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Heh heh.
Just had an argument (a long one, it took up half of lunch, then we broke to answer phones and stuff, then another half hour or so) with the Technician. He was arguing that the agreement to purchase made by a bidder on eBay is voided by a higher bid being made by someone else. I was arguing that, as acceptance of the offer has not happened, the offer is still valid. Legally, acceptance of the offer happens at the time the auction finished. He was arguing (I think) that acceptance happens when the bid is made, according to eBay. I finally logged on and showed him the statement by eBay, when you confirm your offer, which is that you agree to enter into a contract if you are the winning bidder, a term which is defined elsewhere on the site. The Technician shut up at this point. He had noticed the 'legally binding' bit, but not the term 'winning bidder', which defines the time at which acceptance occurs.
Thus, I win. Feeling good.
Then he came back to 'discuss' the situation with withdrawn bids and what happens to the subsequent winner. I showed him the eBay help page dealing with this subject, which answered his complaints. He went away. And then came back to complain that the withdrawer in question was contravening the rules as stated on that help page. He went away again after I told him that it was his job to complain about it to eBay or put up with it. He is now officially pissing me off with this issue. It is not my job to educate him on his rights with regards to something he has access to all the information about. If you think something is dodgy, you read the bloody manual. It took me one search to find something which answered his problem, and I know he's fully capable of typing in the search terms himself.
End rant here.
For reasons of public education, though, I'd like to state that incidences of the following, on eBay, should be reported to eBay:
Just had an argument (a long one, it took up half of lunch, then we broke to answer phones and stuff, then another half hour or so) with the Technician. He was arguing that the agreement to purchase made by a bidder on eBay is voided by a higher bid being made by someone else. I was arguing that, as acceptance of the offer has not happened, the offer is still valid. Legally, acceptance of the offer happens at the time the auction finished. He was arguing (I think) that acceptance happens when the bid is made, according to eBay. I finally logged on and showed him the statement by eBay, when you confirm your offer, which is that you agree to enter into a contract if you are the winning bidder, a term which is defined elsewhere on the site. The Technician shut up at this point. He had noticed the 'legally binding' bit, but not the term 'winning bidder', which defines the time at which acceptance occurs.
Thus, I win. Feeling good.
Then he came back to 'discuss' the situation with withdrawn bids and what happens to the subsequent winner. I showed him the eBay help page dealing with this subject, which answered his complaints. He went away. And then came back to complain that the withdrawer in question was contravening the rules as stated on that help page. He went away again after I told him that it was his job to complain about it to eBay or put up with it. He is now officially pissing me off with this issue. It is not my job to educate him on his rights with regards to something he has access to all the information about. If you think something is dodgy, you read the bloody manual. It took me one search to find something which answered his problem, and I know he's fully capable of typing in the search terms himself.
End rant here.
For reasons of public education, though, I'd like to state that incidences of the following, on eBay, should be reported to eBay:
- All auctions where the postage stated is stupid e.g. an item which fits in a 500g Australia Post satchel and is being posted from Australia to Australia via Regular (as stated in the auction) should not cost more than $5 in postage, plus a reasonable amount for packaging the item to protect it in transit. By Express Post it's $7, insurance extra.
- Bid retraction, except where the rules are followed
- Any auction where the item description changes 'significantly' between your placing of the bid and the auction end - anything that would change whether you would buy the item counts (eg an item of clothing changes from size 8 to size 12)
- The seller tries to get you to pay more than you've bid even if they say that it is to pay for the cost of your preferred transaction. Not including GST in their final price (even if it is in the item description), and then asking you to pay it. Ditto surcharges on, for example, PayPal transactions. Even if it's listed in the item description, it is still banned. The seller is expected to factor in the potential cost into the asking price.
- Members are not permitted to email buyers in an open or completed transaction to warn them away from a seller or item
I also have seven jars of beetroot (pickled) sitting on the bench, and one of leeks (for which I took a recipe for pickled onions and crossed it with a recipe for pickled garlic, then adapted the result). My fingernails are stained burgundy at the edges. Bastard thinks that his Dad would also like to get some, though, so it's all worth it.
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