Kauai Beach Villas: Deliberate eBay deception?

[DaveNV]

Bidder beware!

If you are currently bidding on eBay auction 320170808638, for what is quoted to be a 2br/2ba unit at Kauai Beach Villas, be careful! In response to my inquiry, the seller confirmed to me in three separate emails that the unit for sale, F3, is NOT a 2Br/2br unit. The seller, a well-known PCC, says the estoppel letter was wrong, as if that was an excuse for his listing inaccuracies. Perhaps so, but he hasn't revised his auction to tell what he knows is the truth!

The seller continues to receive bids on this TS as though it was a larger size. Bidding is now well over what is typical for a 1br non-oceanfront at KBV. The auction ends in a few hours, and I don't want anyone to be taken advantage of.

Dave

 

[thinze3]

He has a GIANT exclamor stating that is a 1BR unit.
He must have got the nessage.

Bidder beware!

If you are currently bidding on eBay auction 320170808638, for what is quoted to be a 2br/2ba unit at Kauai Beach Villas, be careful! In response to my inquiry, the seller confirmed to me in three separate emails that the unit for sale, F3, is NOT a 2Br/2br unit. The seller, a well-known PCC, says the estoppel letter was wrong, as if that was an excuse for his listing inaccuracies. Perhaps so, but he hasn't revised his auction to tell what he knows is the truth!

The seller continues to receive bids on this TS as though it was a larger size. Bidding is now well over what is typical for a 1br non-oceanfront at KBV. The auction ends in a few hours, and I don't want anyone to be taken advantage of.

Dave

 

[DaveNV]

Okay. I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing that out.

But I guess after seeing the wrong information in the auction TITLE, and at the TOP of the listing, and reading in the main description that was STILL wrong, and seeing that none of his information had been changed in the primary text, I didn't occur to me that I needed to scroll down and down and down to the very END of the extra-long listing page to read the one part that says the primary information above it is wrong. Seems pretty shifty to me...

This is like someone putting up an auction for a Rolex watch, describing everything about it, and receiving numerous bids from hopeful buyers who expect to buy a Rolex. Then, right before the end of the auction, putting a disclaimer way down at the bottom saying, "Whoops. No it's not a Rolex. It's a Casio." People are bidding on a Rolex, not a Casio.

Why not just edit the listing? In my mind it still smacks of deception, because anyone who has read the auction title and visited the page previously isn't likely to scroll all the way to the bottom to see if there happens to have been a change to the text.

My caution stands: Bidder beware!

Dave (And no, I didn't bid on the auction. I just don't like to see people being taken advantage of.)

 

[aliikai2]

Once you receive a bid on an Ebay auction

You can't change anything in the listing. That is why you see all the Seller added: at the bottom of the pages.

fwiw, Greg

Okay. I stand corrected. Thanks for pointing that out.

But I guess after seeing the wrong information in the auction TITLE, and at the TOP of the listing, and reading in the main description that was STILL wrong, and seeing that none of his information had been changed in the primary text, I didn't occur to me that I needed to scroll down and down and down to the very END of the extra-long listing page to read the one part that says the primary information above it is wrong. Seems pretty shifty to me...

This is like someone putting up an auction for a Rolex watch, describing everything about it, and receiving numerous bids from hopeful buyers who expect to buy a Rolex. Then, right before the end of the auction, putting a disclaimer way down at the bottom saying, "Whoops. No it's not a Rolex. It's a Casio." People are bidding on a Rolex, not a Casio.

Why not just edit the listing? In my mind it still smacks of deception, because anyone who has read the auction title and visited the page previously isn't likely to scroll all the way to the bottom to see if there happens to have been a change to the text.

My caution stands: Bidder beware!

Dave (And no, I didn't bid on the auction. I just don't like to see people being taken advantage of.)

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Why not just edit the listing? In my mind it still smacks of deception, because anyone who has read the auction title and visited the page previously isn't likely to scroll all the way to the bottom to see if there happens to have been a change to the text.

Because once the first bid is placed, the description cannot be edited. All the seller can do is provide additional information at the bottom of the listing, which is what the seller did.

The only other option is to cancel the auction and relist. In this case arguably that is what the seller should have done.

***

A tangential point. Because listings can't be edited after the first bid is placed, it's often a good idea when sniping to first enter a token, entry level bid (if no one else has done so), to keep the seller from completely changing the auction. Else you may wind up sniping something that is not what you wanted.

Example: one time I purchased a laptop computer from a person operating a virtual store. The individual also auctions inventory on eBay.

When I described what I was looking for, he pointed me to a current auction (with no bids) he was running for a unit with those specs. I bought the unit from him directly. After receiving payment from me, he revised the eBay auction, putting up a different unit for auction.

If any bidders had instructed a sniping service to bid on their behalf based on the original listing, they would have ended up sniping a significantly different unit than the one they originally acted on.

 

[DaveNV]

Wow. You guys are smart. Thanks for educating me. I didn't know about that "no change" thing. So I guess there isn't TRULY any deception going on then. But it still seems a little weird. Deleting and relisting seems like it would be more fair. And I guess it also shows where someone should look at every inch of an aucton page listing before bidding, and again on subsequent bids.

And thinking about sniping, maybe that's why things can't be changed. Even eBay has their "Bid Assistant" thing now, which is a kind of sniping. If the auction changed, it would mess with that feature.

But in the same vein, doesn't it show the risk of sniping or using eBay's BId Assistant? If you expect you're bidding on a 2br/2ba unit, and it suddenly changes to a 1Br, but the auction doesn't substantially change enough to catch the attention of the sniping software or Bid Assistant, couldn't you end up owning something that is less or different than you thought you were bidding on? I'd hate to snipe bid like I was buying a 2br/2ba and end up with a 1br/1ba. Not only could I spend more than I'd want to, but I'd own something less than I expected.

Risky business...

Dave

 

[Hoc]

A tangential point. Because listings can't be edited after the first bid is placed, it's often a good idea when sniping to first enter a token, entry level bid (if no one else has done so), to keep the seller from completely changing the auction. Else you may wind up sniping something that is not what you wanted.

A very good point. I learned this a couple of years ago, when I was first sniping. I put in a snipe bid on a fairly small item, and it received no bids until the snipe. About 2 minutes before the auction closed, the seller revised the item to charge $230 for shipping. So, when my $1 bid won, arguably I owed $231.

We mutually cancelled the auction, and from that point forward, I always put in a bid on items I snipe, unless they already have bids.

 

[rickandcindy23]

The real deception happened to the real victim of the Postcard Companies--the original owner of the week, who was told at the PCC presentation that no timeshare ever sells for even $1.00 on eBay. Amazing that few people care about those owners. A duping is a duping, whether it is from an eBay ad or a high-pressure, anti-timeshare presentation. These people were lied to and manipulated, then gave power of attorney to the PCC to get rid of the week. That is the real truth, but some people just forget about those folks. :annoyed:

 

[jacknsara]

it might be oceanfront

... Bidding is now well over what is typical for a 1br non-oceanfront at KBV. ...

Aloha,
I pointed out a few days ago in post #6 at http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57224 the inconsistency. If the ICN is correct (I was not interested and did not check), this is a one bedroom 2 bath oceanfront unit. The final price is a fair price for oceanfront even if not the record low.
Jack