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Jellybelly BearsReally and truely...which doesn't happen too often to me...grrr....okay, listed my bear Blossum on Ebay, this is a new venture for me..expanding my horizons and all that...Ebay looks like fun...*haha*....anyway, a lady from my mailing list asks to bid, sets up an account and is the highest bidder all week, she's very excited over it writing me during the week with "I'm still the highest bidder" (so cute), its all very fun and exciting for me, until the last 2 days, and another lady wins it...no history except for one other bid on another item....get her address etc from the USA, she seems legit even tho she is a new user....so, waiting waiting...I'm new at the ebay game...so after the allotted 7 days I gave her to pay, yesterday I went to file a report and let Ebay contact her....she's no longer a registered user!!!!!!!!!! The very next day she quit....WHY!!!!!! Why stuff me around.....I'm so infuriated...not only the time and expense wasted, Ebay only gave me back the final fee charge, is that right? I can't relist using the same auction space for nothing???
On top of that I can't belive I waited over a week thinking she would write, writing her from every email address...thinking it would come about....I'm so trusting that it kills me at times how stupid I am!!! So disappointed with...people.... 
so....I don't know whether to just keep the bear now, I like her and she's been sitting here waiting with me for so long now....I feel defeated... I suppose I may offer her to my mailing list client who had highest bid and if she still wants her...but isn't that just where I started, selling to my mailing list...grrr......sigh.....I feel like I don't want to try Ebay again, its gotten me nowhere but a bigger hole in my pocket and more wasted time....anyway....live, try new things, and end up back where I started...sigh! 
It seemed like a good idea at the time lol 
Wazza Bears AustraliaDo a second chance offering of her to your cust that bidded in the first place. You can do that.
Dear Sarah,
Can understand how mad you must be feeling, I do hope that it ends wells and that your lovely bear goes to someone who wants him and who is not prepared to mess you around.
I am also new to the Evil Bay so do not have much to advise you on that.
Lynette
Oh dear...that's terrible
You've probably seen that there are several active threads about the frustrations 
of listing on ebay....so you are definitely not alone.
I decided to list my current panda auction on ebay just to compare the ebay bidding activity to the activity that I got on my recent Bid4Bears panda auction. So far, it's about the same for both auctions. If both auctions remain equal, then I will probably list on B4B more often than ebay. Listing on B4B is way less stressful than ebay 
....because if you have a problem on B4B you just need to contact Nancy.
:hug:
Kathy
PottersHouse BearsI think I would offer the bear to the other customer who wanted it in the first place. I do understand your frustration. It makes you wonder what kind of person has nothing else to do in life except torment somebody else.
Jellybelly BearsLynette, I know, evil is right! lol, taking advantage of us beary nice people .....and Millie, I agree, who does stuff like this?? Who has the time?? Since it happens so often I wonder if it is ebay itself making us pay more fees when we have to list over? I don't know, the whole thing confuses me! Thanks Peta, I'm not sure what I'll do yet...I'll have to write to her still....just so much wasted time...don't have enough to spare as it is...sigh.....Kathy, thank you :hug: funny, I've been doing the same experiment....tried b4b, and now Ebay, and I was so sure that Ebay would win....now, I'm not so sure...I get mailing list joins and interest through B4B, not much of anything on Ebay except for the excitement of that final high bid! Its been a huge let down.....actually, I may relist this one on B4B if my customer isn't interested anymore....thanks for giving me that idea Kathy 
she is still telling me she wants to stay here now tho, and I'm a big softie 
....lol
Cat Gabriel CraftsOh dear Sarah, that is a big let down and very annoying. I've only ever been burnt on ebay once, and I must say I haven't listed on there since.........
Well thats definately made up my mind... Bid4Bears is the only way to go 
Bumpkin Bearshow frustrating Sarah after all the effort of you must have put into listing her - I hope it works out ok :hug: :hug: :hug: :hug:
Cath x
Matilda Huggington-beareI'm sorry to hear about your negative experience on your first time out on ebay Sarah. :hug:
I found I couldnt take the stress on ebay. Coupled with the expense. I have found (when I do auction) that B4B's is the pleasant way to go. And as a shopper B4B's is the more pleasant place to be.
Jellybelly Bearsthanks so much ladies for your support 
guess I'm not the only one, which sadly makes me feel a smidge better....still deciding what to do....I checked out the conditions properly and I only get the final value fee back, so if I relist, and don't get any bids again, or another non payer....I loose a second lot of listing fees....so....after all that....I may just keep the bear! I've almost paid for her LOL
b4b....yup Kim, Wendy, probably my bet from now on.... I do want to keep making my new range of OOAK bears for auction or something sort of direct sale, instead of the plain wait for orders to roll in...so, that looks like my next plan of action....i think...
