"When Items are Out of Stock on Ebay" Topic

I've recently made two Buy It Now purchases on Ebay from two different sellers, and in both instances, after making the purchase, I was informed by the seller that the item was out of stock.
This infuriated me alot; why list it if you don't have it.
But then I began to wonder if I was over reacting. Is this common practice? If you buy via Buy It Now should you think of it more as any online store that might have stock shortages? I always assumed that with Ebay, if an item was listed for sale, the assumtion was that the seller actually had one of those items to send you.
I was just wondering what the common thought was on this subject.

I agree with your first impression 100%.
EBay has turned into such a stylized kabuki dance, with the courthsip, the "Buy it Now", the mysteries over combined shiping, the "eBay stores" and finally the feedback.

I always assumed that with Ebay, if an item was listed for sale, the assumtion was that the seller actually had one of those items to send you.

That's the way it's supposed to work, unfortunately Ebay's lax attitude to enforcing things with regard to ebay shops and such, means that some people can get away with murder on there.

I'll be the first to admit that I have sometimes had the 'thought I still had one' problem with my shop stock when things have gotten a little out of sync, but I have made active efforts to fix the problem. I see no evidence of the Ebay guys doing the same.

I should also amend this by asking what feedback do you leave? In one case I was offered a substutute which I accepted figuring a bird in the hand. In the second case, after a week long wait I was informed that the item had been shipped to them from the ditributer and they would get it in another week.
So in both cases the tranaction was settled positively, but should they still get positive feedback after the intitial stock outage. Perhaps neutral feedback?

I'd probably give negative feedback in both cases, purely on the basis that the 'buy it now' is supposed to mean 'NOW!', ie that they have the item.

If they'd have offered something extra as an apology then that might sway my opinion

Buy It Now is no different than buying from webstores, and more than one of the latter lacks a real time shopping cart/inventory. Occasionally there are mix ups even with well regulated ones, provided you receive a full refund, I don't see the problem. A letdown yes, but I don't see the need to leave negatives for a simple error. Just recently, I was told that one of the BiN items was out of stock after an item was missing from the package. The seller offered a refund and also a refund of the whole order's shipping. I thought the latter was above and beyond the call of obligation, so asked for a substitute which was sent a few days later.

Since the seller can't retaliate negative feedback is the perfect solution there. If they were selling it they should have it to sell. Period. Anything less is poor business practice.

I should also amend this by asking what feedback do you leave? In one case I was offered a substutute which I accepted figuring a bird in the hand. In the second case, after a week long wait I was informed that the item had been shipped to them from the ditributer and they would get it in another week.

In the first case, did the seller offer a refund or a substitute or store credit and the latter? If a full refund's an option, I don't see why you accepted the substitute. I don't see why you'd leave a neg in this instance.

Second case's a little complicated: is this seller a drop shipper or a store with an inventory shortage that wasn't noticed before? I don't like the former, but the latter should've mentioned this in the description or told you in a few days, rather than a week. Was a refund also offered? A negative might be appropriate, but I'd say a neutral would be better with detailed comment and fill out the star ratings.

What was there stock to begin with? If there were only a few items then it is likely they will get bought up.

What do people expect…the ebay complaints you see are just fantastic…sellers who want to nail their buyers…buyers who whine about their sellers.

GO TO A STORE FRONT IF YOU WANT STORE FRONT SERVICE

OPEN A STORE FRONT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH RIFF-RAFF

otherwise shut up.

Ebay is a better deal BECAUSE the RISKS to both buyers and sellers are HIGHER.

Repeat after me: TANSTAAFL

I've been having that problem lately and it stems from ebay not me. See last fall they unlisted half my store so that I had to revise it to suit them before relisting. well if I didn't catch it this "relist" would return the stock totals to the original listing day and all the sales that happened would magically dissapear into cyberspace.

And now I am begining to think that even thought I changed them some of them were relisted with full inventory anyway by ebay's systems.

So it may not be all the sellers fault unless there using drop shippers then they have zero control over inventory at all….

Its not about a free lunch.
Its basic rules and ettiquet.
For the seller, the credit card companies do not allow you to charge the customer until AFTER the item has shipped.
If you are out of stock, dont offer it as "buy it now"
2 weeks is a far cry from "now" regardless of the item in question.
Chris, you have a legitimate beef and should give the seller feedback appropriate to your satisfaction level.
<2cents>
R.

OK so I over-vented.

It might be a good idea for sellers set a reserve in case items move faster…I can easily see how '1 remaining' might cause several people to simultaneously try to buy it, especially in an environment where the shelves are virtual.

For the seller, the credit card companies do not allow you to charge the customer until AFTER the item has shipped.

When does this happen? I know a few still do this, but most webstores charge me first and refund the difference.

If you are out of stock, dont offer it as "buy it now"

Assumes the seller updated the inventory on site. Quite a few eBay stores are the B&M type and the sensible ones do state a caveat about stock levels.

I was getting more than 25% off Battlefront minis from an eBay seller. His shipping costs were a bit dcey, but it was still a bargain. Not having in stock tow Shermans offered for sale was the clinching point for me to drop him.
More annoying was him refunding me one tank at a time. I had to point out the second one.

Some people plan their eBay "purchases" around combined shiping. Then, you lose out on a few items out of stock, yet listed for "auction".

Very annoying.

I had the case where I bid, yes bid, not BiN and won. The seller took my credit card then emailed after a a coule of prompts from me to be patient, there was a delay as the wholesaler was out of stock. Wholesaler! The cretin was taking bids, taking money and then using that money to go to a wholesaler to fill the orders. No money tied up by him, only us poor saps.
It took a while but I did get my money back, after 6 weeks.
Pity it was a Birthday present that didn't make it.

After getting burned by a few sellers on this sort of thing I have learned to send an e-mail or ebay message to verify the the seller has stock. Takes a few minute but can save hours of problems later.

My totals used to be correct 99.99% of the time save for my human error. Now since the forced revision by ebay I am finding more and more items that I am short on in stock.