[BEARCAT]

I am not a frequent ebay user and while browsing on there the other day, ended up hitting the "Make Offer" button (which I had never seen before) for a saddle, just to see what sort of deal I might get. Nowhere was there a warning that I was actually making a purchase. I beleived I would get a reply with "yes we are accepting your offer and you may chose to buy the article," or "no, we don't accept the price you offered."
Well turns out I got an email that said "Congratulation on your purchase."
I have tried to find the rules on eBay to no avail. Again, there was NO warning I was in fact buying the item.
Are my hands tied? Can I get out of it? Can someone point me to the eBay policy?

[wylde sage]

It is considered a sale, unfortunately. I think your only recourse would be to contact Ebay via email or phone and explain the situation. You could try the seller also to see if they will cancel the sale.

[Beethoven]

That means they accepted your offer to buy it and its yours. Its not easy to get out of a sale, but if you really need to then contact the seller.

[mg]

why would you make an offer on something you didn't want to buy?

[lcw579]

Ouch. Hope you at least got a good deal if you are stuck with it!

[GoForAGallop]

Yes, you're stuck with it if the seller doesn't decide to let you off the hook, it is a legally binding contract that you entered into.

Also, you may have not READ the stipulations, but they are there. (This coming from a very frequent ebay shopper.) When you type in the amount you want to make for the offer there is wording about how if the seller accepts your offer it is considered a sale, and they do bounce you to a page that basically says "Are you SURE you want to make this offer?" that you have to click through before the offer is officially submitted.

[GoForAGallop]

Here's the little blip when I clicked onto the "Make an Offer" page on a saddle:


"Best Offer gives you the chance to negotiate the price with the seller. The advantage of a Best Offer is that you have the opportunity to buy the item at a lower price than the Buy It Now price or, on eBay Motors, the Advertised price.

You should only make what you consider to be your "best" offer for the item because any seller who receives multiple offers for an item is likely to accept the highest Best Offer. Best Offers are good for 48 hours. If the seller accepts your offer, the listing is immediately closed. Note: The minimum amount for which an item can be listed is determined by eBay and varies by country.

Only submit a Best Offer when you’re serious about purchasing the item. Like the bids made on auction-style listings, your Best Offer is binding. If your offer is accepted by the seller, you are obligated to pay for that item."

[BEARCAT]

Thanks for the info. I did finally find it by having to click on another link which opened a new window. I have to say it really was not obvious for me when using it for the first time.

Can't wait to get my new cool, Portuguese saddle!! (At least it IS cheap!)

[7HL]

Can't wait to get my new cool, Portuguese saddle!! (At least it IS cheap!)

This one?

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-All-Leather-...-/360286532159

[BEARCAT]

Different one

[Lady Counselor]

I am not a frequent ebay user and while browsing on there the other day, ended up hitting the "Make Offer" button (which I had never seen before) for a saddle, just to see what sort of deal I might get. Nowhere was there a warning that I was actually making a purchase. I beleived I would get a reply with "yes we are accepting your offer and you may chose to buy the article," or "no, we don't accept the price you offered."
Well turns out I got an email that said "Congratulation on your purchase."
I have tried to find the rules on eBay to no avail. Again, there was NO warning I was in fact buying the item.
Are my hands tied? Can I get out of it? Can someone point me to the eBay policy?

Don't make offers unless you mean it.
I've been running into that a LOT lately. Then when you accept it, you get, "OK thanks, I wasn't really serious"
It is a really sucky thing to do to the seller, sometimes screwing up a potential sale to someone else.
If you want to know what they would take, talk to them rather than making offers.
Only make formal offers if you intend to honor them.

[BEARCAT]

I don't have a problem with that now that I know. I was just saying it was VERY unclear that I was actually BUYING the item. When I clicked the "Make an offer" button, nothing popped up saying "Warning, your offer is final and constitutes a sale. "
I had to go fish around and finally found it after posting on here and was told where to look.
Again, this was my first time on ebay in probably over a year and my first time seeing that option.

PS: it's a big tack store, so I don't think they care too much...

[Anselcat]

It's not just on e-bay that this applies. In most situations if you make an offer on an item, and the seller accepts the offer, you have entered into a contract to buy the item at that price.

If you retract the offer before seller accepts, you are off the hook. If seller rejects your offer, seller can't come back later and hold you to it.

In the real world, when a verbal offer is accepted it is usually quickly followed by a written contract to memorialize the deal (and provide evidence of the contract). Because it is easy for someone to back out of a verbal deal and it's difficult and usually not worth the hassle to try and enforce one.

