Honesty and Integrity issue: What would you do?

[Prime B]

Here's da scoop.

So a guy offers me $125 for a card OFF EBay.

I agree and send him 2 or 3 e-mails to confirm the deal and never hear back. I then decide to list the item in question auction style.

The same dude wins the card for $45 something.

All's fair, he won it legit by EBay standards, but it was pretty dishonorable in my mind after he offered a certain price and then conveniently failed to reply when I agreed.

Fast forward to tonight.

I had a bunch of cards end. He e-mailed me and asked why he was blocked from bidding, there were 4 he really wanted.

I reply and tell him because it was pretty shady how he basically backed out of a deal and then turned around and poached the card. I said he won it fair and square, and that was fine, but the manner in which he did it was not cool. I also told him it is within my right to block anyone I see fit from bidding.

He then replied I cost myself a lot of money by placing him on the blocked bidders list.

I told I may have lost money by him not bidding tonight but at least I deal honest and fair.

Did I handle this right?

Feedback?

[13paveldatsyuk13]

Me personally i would have blocked him, refunded his money and made a youtube video of me ripping the card in half and sent it to his email , with that said you handled it well.

[SkyFire47]

you did the right thing and took the high road.

1. he made the off ebay offer and backed out -fine...no harm, no foul.
2. he won the auction -fine again, lower price but legit auction
3. you block him due to past behavior.

some things are worth more than money.

[Drewk86a]

I told I may have lost money by him not bidding tonight but at least I deal honest and fair.

Did I handle this right?

I applaud your integrity. Too many people think money is the be all, end all of everything. Apparently, this guy is one of them. Sure, making some money with your cards is nice, but not at the cost of your reputation. Also, there are those buyers (the "investor" type") who tend to get very rude and pushy when they don't get their way. This guy failed to honor an agreement. It is well within your rights to choose not to do business with him.

Once again, congrats for having the fortitude to stand by your convictions. Kudos!

[Spaltung]

I think that you did the right thing. While he has the right to win the item fairly through auction, you also have the right to block him because of hit tactics. It is pretty clear that he was trying to be devious about it. There's always the chance that he was just away and by the time he was going to get back to you, he saw it up for auction, but I guess you'll never know.

You definitely took the high road though and now you won't have to deal with him trying to pull a fast one on you again.

~ Kristopher

[fdp79]

I agree with the others that you handled it quite well and applaud your decision!

[Ray33]

did you originally have the card listed as a buy it now or best offer during the time he offered you $125?

[bidds55]

I think you played that just right.

[RGM81]

You handled that very well, Barrie. As they are your cards it is 100% your decision whether or not you want to take a particular person's money for them. I haven't done a ton of selling, but I have made a couple of offers to sellers to end listings early and volunteered to pay a bit of a premium for them to do so. If they say sure, boom done. If they say no, I often end up winning the auction anyways for less than my original offer and I still get to give them my money. C'est la vie, que sera, sera - as they say. You did it your way, and I can't see any valid reason to criticize you for it.

[netsinah]

His agreement to buy a card "off-ebay" was just that: an agreement. Carrying this to the extreme, you could have sued him for the $125 alleging a binding contract and asking for specific performance. No one would do this but that was your right because he had made an offer which you accepted (assuming there weren't any conditions on his offer). So his reputation is questionable, after he fails to fulfill his agreement...giving you reason not to deal with him further. Then as indicated by "RGM81" you're able to choose who you allow to bid on your ebay auctions and his former actions justify you blocking him. Any thought to identifying him for us, so we can consider blocking him as well?