Blocked By Seller!

Here's how a buyer can be blocked:
1) Are registered in countries to which you don't ship.
2) Have a negative feedback score.
3) Have received Unpaid Item strikes.
4) Are currently winning or have bought '1-100' of your items in the last 10 days.
5) Do not have a PayPal account.


If none of these apply, and the seller doesn't have an anser, then contact support using this link:
http://support.auctionsniper.com/

quote:

it was my bid that was blocked - not my snipe

- AS bids as if it was you so a snipe and a bid are exactly the same thing in the eyes of the seller!

R2

Be sure that you have the INSTA-MAIL fetaure turned off in your AS account settings, as that sends a promotional e-mail for AS to the seller after you have won the auction. This message appears to have been sent by you personally and tells the seller that you used AS. Most of us do not prefer that option, though it tips the seller off only AFTER you have won.


Charlton Heston 1923-2008

Michael Moore 1954 –

quote:

- AS bids as if it was you so a snipe and a bid are exactly the same thing in the eyes of the seller!

R2

Yes, that was my point, precisely. In the beginning, I believed that the Seller was able to block certain groups of people (see Rick's post above) and that "snipers" were one of those groups--not so. Therefore, it was my BID alone that was blocked, and eBay said it was because my PayPal account was not linked to my eBay account. I don't believe that for one minute, and I definitely do not fall into one of the other groups mentioned in Rick's post!

Why on earth does anyone other than the loser of the auction care about snipers? The Seller is always going to make more money, so eBay is going to make more money, and the loser is going to either bid more the next time around--or join AS! That's what I did!

quote:

Originally posted by Chatter:
Be sure that you have the INSTA-MAIL fetaure turned off in your AS account settings, as that sends a promotional e-mail for AS to the seller after you have won the auction. This message appears to have been sent by you personally and tells the seller that you used AS. Most of us do not prefer that option, though it tips the seller off only AFTER you have won.

Thanks so much for the suggestion! Actually, I had never activated that feature, but I did check my preferences to make sure, because I thought you were referring to the instant notification that I get after an auction closes! I was prepared to allow eBay to do the notifying, even though it sometimes takes a few hours to do so, but was pleasantly surprised to learn that Insta-Mail is an entirely separate feature that I would never use. Unless told to wait for an invoice, I pay for my auctions as soon as they close, through PayPal, and right from the auction page--which is why I believe it is ridiculous to say that my PayPal and eBay accounts are not "linked."

In any event, thanks to everyone for the replies. I will now contact the Seller to see what she has to say. I guess there has to be a first time for everything!

Many thanks!

Scarlett
p.s. Apologies to R2 for screwing up your quote. If there were a way to preview our posts, I would have corrected that--as well as the typos in my original post! Sorry!

You can edit your postings afterwards but no worries!

R2

quote:

Originally posted by region2:
You can edit your postings afterwards but no worries!

R2

You are so right! And I knew that--don't know why it didn't occur to me to use that feature! I am so accustomed to the preview feature, I guess. Thanks so much for pointing out the obvious to me--I think I have corrected everything, including the verb "affect" to the noun "effect"! That's why English is so hard to learn: It has an "adverse effect" but it also can "adversely affect." But my sons, who both teach high school English, in addition to coaching football and baseball, tell me that no one except the teachers seem to care any more. The kids say, "As long as you can understand what I am saying, it doesn't matter how I say it or how I spell it--communication is what it's all about!" Sad--and more than a little OT, sorry yet again.

Not OT at all. The disintegration of the English language is every anglophone's business...true enough. The internet and text messaging have contributed heavily to this mindset.

quote:

Originally posted by Scarlett:
Why on earth does anyone other than the loser of the auction care about snipers?

Sniping, if it’s done close enough to the end of an auction to not allow another bidder/sniper time to respond, avoids bidding wars and nibbling. Bidding wars and nibbling tends to raise the price of an item. Those using AS are willing to pay a token fee in the realistic expectation that their properly placed snipe will prevent a price increase from another bidder. Since the competitive bidders (hopefully) can’t respond to the snipe, the closing price will be less than if the competitive bidders had time to increase the price. This all means that without sniping, auctions would tend to close at a higher price. After all, one doesn’t pay AS a fee in the belief that they’ll lose money!

Sure, if the snipe is accepted by eBay then it increases the closing price. BUT, the usage of ONLY proxy bidding (no sniping) would typically increase the closing price even more.

