[RockJock]

Some good points Black,,,,, But!
Lets say you were at this garage sale and you collected Painted A-2 Jackets from WWII. Now remember you collect these items so on some of the jackets in your collection you probably paid top dollar to aquire them, so unless your a millionaire your funds for collecting are short. Ok, now you asked the elderly lady what she wanted for the jacket and she said, oh,,, I don't know give me $20 dollars. Well $20 dollars would be a steal but then what would you really give her? A painted nose art A-2 jacket will bring up to $5000.00 depending on condition. So would you offer her $2000 after she wanted $20 or would you offer the $5000.00 if it was in great condition, what its really worth?
I would guess,,, and this is just my guess you would be more likely to up her $20 asking price and maybe give her $500. Or at least this is what I think most collectors would do. After all who's to say what price you should give her? Maybe what you would give her another collector would call you a thief.
I have read several times on the Forum about someone getting a great buy on a diecast plane on eBay because the seller had it listed in the wrong catagory and other potential buyers were unable to find the auction. Should of these buyers notified the seller and make them aware of their mistake or hang low and pick it up cheap at the last minute?
As far as eBay guarding this from happening, closing auctions early, there's just no way they can. Unless they take the option out completely to end an auction, and I don't ever see this happening.

[RockJock]

Originally Posted by KG_Jag

So it's the amount of gain or loss that justifies bad behavior! Yes, I'll call dishonest and unethical--at the low end. I'll bet that you're OK with people cutting in line in front of you too.

If you don't like the EBay rules, don't use it.

By the way, you would lose your bet. My ethics and reputation, are worth far more than "thousands" and are not for sale.

Bad Behavior??? Give me a break!!!
Maybe you were one of the eBay winners of a plane that was listed in the wrong catagory.

[Rush104]

Originally Posted by RockJock

As far a being dishonest, I don't think that making a seller an offer as being dishonest. Maybe unethical according to eBay but not dishonest.

Being unethical IS being dishonest.

[SKUNKY]

Originally Posted by Rush104

Being unethical IS being dishonest.

Well that of course would all depend on what the definition of "IS" is.......

[Rush104]

Originally Posted by RockJock

I can't see this as much of a problem with diecast planes costing $25 to $100 dollars. But if you were a collector where the items can cost in the hundreds or thousands, I would bet anything that you would be on board playing the old eBay game too.

If you didn't see a deal on eBay in the first place, you would NOT have known about it. To then go behind their backs, so to speak, and cut your own deal with the seller is dishonest. And, you're puttting a knife in the back of the people who DO try to use the system the way it was intended to be used. You're helping the seller cheat eBay out of their commissions. By the way, that's fraud.
If too many people play the "old eBay game", eBay will either make it so difficult to get transactions done or it may be forced to shut down completely. Then where will you, and all your fellow collectors, be?

[RockJock]

I usually find that folks that wave their sanctimonious banner of impeachable ethics and absolute purity of character are the biggest crooks of the bunch. Something just doesn’t ring true when someone has to tell you they are completely honest.>>

[Rush104]

Originally Posted by RockJock

I usually find that folks that wave their sanctimonious banner of impeachable ethics and absolute purity of character are the biggest crooks of the bunch. Something just doesn’t ring true when someone has to tell you they are completely honest.>>

Well, in that case I suppose you're to be commended for telling people up front that you can't be trusted...

[Rush104]

Originally Posted by SKUNKY

Well that of course would all depend on what the definition of "IS" is.......

My definition of "is" is "is"...

[KG_Jag]

Originally Posted by Rush104

Well, in that case I suppose you're to be commended for telling people up front that you can't be trusted...

Agreed!

[Black 6]

Originally Posted by RockJock

Some good points Black,,,,, But!
Lets say you were at this garage sale and you collected Painted A-2 Jackets from WWII. Now remember you collect these items so on some of the jackets in your collection you probably paid top dollar to aquire them, so unless your a millionaire your funds for collecting are short. Ok, now you asked the elderly lady what she wanted for the jacket and she said, oh,,, I don't know give me $20 dollars. Well $20 dollars would be a steal but then what would you really give her? A painted nose art A-2 jacket will bring up to $5000.00 depending on condition. So would you offer her $2000 after she wanted $20 or would you offer the $5000.00 if it was in great condition, what its really worth?
I would guess,,, and this is just my guess you would be more likely to up her $20 asking price and maybe give her $500. Or at least this is what I think most collectors would do. After all who's to say what price you should give her? Maybe what you would give her another collector would call you a thief.

Well Rock, that's an interesting scenario. In my case, and I can only speak for myself and am not trying to be anything other than myself here, I would say something along the lines of "Listen, the jacket is worth more than $20.00, a lot more, possibly into thousands of dollars. I can only offer you this much (say a $1000.00 - which would be all I could afford in reality for such an item - and be aware I don't collect militaria so I make my statements equated to my life as it now is) but, if you would like to try selling it online, with a dealer (etc.) I would be glad to assist you." I would then offer my assistance and ask for a reasonable percentage of the sale price.*

Doing that I would personally feel I had covered all my bases with what is important to me. If she wanted to be rid of the jacket at a $1000 then everyone is happy (especially me as my conscious is clear and I made a killer deal). If she wanted to try making a better sale, then I would do my best to assist and collect no more than what we agreed upon.

* This is also a win/win situation. When I was into Civil War reenacting (years ago) you would get people at events bringing you things to look at that they found in "Great Grandpa Jewble's" trunk. At one event a guy brought a small Confederate battle flag that he had to me and my buddy to look at. My buddy was a big CW sword collector and he had quite a few contacts. He managed to work a deal with this guy to broker a sale in which he got a percentage of the sale price (I believe it was 10%). After 3-4 months he found a private collector in Georgia who bought the flag for over $20K. At 10% my buddy did all right for himself.

I have read several times on the Forum about someone getting a great buy on a diecast plane on eBay because the seller had it listed in the wrong catagory and other potential buyers were unable to find the auction. Should of these buyers notified the seller and make them aware of their mistake or hang low and pick it up cheap at the last minute?

I will be the first to admit I take advantage of this and use some great tools to locate such "deals." The reason I have no problem in this is my belief that the seller bears personal responsibility for his listing. They are adults and have all the information there to make the proper category choice, have the responsibility to check their work and make any necessary corrections. I think of it as carelessness on their part and will be a lesson learned. And to be honest I had my share of those when I first started, but I LEARNED from the mistake. Its just costly tuition in Ebay U.

As far as eBay guarding this from happening, closing auctions early, there's just no way they can. Unless they take the option out completely to end an auction, and I don't ever see this happening.

I agree that I don't know if the can prevent it from happening (as there are legitimate cases for doing so). I would only ask that Ebay have a better method to allow other users a way to gauge if this is something that happens regularly with a particular user.