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Opinions about this annoying auction trend

J

JasonBrennan

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I wanted to get some feedback from others about the trend I have been seeing in the auctions. I have seen several people that have an animal up for auction on one of the auctions sites, but at some point during the auction, the animals are sold somewhere else. I will give an example:

I was looking at an auction on Reptibid for 2 burms. It was plainly marked as a "NO RESERVE" auction, with an opening bid of $10. So, I placed the opening bid (with around 10 or 12 days remaining until the end of the auction). I was outbid the next day by someone ($12 bid). So, a day goes by, and I see that the current high bidder has pulled their bid, and I am once agian the high bidder.

I go to the "ask seller a guestion" section, and the seller has stated that "the burms have been sold". The burms where sold AFTER there were bids placed on a NO RESERVE auction!! Would this bother anyone else? I can understand that they may have wanted to sell them for a higher amount than the current bid, but they:

1. did not let the auction run it's course to completion, so there is no telling how high the bids would have gotten.

2. posted these burms for auction with no reserve

Does anyone else think it is outright dishonest to do this? The TOS clearly state that once bids are placed, you are entering into a binding contract with the bidder to sell the items to them, providing that the bid is over the reserve amount (no reserve). Do you think that it is wrong to place animals up for auction, then to sell them elsewhere before the auction has ended?

To anyone that is interested, I have saved both the main auction page with all information, as well as the "ask seller a question" page to show what was said by both myself and the seller. I don't know how to do those "screen captures", so I copied the whole page and saved it in an email. If someone knows how to post a copy of that here, I will gladly forward the pages to you.

I didn't put this in the BOI right now because I am primarily looking for opinions about the general practice I described (as it seems to be happening with increased regularity). Thanks in advance for any input.

By the way, this auction that I described is still an active auction!
 
I agree. If they post the animals/items on an auction, then they should sell the animals to the highest bidder. If someone else wants to buy the animals, then they should be directed to the auction.
 
If you had a bid on an animal in an auction, and it was a 'No Reserve' auction, then you have been, in my opinion, swindled out of potentially acquiring this snake for whatever you had bid. Placing an item or animal up for auction and then receiving a bid is a binding agreement to sell that animal for that bid when such is satated in the terms of the auction, and is probably also binding even if not stated in the auction terms. As I see it, this person owes you that snake at $10 and if that snake is unavailable, then he/she owes you a similar snake at the same price. mIt does not matter that the auction may have gone higher, what matters is yours was the only nonretracted bid on record. There was, in my opinion, no legitimate excuse to remove the animal from the auction or to close the auction. You have been victimized..... ;)
 
Given the facts as you have stated them, I agree that you are owed two (2) burms for $10. That's just not acceptable business practices.

I would approach the seller, explain my dissatisfaction, find out what he/she intended to do, and approach the BOI, if not fully satisfied. I would also do my best to get that person banned from using whatever auction that was used to perpetrate this breech of contract!
 
This has always been a chronic problem with reptile auctions. People just use the auction site as another form of classified listing. Apparently many think nothing of the practice, it happened constantly when Herp Auction was running. You would see an auction listing, then right below it you would see another listing stating the above snake is sold.
As I understand it, in some states at least, when you participate in an auction either buying or selling, you have entered into a legally binding contract, and repercussions can occur to either party if they refuse to complete the contract and the other party wishes to press the issue.

Regardless of legal issues, it's unethical and just plain bad buisness for a seller to pull this stunt. This practice should in no way be tolerated by the auction sites. It should be treated just as negatively as a non paying bidder.
The seller would most definately be irritated if someone had bid $500 on the snakes and after the auction simply said I don't want them after all. He is basically doing the same thing from the other end.
If an animal is currently up for auction, it should not be posted for sale anywhere outside that auction until it closes.
If the auction has no bids, and he sells the animal, then nothing is harmed as long as he closes the auction. But once a bid is placed the sale is in motion. In this case the seller didn't even have the common decency to take the autcion down.
Even though it hasn't happened to me personally, I find it very annoying that it happens at all. It completely defies the entire principle of the auction format. People like this have no buisness on an auction site.
 
Anyone engaging in such activity on FaunaAuction would be kicked off immediately upon reasonable believable evidence of this sort of activity. That is breach of contract. Once a winning bid has been placed on an item, the seller is obligated to fullfill the obligation he/she has entered in for the sale of that item.

This is certainly fraudulent activity and should be detailed in the BOI as an indication of the seller's business practices.

Of course, pursue the issue with the seller before sounding the alarm, but don't be shy about it when it is obvious that you have been defrauded.
 
This is one reason why I have pretty much stopped using reptile auctions. There seemed to be no one holding the seller acountable for dishonest or unethical behavior. I haven't bought of the faunaauction site but it does seem that Rich is determined to keep things like that from happening.


Like Clay said, to some people it is like another form of classifieds, and they have no problems selling the animals whenever they get a reasonable offer no matter where it comes from. These people need to be posted on the BOI. What did the owner of the auction site have to say.

Steve Schindler
 
If needbe, I will set up a special FaunaAuction Deadbeats forum.

I'm about fed up with people having a lackadaisical attitude about their ethics and moral fiber.

But unless someone tells me about such activities, I can't do a thing about it.
 
Thanks for all your opinions on this matter. I am glad I am not the only one who feels this way.

As far as posting this on the BOI, I am giving the seller a chance to respond to my emails before I do so. I have also provided the seller with a link to this thread (even though they are not specifically named) so that they can see what others are thinking about this situation.

If the seller does not respond or tells me to jump in a lake, I will post all the info I have, including copies of the auction itself and the "ask seller a question" page.

I appreciate all the feed back.

On a side note, the only reason that I have not used faunaauctions more than once (I bought a nile monitor thru faunaauctions) is there just are not many people advertising the types of animals I am into. I keep large snakes, not colubrids (just a matter of prefrence, although I have been thinking of getting into corns lately). I wish there were more burms, retics, etc on faunaauctions, I would certainly be there alot more. I am also sure that this kind of crap would not happen as often.

One more thing, I emailed the admin of Reptibid twice (once under the "report fraud" form, and once thru straight email, and I have not recieved a reply to either email. They did, however, add a statement to the "sell your item" page stating that if anyone ends an auction early once bids are placed, that person will be permanently banned from their site.
 
There is now a thread in the BOI about this. The only response I have gotten from the seller is vulgarity.
 
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