On e-bay, the deal is memorialized via the computer.

Just FYI. In case anyone is planning to visit a car lot or horse trader and make a few offers.

[GoForAGallop]

It's not just on e-bay that this applies. In most situations if you make an offer on an item, and the seller accepts the offer, you have entered into a contract to buy the item at that price.

If you retract the offer before seller accepts, you are off the hook. If seller rejects your offer, seller can't come back later and hold you to it.

In the real world, when a verbal offer is accepted it is usually quickly followed by a written contract to memorialize the deal (and provide evidence of the contract). Because it is easy for someone to back out of a verbal deal and it's difficult and usually not worth the hassle to try and enforce one.

On e-bay, the deal is memorialized via the computer.

Just FYI. In case anyone is planning to visit a car lot or horse trader and make a few offers.

Yup, when you say "So, would you take $xxx.xx for that x?" and the buyer says "Sure!" you're pretty much on the hook to pony up. Just in person, verbally, you might be let off the hook if you just say "Okay, good to know, I'll get back to you!" Don't have that option on the computer, especially not on an auction/sales site.

[macmtn]

There is an option you can check on the listing page as a seller to automatically accept a certain price best offer for the item without having contact with the buyer. Same place allows you to automatically decline an offer not high enough.
I think you bought a saddle..

[danceronice]

Don't make offers unless you mean it.
I've been running into that a LOT lately. Then when you accept it, you get, "OK thanks, I wasn't really serious"
It is a really sucky thing to do to the seller, sometimes screwing up a potential sale to someone else.
If you want to know what they would take, talk to them rather than making offers.
Only make formal offers if you intend to honor them.

Seriously. Never bid on anything unless you mean it, and I wish buyers would take me seriously when I say no returns, no frills (tracking, insurance, etc) on shipping unless they pay for it. If they want the cheap shipping, they takes their chances. eBay is set up that the seller can very easily get screwed by buyers with remorse.

[redlight]

I'm glad you went through with the purchase because it is a pain if you are the seller and then have to go contact the lower bidders, if any, to see if they would still be interested.

One idea if you are interested in seeing how much something may sell for is to do a search on the completed listings page. You can define your search terms and see every closed listing, and what price it sold for or if it didn't sell. It shows the prior two weeks listings. I don't know if you can go further back. It's a good way to educate yourself on what things are selling for before you jump in and try to buy. It's also great from a selling standpoint as sometimes there is no point in listing an item when you see that it doesn't sell for much.

[qhwpmare]

You had to have entered an offer amount somewhere. It was accepted, the saddle is yours.

[dalpal]

I am not a frequent ebay user and while browsing on there the other day, ended up hitting the "Make Offer" button (which I had never seen before) for a saddle, just to see what sort of deal I might get. Nowhere was there a warning that I was actually making a purchase. I beleived I would get a reply with "yes we are accepting your offer and you may chose to buy the article," or "no, we don't accept the price you offered."
Well turns out I got an email that said "Congratulation on your purchase."
I have tried to find the rules on eBay to no avail. Again, there was NO warning I was in fact buying the item.
Are my hands tied? Can I get out of it? Can someone point me to the eBay policy?

Yes, if you make an offer on ebay and it is accepted..you are commiting to buy (it clearly says this on ebay before you click the commitment button)

Now, there isn't much recourse for the seller if you reneg. I won't sell on ebay anymore because I got tired of people making bids and then backing out at the last minute without any penalty.

[dalpal]

Seriously. Never bid on anything unless you mean it, and I wish buyers would take me seriously when I say no returns, no frills (tracking, insurance, etc) on shipping unless they pay for it. If they want the cheap shipping, they takes their chances. eBay is set up that the seller can very easily get screwed by buyers with remorse.

I agree. I had a nice Baines saddle up with a starting bid of a whopping 400.00 (I really just needed to sell it). It was up for 7 days. By the 3rd day someone bid. So I thought great, well it's sold...might only get 400.00, but it's sold. On day 6...the bidder decides to retract the bid with the ridiculous reason of "Put in wrong amount (had bid up to 500.00)
Of course no penalty for doing this.

So I pulled the saddle off and cancelled the auction. If ebay is going to treat sellers like this, they weren't getting fees from me.

And of course after I pulled it...I get two emails asking me if I was going to relist it. No way will I relist it or put anything else up on ebay.