Fishy seller says item is out of stock

[greenco25]

Hey

I haggled back and forth on 3 comics with a seller using the Best Offer feature.  One of the three comics I wanted so very badly and with luck I got the seller to agree to a very low price - like literally 1/3 of what it's selling for on ebay recently.  The other 2 comics I wanted but I just included them to make it worth the while for the combined shipping discount.

Fast forward to 2 days letter I get a message from the seller and before I even open the email I know what it's going to say.  The comic I really really wanted is out of stock apparently.  Seller gives a small blurb along the lines of "Oops" and states that a refund will be on its way.  I was issued the refund right away.  I was not too happy as I assume the seller realised they shouldn't of sold the item to me at such a low price.  This sort of thing has happened in the past I will admit with a different seller but the seller atleast had the decency to present me with options.  Example being:
i)We can see in the next 30 days if we get the item back in stock

ii)We can offer the same price for a different item if interested

iii)Full refund

Now I know what kind of responses I'm going to get from this post - I assume something like "Well...the seller can't sell you something they don't have - what do you expect?".  Hey, I understand - happens but doesn't that diminish the whole idea of an online auction?  Say that this wasn't a comic but maybe a big ticket item that sold for next to nothing by luck (of the buyer of course).  The seller then decides to pull the stunt of "Oops - I forgot I don't have that item anymore - sorry".  Then he/she just gets cousin John Doe to sell the item at full value a month later.  The point I'm making is this kind of event appears to be heavily supported as an honest mistake by ebay.  There should be a large fee and/or suspension but it doesn't seem to exist.

Is there any advice what I should do at this point; I mean I don't expect the comic at all arriving but I do want it documented with ebay that this occurrence happened.  Do I simply just open up a case that the item never arrived?  I just don't like that the seller didn't have any communication with me and just issued a refund without indicating with ebay that this happened.

Thank you

[reallynicestamps]

It wasn't an auction.

An auction has an opening price, bidding by (several with luck) bidders, and an escalating sale price.

What you were involved in was a haggle.

[mater721 · Accepted solution]

"Is there any advice what I should do at this point; I mean I don't expect the comic at all arriving but I do want it documented with ebay that this occurrence happened.  Do I simply just open up a case that the item never arrived?  I just don't like that the seller didn't have any communication with me and just issued a refund without indicating with ebay that this happened."

Accept the refund and move on - really, there's no case to be made. Best you can ever expect is to break even.

However, you should be able to leave feedback. In this case I would leave Neutral feedback.

It is annoying that sellers advertise out-of-stock items, and you wasted your time.

Maybe best to leave stars (detailed rating) blank.

[maggiebvintage2010]

I had the same thing happen recently, and was unable to leave feedback.  Although the cancelled transaction still shows under "Purchases", there is no option for leaving feedback on the drop-down menu.  I think you used to be able to leave feedback in this circumstance, but I'm not sure, since this has rarely happened to me.  I do know that on the rare occasion that a purchaser wished to cancel, the feedback option was still available for both buyer and seller, but this is going back at least 6 months since I've had that situation.  

I'd be interested to hear from anyone with more recent experience, especially if able to leave feedback when a seller cancelled? There seems to be a lot of angst on the part of sellers about possible negative feedback on cancellations.  Has eBay recently eliminated this option?

[mater721]

"Has eBay recently eliminated this option?"

Like yourself, I was able to leave Neutral feedback on an out-of-stock transaction ~ 4 months ago.

That would be terrible if ebay took that away.

Trying to sell out-of-stock items is bad business, and buyers should be able to rate that.

[patken123]

The real problem is ebay allowing sellers to get away with cancelling the deal ,but to be fair,ebay also has made it easier for buyers to cancel their bids up to 12 hours before the listing ends so what it there to do? nothing but to move on as it was already mentioned.

You ,as a buyer will hardly get sympathy  or listening ears on ebay unless  you were blatantly victimized.

[greenco25]

Thank you Captain Obvious - notice my first sentence: "I haggled back and forth on 3 comics with a seller using the Best Offer feature."

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@reallynicestamps wrote:

It wasn't an auction.

An auction has an opening price, bidding by (several with luck) bidders, and an escalating sale price.

What you were involved in was a haggle.

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[greenco25]

Thank you everyone for your comments - I really had no option but to cancel the entire order.  Just the seller is not keen on communication and I'm eagerly awaiting the **bleep** refund.  I'll let you know if I can leave feedback post-refund.