riverbendlapidary

I didn't know you could cancel auctions once there was a bid on them. Seems like a bad thing to do.

I am a strong advocate of consumer rights, but I'm not sure there is anything really amiss here.

One of the reasons bidders can cancel a bid is because of entering the wrong amount, although they are supposed to rebid the correct amount ASAP. It seems reasonable that sellers should have similar protection for mistakes. I can easily imagine that a seller who is busy because of running another business, or many listings, or whatever reason, might not noitce a mistake until they reviewed the auctions about to end.

If it had been advertised as "LOW START", "NO RESERVE" ... and then pulled for this reason - that would look different. If the seller had a pattern of doing this, then alarms should go out.

In this case, it seems like the initial reaction of disappointment, which is understandable, is leading to some hasty suppositions. For example, "I guess he wasn't getting enough for it", which not only implicitly asserts that the low listing price was intentional, but further asserts that the "dodge" of pulling it may be standard operating procedure. Both of these accusations are a bit harsh to fling at someone - especially a fellow RTH member, based on one data point. Also, given that this vendor is also a member here, which affords PM communication channels in addition to the normal ebay "contact seller" channels, it looks to me like this thread is premature at best.

Personally, I think a seller should never pull an item without sending a personal message to any bidders affected. Just seems like good public relations. Maybe even offer them some small bonus item if they rebid and win the new listing. I think this could have prevented the kind of harsh feeling we are seeing here. I think this goes double if the initial mistake is compounded by not discovering the mistake until there is just a few hours left.

While it is not easy to know which ebay IDs are also RTH members (even if they are the same), now that the relation IS known, I would especially encourage RiverBend to dialog with Corvette just to preserve the atmosphere of RTH.

In general, lets not hastily assume the worst possible interpretation - especially of other members, and especially without talking to the other party first.

J.R I am so very sorry for your loss.

Sorry to hear about your grandmother. Also, thanks for explaining how the "send to auction" feature caused the incorrect listing. And it is standup of you to offer the apology for any confusion.

If I mentioned "just several hours remaining", it was only because of the original posting. Overall I was advocating for you, so I hope you do not think I was flaiming you.

While I can see you had a lot of family-stuff going on, I stand my my opinion that sending a message to the high bidder would have been the smart thing to do.

I also really really wish you would have made your "correction" without sniping at 58vette. I mean, you should have sent 58vette a message, you should have apologized to 58vette for his inconvenience and for your not having sent him a message. Instead you offer only a more general apology for "confusion" and then go after 58vette for saying "hours" instead of "2 days." While I suggested 58vette had been hasty, it now looks to me like you have lost any high ground you might have had.

I made my response after reading the initial message (I did not read yours or the other messages).

Between comforting my distraut mother and making flight and hotel reservations - etc, I have been rather busy.

I am not concerned with having any high-ground.

To norockinlouisiana - I could not have ended the auction within a few hours of the ending because you cannot end an auction if there are only 12 or less hours left before the end.

I am done with this thread - J.R.

JR - Take care of yourself and your family right now. I hope the rigidity and defensivness I'm reading is just due to all the stress. I hope that later you can see that you could have acted better here.

After waiting for the auction to end I was greatly dissapointed in the outcome. Due to my medical problems I took out my anger and frustration here on the RTH. I appologize in doing this. I am wheelchair bound and really do not have anyone to talk to except my wife. I also appologize for my remarks about riverbendlapidary...I should have not done that. Thanks to all of you "RTH" for helping me realize my short comings.
The reason I was so distraught is my wifes birthday is coming up soon and I was going to make her a broach/earrings out of the tigereye as that is her favorite stone. She has been thru quite a bit of hardship due to my auto accident and has never complained even one day. She now has been working as much overtime to help pay the bills. I again want to thank you all for showing me my fault.
I will continue to look for some tigereye and I will find some that I can afford.
Thank You,
Gary

I can also provide a slab or small chunk. I'll try to get a picture together tonight. Maybe I can even help make up for lost time by roughing out the shape for you or something. I'll be glad to send a few ounces just to help restore the friendly atmosphere.

hey 58 if you want i have a finished cabojohn of tiger eye its pouring or id go down and get it out of the truck buts its a rectangle id say 2 inch by 1-1/2 flat faced you could have

ill get a pic if it stops raining