with only ONE DOLLAR, I won a set of 17" wheels on Ebay, but should I be worried?

[bobcat]

I wanted a set of 17" wheels that will fit on the W202,
so I can fit studded Nokian snow tires. (got those tires
from a friend, but no wheels)

so I went to the most obvious place, Ebay...
I spotted a set of used 17" AMG wheels for auction
with no reserve. They were obviously used, but were
in pretty good condition, according to seller's photos
and description. (except for some minor scratches which
don't bother me, as I'm using them for snow tires only)

I entered a $99 maximum bid and Ebay enetered my
bid at $1, since I was the first bidder.
(the seller listed $85 as the shipping cost to my area)

I had almost forgot about the auction because I had
a real busy week. Ebay emailed me and informed me
that I had won!!!??? ONE DOLLAR. I guess nobody
bid on the wheels.

I prompted sent payment via PayPal. $86 ($1 plus $85 shipping)

The seller emailed me back and asked me for more money.
I replied that I had entered a valid bid and it was not my fault
that nobody else made higher bids. Having said that, I also
felt it was somewhat silly to get $1 for a set of wheels. Since
my original maximum bid was $99, I told the guy I would be willing
to let him have the $99, plus $85 shipping. This was above-and
beyond what I'd call fair... right?

The seller still refuses to accept it. What do you guys think I should
do? It's aint' my fault that the seller did a "no-reserve" auction
with a starting bid of $1. Definitely not my fault that nobody
bid on them beside me.

[kameraguy]

Here's a couple of ways to look at it:

1) you are right, it's not your problem homeboy didn't consider the fact he might not get any bids except for one, so yup he needs to send them wheels to you with the ORIGINAL sell price of $86 shipped. According to ebay, it's a binding contract so the seller needs to honor that price. There should be no reason for you to have to be "nice" and offer more money.

2) you can settle it mutually offline and see what it will take for both of you to be happy and conclude the sell. Ebay doesn't care as long as both parties consent.

BUT, considering you tried route 1 with no luck, and then route 2 without luck either, then defintely file a complaint to ebay. Not sure how far it will get you other than suspending his ebay account though :( But for the principle of it all, it's the least you should do in order to school that seller. People don't have time to mess around with deadbeat buyers on ebay, much less deadbeat sellers!

So go ahead and suspend his butt already :p At the very least justice will have been served. OR even better, he'll actually ship you the wheels for $86 once you state your case.


Personally I wouldn't spend one red cent over what the actual price was.

Edit: Oh, I forgot to add if you are saying the guy is not gonna send you the wheels AND he's not going to immediately refund your money, then yeah, take it up with Paypal and your CC company or Bank. I sure hope this is not the case though.

[CKlasse]

Opt. 3. Gimme the seller name.. I ll offer him couple hundred bucks and resell the rims within the right category w/ better keywords! :D

That's the cool thing about ebay... if you can tap into badly posted auctions, no body is there to bid against you.

[Gorister]

Man...what luck. How come I never see these auctions?!? Oh well.

Personally I agree with Kameraguy. Its not your fault the guy is an idiot.

My experience is to bring it up with Paypal. Ebay isnt the best about solving issues like that. Paypal on the other hand can be kind of persistent. Kind of strange since it is the same company now. Here is another route to consider...and in my opinion the best. If you paid with a credit card through Paypal contact the credit card. There have been several times I couldnt get paypal to do anything about deadbeat sellers, but my credit card company sure did.

I purchased a cell phone once that was listed as working condition but when it arrived it was everything but working condition. Paypal said they couldnt do anything so I contacted American Express. There was a refund within three days and the guy was threated by one of their claims people. For me that was the best option.


Anyway you go....Good Luck!!! I would love to see you get those rims for 1.00

[nokia8860]

Leave neg feedback and report him to paypal.... he afterall still has your money.

[jearly462]

It's this guys problem he didn't set a reserve on his auction. He should send you the rims for a dollar and eat his loss.

You want me to rough this punk up?

[!!!!!NJ Drive]

nobody bid on them, so hes lucky that your willing to even buy them...if he didnt want $99 for than thats his problem...negative feed back & he should refund your money

[MrSpace]

he just had to put a reserve

the reserve is there just for that, not letting go an article too low

Etienne

[c_lee]

a haha what an idiot. Just report his azz!