My '76 Argosy is on Ebay .... bidding Q

[Silvertwinkie]

Originally Posted by Rog0525

And yes Eric, I know the deadbeat's address but I ain't gonna go there.

Go where? I wouldn't dream of sending my uncle Milo out for a respectful chat.

I saw that Summerkid bid on it too.....Before you know it, Summerkid is going to have an armada of coaches. You building an Airstream/Argosy motel Summerkid?

She has two she is picking up and bidding on a 3rd! Wish I had the real estate to park my own rally...could put the in-laws out there.

[Rog0525]

summerkid is vacationing in France (lucky dog) but I think this Argosy would be a nice addition to Ron's fleet.

[Silvertwinkie]

You know...you're right...I almost forgot that Ron and Tony also have a nice little collection of alum as well. It's nice to have hobbies!

[Chuck]

I wonder....

could you hold off for 6 weeks, hook this baby up and drive it over to the wbcci international rally in Lansing...drive around the place w/ a big "for sale" sign on it.

don't understand the lack of interest in this trailer. seems to me it should be worth more...even more than the 4k in the first auction...nevermind 3k.

[Rog0525]

Chuck. I would have to invest more time and money in adapting the Argosy wiring to my tow vehicle and buy a temporary tag to tow it to Lansing.
My Jimmy 4.3 vortec does a fine job of towing my Caravel but is not adequate for this Argosy..
The "winner" of the relisting has still not responded but Ebay has billed my daughter for both auctions
The trailer is for sale. I'm going to post a new For Sale Ad today. If nobody here is interested, I'll list it elsewhere but certainly not on Ebay again. Egad what a major PITA for such a nice trailer.

[COArgosy78]

Hey Rog - A lady (named Becky) from here in Colorado posted yesterday about wanting an AS 23' or longer. I have just replyed to her post re: your Argosy and told her to check it out as I know you must have a nice unit. Also, we have some friends who love our Argosy, I will ask if they are interested. Don't dispair, they will come!!

[Rog0525]

I am not worried that the Argosy will not sell and I have tried to be very careful in describing it so as not to mislead anyone.
What I am upset about is the fact that my daughter and myself were absolutely cheated by deadbeat Ebay buyers
and I have not found any way of letting Ebay know that their customer service is far substandard.
You cannot simply email them to voice a complaint. You have to choose from the incomplete menu they provide and griping about deadbeat buyers is not on the menu unless I have missed something.
The Argosy will sell but I am just about out of patience.
No matter how much it sells for, I will lose. One cannot put a price on aggravation. I quite simply must be way behind the times. I value honesty and integrity very highly and I feel like I've been slapped in the face.
Guess I just gotta learn to turn the other cheek?

[Rog0525]

Well I finally figured out how to contact Ebay customer service and filed a formal complaint. I used daughter's accout info am might be risking a long term prison sentence but I look good in stripes.
What I have not mentioned is that she also listed a 1941 Chevy for a friend who does not have a pc and guess what?
Two auctions and two deadbeat buyers.
If Ebay responds with anything other than their usual form reply, I'll share it here. Daughter has been billed for 4 sales and has not seen a red dime.
I am sorry if I am beating this horse to death but 4 auctions and 4 non paying bidders??
Maybe someone else can benefit from our mistakes.

[rluhr]

In the interest of helping others who may be using eBay in the future to sell high-ticket items, I'll share my experience selling a 1982 Trans Am.

As you can imagine, such a car attracts a lot of "wanna bees" and teenagers who can't afford to pay. My first auction ended in disaster with the usual -1 feedback "winner," just like Rog's.

I did try to collect from the winner but he was obviously just a kid who was playing with eBay. After a couple of emails, he wrote back and begged me not to report him -- he was going to get the money from his mother "in a few weeks." I was not sympathetic since he had a -1 rating already, which meant he had pulled this routine before. He got kicked off eBay.

After that, I paid attention to what other sellers of similar items did and said in their auctions. I emphasized that buyers needed to check with their wives or girlfriends before bidding. (No, I'm not being sexist, but I did have two guys bid on the car and then pull their bids on the last day because "my wife says I can't have it" or variations on that theme.)

More importantly, I emphasized that bidders with less than a 10 feedback rating needed to contact me personally via email BEFORE bidding or I would cancel their bids. Cancelling bids is an option eBay gives sellers which can be very useful. Of course, you need to check the auction every day for potential deadbeat or non-complying bidders (and several times on the last day) in order to make use of it.

I did end up cancelling a couple of bidders who didn't read and comply with the auction rules. No loss, trust me. The winning bidder was an 18-year old who emailed me promptly to tell me he was bidding, and who also had his dad call to confirm. He picked up the car the next week and it was a happy ending for all of us.

The key lesson here is that eBay's feedback system is the best and only tool sellers have to protect themselves. Pay attention to the feedback of buyers, be scrupulous about managing your high-ticket auctions, and you'll have a higher probability of a successful auction.

Good luck.

[Rog0525]

That sounds like good advice rluhr and I thank you for sharing but the winning bids on daughter's auctions came in the waning moments. She had no time to monitor the bids or bidders.
She is very busy running her in-home Christian Day Care. Now she has to take time from her schedule to try to recoup the money Ebay has collected from her for 4 unsuccessful auctions. Ebay requires a 3 day waiting period to send a payment reminder then another 10 day waiting period to try to resolve the non payment but they wait zero days in grabbing their fee and commision.
It's a very sad commentary on today's society when malicious pranksters have the upper hand on honest folks.
yznut's punishment for cheating my daughter out of nearly $2k was to have his account suspended...for the third time. I would not be surprised to learn that he has already reenlisted under another user name.
Whee, what fun it is to cheat unsuspecting people and get away with it!

[uwe]

e-bay is like a two-sided sword. Sorry to hear of all your troubles.
As a buyer, i would not go the e-bay route. I have actually passed up trailers because of them being listed on ebay recently, because i don't have time to mess around with the whole concept.
I had a bid on a trailer ( 57 Flying Cloud) and lost another good trailer locally because the auction took 6 more days to complete. Lost the auction because it went over my budget, and I waited it out because I would not want to be a no show after the auction. ebay is beginning to become a tabu for me...

[Rog0525]

was simply a form message advising daughter to do what she has already done so I won't bore anyone further with the details.
I have posted a new FOR SALE ad only here and apologize for using up perfectly good ASF bandspace with my Ebay grievance.

[tin can luv]

Hey Roger, I won the 70's door handle on the 30th of April, paid for it within three minutes of winning the auction, $208.00! Haven't seen the handle, and haven't heard from the seller. Seems everyone gets screwed via ebay these days.

Sorry this hasn't worked out for you. And we're all friends here on the forum, well, I think we are, and as a trusting individual myself, I hate that this has happened.

I'll be watching.

ROn

[Rog0525]

Geez Ron, $208 for just a door handle? For just a couple grand more you could have a whole trailer.
Maybe I should just part it out and buy a tropical island somewhere.