Why can't I bid on eBay?

I need help with an ebay seller?

• Okay, so about a month ago I was going to buy my daughter a new camera for her birthday, I gave her a maximum of about £80, and we went on all the websites including ebay, and we came across a nice camera for £70 and she said that's the one she wanted, and I put a bid on it for her, because it was a good looking camera and it was good as new, but it was a film camera, and I was explaining that we cant just put them on the computer, we will need to take them to be developed and that might take a while to see your pictures and she was okay with that. Anyway, a few hours later, less than 12 hours since I made the bid, and less than 5 hours before the auction ended, she wanted a different one, because she decided that she didn't want to have to wait all that time, and she is only 7 (6 then) so she doesn't have a grasp on all this with the cameras, and she needed a digital one, and its her birthday so I wanted to make sure she got what she wanted, and I tried to retract the bid, but ebay wouldn't let me. So about 4 hours before the auction ended, I sent a few messages to the guy, I contacted ebay and I tried to do all the problem solving I could on the site, but it was no good, the bid was there for good and I couldn't retract it no matter what. So I sent the guy a couple more messages and I offered to pay the listing fees via paypal, because this was already an expensive gift and I cant afford to pay for two cameras, but I will pay for what ever money you lost through all this, and he didn't answer at all. And its been over a month, and today he has said that he wont accept anything but payment for the camera that I cant afford to be spending money on right now, he doesn't care if its a simple child's mistake, and even though he said he knew somebody had bid on the camera and won it, he didn't check his mail and he went out and bought a new camera and he wants my money. I'm not paying for it, but he wont be reasoned with. If he knew somebody had won the camera, how come he didn't read my messages?, and just went out and bought a new one. What can I say to this guy? I guess all I can do is tell him no and accept my first bad feedback which is a real bummer and an unpaid item strike which might affect further transactions. Can I appeal to ebay and tell them what happened?, because this isn't fair at all. and he isn't getting paid for a film camera that nobody in my family will use, and wont sell again on ebay because nobody wants them, and most importantly I cant really afford right now because I had to save up to buy her camera for her birthday anyway.

• Answer:

  Well realistically with eBay, you only put in a bid if you 100% intend on paying. However, I think he is being unreasonable, after all, you did offer to pay the listing fee, and he can easily relist. In this situation, I would just tell him that you are not paying and leave it at that. There is nothing he can do except leave you a negative feedback, which he is well within his rights to do since you did not fulfil your end of the deal - but a negative feedback is not the end of the world and will not affect you, unless you are in a situation in the future where you are buying from a seller who sees it, gets nervous and cancels your bid. But this is unlikely to happen. Just make sure that in future, when bidding on eBay, you follow through with your bid if successful.