Wooff Narrow Bore D Half Set on eBAY

[Tony]

Photos can be swapped; descriptions can be modified. Canceling auctions early smacks of 'fee avoidance'. The Seller might be using pressure of the Auction Bidders to force a decision from their private Buyer. Or some Bidder might privately contact the Seller and say what's it take to close this auction. In these case, eBAY loses its Sales fee from the Seller and Bidders get frustrated with eBAY and tend to bid less.

Are you worried eBay will loose their fee? Don't be.

Jim, did you bid on the set?

[Joseph E. Smith]

All of this speculation of fee avoidance and buyer pressure is a little goofy and are not character traits of Dave Boisvert.

[djm]

Also, that drone angling off is sometimes due to a warped drone (doesn't appear to be the case here) or just having the stock bored at an angle, which may be a defect or the result of shrinkage of the wide part of the stock pulling toward the middle more than the narrow end. The NSP guys deliberately do this all the time so you have a little spread in the stand of drones but I don't think this is the desired result here.

Actually, it is the desired effect. The drones are often drilled into the stock at an angle to make more room to access both drones and regs (even though currently this is only a half-set). I know Joe Kennedy does this intentionally, and since he got his basic designs from Wooff, I surmise that Geoff does the same.

djm

[Davey]

Say folks could we possibly moderate this a wee bit? This is why Dale wants to shut down our forum.

Royce..blast! I re-read my post and it indeed parses a bit awkwardly...I taught HISTORY, not English! Let me try again.

The set came to me in configuration "A". This was not* Harrington's/Wooff's INTENDED configuration. The set was given maintenance and returned to configuration "A" following the owners desire to maintain it in it's current state. BUT during the maintenance it was repaired and cleaned so that configuration "B" (wooff's and harrington's intended configuration) could also be used. This was not an arbitrary decision on my part due to preference or whimsy. It was based on the owners desire to maintain the set as is. Does that read better??? I hope this clarifies things a bit.

As applies to pipes in general, there is no right or wrong way to set up drones. As applied to a particular maker's design, there can be a right and wrong way as the maker designed/intended.

The baritone drone is not warped or bent in any way, the hole in the mainstock is drilled at a slight angle as to result in the appearance of such.

I only made the above posts to help clarify any questions as a public service. At this point however, any further questions must be directed to the set's current owner.

Perhaps the matter were best dropped and any ebay debates taken into a private forum?

[Lorenzo]

Again, selling to someone else is hardly 'something goes wrong'. eBAY intends for all auctions to be binding.

I think what Jim means to say is that eBay intends for a transaction to be binding between seller and "winning" bidder. EBay makes it clear that this is a contract, a binding agreement, after auction ends, to assure both parties they will be required to carry through.

Like Tony says, an auction can be cancelled for just about any reason, but this can only happen up until 12 hrs. prior to auction ending. The last 12 hrs. of the auction is locked for most changes, except I notice some bids have been withdrawn during this time frame. I assume that a seller can also cancel bids he/she doesn't like during this period also.

So, bidder can withdraw a bid and seller can cancel the auction, up to a point that is (the 12 hr. deadline). Happens all the time. Seems unfair on both accounts, but ebay lets both off pretty easy. When a potential bidder asks seller a question, there is a substantial warning not to participate in an off-ebay transaction. This is not tolerated by ebay and they provide many contacts where to report this offense (offense being defined as one party even suggesting an off-ebay transaction--in which case the other party reports it).

[John Mulhern]

Actually, it is the desired effect. The drones are often drilled into the stock at an angle to make more room to access both drones and regs (even though currently this is only a half-set). I know Joe Kennedy does this intentionally, and since he got his basic designs from Wooff, I surmise that Geoff does the same.

djm

2 degrees per Garvin.

[Jim McGuire]

Like Tony says, an auction can be cancelled for just about any reason, but this can only happen up until 12 hrs. prior to auction ending. The last 12 hrs. of the auction is locked for most changes, except I notice some bids have been withdrawn during this time frame. I assume that a seller can also cancel bids he/she doesn't like during this period also.

