Did I get Shafted on E-Bay? (OT)

[dux]

Basically, there was an item currently at $25, and I put in a maximum bid of $60 (so it must have installed me as the highest bidder at $26). I go away, and come back after the auction is over (it finished at about 8pm) and $61 is the winning bid.

I have no beefs, because somebody kept upping the bid madly in the last hour of the auction till he's outdone me.

BUT - a day later this happens:
I get an official E-Bay e-mail saying that the winner couldn't pay, and I was being given the chance to buy the item for $60 (my highest bid). Now, if this prick who couldn't pay didn't put in the phony bids, I would possibly pay $26 for the item, and definitely below $60.

Is this possibly/probably/definitely a scam by the seller to make me pay the maximum I've set?

Here are the bids with the names changed (notice my bid was not second last, rather that was when I was outbid - I bid at 3:51 pm):
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
Bidder (rating) Bid Date And Time
=============================================
shafter? ( 0 ) $61.00 20-Oct-04 19:06:36
OUR HERO ( 3 ) $60.00 20-Oct-04 15:51:50
shafter? ( 0 ) $60.00 20-Oct-04 19:06:16
shafter? ( 0 ) $50.00 20-Oct-04 19:05:54
shafter? ( 0 ) $45.00 20-Oct-04 19:05:34
shafter? ( 0 ) $40.00 20-Oct-04 19:05:11
shafter? ( 0 ) $30.00 20-Oct-04 12:36:27
firstbidder ( 1 ) $25.00 14-Oct-04 11:11:34
shafter? ( 0 ) $25.00 20-Oct-04 12:36:19
somebody ( 137) $20.00 14-Oct-04 08:12:25
firstbidder ( 1 ) $20.00 14-Oct-04 11:11:23
firstbidder ( 1 ) $15.00 13-Oct-04 22:19:29
</pre><hr />

[TylerD]

It could be. To avoid this use www.auctionsniper.com to snipe the auction just before it ends.

[GrannyMae]

dux,

do NOT pay the $60 unless this an item you really want to have. this is definitely not any form of sniping based on the bid history, however there is a very good chance that the seller = shafter and upped the bids himself to test your proxy maximum. the zero feedback indicates this. then, when he went over your maximum, he had no way to retract in time, so he had to say that the highest bidder backed out.

this is a CLASSIC ebay scam, but most sellers are smart enough to NOT get greedy and blast through your proxy bid.

if you gotta have it, go ahead and pay the $60, but be aware that the seller may have been the one doing the false pumping. if this is the case, the seller may be a scammer so make sure to check feedback as well.

if it were me, i would make an offer of much less than $60 unless it was something i could not live without like an iron lung or a vibrator that cooks breakfast.

[zuluking]

[ QUOTE ]
unless it was something i could not live without like an iron lung or a vibrator that cooks breakfast.

[/ QUOTE ]

Now THAT is funny!

[dux]

He had (going off memory) more than one hour to retract the final bid, so it could have just been some idiot who had no idea he/she couldn't pay via the methods offered. That said, you would think discussions between seller and idiot would have taken longer than it took for the second chance e-mail to reach my inbox.

I don't think I'll buy the item or haggle with the seller -It's nothing important, and it'd have to be pretty important to wanna deal somebody I figured to be suss.

[Jeffro]

Ahh, but what about "The Accomodator".

EBay is the REAL zoo, compared to which other zoos only cast a pale shadow. There are really great sellers and I've gotten some great deals--and there are some losers that do things that really make you wonder: one guy sent me 2 right-foot boots with liners 4 inches longer than the boots they were supposed to fit into. He hemmed and hawed about reimbursing me for the return postage--then got all whiney and hurt when I gave him negative feedback . . .

All in all, I think EBay has more badbeats than poker; and I would not dream of shopping there now unless I wanted something that was absolutely not available anywhere else!

Half.com (EBay's book store), on the other hand, is great--you can buy almost any used book for pennies on the dollar, without the "auction" hassles. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[dux]

You know, I've never been satisfied by any e-bay purchase. My Kem cards were cracked and a birthday present didn't arrive till weeks after the birthday itself. Guess it's true that's the real zoo.

[GrannyMae]

He had (going off memory) more than one hour to retract the final bid

noooo

to retract a bid its gotta be greater than 12 hours before aution closes if i recall correctly (to avoid these exact situations). my guess is that the dumbass did not know this and planned on maxing your proxy then retracting.

[Action Scott]

Sounds like he was using another username to up your bid to your max and went too far to me. The good thing is, you're in no way obligated to purchase the item. As for the bad experiences you've had in the past, you need to pay close attention to the sellers feedbacks, not just the rating #. Just because someone has a score of 1000, doesn't mean they dont' have 1500 +'s and 500 -'s. I buy and sell on ebay all the time and have never had a problem. Like I said, check the feedback. Go read the feedbacks that have been left for the person. Hope this helps. Scott