The Enid Blyton Society

I bid on this a few weeks back - my top bid of £15 was quickly beaten, but apparently the eventual winner didn't reckon in the cost of overseas postage, so refused to pay! It's being offered again - but sadly for £30 fixed price - which means I won't be putting in a second offer!

Not paying for something when a bidder wins is something I think bidders should be punished for - in fact I think bidders who do that more than once should be blocked from using eBay, personally. This seller (which is a charity) now has lost out on a sale.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 505wt_1271

I always thought that once you bid and it won, you had to buy the item, as you've entered into a contract.

I certainly wouldn't pay £30 for that book at all.

So did I. Once I win something, I pay up - its like a contract - or at least a 'gentleman's agreement!'

I only actually wanted the Famous Five book mark, which I know are pretty rare and can go for £50 each. I thought £15 was a fair price - but I lost out to someone who in the end didn't even pay!

It might come up for sale again later in the year for less.

The seller is relisting it, but they aren't very happy they lost out on a £31 bid! However, she told me it has happened hundreds of times over the years!!

I don't use eBay these days but I used to, about 15 years ago, and I was always terrified of accidentally bidding on something that I didn't mean to bid on, because the rules seemed so strict and scary saying that if you won something you HAD to buy it - OR ELSE!!

I used to be so careful what I clicked on and bid on, just in case! I didn't realise I could've just changed my mind and said nah I don't want to buy this after all, I was expecting a visit from the coppers if I didnt pay up! :Lol:

The listing has ended? How do you know the buyer was from overseas?

Because the seller wrote to me offering a 'second chance sale' to me as a bidder - but it was £30 so I declined. They told me it wasn't sold because the overseas buyer hadn't realised the postage cost! They are relisting it today I think.

Thank you, Rob.

Carlotta King wrote:I don't use eBay these days but I used to, about 15 years ago, and I was always terrified of accidentally bidding on something that I didn't mean to bid on, because the rules seemed so strict and scary saying that if you won something you HAD to buy it - OR ELSE!!

I used to be so careful what I clicked on and bid on, just in case! I didn't realise I could've just changed my mind and said nah I don't want to buy this after all, I was expecting a visit from the coppers if I didnt pay up! :Lol:

I'm always scared of that too!! I buy a lot on eBay and sell a lot too - but I would never dream of bidding on something I couldn't afford. Amazingly, I've never had the same thing happen to me, but then I hardly ever sell anything at auction, and I don't ship overseas, so i guess I've guarded against it to a certain extent.

You are right, Rob, in saying that the Famous Five bookmark is hard to find, so often 'freebies' are. I can't remember offhand which one it was, but that bookmark came tucked into one of the books when it was new. Most were probably thrown away at the time.

I think it was contained within 'Five Have A Wonderful Time' according to Sue Bell on her website. She's selling one for £45.

I think 'Wonderful time' was the first book to refer to 'The Famous Five' - so its quite appropriate.

Seeing that bookmark reminds me that I think I had one way back then... I have no idea what happened to it, although I doubt if I would have deliberately thrown it out. It's the same with the Sunny Stories calendars. I distictly remember having one hanging up in my bedroom - probably for 1951. Sadly we just couldn't keep everything and each time we moved there was a grand clear out.

In some ways, moving house is a good thing! I still live in the house I was born in, and my mom and dad bought in 1960 - so our loft is full of the junk of childhood that we couldn't possibly throw away! Gradually we are letting things go, but I think if we'd moved a few times it would have been a whole lot easier!!

I suppose the winning bidder didn't factor in the extortionate prices eBay charges for their global shipping programme, which would have pushed the price of the book up considerably on top of the £30!

I ran into big problems with this last month, I listed a copy of Demon's Rocks and someone from Australia messaged asking if the postage was really £26 . Shocked, I replied of course it wasn't and asked where they'd got the price from as I certainly hadn't put it in the listing! Turns out Ebay's Global Shipping Programme charge a good bit for you sending something to their sorting place, re-packing the item and posting it . I told the buyer I'd send it to them myself for the £12.95 Royal Mail was asking, tracked, insured and signed for.

They bid and won the book and then I discovered that because I had automatically been opted into this shipping programme I couldn't send an invoice with the correct price on it, and after hours of trying to sort it on eBay and getting nowhere,we did the payment direct through PayPal instead. Unfortunately, due to the time difference, eBay then decided too much time had passed and opened an unpaid claim case on the buyer! Despite my best efforts I couldn't remove it and at a complete loss I phoned eBay up and they finally sorted it all out over the phone.

Thankfully the buyer was lovely and very understanding so I knocked the postage down to £10 by way of apology for them being so messed around, but I was not happy at all with such a stupid setup and opted out of the shipping programme straight away. I won't use it again that's for sure and I wouldn't advise anyone to, what a hassle and a rip off and I don't like that they 're-pack' things either. If I've packaged something up well, I don't at all like the idea they will check and re-package it as they see fit .

Rob if yours was the next bid down at £15, the seller ought to have made a second chance offer at that price. In fact unless you put in a bid of £30 they couldn't offer it you at £30 because you can only second chance offer an item to a bidder at the price their bid was for.