changing prices!

[mpit7628]

Hello everyone!  I am a collector of japanese geisha dolls.  I have purchased these dolls from sellers in Japan, China, Australia and the United States.  I have never been able to purchase one in Canada because no one sells them in Canada.  Recently someone in Vancouver listed one for $35.00 but was for pick-up only and because I live not terribly far from this seller I messaged the seller to see if they would consider shipping at all.  They claim that the reason for pick-up only is because they can't find a big enough box.  No one else has bid on the doll and today when I checked the listing no one has bid on the doll yet but now the price is $85.00.  This doesn't seem like a fair practice.  Should sellers be doing this?

[nonstopchatter · Accepted solution]

Sellers are allowed to amend their listings under certain circumstances.  In this case, there were no bids on the item and it was well before the last 12 hours of the auction, so yes, the seller can within ebay's rules, change the price to a higher one.  I have lowered the price of my items consistantly over the last several weeks.  Should that be allowed? 

Had you found a way to get to the seller to pick up as per their terms and placed a bid, they would have been unable to change the price.

This is a brand new seller.  They have never sold anything before.  Its not surprising that they didn't price their item correctly and don't have proper packaging supplies.   There is defintely a learning curve to selling items on ebay and its not n nearly as simple or straight forward as a buyer-only often thinks.

[femmefan1946 · Accepted solution]

but was for pick-up only and because I live not terribly far from this seller

Taxi? Bus? Friend who will drive you? The seller would be expecting cash.

Local couriers will also pickup parcels and deliver to you. Because the courier would have a record (possibly electronic and viewable on line) the seller might accept Paypal.

As a new seller, however, Paypal will hold your payment to her for 21 days. I can see many new sellers preferring cash payments for local sales because of this, even though shipping outside Vancouver would open their customer base to 32million other potential Canadian customers and 300million Americans.

[mpit7628]

A member mentioned that the seller in question was new to ebay but the seller has been a seller since 2010.  Also this seller has a number of other items up for bid which shipping is being provided including a rather large coffee maker.  The doll is the only item that shipping is not being provided.  Just thought I'd leave this note.