The seller SHOULD be happy that the sniper(s) increased the closing price, but some of them think about the “What might have been” money that the DAMNED SNIPER PREVENTED THEM FROM GETTING!

On the other hand, with the threat of sniping, some proxy bidders are “encouraged” by this threat to bid more. Now, this is where the sniper SHOULD be considered a hero. But, humans tend to think more about what they possibly could have gained instead of what they actually gained.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick:
Here's how a buyer can be blocked:
1) Are registered in countries to which you don't ship.
2) Have a negative feedback score.
3) Have received Unpaid Item strikes.
4) Are currently winning or have bought '1-100' of your items in the last 10 days.
5) Do not have a PayPal account.


If none of these apply, and the seller doesn't have an anser, then contact support using this link:
http://support.auctionsniper.com/

None of those apply, and here is the reply from the Seller:

quote:

Dear scarlett-in-austin,

HI, I HAVE NO IDEA WHY YOU ARE BLOCKED. I DO NOT HAVE YOU BLOCKED. I DO REQUIRE PAYPAL BUT I SEE YOU HAVE THAT. HAVE YOU EVER BOUGHT FROM ME BEFORE?. IF I WERE YOU I WOULD ASK EBAY WHY YOU ARE GETTING THESE MESSAGES. I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO SO THAT YOU CAN BID. I HAVE NO PROBLEM ON MY SIDE. DIANA
- diana121748

So, do I now ask eBay, or do I open a support ticket with AS? She has an identical auction running that closes this afternoon, and I have placed a bid that was not rejected--yet! It closes in a little over an hour. I had oral surgery this morning, and all I want to do is go to bed! Somehow, doll clothes just don't seem all that important right now. :-)

quote:

So, do I now ask eBay, or do I open a support ticket with AS?

Why not do both?

quote:

I had oral surgery this morning, and all I want to do is go to bed!

Perhaps place a proxy (direct thru ebay) bid now, then off to bed?

quote:

Originally posted by Rick:

quote:

So, do I now ask eBay, or do I open a support ticket with AS?

Why not do both?

quote:

I had oral surgery this morning, and all I want to do is go to bed!

Perhaps place a proxy (direct thru ebay) bid now, then off to bed?

As Alice in Wonderland said, "This just gets curiouser and curiouser!" As Rick suggested, I placed my proxy bid and went to bed. When I surfaced, a little after 5:00 this afternoon, the auction had been closed for a little over an hour and, wonder of wonders, I had won! There was an invoice in my Inbox from the Seller with the added request that I let her know how I "managed" to bid. So I immediately started the PayPal process directly from the auction page and typed the following message:

quote:

Hi, Diana ~ The only thing I did differently this time was to bid earlier than usual. I had oral surgery this morning, and all I wanted to do when I got home was go to bed! So, I just entered my highest bid, grabbed an ice pack, and crawled between the sheets. The next thing I knew, it was a little past 5:00 p.m. here, and I had won! I usually bid in the last minute and pay immediately after the auction closes, so that was the only difference this time. Believe me, I don't plan on having oral surgery before each auction, but it worked out for me this time. :-) Many thanks!

I then pressed the Confirm Payment button and got the message from eBay that "This feature is not currently available. Please try later." Why doesn't eBay want me to have these doll clothes? The absolute truth of the matter is that I don't "need" them, but I "want" them, and it has now become a matter of principle! But I'm going to have to wait until after the pain medication wears off before I pursue this--I'm not rational right now, but at least I know it! I'm going back to bed with another ice pack. I know things will look better tomorrow. Thanks again, to everyone for just listening, and especially to those who made suggestions!

I have received two notifications this week that my bid was "blocked by seller". Two different sellers, entirely different items. The first time I didn't really think too much about it other than the seller didn't much care for snipers. The second time it happened I notified the seller of what occurred and let him know of the message. He was unaware of anything being blocked(Perhaps ebay wants more people to use bid assistant rather than Auction Sniper) whatever the reasons, this action is denying sellers of the full benefit of their listing! The sellers may not be aware that ebay is blocking bids that could bring greater revenue to the seller. On very expensive items this could be brought to a sellers' attention and that seller should have some recourse to regain some lost revenue from ebay for needlessly blocking bids. But that's just my opinion and I could be wrong. Don't hesistate to notify the seller that your bid was blocked. It is they who experience lost revenue and may not even be aware of it. Thanks

quote:

Originally posted by veritablefeast:
(Perhaps ebay wants more people to use bid assistant rather than Auction Sniper)

You’re right, of course! It’s so obvious!