The 12 hour rule is really only for description changes (really description text additions, if there are bidders in the auction).

Is it possible for a Seller to back out of an auction? Yes, if 'something goes wrong'. Changing one's mind about selling, selling the item to someone else, etc are NOT valid reasons. Is there a way to police and prevent that from happening, No. When a pattern emerges and people identify that for eBAY, eBAY does shut down that Seller ID for life. Can the seller resurface and repeat the behavior? Sure.

I do not know who the Seller is. David B name has been brought up but it sounds like he is clearly an agent and not the Seller (although he may be the eBAY Seller of record).

[Davey]

Oh for goodness sakes! I am NOT the owner, I am NOT the seller, I am NOT an agent. I was simply given the task of cleaning the set up and undertaking long overdue maintenence. That is my only involvement.

David Boisvert (Davey)

[Dionys]

Just a note on Ebay. I wouldn't count on them to penalize anyone. Fraud runs rampant on Ebay and they generally don't do much about it. You can pretty much count on them taking their fees and that's about it.

Dionys

[John Mulhern]

May I just tip toe into this lively legalistic evisceration fest...and congratulate you on the elegant architecture of your chanter design's, David. They really are nice!

[djm]

May I just tip toe into this lively legalistic evisceration fest...and congratulate you on the elegant architecture of your chanter design's, David. They really are nice!

Hey! No fair. You said something nice to somebody. Is that even allowed? Moderator! Where's the Moderator?

djm

[Lorenzo]

The only invalid reason given by eBay for removing a listing early is...

Note: Sellers are not permitted to cancel bids and end listings early in order to avoid selling an item that did not meet the desired sale price. This is considered to be reserve fee circumvention. Although there are legitimate reasons for ending a listing early, abuse of this option will be investigated.

So if you have a reserve, this doesn't apply. Listings can end legitimately simply by checking any of the options listed, including "The item is no longer available for sale." The seller doesn't have to explain why it isn't for sale. The explanation the seller checked will go on the record for bidders to see, after auction is ended.

Selling the item off-eBay, after listing the item, is another subject.

BTW, a non-paying winning bidder only gets kicked off ebay after the 3rd offense, and even then can be reinstated with same the ID and a bad record. I've seen it happen by appeal from the violator by pleading, "mistake, mistake, it was a mistake."

I've even seen bidders run the bids up to the reserve, to find out the reserve, or to find out the high bidders maximum bid, then cancel their bids. Nasty!

[Jim McGuire]

While almost anything is possible in life, for eBAY, they do not intend for Sellers to abandon auctions in they are not in the mood. Why not do that privately? String someone along for days, weeks, months and never agree to a sale of an item.

Even if an auction runs its full course, it is possible for a Seller to refuse to complete the transaction. Not desirable from eBAY's view or Buyer's view but possible. Same goes for the reverse side of the transaction: a Buyer can refuse to pay.

eBAY is all about closing auctions on their site, that's how they make money. Why is it easy for someone to drop out of auctions? Well, the price structure on eBAY is set up for a low Listing price and a relatively much higher Close price. So, the financial burden on a Seller to cancel an auction is low.

Canceling the auction has no relationship to hitting the Reserve or not. The irony about abandoning an auction early as a Seller is that there is often significant final minute/second bidding that can be simply stunning.

"The item is no longer available" is hardly a reason in itself but only supposed to be triggered if 'something goes wrong'.

Whether buying a home or a set of pipes, most people will bid confidently if they know that the other end of the transaction will be honored. While there is no harm to a prospective Buyer if the auction is cancelled, it is a tremendous time waster for the Buyers. And eBAY wants transactions to close to hear that CA CHING every time.

[Joseph E. Smith]

Say, Mr. Laban, is there a web site for Geoff wooff and his instrument business?

[Cayden]

Wouldn't make much sense would it? Too many customers as it is.