Ebay - Overbidding - What To Do?

[cgallery]

I sent an electric piano to one lady in CA. I paid for tracked shipping, insurance, everything. This thing was brand new. It gets there and I guess one of her kids broke it or whatever. She contacts Paypal and as soon as she provides them with the tracking number back to me she gets all her money back, in addition to the money it cost to send it out(paypal was nice enough to go directly into my bank account to give that to her).

Two weeks later I received a broken electric piano back.

That certainly hasn't been my experience. In fact, there really is no way of getting PayPal or eBay to do ANYTHING without using their formal, automated system and unless the buyer and seller agree to do something jointly, nothing typically happens. That has been my experience, certainly not everyone's.

[JTimmons]

Boy this topic has taken a jump in several directions. Ebay, differnces in auctions and retail sales, human morality and price-matcing and it's place in retail which is where I begin this and not trying to hijack the thread any further, just offering some insight as to where I drew my conclusions.

When I referred to as being naive and delusional on my view of price matching and it's place in retail, I choose to take a layman's terms approach on my response, because flat out, marketing discussions are boring.

The next person to add to this was Mike aka Russianwolf. I understand his view, but I understand it as this is exactly what they are trying to accomplish. No disrespect intended, I would not have known myself had I not had some background with the subject.

I went to school for advertising and commercial art, then of all things landed a career in Telecom (don't ask). It doesn't make me an expert either.

To be short with this, don't take my word for it when I say this is nothing more than a tactic used by retailers. Read it for yourself.

The paper below was written by Joydeep Srivastava during his stay at the Haas School of Business as an Assistant Professor.
http://www.msi.org/msi/freepdfgrab.c...&iagreebuddy=1

I don't expect anyone to read the entire paper, but you can skip down to the general discussion portion and draw your own conclusions.

The paper indicates only one thing to me, price matching was started by retailers to give us a perception that their prices are the lowest, feeling warm and fuzzy.

It also notes customers responses to this has taken a different spin and created a monster for customers now demanding these policies, which to me is to be expected. We are human we are always looking to get more for less, but make no mistake it is a tactic started by retailers. Customer retention was not original idea and in most cases I believe it's not the reason it is still being used.

[LCHIEN]

...To be short with this, don't take my word for it when I say this is nothing more than a tactic used by retailers. Read it for yourself.

The paper below was written by Joydeep Srivastava during his stay at the Haas School of Business as an Assistant Professor.
http://www.msi.org/msi/freepdfgrab.c...&iagreebuddy=1

I don't expect anyone to read the entire paper, but you can skip down to the general discussion portion and draw your own conclusions.

The paper indicates only one thing to me, price matching was started by retailers to give us a perception that their prices are the lowest, feeling warm and fuzzy.

It also notes customers responses to this has taken a different spin and created a monster for customers now demanding these policies, which to me is to be expected. We are human we are always looking to get more for less, but make no mistake it is a tactic started by retailers. Customer retention was not original idea and in most cases I believe it's not the reason it is still being used.

I think that JT is right, that price matching was a gimmick promoted by retailers to give that warm fuzzy to the customer. he's to think, "oh, if they are willing to match the price plus 10% of the difference then they must really have confidence that their prices are the lowest"

The stores knowingly implemented this knowing
1) the actual number of people doing pirce matching is going to be a small fraction and even then bringing it back to the store and claiming it or hassling with the manager is not worth the time for most people. Like rebates everybody buys because of them but in reality, I'll bet only half actually claim the rebates.

2) A lot of stores, expecially in appliances and electronics, have store specific model numbers, which are small variations on the base product provided by the manufacturer, but it does give him a unique product that no one else can match to because its not the same! Something power tools have not yet gone to too much.

[JTimmons]

The stores knowingly implemented this knowing
1) Like rebates everybody buys because of them but in reality, I'll bet only half actually claim the rebates.

Yep, retailers do this with mail-ins, knowing good and well people aren't going to take the time or remember to send them in, but offering it, is that bait they need to get you into the store and buy and why so few of them offer in-store rebates.

2) A lot of stores, expecially in appliances and electronics, have store specific model numbers, which are small variations on the base product provided by the manufacturer, but it does give him a unique product that no one else can match to because its not the same! Something power tools have not yet gone to too much.

This I learned was the off-set, a defensive action if you will taken by retailers in the price matching monster they created, requesting manufacturers present the slightest changes in the products they ordered from them. Sometimes as you say the slightest change is made in the form of the model number. Sears and Lowes may carry the same washer, but the model number being different excludes it from the price matching policy.

The interesting take on power tools though and an example of how they go about it, HD and Lowes carry different mid range tools such as Ridgid and Hitachi.
Not a big fan of Hitachi myself, but the mid range tools appear to be where the large profits come from. Now they can actually say it's not just a different model number but a different manufacturer, automatically excluding price matching policies and not really causing any fustration with the customers.

Ask me Ridgid rocks though compared to Hitachi.

[JSCOOK]

I find this hard to believe .. and I've been buying & selling on Ebay for 7 years now and have had my fair share of disputes involving Paypal and NEVER seen this happen like you state ... check your facts

Unless you want to lose even more money I suggest you give her the money back and re-auction the thing and cut your losses. You should be able to get your paypal and auction fees back provided this is the first time it has happened. If you havent shipped it yet UPS will give you a refund as well.

I know a little bit about this and I can tell you that the seller has close to ZERO control over this situation.

If you ship it you will have to pay for return shipping fees(paypal will deduct these automatically from whatever credit card or account you have on file and give it to her).

You can't win this one... trust me, I have been through this on SEVERAL occasions.

cut your losses while you can.

If you do ship it, here is what will happen. She will file a dispute with paypal, then you will both need to provide a written testimony, if she says anything such as "my kid did it", "I accidentally clicked to buy it", "I myself did not purchase it", "it was broken upon arrival", "it was not what I expected" you will lose, period.

I sent an electric piano to one lady in CA. I paid for tracked shipping, insurance, everything. This thing was brand new. It gets there and I guess one of her kids broke it or whatever. She contacts Paypal and as soon as she provides them with the tracking number back to me she gets all her money back, in addition to the money it cost to send it out(paypal was nice enough to go directly into my bank account to give that to her).

Two weeks later I received a broken electric piano back.