Auction Pet Peeves

AvengerDr

I was looking at buying some sets to part out and I happened across this auction. The set was listed as being used but the description says that the bags were all sealed except for the bag which contained minifigures. It also depends on the buyer's intentions. If one wants to display the set or collect the sealed box then it's obviously sealed. But from a parting out perspective, the items are new as they are still in their sealed bags.

DaddyDeuce

@LegoFanTexas - Are you sure about those definitions of new and used?

I agree with you that once an automobile has been titled for the first time it is no longer new. That is the law in every state I've lived in.

But I've never seen a statutory definition of "new" and "used" that applied to general retail goods. I have seen it defined in purchasing contracts (for service parts for example), but never as a matter of law. As far as I know an item can be purchased from a retailer, resold a dozen times, and remains "new" until it has actually been used.

LegoFanTexas

@LegoFanTexas - Are you sure about those definitions of new and used?

I'm pretty sure, however I'm not a lawyer nor do I play one on TV, so if a lawyer comes along and tells me I'm wrong, I will defer to his/her expert opinion.

But I've never seen a statutory definition of "new" and "used" that applied to general retail goods. I have seen it defined in purchasing contracts (for service parts for example), but never as a matter of law. As far as I know an item can be purchased from a retailer, resold a dozen times, and remains "new" until it has actually been used.

My understanding is that the original owner of an item can control the "new" sale of the item, but cannot control the "used" resale of the item. Only "licences" Rolex dealers can legally sell "new" Rolex watches, which is why so many places sell "used" Rolex watches, even if they are brand new, because they cannot legally sell one "new".

y2josh

People who are too lazy to take their own photo and basically just rip yours off get right on my nerves!

Been there too, quite recently actually.. and Apparently eBay does nothing when you report that either.

I think that is more distressing.. knowing that even when you report a rules violation that you can still see auctions listed....

As far as I can tell, eBay doesn't care about rules violations at all. I've reported several people with pre-sales for breaking the '30 days before' rule and then again for circumventing this by posting a flat-out false release date. It's really frustrating because I haven't crossed the 'break the rules' line yet, but for particular items I sell, the fact that all these sellers can get a one or two month head start on me is actually REALLY harmful to my business.

madforLEGO

I hate people saying something is 'RARE' when there are 300 hundred on eBay..
Or if something is 'Sold out' when it is not

CCC

^ The other funny one is "I know nothing about this apart from it is very rare ..."

madforLEGO

^ The other funny one is "I know nothing about this apart from it is very rare ..."

LOL, yeah forgot about that one..

Istokg

One common EBAY error I see all the time... parts/sets from the 1960s are always mentioned as being from the 1950s....

cynthilina

I agree CCC however I don't think its just the seller, I think more importantly its what the buyer thinks is MISB. For example I consider MISB to mean Mint In Sealed Box. However I also expect the word mint to apply to the box as this is part of the product. The reason its part of the product is because of the fact it advertises Lego's brand name, Carries the official Lego Logo, and pictures the advertised product that's in the box. However I do recognize that other people have different opinions on the MISB topic. I think in the end its a matter of perspective and opinion and should be considered by the buyer of the product. I have a checklist I ask a seller before a purchase anything that's MISB.

Redbullgivesuwind

^ The other funny one is "I know nothing about this apart from it is very rare ..."

Love it when they say that. Everything is rare or super rare on ebay now. I don't know why people bother with it any more

Odindusk

This isn't really a complaint about actual auctions, but a complaint about eBay:

I LOATHE that eBay doesn't ask buyers to evaluate sellers on their package/shipping care (instead they focus on shipping speed and cost). To me, it's a huge part of what makes good sellers. I automatically blacklist sellers that put little care in their boxing/packing.

y2josh

^To go along with this, they need to re-institute SOME kind of buyer rating system. As it stands now, I never know if I'm dealing with a problem buyer until it's way too late to avoid a hassle.

starfire2

^ I agree.

dougts

This isn't really a complaint about actual auctions, but a complaint about eBay:

I LOATHE that eBay doesn't ask buyers to evaluate sellers on their package/shipping care (instead they focus on shipping speed and cost). To me, it's a huge part of what makes good sellers. I automatically blacklist sellers that put little care in their boxing/packing.

