2 good 2 b true?

[mrmando]

I guess we'll find out ...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Schwab-Sunbu...0AAOSwBlNZc49-

[F-2 Dave]

The free shipping makes that quite a deal. Too bad I'm too late to the party.

[LadysSolo]

Wonder why that one was so cheap - everything else the seller has listed is pretty realistically priced, IMHO.

[bratsche]

Obviously a dumb mistake on the seller's part. He probably intended a no-reserve with bidding starting there, but didn't mean to have it marked as a Buy-it-Now. If I'd seen something like that, I'd have shot him a note to alert him. It's what I'd hope someone'd do if the tables were turned and I were the one who messed up.

bratsche

[Seter]

There was a 99 cent Deering banjo up for sale too but that has been bought/taken down too it looks like. Fuller Guitars is a well known shop here in Houston, I'm sort of surprised to see them with a rather low eBay rating though.

[Jeff Mando]

The free shipping makes that quite a deal.

Kinda like the ladies on Extreme Couponing -- "well, this size toothpaste is normally $2.99, but I have a $2.00 off coupon and today happens to be triple coupon day, so basically they are paying me $3.00 to take it home -- so, even if I don't need 'em, I went ahead and got 100 tubes, since it was a good deal. OK, now on to the Gatorade aisle -- no, I don't drink Gatorade or even like the taste, but you see I've got a coupon that let's me get.................."

[mrmando]

"This order was not successful. Order cost has not been included in the total amount. This order has been cancelled The amount of $0.99 has been refunded."

Nice dream while it lasted.

[B381]

Isn't that a violation of the contract of sale that is created when an Ebay auction closes? Ebay used to be locked in at whatever it sold for...is it not that way anymore?

[mrmando]

It might be more difficult for sellers to wiggle out of a traditional auction listing that ran its full term, although I've certainly had a seller do that to me as well. I'm sure that around the time eBay introduced Buy It Now, they realized they'd need a way for sellers to correct obvious mistakes, even after the fact.

I did not actually expect to receive this instrument for 99 cents, although I wouldn't have complained if I had. I just thought it was amusing.

For those who complain that eBay/PayPal gives buyers all the leverage, here is a ray of hope.

[MikeZito]

With the full understanding that laws in each state can be different - it still seems to me VERY LIKELY that purchasing the instrument for the sale price listed constitutes a legal contract, and therefore MUST be sold to the buyer. Of course there are some shady ways of getting out of the sale, (claiming that the item was sold elsewhere before the eBay purchase was made, etc.) - but I would think that if the buyer really wanted to push the issue, it could be his for 99-cents.

[Jeff Mando]

In the early days of eBay, I spent an insane amount of time, probably 12 or more hours a day, refreshing my searches of new instrument listings, basically looking for mistakes............sure, I bought quite a few 99 cent guitars, but the sellers never sent them, just cancelled the order. Occasionally, I'd get a phone call where the seller apologized, etc. No biggee. WHAT I DID BUY, however, were quite a few $300 Buy It Now guitars, banjos, etc., that were actually worth $2500 or so........those sales always did go through, just fine........

[Mandobar]

Maybe their eBay identity was hacked, either way, it's hard to legally compel anyone to a contract across state lines, and could prove expensive.

[mrmando]

With the full understanding that laws in each state can be different - it still seems to me VERY LIKELY that purchasing the instrument for the sale price listed constitutes a legal contract, and therefore MUST be sold to the buyer.

To achieve such a victory, I think you'd have to:

1) be a jerk;
2) hire a lawyer who's as much of a jerk as you are;
3) end up paying legal fees that are equal to or greater than the full retail price of the instrument in question.

[Jeff Mando]

Better call Saul!

[Nevin]

Evan if it is a contract under contract law courts try to make you whole financially. Since the buyer valued the instrument at $0.99 it would be hard for them to argue they were worth more than the return.

[Steve Ostrander]

Dang, I've been wanting an e-mando....

[Mandobar]

Someone at Fuller's hit enter before verifying the ad. Read their eBay feedback. Seems this might have happened before with another instrument.

[atetone]

I had this happen once.
I "bought" a buy-it-now Gibson A5L for something like $1200 when the going price at the time was about $2200.
Within an hour I got a phone call from Dennis Vance saying that it was a mistake.
I agreed with him that I sort of knew that at the time I bought it so we cancelled the deal in a gentleman's agreement.
Then he proceeded to make me a deal on a Collings MT2V that I could not refuse so it all went well in the end.
I could have pushed the issue I suppose but why?
A mistake was made and a very cordially explanation was offered so I let it go.
Life is too short for scrapping over this stuff.
If he had been a jerk of course I might have responded differently but if a person makes an honest mistake why screw them over.

[mrmando]

Evan if it is a contract under contract law courts try to make you whole financially. Since the buyer valued the instrument at $0.99 it would be hard for them to argue they were worth more than the return.

Good point. I got my 99 cents back. The court doesn't have an obligation to help me secure a windfall at someone else's expense.

What strikes me as odd is that the instrument hasn't been relisted with a more realistic price.

[Jeff Mando]

25+ years ago I was at a pawn shop and found a genuine late 60's Gibson ES-335 for $199 plus tax. At the time it probably was an $800 used guitar, nowadays probably a $3500-4000 "vintage" guitar, at any rate, a great deal, even back then. The salesman/clerk was a newbie and was doing his best to "sell" it to me -- "you'll look great with that one!" "rock'n'roll, man!" "old school!" "Rolling Stones!" -- I told him sure, I'll take it. WE WERE AT THE CHECKOUT COUNTER, I had my credit card out and handed it to him, he was getting ready to swipe the card -- OUT OF THE BACK ROOM the manager came running like he could see what was going on even behind closed doors (he couldn't) he says to the employee have you swiped his card? the employee says no, he hands me back my card and takes the guitar from my hands, and before I could say, "but, wait!" he then proceeds to make up some crazy excuse that he was so glad to "catch it" in time and that someone had just reported it stolen, etc., etc., -- I gave him a look like I knew he was lying -- and then he says, actually it was Jerry Lee Lewis' guitar player's guitar -- at that point I wanted to kill him, but he had me -- BECAUSE MY CARD HAD NOT GONE THROUGH YET! A few seconds later it would have been mine. I blame the slowness of the new employee, because a quicker person could have had me out of there much faster before the manager had time to nose around. BUT LIKE YA SAY, it isn't his job to provide me with a windfall. I still think that pawn shop owes me BIG TIME.......

[darrylicshon]

I'm waiting on an amp I bought on eBay for a really low price, it was on July 22 haven't heard anything from them yet, probably won't get the amp , but I can't resist bidding on those 2 good 2 be true auctions, most of the time I get my money back, and sometimes I actually get the great deal

[jim simpson]

I won an auction for a new multi-track recorder and waited a week to contact the seller who had not posted any status after I paid for it ( I paid immediately via paypal). He responded that he wasn't sure what he was going to do, that he was losing money on the sale. I guess being a new seller, he didn't understand that one could set a minimum bid. He did say at that point that he would send it as I instructed him that I wouldn't have tied up my money for a week or so while he decided what to decide what he was going to do. It was my first experience like this.

[Mandobar]

Perhaps eBay should suspend sellers who do this for a set period. If they do it too often they should just ban them.

[mrmando]

Perhaps eBay should suspend sellers who do this for a set period. If they do it too often they should just ban them.

Sellers who do what?

If they run a full-length traditional auction and then don't honor the results? Yes, there should be a penalty. If they make a mistake on a Buy It Now price? Hey, mistakes happen.