Posts: 26
Hi Sarah,
I keep forgetting about Teddy Talk and re-discovered it through Intercal's weekly special. I was glancing down at the topics and saw yours. I'm so sorry that happened to you as I know exactly the emotions you went through when you discovered you had a fraud. I had the same thing happen to me last year and the bogus bidder bid up 2 of my long-time collectors over $1500.00. The fraud didn't win the bear, but when I discovered that my loyal collectors had been fraudulently bid up, I reduced the price of the bear. It was terrible as my one collector bowed out just as it was closing as she felt the new bidder was determined. I don't think the fraud realized how tough your loyal collectors can be when they set their sights on a bear they must have, and happily it was a real bidder who won. I couldn't in good conscience change the extra amount of the bad bids, so I reduced the final amount. It did make me quite upset as I did indeed have 2 good bidders with one dropping out and would have realized close to the original sum had the fraud not been involved. It was a hard pill to swallow but I never regretted reducing the price. My intergrity is worth much, much more to me. Now, here is why they do it and how you can avoid it. The bad guys want to win your bear at a very high price. Gets you all excited and they think you'll let your guard down. The next step is to send you a bogus money order for way more than the bear sold for. You'll be told to cash the money order, keep the amount the winner owes you and send the bear and the change (usually hundreds of dollars or more) to a third party. The reasons on this scam vary - I am from the UK and owe money to my friend, I am fighting in Iraq and want to send my girlfriend a gift and some money, etc. You get the drift. Sounds all warm and fuzzy until a bout a week later when the bank reverses the money order and takes all that money out of your account because it was a fake money order. OMG Can you imagine? Now you're out the bear, the cost of the auction, the cost to send it and a couple more hundred dollars on top of it. But don't worry. There's a very simply way to avoid this in the future. Simply require that your bidders be registered with Paypal. That's because PayPal verifies identity and makes sure the person is bona fide. The bad guys don't get involved in PayPal and know that you're on to them, so normally they'll avoid those auctions. Now, you can also allow your long-time collectors in on your auctions even if they don't have PayPay just by adding them to your exempted list. Obviously, if you know someone and have been working with them for a long time, they would be exempt from the requirement. It may sound complicated, but it truly isn't. I've been with eBay for about 10 years now and have reached almost all my customers there. It's been terrific, but you have to keep on your toes. To me, that makes it fun and challenging as I love nothing more than to beat the bad guys - ha.
Hope I helped! I just felt so bad for you because I know how your heart was broken and the emotional roller coaster you just hopped off. Hang in there and try again!
Bear Hugs,
Cathy
Thanks, Cathy....that's great advice. I saw that Requiring a Pay Pal Account was also suggested by other artists. I am definitely going to do that on my ebay auctions in the future.
:hug:
Kathy
Posts: 26
Thanks, Cathy....that's great advice. I saw that Requiring a Pay Pal Account was also suggested by other artists. I am definitely going to do that on my ebay auctions in the future.
:hug:
Kathy
You're welcome! Isn't it sad that we have to put safeguards in teddy bear auctions?! Sheesh, you would think those of all things would be exempt from the bad guys. I always try to avoid as much "fine print" as I can as it's a negative, but the PayPal thing seems to be accepted by most bidders. I've had several contact me asking to bid and since I know them, I'll exempt them from the requirement. Mostly I thought it might be helpful to explain WHY the bad bids happen so no one takes it personally or gets upset. Once you havea a reason behind it, it's much easier to take positive steps to prevent future problems. I noticed one artist mentioned the Featured Plus. Those listings are definitely targeted as these guys usually just hit the top end of each category. Now with the new search feature, I think a lot of people are going to drop the Featured Plus as it's expensive and won't be much use anymore. Hooray! I could do without that expense! Ha. Well, with all that's going on today we have to band together, support each other and our craft and do the very best we can for our collectors. I'm sure we'll all get through this and keeping a positive attitude will certainly make it much easier! Do let me know if you have better luck in your listings!
Hugs,
Cathy
PS Now if someone can tell me how to put my photos on the left all pretty like you guys are doing, I would be grateful! I'm a computer idiot ;-))
Posts: 209Hey Cathy...when you log in, look up the very top and you'll see 'PROFILE'..click on that then you'll see on the side bar (personality) there you can upload your photos so they appear on the side of your posts you can add two, one being a photo yourself and the other you can have as the Avitor (which is generally a bear)...
Also maybe go down to the New Members and start a post there introducing yourself..then everyone can welcome you and know that your here among us too...
So welcome Cathy...takes a wee while to get use to the forum and where to search etc...but you'll get the hang of it..believe me, i'm a computer idiot too! lisa
Posts: 26Thank you Lisa!
I think with your help, I'm getting there ;-) I wanted to put up my doggie photo first, but the bear came up. I'll keep working with it but as least I'm in the general direction. Yay! :dance: I have to admit, I've never joined a forum or blog, so I'm very new at this. Wouldn't it be much more fun if we could toss the computers in the bay (or back yard or forrest) and just make bears?! Ha . Of course, the computers allow us to meet each other and that's a good thing, too.
Thanks again! At least it looks a little better.
