Recent eBay purchase (mis)adventure

[Jakeblue]

A little background first...

 

As I have written and received advise on, I have been working on a as much as I can find higher circ morgan set. I started with MS on most, but decided the higher grade circs are nicer, so sold the MS and started collecting the circs.

 

I have had success and was down to one needed; a nice 1881, which is very rare to find in a mid-high grade circ, as several other CC's are also tough to find.

 

Well...Friday night came the close of 1881 CC XF-40 NGC auction that I had been tracking on the Bay. This is the first and only XF/AU 1881 that I had come across. Nice color, good appeal. I am in for the bid....and yowza I get her for $291. Great price!

 

I paypaled the seller even the auction had a chance to cool.

 

Then, Saturday morning, I receive this email from the seller: "Good evening, I was going through my collection and this coin is one that I need. I want to keep this coin for my collection. I know you won this coin and it was my mistake for having it up for auction however will it upset you if I keep it and refund you your full auction price for this coin? If you want (instead of a refund) an 1878 MS60 CC I can send you one of those instead of this 1881 CC. I hope we can work something out. Please let me know. Thanks, P.M."

 

I am floored. Not only is he wanting to keep my legally binded coin, but trying to sub a much cheaper coin in the process. The refund is immaterial to me. I won the coin fair and square. My initial thought is the coin went wholesale and the seller is trying to keep the coin. So I write:

 

"Good Morning,

 

I can appreciate your stance, but the auction was up for 10 days. It is a legal contract within ebay's policies and I have paid for the coin thru paypal. I would like to work with you, but I do not wish to have any other coin than the one that

was purchased. I see that you have other coin auctions running right now. Please advise on when it will be shipped."

 

He responds:

 

"Good morning, I can understand you not wanting another coin and I want to keep you happy. Will you accept a full refund so I can keep this one for my collection? This one really means a alot to me. It wasn't supposed to be auctioned."

 

Come on, a 10 DAY auction that you were not aware of?! So I respond:

 

"Good Morning, As was mentioned before, this coin was listed for 10 days. The final price that I paid is less than most standard book values. Is there some other way to settle it? This is a done deal."

 

Now, no more responses from the seller. Nothing but crickets. There is no way I am letting this go without a fight. So, I email the seller and advise that I intend to file non-performance with the Bay. I do. They send both of us an email advising us to finish the deal. I also get his name and phone number.

 

Then, I get an email from him in the early afternoon advising of shipping with a tracking number. Excellent! I send a cordial thank you. The picture of the coin from the seller is pasted in my competitive set and should be here by Tuesday.

 

If the seller is a member here, so be it. In fact, I was hesistant about sharing the story, but the coin has been shipped. This time, the Bay served the process well.

 

 

 

 

[MunkyMan95]

I bet he hocks a big fat loogie in the envelope

[bsshog40]

Wat to go Jake. Sellers should know what they are selling. Once you throw it up on ebay they should have to stay with the binding contract just as they would want thier buyers to.

[cpm9ball]

Let's just hope that you get the same coin.

 

Chris

[braddick]

Although it was in bad form to ask if he could keep the auctioned coin and send you back your money, it wasn't against the rules of eBay.

 

You stuck to your guns, good for you- certainly within your right, and he is mailing you your coin.

 

I would think he is still worthy of positive feedback as again, he only inquired with a request, and did accept your answer even if it wasn't what he wanted to hear.

[TomB]

I wouldn't celebrate too much until you have the coin in-hand and are certain it is the same piece.

[physics-fan3.14]

I kinda feel bad for the guy, if indeed he did not mean to list that piece. He could just be sorry that it went for a low price. On the other hand, all is fair and love and war, and Ebay definitely counts as war!

[jesbroken]

I agree with both Jason and Pat. Should you receive the coin you won, then this should go down as a perfectly fine auction and positive feedback should be a must, with even a 5 star for communication for the seller. He did nothing any of us might do should we screw up and list a coin that meant something more to us than we realized upon listing. I would not be mad at this seller at all, in fact he would rate highly in honesty(should the coin arrive as promised). If it does you should post his seller name and if it doesn't you should list his seller name with an #$%^%^ added. JMO

Jim

[zrlevin]

I agree with both Jason and Pat. Should you receive the coin you won, then this should go down as a perfectly fine auction and positive feedback should be a must, with even a 5 star for communication for the seller. He did nothing any of us might do should we screw up and list a coin that meant something more to us than we realized upon listing. I would not be mad at this seller at all, in fact he would rate highly in honesty(should the coin arrive as promised). If it does you should post his seller name and if it doesn't you should list his seller name with an #$%^%^ added. JMO

Jim

 

I agree with Jim and therefore, by the transitive property, Jason and Pat.

[michael]

i would have let him keep the coin and send me back my money and leave him a negative feedback and also report him to ebay (like you did)

 

but

 

hope it all works out okie and you get your coin as described

 

the seller is quite a tall tail story teller and jerk i would block him

 

 

[gpnyc]

Does the tracking number show as received by the PO? If not, its likely your package will get "lost" in transit.