Not to mention, if you are using calculated shipping, the buyer should not be able to low-rate you for shipping costs. they are what they are, and they are known before the buyer commits to buy

cynthilina

OK so I actually called lego and asked them what they consider MISB and what is considered the product. I was told that MISB for Lego means the box is sealed and in pristine condition. Also the box is considered part of the product.

dougts

^ i am skeptical that LEGO has an official stance on this, since it really is an aftermarket concern. Is it possible you were getting the personal opinion of the person you spoke with?

Even if it is LEGO's own internal opinion, it means next to nothing anyway when it comes to secondary market collecting.

monkeyhanger

My biggest peeve is lazy buyers that can't be arsed to leave feedback, especially when you've gone out of your way to post quickly etc

mkolandian

Hi everybody, this auction looks suspect to me http://www.ebay.it/itm/LEGO-TECHNIC-8110-UNIMOG-U400-MERCEDES-POWER-FUNCTIONS-NEW-NUOVO-/150811448263?pt=Costruzioni&hash=item231d1013c7. The shipping price is the set value. Is this a scam? Thanks. Max

CCC

^ At best, they are just avoiding ebay fees. I'd steer clear of anyone like that.

Brewer51

I love it when they put 'HARD TO FIND' on an item that you can still get on [email protected], with free delivery to boot.

Also I can't understand the prices some of these charge. £200 for a Grand Emporium when you get it on [email protected] for £132? Do people just not realise that they are overpaying?

jadedanc

I wonder the same thing @Brewer51 lol

UKtsumi

I love it when they put 'HARD TO FIND' on an item that you can still get on [email protected], with free delivery to boot.

Why do [email protected] list some of their items as 'hard to find'? do they hide it in the warehouse?

AvengerDr

^ I think those are only sold at [email protected] or as exclusives to some retailers. Such as the Y-Wing and Anakin's Jedi interceptor.

Odindusk

Also I can't understand the prices some of these charge. £200 for a Grand Emporium when you get it on [email protected] for £132? Do people just not realise that they are overpaying?

In some (many?) of these cases, the seller ships internationally to buyers that are located in countries where [email protected] does not currently sell to. So I guess they're willing to pay the premium in order to have someone else sell/ship to them.

Brewer51

Also I can't understand the prices some of these charge. £200 for a Grand Emporium when you get it on [email protected] for £132? Do people just not realise that they are overpaying?

In some (many?) of these cases, the seller ships internationally to buyers that are located in countries where [email protected] does not currently sell to. So I guess they're willing to pay the premium in order to have someone else sell/ship to them.

That makes sense, but some of the GE auctions I was looking at were UK only shipping.

CCC

Some people are stupid. They see it on eBay and think it must be a good deal. Or they don't know how to shop on Lego or amazon. Or they read that it is discontinued in the description and believe it.

madforLEGO

Hi everybody, this auction looks suspect to me http://www.ebay.it/itm/LEGO-TECHNIC-8110-UNIMOG-U400-MERCEDES-POWER-FUNCTIONS-NEW-NUOVO-/150811448263?pt=Costruzioni&hash=item231d1013c7. The shipping price is the set value. Is this a scam? Thanks. Max

^ At best, they are just avoiding ebay fees. I'd steer clear of anyone like that.

It is also very much against eBay policies. Id say report the item.

AvengerDr

Apparently "minifigures missing" also means that the instruction manual is missing :/

Coyotelily

the hard to find thing is interesting particularly when you consider that the high res image of a LOTR set recently posted on brick sets home page had it printed on the box!

BuriedinBricks

On the overcharging for shipping to avoid fees thing...it doesn't work anymore, at least not in the US. ebay now charges fees on shipping as well because so many people were doing that.

It's actually really annoying because they charge a fee even if you have shipping automatically calculated by buyer location. I never overcharge and actually end up losing money on shipping most of the time because of people who abuse the system.

y2josh

^I've had to start incorporating the eBay fees on shipping into my handling costs. I understand why they do it, but it's pretty infuriating to legitimate sellers.

bamaker1

I especially hate when I'm searching for a specific official modular, and a ton of custom modular instructions pop up.

When I'm doing searches for Modular sets, I always set up my search parameter by making sure I exclude all listings with the word "Custom" in the title. For example, if I just want to look at Green Grocer listings then my search parameter might be:

lego 10185 -custom -10182 -10190

and now I the vast majority of my hits will be for just the Green Grocer without all the custom stuff, and sellers using keyword spamming to take advantage of CC & MS popularity. Granted a few useless auctions sneak through, but not the huge flood one usually encounters.

madforLEGO

^ At best, they are just avoiding ebay fees. I'd steer clear of anyone like that.

