I'm not completely sure if I'm allowed to post this here or not, as I haven't actually done a transaction with this person.

However..

I did a search for recently listed BIN items and came up with a bunch from seller ajbgames. They have 6000 feedbacks and 99.3% positive, but it still struck me as odd..

I tried to BIN a certain pony I was after, and I was told the seller requires immediate payment with BIN items. I went back and looked at his/her terms and the seller states payment must arrive within 24 hours. I know not everyone is completely familiar with ebay, but when they have immediate payment set on a listing you don't actually get the item sold to you until it's paid for (even though I hit BIN, it's still listed right now). Also the easiest way to combine shipping is having the items on the same invoice, ie paid for together.

So then, knowing I had to pay immediately and planning on emailing the seller (so I could get two and combine shipping), I kept browsing. I found something else I wanted, but decided to bid instead of BIN. Once I bid, I received a message I'd never seen before:

Quote::

Buyer Requirements error Sorry, you are not allowed to purchase this item This item is only available to buyers who have not purchased 1 or more items from this seller in the past 10 days. You can contact the seller for more information, or find similar items offered by other sellers.

..riiiiiight. So either this is a really WEIRD seller, or they listed their auctions wrong. I'm assuming they did something wrong on accident, so I go to email them and let them know I'd like to purchase these two items together.

I click the "ask a question" and then "combined shipping." I get:

Quote::

We're sorry we couldn't find an answer for you. Unfortunately, this seller is not able to respond to your question. We suggest reviewing the item again to see if your answer is in the seller's listing.

I went back and tried again, using "other" and then "general question about the item" as options. Again, same message. The seller has asking questions disabled.



So what we have here is a seller that doesn't particularly care to hear from his buyers and just wants to make a few quick bucks with BIN items that you cannot combine shipping from. Personally, I'm walking away. I don't feel like I can trust somebody if I can't email them to ask a question. So other buyers, beware, and proceed at your own risk!

Weird, If I go to their auctions I can send a message just like normal. I asked them about combined shipping and the BIN immediate payment issue so I'll see if they reply.

As far as not being able to buy more than one item from them they must have a weird setting on their listings. I remember someone in the past having issues with a setting like that when people where wanting to buy more than one item.

<edit> found it. There are buyer requirements where you can limit the amount of items that each bidder is allowed to bid on during a 10 day period. In you My eBay you go to the Account Tab>Site Preferences then scroll down to Buyer Requirements and then it's the 2nd from the bottom. That's what they would need to change if they wanted people to be able to buy more than one item from them.

Why they would disable questions or communication, I have no idea? That is pretty poor business practice. I personally welcome questions and communication as it eliminates the confusion that can lead to an unhappy buyer.

I do know that I use the bidding limit option with buyers that have a feedback rating of zero or less. That way I don't get somebody bidding on a bunch of my auctions and going NPB on me. It seems to be happening more and more with 0 feedback buyers. I will change the policy though with communication from the buyer. Why you would use that option for established buyers with good feedback makes no sense either.

ABC - how much feedback do you have on eBay? And have you had any strikes at all?

I already got a reply from the seller and they can combine shipping but they want to know which ponies in advance in order to give a shipping cost.

I have nearly 300 feedback, 100% with no strikes, negs or neutrals. I just tried it all again.. I cannot email the seller or place bids on anything. The only thing I CAN do is BIN their items and pay full shipping without a method to combine shipping, request an invoice or contact them by email.

I wonder why you can't contact him then... strange. It sounds like he's perfectly willing to combine shipping costs but is trying to weed out non-paying bidders by requiring payment up front and then refunding the overcharge. Kinda makes it hard for people who want to bid on multiple things though.

ABrown - is this person in China?

Believe it or not, I've encountered this before. I was buying something from someone in...china or Japan or Thailand (sorry, this was a year ago). I tried to puchase another item and got a message like that!

I even messaged them and asked why would they want to limit any kind of buying?

They said something along the lines on how it's not their company and they don't make up the rules.

Very strange. I have NO idea why any seller would want to limit a buyer?!?!

Very odd!! I havent seen the first problem before but I did encounter something really similar with a seller in Australia not that long ago...every time I tried to ask a question I got the same "We're sorry we couldn't find an answer for you. Unfortunately, this seller is not able to respond to your question. We suggest reviewing the item again to see if your answer is in the seller's listing." I was never able to suss out why it happened and just assumed the seller didnt want to talk to anyone.

I ll be watching this with curiosity to see if anyone knows the why of it!

Good luck ABrownCrayon managing to buy what you are looking for!

Quote::

I click the "ask a question" and then "combined shipping." I get: Quote:: We're sorry we couldn't find an answer for you. Unfortunately, this seller is not able to respond to your question. We suggest reviewing the item again to see if your answer is in the seller's listing. I went back and tried again, using "other" and then "general question about the item" as options. Again, same message. The seller has asking questions disabled.

I have no idea what they buying limit is about but this other thing, "asking questions disabled", it first showed up last year around the same time (November), and it turned out to be an ebay glitch.
Many sellers were very annoyed then as this obviously didn't help their sales.
There was a long thread about it in some discussion section? in ebay.

Here is my thread about it from last year:

www.mlparena.com/Forum...ml#3154144

well he emailed me today, I'm guessing my attempts at questions popped up for him, even though it wouldn't let me. I tried "combined shipping" as a topic three or four times, and this is what he said:

Quote::

just so you know i cannot combine shipping on these items - ajbgames

So, regardless of whether or not the message thing is a glitch, this is still a seller that is unwilling to combine shipping. Why not? Do you not have the item in hand? that would be fine for something new, but not a loose vintage collectable. I don't know, it still seems really shady to me.

Weird, I wonder if he must have changed his mind since yesterday then? He seemed perfectly willing to combine shipping when he wrote to me. He said he had several people asking about it and if I gave him a list of the items I wanted he would see about combining. I told him it wasn't for me though so I didn't get a shipping quote from him or anything.

that does sound really weird why would he say to emery that he is willing to combine shipping but then not offer it to you? you are both in the same country, and you dont have any negs or anything *is very confused*
I've come across the annoying thing where you cant ask questions recently on ebay too, but in my case it was because the auction was listed in a different country, and the auction was not set up for international bidders. That isnt your situation though ..

WTH, I saw a pony i want, but when I tried to bid, it says the seller is not accepting bids from me, and I can't ASQ either!

Sad!

Sometimes people have preset regulations that hinder people from bidding. I'm not sure why it won't let you message them to ask for an exception though. Have you dealt with them in the past that they have reason to block you specifically?

nope, and i have 160 feedback no negs or neutrals. Weird.