I wish I could give ZERO stars. Maybe my misfortune can help someone else avoid the same problem. I bid on a car that I really wanted. I had been obsessively watching my bid (high bidder for almost 3 days). While surfing the site, I bid on 3 cheap, fun items. It accepted the 3 new bids then said i was on "probation" and could not make any new bids. It would let me increase my bid on the 3 cheap things that I just tried for fun, but it would not let me increase my bid on the car-- even though it was the first thing I bid on. So 2 items closed and I "won" (yay, me), and I immediately paid for them so I could return to bidding on the car. Relent, the car was the first bid I made. We'll, paying for the items is not enough-- you have to pick up the items. It would be tight bc the car closes in 17 hours, but it is possible. But wait... we had a major snow storm and my car is plowed in so I can't pick the 2 crap items up. The ones I already paid for. So I call to ask why I can increase my bid on items 2, 3, and 4, but not the first item. The rep said, "I don't see that you bid on the car yet." Yes, I did. I bid a very specific, odd number, and it clearly shows on the website that I was an early bidder. She said if I had bid on the car, I would not have been allowed to make the other bids (which makes sense-- except I DID bid on the car already... my first bid was on the car). So #1) be aware of the "probation" issue. 2) Know that winning and paying for the items does not count (which makes no sense, bc they HAVE my $$, you would think paying for the items would count for something). 3) Don't bid during a national snow emergency bc you will probably get screwed. IF the probation thing had been clearly indicated before they "probate" your account (it is not "locked"; it's just that you can't increase an existing bid or start a new bid while it is probated-- which is clearly very different from being locked) I would have never put my first bid, the thing I really wanted, in jeopardy. So in summation: 1) If you bid on 3 items at once, you are on probation. 2) Paying for 2 items that closed does not count as completing the transaction. 3)Don't bid during a snow emergency. 4) Just same yourself the trouble and frustration and don't bother visiting the site unless you are a full-fledged "buy stuff to resell for profit" kind of person, because there are so many rules, there is no way a casual buyer who wants something for actual ownership can keep up with all the rules. On the other hand, if you are someone who buys stuff you don't want or need but you want to resell it for a profit, this is the size for you. Be a professional buyer to make sure an average person can't get an occasional deal on their own. Puts them in the same category as ticket scalpers (legal, but keeps real fans from being able to go to concerts). Have fun. Happy bidding. Read all 30 screens of rules before thinking you can actually bid on anything worthwhile as a private citizen. I was, however, able to pick up cheap highlighters for my students, but those cost me the opportunity to keep bidding on the car that I really wanted. LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES. Yes, this is TMI, but I'm frustrated and disappointed; at least let me vent and warn others.
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