^I've had to start incorporating the eBay fees on shipping into my handling costs. I understand why they do it, but it's pretty infuriating to legitimate sellers.

If eBay catches that, that is a no-no as well, you cannot add your eBay and Paypal fees into shipping and handling fees, that is a surcharge and eBay will not allow.. at least in the US they will not. They say if you want to add those you must incorporate them into your starting bid, or Buy it now, which is easier to do.

madforLEGO

I especially hate when I'm searching for a specific official modular, and a ton of custom modular instructions pop up.

When I'm doing searches for Modular sets, I always set up my search parameter by making sure I exclude all listings with the word "Custom" in the title. For example, if I just want to look at Green Grocer listings then my search parameter might be:

lego 10185 -custom -10182 -10190

and now I the vast majority of my hits will be for just the Green Grocer without all the custom stuff, and sellers using keyword spamming to take advantage of CC & MS popularity. Granted a few useless auctions sneak through, but not the huge flood one usually encounters.

This is supposed to be against eBay polices (Keywork spamming is listed in their policies) But I have yet to see anyone get nailed for it, even though I have reported it. The funny thing is you can no longer list 'not this or' that' , that type of phrase is caught automatically by their auction creation tool to say it cannot be done and your auction could be yanked, but of course their engine will not stop people from listing multiple sets in their 1 pound eBay lot.. those drive me nuts.
All I can say is it is a reportable offense if the set number has nothing to do with the item being sold and that you should report it if seen. I feel that if enough people do this eBay will be forced to look at it and stop it.

y2josh

^ At best, they are just avoiding ebay fees. I'd steer clear of anyone like that.

^I've had to start incorporating the eBay fees on shipping into my handling costs. I understand why they do it, but it's pretty infuriating to legitimate sellers.

If eBay catches that, that is a no-no as well, you cannot add your eBay and Paypal fees into shipping and handling fees, that is a surcharge and eBay will not allow.. at least in the US they will not. They say if you want to add those you must incorporate them into your starting bid, or Buy it now, which is easier to do.

I just reviewed eBay's policies, and you are correct. This seems scammy, at best, and leads me back to my original point of eBay implementing fees on shipping (in the US only, so far as I can tell) in what now seems like an effort to not have to police their own policies.

AFFOL_Shellz_Bellz

Some people are stupid. They see it on eBay and think it must be a good deal. Or they don't know how to shop on Lego or amazon. Or they read that it is discontinued in the description and believe it.

Also, you can't pay by paypal on [email protected] If you don't have a credit card how are you going to pay?

CCC

Also, you can't pay by paypal on [email protected] If you don't have a credit card how are you going to pay?

Debit card / bank card. If you don't have a credit card or a debit card then you are not likely to be the sort of person buying high value lego sets. Virtually all bank accounts come with a debit card these days (in UK). How do you get the PayPal account without a card or bank account?

khmellymel

^ This is a tough one in the US/Canada actually, because the vast majority of debit cards can't be used online. They have no Visa/MC/etc attachment. They are purely for bank machines (or Interact as we call it in Canada for stores). However, you can put bank details on PayPal even without a debit card by using bank info so that works really well for online purchases.

cheshirecat

OK so I actually called lego and asked them what they consider MISB and what is considered the product. I was told that MISB for Lego means the box is sealed and in pristine condition. Also the box is considered part of the product.

Then most of the big box sets I see in my local lego shop should be heavily discounted.

prof1515

OK so I actually called lego and asked them what they consider MISB and what is considered the product. I was told that MISB for Lego means the box is sealed and in pristine condition. Also the box is considered part of the product.

Then most of the big box sets I see in my local lego shop should be heavily discounted.

Actually they do discount boxes that suffer damage. However, shelf wear is normal on a box and Lego is not in the business of selling mint condition; they're in the business of selling children's toys to children. If you're a collector as opposed to a consumer it becomes part of the challenge to find sets in the finest, preferably mint, condition. When you do, it's expected that you will pay for it. Why? Because it's not easily obtainable. For example, my mint condition sets aren't something you can find anywhere. You could have spent thousands of dollars on them and not gotten one in pristine condition. That's what gives value decades later, sometimes adding one or more extra zeros to something's worth.