I’ve been reluctant to tell anyone, for fear I might be laughed at, but I was abducted by aliens (not the kind from Mexico). I didn’t mind the sexual experiments (they were somewhat kinky), but I’m really upset about the time away from The X-Files.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick:

quote:

Originally posted by veritablefeast:
(Perhaps ebay wants more people to use bid assistant rather than Auction Sniper)

You’re right, of course! It’s so obvious!

I’ve been reluctant to tell anyone, for fear I might be laughed at, but I was abducted by aliens (not the kind from Mexico). I didn’t mind the sexual experiments (they were somewhat kinky), but I’m really upset about the time away from The X-Files.

All right, now I'm really confused! I was just about to make the same observation--or say that it had occurred to me also, after my Seller told me that she had nothing to do with blocking my bid and that it must have been eBay, that eBay was trying to push me toward Bid Assistant. Then you chime in saying it is obvious, then make some absurd comment about being abducted by aliens, which negates your earlier comment, and doesn't do much for your credibility, by the way, so now I don't know any more than I did to start with! Are you part of the AS staff? And that's a serious question.

quote:

Originally posted by Scarlett:
Are you part of the AS staff? And that's a serious question.

They can't afford me! And that's a serious answer.



AS staff have "AuctionSniper Support" under their forum ID's.

quote:

I was abducted by aliens

Nearly six years on this forum and you only come clean now.

Moderator - I demand he is sent back to Sagittarius - at the expense of AS - if posible. If not I'll start fundraising now.

About time we Earthlings had a break!

Paul

P.S. Bid Assistant is run by a bunch of hoodlums from the Planet Zog anyway!

quote:

Originally posted by Camera:

quote:

I was abducted by aliens

...snip...
Moderator - I demand he is sent back to Sagittarius - at the expense of AS - if posible. If not I'll start fundraising now. ...snip...

Count me in for a dime or so.

I just received this message also... I meet all the requirements and the seller didn't block me. Something is very fishy!! I love this service and (I assume) eBay is now somehow blocking it. The chances are slim of finding another in that condition.

Any thoughts other than filing support ticket?

No.

quote:

Originally posted by quicksand:
I just received this message also... I meet all the requirements and the seller didn't block me. Something is very fishy!! I love this service and (I assume) eBay is now somehow blocking it. The chances are slim of finding another in that condition.

Any thoughts other than filing support ticket?

The one thing that I noticed that was different when my snipe bid was blocked was that somehow my primary PayPal address had been changed, and the new address had not been "confirmed"! After re-selecting my original, confirmed PayPal address, I have successfully sniped all subsequent auctions without incident. Perhaps eBay was not to blame this time. :-) I actually did find another identical item from the same Seller, and I wish you the same good fortune, but at the time, I had the same feeling of despair and indignation.

Scarlett, that could be the answer!! Just recently I selected an alternate shipping address for an item and that must have messed things up? Who would have thought that AS is that particular... maybe this is worth a support ticket or at least a sticky. I checked and paypal has my confirmed address as primary? I will report back later with my findings.

Thanks for the direction; I was about to go after ebay.

Your were correct Scarlett, my address differed from paypal to ebay even though my primary address was still set. Lesson learned... thanks for the direction! This should be in the FAQ or stickied to help others not make the same mistake.

Thanks

Glad that it worked for you, too! Were you able to find another of the same item? Surely do hope so! Everything is still working fine for me. Good luck!

This evening AS says my snipe was "Blocked by Seller". Clicking the "View Confirmation" button brought up an empty screen for close to 45 minutes, but now it shows a "Buyer Requirements" screen:

----------------------------
"This seller has set buyer requirements for this item and only sells to buyers who meet those requirements.

You are unable to bid on or buy this item because:

You either don't have a PayPal account or your PayPal account is not linked to your eBay account. ...
Critical error = true"
----------------------------

Just yesterday I bought (via Buy-It-Now) off eBay using my PayPal account, and this auction was not restricted to PayPal anyway, so why in the world would eBay block me? Is there any way you can find out more info about what happened?

The item number was 220235301430 and my eBay userid is RogerMH.

Thanks in advance ...

Roger:

http://support.auctionsniper.com/