OFF TOPIC Hi Mike: I have very sad news for you. In the USA at least, eBay is an open marketplace and nothing else. Repeated court decisions have upheld this concept. It's both buyer and seller that must beware. Perhaps other laws apply in the UK. In the US you can report whomever you wantl to eBay, and, in some rare cases, they may even be sanctioned, but will reappear forthwith under another name. Fraud, fake bidding, and shady dealing of all sorts, is very common in eBay sales of On Topic vintage bicycles and parts. Neither will eBay protect you against fraud in the USA, even if they have had legal proof of such fraud given to them on repeated occasions.Perhaps this also is not true within the UK. As for "live" or classic auctions ( true bicycle auctions are very rare in the USA), their sales are subject to individual state law within the US. In this type of sale, both the buyer and seller have have more protection than on eBay; however, under some conditions, even these sales are not final and can be stopped before, during, and long after the sale is completed. The laws governing this type of thing are too complex for discussion on CR, and are not On Topic. Please eMail me, if you need more details. Regards, George George Hollenberg MD
On Sun, Aug 30, 2009 at 10:52 AM, Mark Penfold
<markpenfold7@googlemail.com>wrote:
> What is this ridiculous talk of Blackmail? In case people hadn't noticed,
> eBay is an auction site, pure and simple, not a private selling site or a
> classified ads site. If you put an item on eBay, you are auctioning it and
> the item goes to the highest bidder, those are the rules. If you don't like
> them, then don't use eBay. You can sell it privately before the auction or
> after it but while the auction is live, as in this case, then it goes to
> the
> highest bidder. I would certainly report people who are selling privately
> while the item is still live on eBay. Otherwise they are making a mockery
> of
> the system and should be barred. It's as simple as that. Try withdrawing an
> item at Sotheby's while the room is bidding !
> Mark Penfold
> London
> UK
> _______________________________________________
>
-- George
George Hollenberg MD
CT, USA