DaddyDeuce

When I'm doing searches for Modular sets, I always set up my search parameter by making sure I exclude all listings with the word "Custom" in the title. For example, if I just want to look at Green Grocer listings then my search parameter might be:

lego 10185 -custom -10182 -10190

This is the search I would use for Green Grocer. It isn't perfect, but it weeds out most of the unrelated items.

lego ("green grocer",10185) -(custom,from,mini,10182,10190,10197,10211,10218,10224)

nkx1

I just had a buyer not pay for an item, and went through the process of opening an unpaid item case to get back my listing fee. At the end of the process, ebay stated an unpaid item would be recorded on the member's account.

However (and I verified this with ebay customer service), only the member (the one who didn't pay) can view the unpaid item notation on his or her own account. Others (such as sellers) cannot view the notation.

To me, this is absolutely pointless. I want to alert other sellers that this person is a deadbeat and to not waste their time with him/her, but for some reason ebay wont allow this. I'm guessing the real reason is that it could negatively impact sales and/or their image, and therefore affect revenue. Oh well, I guess encountering deadbeats is a necessary risk when selling on ebay.

greekmick

saw an auction today where the guy added

"I KNOW HOW MUCH I WANT FOR IT & IF IT DONT REACH ANYWHERE NEAR WHAT I THINK ITS WORTH BEFORE THE LAST DAY I WILL END THIS AUCTION EARLY REGARDLESS OF WHO HAS THE HIGHEST BID

SO BID EARLY AND ENOUGH FOR ME TO DECIDE TO LEAVE THIS LEGO ON"

What is the point of an auction if he is likely to end it if you get it for a good price.

CCC

^^ If they get a number (I think 3) non-paying bidder warnings, then they are normally suspended, then banned if they keep doing it after the suspension.

khmellymel

^^ There should be a buyer requirement in your seller account that you can set to block buyers who have a certain amount of unpaid item strikes (or whatever it's called now) on their account in a certain time period.

So it's like... "block buyers who have ___ number of unpaid strikes on their account from the past ___ days" (there's a drop down you chose the numbers from).

Hopefully setting that up will help sellers!

SpaceCake

People who set the "maximum bid" to waaay more than they are willing to pay, just for the sake of winning the auction. Then realise they've paid more than they thought they would and refuse to pay for the item...

nkx1

CCC: Thanks for the infor, good to know!

khmellymel: I do have that set up, but I don't think it's comprehensive enough. For instance, you can only block people with two or more unpaid items within a maximum of 12 months. I want to block anyone who has ever had an unpaid item. I'd also like to be able to see the person's unpaid item history if they are a bidder on my auction. That way, I can decide whether or not I want to take a gamble on someone who may not pay. As it is now, people with unpaid items (however unfrequently) can still bid on any auction and there is nothing a seller can do about it, because they don't know about the unpaid items.

SpaceCake

Actually, I'd also like to add my voice to the folks moaning about the use of the word "rare"... It actually makes me want to beat the seller to death with a sockful of his own crappy products when I see listings like this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LEGO-STAR-WARS-UGNAUGHT-CLOUD-CITY-BOBA-FETT-WORKERS-VERY-RARE-CUSTOM-/221013090009?pt=UK_Construction_Toys_Kits&hash=item3375681ed9

Edit: Wow, I didn't even notice the asking price of £10........

madforLEGO

^^ There should be a buyer requirement in your seller account that you can set to block buyers who have a certain amount of unpaid item strikes (or whatever it's called now) on their account in a certain time period.

So it's like... "block buyers who have ___ number of unpaid strikes on their account from the past ___ days" (there's a drop down you chose the numbers from).

Hopefully setting that up will help sellers!

There IS such a thing, at least in US.. Check under Buyer requirements in your auction creation template.. this is also why you can longer say that someone 'cannot bid' or 'don't bid if' But the sad thing is it only goes down to 2 per x amount of time, I think you should be able to have it at one.

madforLEGO

saw an auction today where the guy added

"I KNOW HOW MUCH I WANT FOR IT & IF IT DONT REACH ANYWHERE NEAR WHAT I THINK ITS WORTH BEFORE THE LAST DAY I WILL END THIS AUCTION EARLY REGARDLESS OF WHO HAS THE HIGHEST BID

SO BID EARLY AND ENOUGH FOR ME TO DECIDE TO LEAVE THIS LEGO ON"

What is the point of an auction if he is likely to end it if you get it for a good price.

eBay has a function for this, it is called buy it now.. this user is either circumventing fees or is just a goof who does not understnad the concept of an auction, or both...