Ebay auction

Selling on ebay starts with listing your item. You can use the quick sell feature on your ebay home page at the top right, or a software called Turbo Lister .

Here is a feature you have to watch out for.  Category! While you are filling this one out it will offer a pre-filled description of your item. If you are using it use it at your own risk, or double check everything it filled in. Why?

Because ebay doesn’t take responsibility for it’s content. They say “it is provided by third parties and we have no control over it’s contents and accuracy”

This is what happened to me. I was selling an HTC Desire HD phone with 8MP camera. The pre-filled description was for an HTC Desire first version without the HD and with 5 MP camera. The difference is approximately £100-£200 pounds or about a $150-$300 Dollars in selling price.

The first edition HTC Desire is going for up to £300 pounds while the HTC Desire HD is going for up to about £500 Pounds. Major major difference when it comes to profit.

I had not noticed the faulty description until someone asked me a question regarding to the misinformation. I had the title as HD and 8MP camera and the description said regular and 5 MP camera.

By this time it was less than 12 hours left of the auction and there were bids on it and ebay will not allow you to change anything in such case. (less than 12 hours ’til the auction end and bid on the item) I had contacted them by email but of course as it was expected there was no answer, but they have a chat feature in the contact us section where you get to chat with a software that thinks is intelligent enought to solve you issues. Yippeee!

Anyway the chat software told me they can’t do anything and neither do I, but I can cancel all the bids individually until the auction ends. So I was sitting in front of the computer canceling bids as they were coming in.

They were coming in very fast because the £500 pounds phone was sitting at the starting £100 pounds and everyone thought what a catch they’d found.

Some people kept on bidding again and again but ebay only gives you 80 character space to explain why you are canceling them out.

At the end an insistent bidder slipped in and won the phone but as soon as the auction ended I had sent him an email telling him not to send the money because the phone will not be posted. He of course insisted  to pay for it and me sending it. Well, well.

At the end he was nice enough and understood the situation and reluctantly agreed to cancel the transaction. (most people are using ebay for making money and realise it can happen with them too)

So the transaction got canceled and ebay fees were annulled.