eBay Bid Retractions

Spigrimace

Why does eBay allow bid retractions??? I have had 3 or 4 auctions where someone retracted after it sent the price of an item soaring. You have a big smile on your face when like 12 hours later you get the ebay email that it was retracted. Cooincidentally it is always within 24 hours of the auction close. Funny how it's never on say day 3 of a 10 day auction. Obviouly they are trying to see where the ceiling is. I say for every user, one bid retraction every 6 months, ok and then for a second, like a 20 day suspension and tougher as they go along. It hurts the seller as someone may have bid but they saw the high amount and passed. Grrr. If they do not change the rules, I should have the right to cancel the auction after the retraction and may put start to put that in my description. Any comments on retractions?

Knlsportsandmore

The problem I see with putting something like that in your auctions would be that you are setting up for your competition to create fake accounts just to force you to end your listings and basically eliminate you from being competition

2323

I've never retracted a bid, If I don't really want the card, I don't bid at all. I agree with you, only one bid retraction every six months, but even then, if they won you're auction and they didn't want too, they just wouldn't pay anyway.

Rainman

i think they should allow them. the only 2 bid retractions i've done in the past year have involved (1) the failure to put a . in between say $50.00 and (2) the failure to notice i had accidentally entered 555 instead of say 55. these were CLEARLY errors and i don't think i should be penalized for them. both my bids were retracted RIGHT after they were entered after i realized the error. it's different if there are bidders who have a huge pattern of retracting at the last minute.

67standup

Two per six month period to allow for typo errors. Over three and "No Soup for You!"

envoy98

For what it's worth, here is my take on bid retractions.

I have had someone retract a bid because they were high bidder, were later outbid, then bid on someone elses item that was identical, but at the moment, less money. later, the person that outbid them, either had their bid cancelled or retracted their bid, thereby leaving the original bidder in a bit of a quandry as now they are high bidder on two identical items. In some cases I just cancel their bid then end the auction and start over, in other cases they have retracted their own bid. I can understand their position. (Not sure if that make sense or not)

Other bid retractions have been on an Alt ebay ID that people use to try and "masK" that they only bid on the primary id's items. However, if they accidentally become the high bidder on an item they never intended to purchase in the first place, they retract.

I have retracted bids twice because I suspected I was being shilled. And in both cases I was right. I placed a bid, was high bidder for $20 below my max bid. 30 seconds later I'm outbid... 30 seconds later, I'm high bidder again but at my max bid, and I was just run up by the guy who just outbid me then retracted then rebid. Interesting they'd be willing to bid $75 and lose, but not win the item for $77.50

I have also retracted a bid because I didn't put a period in a bid. But I immediately rebid the amount I wanted to bid in the first place.

There is also a collection of people who will retract because your item ends in an hour and is at $100 but another identical item ends in 2 hours and is only at $36, so they retract on yours and bid on the other item. or they don't get paid on an item they sold and now can't afford to pay for it, so they retract. I actually had someone email that one to me. "I was expecting to be paid but the guy was a deadbeat bidder. I don't have the money in paypal now to pay you." I think I might have acutally cancelled his bid at his request.

The one nice thing going for you is that they can't retract a bid in the last (3 hours?) unless they placed that bid in the last 60 minutes. So if they have buyers remorse, they better have it quick. I agree, it can be a pain in the neck, but at the same time, would you rather they cancel/retract their bid, or just not pay...? Gotta take the good with the bad sometimes. Every once in a while you get people bidding on items they know they can't afford, just to make themselves feel good. Next thing they know they are high bidder on a $10,000 card that they had no intention of buying, or thought would not meet the reserve, so they quickly retract. I've seen it all I think.

downgoesfrazier

...check out "girlmaverick" on ebAY. It's actually Andrew Deally (a.k.a. "angerry"), the guy retracts a bid every day it seems. He's cost me some dough for sure. I think a retraction should be allowed every year, but more than that leads to abuse. Typos DO happen, but if you're consitently typing "500" instead of "50" you've got some bigger problems.

dgf

envoy98

dgf, you are absolutely right. If someone is constantly putting in "wrong bid amount" ebay should keep track of it, also, if somone keeps putting that for their reason for retraction, it should be noted how many times they actually rebid immediately. I bet the number is a pretty low percentage.

helionaut

I once had a guy retract a bid on one of my auctions. He bid $100, but didn't quite meet my reserve. He then retracted the bid and as a reason he put "item priced too high." I'm still scratching my head about that one.

goodriddance189

<< <i>The problem I see with putting something like that in your auctions would be that you are setting up for your competition to create fake accounts just to force you to end your listings and basically eliminate you from being competition >>



d0ncherry/thebiddingstopshere/gottabuyit$ loves to do this

packCollector

dgf, for all the $$ girlmaverick has cost you , I am sure he's made it up in the bidding wars with eabeyta. I have seen it 1st hand on both 76 and 77 where they just hammer away at each other even if they already won the card the week before.

magellan

I was under the impression you got NARU'ed after 3 bid retractions. Has eBay changed the rules or was I absolutely out in left field with that thought?

Dave

A761506

As a buyer, I am rarely in a position to even be able to retract my bids because I only snipe in the final 7-12 seconds to make sure I'm not getting shilled. I've found that if I can be available at the time when an auction ends, it is extremely disadvantageous to bid any time prior to the final moments of the auction because your initial high bid is likely to be run up by a potential buyer who may enter 3 or 4 bids in an attempt to outbid you way before the end of the auction.

As a seller, I've only sold a few things and have never had a situation with a bid retraction. I monitor all of my auctions closely, and would have no hesitation in cancelling a bid from someone who did not have strong feedback history or a history that included multiple retractions.

I personally think retractions are necessary, as we do make mistakes occasionally. I think abuse of bid retracting should be subject to sanctions by Ebay, with abuse being defined as a distinct pattern. E-bay needs harsher punishments on things like attempting to defraud by selling a phony, counterfeit and/or non-existing product, shill bidding, bid retraction abuse, non-payment of winning bidder and other related topics. There are just too many clowns on E-bay, many trying to make a quick buck. It really needs to be cleaned up.

downgoesfrazier

Duncan,
True enough. It doesn't make the practice any more tolerable, however. Now, where did I put that stack of 70's Yankees......

dgf

packCollector

dgf, you are correct on the practice of retracting. I always seem to have a retraction count of 2 for the last 6 months. those damn fat fingers , if I put in a retraction it is right after I have bid some insainly stupid amount because i put in an extra digit or forgot the decimal point.

this is the only situation you will see me say this " love those yankees"

phil, shoot me an email, i have another card sitting in the box for you. harvey0724@beld.net

Knlsportsandmore

Have you reported the bid retractor. I managed to get one NARU'ed for excessive retractions he had 126 in a month.

Spigrimace

I'll do that.

126 in a month???!! What an a-hole. And shame on ebay for not having something in place to shut them down.

parrotpaul

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