I thought that bidding was once a binding contract

[casbit33]

I really thought that bidding on an item was like a binding contract.

I have been getting a few bidders cancelling their bids lately.

Is this a new thing for buyers?

I guess it's better than it selling and not getting paid, but why bid in the first place if you are not sure.

[enigmabear]

Far from new and buyers they it because they can with eBay's full support 

Also great when a 'buyer' sends a message to cancel and gives a very obvious bull dust reason (their cat sat on their phone and bid/bought/paid) their phone was in their pocket and wnet through the entire buying process/they thought 'winning an auction' meant they had literally 'won' (like you win a prize)

etc

etc

etc 

[kopenhagen5]

A bid is not a binding contract.

Bidders can retract bids before the end of auction up to 12 hours before.

After that a seller has the opportunity to retract bids before the end of auction.

Having said that, there are only a few genuine reasons to retract a bid and bid retractions remain on the account for eBay to sanction should the account have too many false retractions.

Once the auction ends, there is a contract between the buyer and seller.

eBay auctions are really not auctions but a tender process.

In most cases, a bid on eBay is a legally binding contract between the buyer and the seller, (Once sold). Due to state laws and the complexities of real estate and vehicle transactions, bids in those categories are non-binding.

[jellybirddesigns]

If you make your items Buy It Now with immediate payment required at the price level you want, you'll never have to worry about non-payment and unsure bidders ever again.

Best thing I ever did 4 years ago when I opened my shop.

[casbit33]

If you make your items Buy It Now with immediate payment required at the price level you want, you'll never have to worry about non-payment and unsure bidders ever again.

Best thing I ever did 4 years ago when I opened my shop.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I changed all my listings over to auction with a buy it now option. I don't like the new GTC and I don't have a store.

I am getting some people bidding and some using the buy-it-now. It's a mixture, I like giving people the option, but some abuse it.

I have just blocked a serial bidder that keeps cancelling. They have bid on 16 of my items again and cancelled them for the third time.

I was getting a bit sick of it. I was checking my account and think great all these bids. Shortly after that i would get a whole heap of messages about items being cancelled. Then the next day all the bids would be back on again, them more cancellation messages.

It just kept going on like this. My email was filling up with bid notices and cancellation notices and for what? 

I would love to see there face when they try and do it again and can't. 

[jellybirddesigns]

Casbit, that sounds crazy.

I really don't understand the thinking behind something like that.

You've got 600 listings, so maybe think about a basic store, which is under $30 a month.

If you make your items BIN, immediate payment and GTC, it's literally a situation of set and forget.

You'll then not have to think about auction timings, non payments etc.

Having a store is hugely convenient and the best thing is having holiday mode which hides your listings while you're away.

[performance_parts_clearance_centre]

It's definitely happening more often - used to be it almost never happened, now it's a regular occurence. Already had two this month.

Would be nice to see eBay implement a "three strikes" policy - default on three payments in a set period of time, and the account gets sin-binned for X amount of time. Get sin-binned three times, and "pop" goes the account.

[brerrabbit585]

They just open a new account so it's best that they're allowed to keep their account with all their non-paying history so that they can caught by seller blocks.

[enigmabear]

Ban the IP address. The more trouble they have to go to open another account so they can continue the same behaviour,the better

Never ever happen of course, not to buyers who can never possibly put a foot entire body wrong 

[davewil1964]

Mobile internet, whether through a phone or a dongle, is dynamic. You get whatever IP address your telco assigns you every time you reboot.

Only people with fixed broadband, like No B****y Network, would be caught out.