err, no, I replied, it means "freepost" (Royal Mail, second class as stated in the listing) - odd question?!

[catshund]

the joys of ebay!

[Purplemaniacs]

I only ever buy on ebay But for the first time I have raised a complaint as I did not receive the goods and the seller ignores my messages. Looking back through the comments this doesn't seem to be the first time. The item was only a couple of pounds but it is wrong so I have decided to pursue it, never done it before so we will see what happens. Ebay are now investigating.

 

Chrissie