Vintage Baseball Glove Forum

I was high bidder on a H&B bottle bat and an unidentified split finger glove on Ebay last week. During the auction, I communicated with the seller for more info on the glove, but they didn't really know anything other than it was the grandfather's glove. I won the auction at a modest $28.25 and immediately Paypal'd my payment, along with a note thanking them for making the items available. Tonight I get an e-mail from Paypal, refunding my money, with the all too brief explaination " Sorry, item was stolen". Sounds a bit more like the seller was expecting a windfall for these items and when it ended at $28, they concocted a story so as not to have to sell it at the final bid price. Well at least they sent my money back, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth. I guess a lot of strange things happen on Ebay, but this is the first time anything like this has happened to me.

My guess is that the seller received a better offer for the bat and glove after the auction ended and he took it.

Yes, it's happened to me a couple times - always a different story but at least my money was refunded (and it looks like you got yours as well). Could be the scenario you described - seller wasn't happy with the final price - could be what crackofthebat mentioned.

I had a similar experience with a BB card I won on ebay years ago. The seller didn't send it so I emailed him after a couple of weeks. He mailed me a refund instead! I eventually won another one in about the same condition for a few dollars less. Still, that's a poor way to run an auction.

I e-mailed the seller and let them know that if they should be lucky enough to recover the "stolen" items, that I would still be interested in buying them. I don't expect to hear anything back, but it would be curious if they suddenly became available at a higher price. In any case, I'll get over it and move on.

Yes and it happens quite often myself included. What you can do is wait on leaving any feedback for awhile . If you see it pop up on ebay again then you can nail him with negative feedback if you chose.

or maybe it really was stolen

Hi, I think you may have sent off a red flag thanking them for selling you the item. Whenever I get a great deal. I'm very quiet until I get the item. When it's in my hands, then I can explode. I'm surprised they just didn't say they sent it , then after the lengthy paypal claim process, not beling able to provide tracking/confirmation, then paypal would side with you and give you your money back. At least you would have a better feeling about it then just a simple refund sorry it's stolen. After all, they had gramps' glove all these years then it disappears when it's technically not theirs anymore.